centurion ballast info needed

I have a 05' elite v and I am adding auto rear ballast. I have order all the parts from fineline (except the tanks - going with fly high). A few questions:

Do the mayfair ballast pump mount directly on the rear transome, or is there a shut off valve? (I have one on the rear transome with a metal strainer - I am going to mount the other two on either side).

On a tripple ballast, are all of the thru-hulls on the starboard side (vent & ballast drain), or are they on the port side as well?

Any pictures on where the starboard & port ballast switches go? I have two blanks right behind the center tank.

Thanks

Neil,
You may want to post up on centurioncrew.com for some further info. Those guys are good.

I just added two bags in the port and starbord rear lockers in my Avalanche C4. The new pump was mounted on the rear transom and the switch was put in the empty switch slot (both bags are running off new pump and switch).

And Chuch is correct, centurioncrew.com is a great resource.

avydriver:

How hard was it to hook up the new switch? was there a dioid? Did you hav any pictures? Thanks

I know enough not to touch eletrical systems. They have a nasty habit of blowing up after I touch a wire. I had my mechanic do everything.

So, for me, it was really easy, I wrote the check. I will try and take some pics this evening.

fyi- that style of system experienced problems priming with the boat moving and the engine on. centurion now use a jabsco ballast puppie to draw water through the hull and fill the tanks and empties out using mayfair pumps. I am not sure what system you are ordering from fineline but these two system operated quite differently.

I would search around on this site for post of others ballast system plans and see what works. My guess a system you make your self will be much cheeper then one from a dealer.

Neil, my '04 Enzo SV 230 has the type of ballast system you are referencing. My mayfairs (two intakes) are mounted to the rear of the transom; simply mated/epoxied? to whatever is going through the transom. Then piping exits the outflow on the mayfair and goes to each respective ballast (I replaced my two locker tanks with 750# fly highs). There are also dedicated pumps attached to the outflow hose, for draining. I recommend that you put either a check valve or a ball valve in-line on the intake hose, so that you won't lose any water out the transom inlets (as I was; I guess all that weight of water overpowered the impellar in the mayfairs). When filling. I always turn my engine off. Seems the exhaust causes the starboard intake to not get a clean intake of water (too many bubbles from the exhaust I guess).

I would guess your switches go where the blanks are. Lastly, most people put the thru-hulls on the respective side of the ballast. That way, it is easy to tell which one/side is full and discharging, or when you are emptying, you can see which side is emptying or finished. You also will run the last amount of hose that way, too. I believe most through-hulls are below the rub rail, though mine aren't. Hope that helps.

Fineline is sending me the older mayfiar system with the pumps mounted on the rear transom.

Is there any problems filling the system when the boat is stoped with the motor off?

Nah no problems filling while the boat is stopped. IF you do just throw it in reverse kill the engine and flip the switch to prime.

As stated all the intakes come out the transom. The center intake in the center the port on the port side of center and starboard on starboard side. Drill the hole from inside with a tiny tiny bit and then once the bit makes it through come with the correct hole size. just sop you don't miss drill the pump

The rear tanks emptied on their respective sides and overflowed on those same side. I can't recall on the center tank though but for some reason I think that was on the driver read side as well

Those pumps had a hard time filling while under way but are really low maintenance and rarely go down. In the event they do break you can just buy the replacement motor inside at most any marina. So that is kind of nice, but downside is you can't fill underway

I had that system on an 05 Avalalche, we put 450 hours on the boat in 2 years, the ballast system was always very reliable. I never experienced the problem with the exhaust preventing the pumps from starting. 06 Models changed because of new regulations on plumbing below the water-line.