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View Full Version : GI to GIII upgrade in my 2004 Mobius LS



Stazi
09-29-2011, 09:05 AM
So I bought my 2004 Mobius LS late this season and used it about 4 times before the weather went to pot. Nonetheless I absolutely love it, and can say that it was a major change from the 27' Wellcraft Excel Cruiser I had before. It only had 99hrs on it when I bought it and it is in great condition. It came with the Roswell 4 speaker tower system as well as the wakeplate, which are nice upgrades, but the original owner only opted for the G1 ballast system which is just the hard tank in the rear, which is actually the rear seat.

Being in MI, the season basically ended 3 weeks ago right after Labor Day Weekend, as if someone flipped a switch, so I have come to the realization that trying to hold out for another weekend out on the lake is wishful thinking. As such, it's time to winterize (which I see is actually quite different to winterizing an I/O as I am used to running the boat with muffs on the outdrive in order to pump "red-pop" RV antifreeze through the entire system.

I also plan to do some mods during this winterization process, which include adding some LED's around the boat, adding the pull up cleats I just bought on here the other day, and of course upgrading the GI system to a GIII system.

I bought 2 x 400lb Fly High sacks with a Tsunami 1200gph pump (cigarette lighter - throw over the side setup), which made a huge improvement to the wake over just the rear tank. I put on bag in the ski locker, which I can fill about 80% before it gets to a point where you can't close the locker door. I haven't used the second bag, but plan to try it out for surfing next season. What I did buy in addition to these bags, however, was one of the blem IBS bags that WakeMAKERS was selling. So, my plan is to add to valves to the GI system in order to automate the filling of the center and IBS bags.

I have spent countless nights searching this site for how to do this upgrade, looking at all the different ideas that peoplle like Jesse and newty and other have used.

I planned out the system and went ahead and ordered a bunch of fittings direct from Flow-Rite and also some from WakeMAKERS.

One of the first things I have done is constructed a new manifold using PVC fittings I bought from Home Depot, as trying to find the additional reducers to fit the Orbit manifold proved to be impossible as no one keeps these things in stock.

So to start, here's a couple of pics, one of my stock manifold and original 3/4" valve
http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1152/img2011092900071.jpg
and one of the new manifold and 3x new 3/4" valves.
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6803/img2011092900072.jpg

I chose to stick with 3/4" for simplicity's sake and also to reuse the existing connection to the rear ballast tank. A few extra minutes to fill aint gonna kill me.

I plan to use 2x Tsunami 800's to empty the bags similar to the original setup. My biggest hurdle in all this is mounting the extra switches, as the GI system has the single switch as a part of the accessory cluster, so I plan to move that one switch next to the two new ones and mount is to the side of the drivers seat area.

Anyway I plan on taking more pics as I go to help document this upgrade for other lowly DD owners such as myself, as almost everything I have seen on here is for the LSV.

ryan_8099
09-29-2011, 09:51 AM
Being in MI, the season basically ended 3 weeks ago right after Labor Day Weekend, as if someone flipped a switch, so I have come to the realization that trying to hold out for another weekend out on the lake is wishful thinking.

Looks like a fun project, look forward to seeing the pics throughout the upgrade. I am in central WI and although the weather hasn't been the greatest, the season is far from over! Maybe you need to pick up a wetsuit (and some additional scuba gear, booties/mask/gloves) so you can extend your season about a month and a half on each end...

Stazi
09-29-2011, 10:09 AM
Funny thing is I already have a wetsuit and I am not afraid of the colder water (I surfed for YEARS in the cold Indian Ocean back in Australia) - it's getting my wife and a 3rd motivated enough to go out on the lake with me.....my wife has a wetsuit, but she wears it in the friggen Summer! LOL You'd think she was from Australia and not MI.