Pumpless Ballast System Install

well its done. with the help of a my good friendjim (or maybe i was helping him?) we got it installed last night in about 5 hours. gonna try it out tonight to check the fill rates.

alan, good luck. BTW Jim can't do 540's he is full of it. Hope it works and you guys get a run or two in.

we still have a couple little things to finish like the rear tank will be covered with a pad for my g/f to lay out on and then side will have a covering as well but i havent decided yet how to cover it. the first photo is the valves that are installed in a little cubby hole behind the throttle. 2) is a photo of the front tank which is a right triangle sized tank and holds about 250 lbs of water. i also use to steel blocks in the front for ballast. 3) is a ball valve that is attached to the scooper. then teed. we sent a hose to the rear tank and a hose to the front. 4) is the rear tank. you can see the tabs on the side for the pending upholstery. 5 is my scooper.

hey thanks if you lived a little closer i could forego the upholstery and have you put on a world class paint job. anyway thanks again hopefully ill meet you soon.

ya,you need to come up and ride here sometime.

well the system worked great we drove about 7-8 minutes to the riding spot and it filled the tanks just fine(1100 lbs). it drained with no problems as well.

(Message edited by alanp on November 10, 2004)

that's awesome. i'm curious, how do you know when the tanks were full?

I was wondering the same thing.

so you have to be moving at a good clip to fill the ballast tanks right?

those valves in picture 1 are my overflow vents. which are also my on off valves. the drain lines (vents) are on the top of the tank alas they wont push water out of the overflow valves until full. absolutely amazingly simple and clean. i dunno about the rate of speed to fill the tanks we were moving at 18mph to fill the tanks on the way out. so not to fast, obviously the faster i travel the quicker they fill, to a point.

Alan When are you going out next. I should be out day after thanksgiving. drop me a line if you wanna ride or need a driver. I may try & ride too. arm is doing alot better i see my dr. tomorrow.
Andrew

here are the drain valves.

how much would something like that cost but with the plastic sacs I already have?

Leo, this system as it is plumbed would not work on regular bags. This concept of controlling the air in/out of the rigid tanks works since we are just exchanging either air or water in a fixed volume. Since regular bags can change shape/volume you couldn't plumb it the same way. You could make it work similar though by having two water scoops, one facing forward creating water pressure to fill and one facing toward the back creating a vacuum to empty. You would have to have control valves on the fill lines though instead of the vent lines. I chose the vent lines since we could use miniture valves and mount them remotely for easy access. Bags also have a bit of a challenge in that having the fitting on the bottom may be prone to leaking since it is not a rigid connection like the solid tanks.

i paid 25 bucks for the scoop, 75 for the fittings, valves and hoses and 350 for the tanks(but jim knows the guys at the shop where these were built)

i finally got around to getting the cover for the top of the tank. i still havent decided about the front of the tank. i thinking of a curtain of some sort.

Well you are getting closer and it is looking good. Maybe putting some hand rails along side of the pad for holding onto would be kind of nice when you are doing those power turns. Kind of like the ones used on the 01 SAN. Hope to be back there again to ride sometime to test the finished product.

i like the handrails idea, i am considering putting those on the back of my VLX. (they make handrail-mount board racks as well)

i'd suggest carpeting the front of the tank, and adding a storage net, and maybe some cupholders too.

they make handrail-mount board racks as well
Do they who is they

How do you drain the system?

Chris
Get the Grip you Deserve
www.wakejunky.com

If all the tanks are above the waterline wouldn't they just drain with gravity if he opens the vents?

Here's the first link on what, how, if it was going to work.

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/3183/196868.html?1102915569

i know Wake Designs makes them, maybe others.

wakejunky- as actioncpd stated, they drain with gravity.
to the others, im laughing pretty hard, about the handrails and power turns. however they may be a decent idea for seating. i dont know the laws and whether or not i would need handrails for someone to sit up there. however that area was more for the lady. i dont usually take more than a couple of people out at a time so seating isnt ever a problem.

Revive the oldest thread on WW boats, acc...

Boy has ballast systems come a long way........................

This takes me back lol. I remember reading through this thread back in the day when I was setting up my ballast system