Plumbing in Ballast is my winter project
 

Over the winter i would like to plumb my ballast bags in so i'm not throwing a pump over the side every time we put in the water. I also ski quite a bit so we go back and fourth and it just get's old. I'm looking for any tips, tricks, or things to look for and supplies to use. So if anyone has any advice feel free to throw it out there!

Thanks!

Bigger the pumps, hoses, fittings the better. Spend the money on reversible pumps. Be sure to run each sack its own hose if you surf. If you find that the hose doesn't fit over the fitting dip it in boiling water for a minute (best) or use a heat gun (better) to soften the hose. Stainless steel hose clamps.

Go with reversible pumps. They will be easy to install and consistent. One thru-hull per pump.

That is also my winter project. I just bought a 2000 Super Air Nautique and I'm ripping out all the stock ballast and plumbing in my own system. I've done a bit of research and I have decided to go with 3 reversible jabsco pumps with three separate thru-hulls. I called wakemakers and talked to Brian and he was really helpful. He created a shopping cart for me and put every single piece I would need in the cart. Easy breezy. I am going with two 750# sacs in the rear and fat seat bottom sac in the ski locker.

What size bags are you installing? 1 thru hull and pump per bag is optimal, but could also be overkill if you're not looking to slam the boat.

What boat are you working on? Wakeworld isn't the only place to look for help. I have an MC that I plan to plumb the ballast this winter and the team talk forums have some really good info, pics, and step by step instructions from people who have done it. So if you haven't already, check out your boat forum as well. Teamtalk, Planet Nautique, etc.

Yeah I got tons of good info and examples from planetnautique

Talk to Spencer at Wake Makers. They can set you up with everything you need.

One thing to keep in mind, the jabsco or alike reversible pumps draw way more power and pump at about half the speed compared to the submersible tsunami pumps. So the trade off for convenience will be it takes twice as long to fill the same bag. May not be a big deal since your saving time by not farting around setting everything up :)

The Tsunamis can easily be hard mounted and automated with switches so I don't think you are trading off any convenience..

you will need at least 2 pumps for each bag though and more hose and fittings..

Personally I went with the Johnson Ultra Ballast pumps and 1" hose and fittings. 4 pumps total. 1 on each rear locker, 1 on the front, and the X-link system to transfer water between the 2 rear sacks (Cuts switching side time in half).

Heat gun is a must during installation!!

ha ha!

http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/z...psabf4deb8.jpg

My order of stuff is comin in tomorrow. I'm putting in a three bag system using aerator pumps. I already have two 750s for my v drive storage and a 650 rear seat sack for my ski locker. I already had one pump from filling manually over the summer and here is what I needed to buy for the automatic install.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/13/agu7yvym.jpg

I bought 500' of wire and a fuse block from eBay also.

I like aerator systems for these reasons

1. Cost
2. Speed
3. Ability to run dry
4. I like watching water empty out the side of the boat. Nice visual aid.
5. Hardly any power draw/issues
6. Quick and easy pump replacement/impeller changes.

Down side.

More hoses and wires

Go with the Tsunami T-1200 pumps. Ensure you use the larger through-hull fittings and hoses. It really does make a difference. As an example, I can stick my thumb in my through-hull fittings (1" id). A friend has a Moomba with smaller fittings; you really notice the difference when pumping. The extra 1/4" gives you 44% more flow volume! Combine that with better pumps and your fill time is significantly reduced!

Aerators lose prime and are prone to siphoning and auto filling and they never get all the water out. Having done both I'd never ever in a million years go back to aerators.

With a mushroom intake and not a scupper they do not auto fill anything noticeable. Although there are sometimes priming issues siphoning issues are a thing of the past with check valves and anti siphon loops

+1 for reversible pumps. Make sure your system is "completely sealed", meaning there isn't any way for air to enter the bag during fill up (or very little) and the bags will get completely sucked dry when you dump them.

I ran (2) 400 lb fat sacs on one pump and it worked fine, but was a little bit of an inconvenience as one would always fill or drain faster than the other.

Buy a bulk 50' package of the spiral enforced 1" hose (blk/clear stuff), its a huge savings

And use the magnet trick to verify the location of your thru hull fittings.

Also, when picking up your hole saw's, test the fitment of any of your thru hulls by drilling a practice hole in a piece of wood and test fitting the thru hull into that hole. I had what I thought was the perfect size hole saw and I did this and it had more play than I liked. I think its wakemakers that has a good little tutorial on drilling the holes in the fiberglass.

Awesome info guys i really appreciate the help. This is going in a 96 MB Sports Boss 210 Direct Drive. I'm planning to plumb in the 750 rear locker and I'm looking at removing in floor cooler (it isn't very useful regardless) and replacing that with a hard tank or sak. For the front i'm undecided at this point, i just like the idea of being able to flip a switch and it's done!

Here is the video...

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I hear ya. However, the pumps should be wet all the time if properly designed. One to fill, and one to drain. Reversible is OK, but the fast ones are very expensive. As well, you use check valves to prevent siphoning and route a section of the fill hose above the water-line . Do it right and it works flawlessly.