Ballast impeller replacement and unsecured mounting plate

[bjrow]

Gidday from OZ.
Was replacing the impellers in our x3 ballast pumps yesterday in our 14 Mondo and was a bit shocked to see that the board that the pumps and control gear mounts to was not secured in any way to the boat. The board had brackets at the bottom and one to the engine side (pumps etc on the port side rear) but no screws or mounting hole noted anywhere. The wakeplate wiring kinda stopped the board falling towards the bow when the carpeted trim panel was removed and that was it!
It's been 6 years since we bought our boat and figured about time to replace the impellers, none had the blades broken off but a couple were deformed.
We do listen to the pumps and switch off when they make a dry pump sound.

Thinking of positioning the board and drilling holes to secure but wanted folks input, I'm not too excited about drilling holes into the fiberglass floor but not enthused by letting things rock around as before either. The wakeplate wire insulation on one of the wires had rubbed thru and the wiring exposed, wrapped in amalgam tape and sleeved with corrugated conduit sleeving.

Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.

[bealaddison]

If you do, make sure you get the correct length screws and don’t punch through the hull! But I’m sure you were already thinking of this. I’m doing upgraded bags in my Mondo today. I’ll see how mine are secured.


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[bjrow]

Thanks Bealaddison, will be interested to see what you find as a comparison.
Yeah was thinking about the length of screws etc and have some the same as what's used in the rear panel fixings. While it looks like a false floor arrangement under there I'll be marking the drill depth to make sure we don't go too far.
Hope the upgraded bags instal goes well and you get some extra wave out of the upgrade.
Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.

[sandm]

good luck but I do have to say no way I would drill a screw into the bottom hull no matter the length.
I'd find a different mounting solution or bracket.
I've drilled many a hole into the deck/hull of a boat but always going thru to mount something. I'd be concerned about going too far or the gel chipping on the bottom.

that's my .02 tho.

[mikenehrkorn]

Gidday from OZ.
Was replacing the impellers in our x3 ballast pumps yesterday in our 14 Mondo and was a bit shocked to see that the board that the pumps and control gear mounts to was not secured in any way to the boat. The board had brackets at the bottom and one to the engine side (pumps etc on the port side rear) but no screws or mounting hole noted anywhere. The wakeplate wiring kinda stopped the board falling towards the bow when the carpeted trim panel was removed and that was it!
It's been 6 years since we bought our boat and figured about time to replace the impellers, none had the blades broken off but a couple were deformed.
We do listen to the pumps and switch off when they make a dry pump sound.

Thinking of positioning the board and drilling holes to secure but wanted folks input, I'm not too excited about drilling holes into the fiberglass floor but not enthused by letting things rock around as before either. The wakeplate wire insulation on one of the wires had rubbed thru and the wiring exposed, wrapped in amalgam tape and sleeved with corrugated conduit sleeving.

Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.

I have something similar in my '13 OBV but there are metal clips at the top of the board the pumps are mounted to and they hold the board in place pretty well even without screws. Actually just changed my impellers a couple of weeks ago and it took me the longest time to figure out how to get the board out and the impeller replacement was about 15 mins for all three - dealer wanted to charge me $95 for EACH impeller and then an hr labor, cost me under $100 for all 3 :)

[bjrow]

Wish the impellers were 3 for 100 buck here.....more like 65AUD.
Simple to change really although due to the pump mounting in close proximity to each other in different orientations we had to loosen each pump from the back board plate.
In the end we positioned the back board plate with pumps etc., marked the holes for the screws in the angle brackets that were already there and drilled into the boat!!!! I did measure several times, were this board sits is on a false floor about 5" from the hull bottom. Still tho.....
A bit of goo to seal and the board is fixed solid, happy days. Will take anoth 6 months for the warm weather to see if all good, probably forget what I've done then I'd say. Have the raw water pump impeller next but might wait till Spring when things are a tad warmer.
Hope you all are enjoying some Summer weather and a few tunes on the lakes there.
Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.

[bjrow]

Meant to read 65AUD each.
Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.

[AtTheRiver]

I replaced my impellers at the beginning of season this year for first time and was similarly shocked the plate holding all the pumps was held by gravity alone. The pump hoses seem to stabilize the whole configuration so I covered it back up - fingers crossed. And yes it was a pain to figure out how to take panel board out and for those that have not been there yet, there are no screws holding it in. Just have to flex the board enough to get the top of the cover panel low enough to get the tabs below the top deck.

[bjrow]

Yeah was a bit of a concern when we first had a look.
We found the wires to the wakeplate had their insulation rubbed right thru and the +12v lead insulation about to become the same so while there we repaired the wires and put conduit over each set before securing the board. Should be all good now but a bit of a worry as to what may have happened if head was left buried in the sand.
Only 4 months to go.........
Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.

[bealaddison]

Been a while, but here are my findings.

Stbd side pump was mounted in rubber feet to the hull.

Port side was mounted with 2 of 3 brackets screwed down. See pics.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210725/3bb0290721e94dc1cab5811faf34de0b.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210725/3664082b606466f4ec3f2748681ea043.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210725/387ae0105161615741b4ca93d8a5f3d2.jpg


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[bjrow]

Yours is secured better than ours, we had the brackets but no screws to the boat, just sorta flopped around.
It moved enough that the wakeplate wires (2 of from the connector that run around behing the mounting plate) had their insulation removed and bare wires showing. Fortunately they hadn't yet touched, fixed it up and put some corrie conduit on and sanded the sharp edge on the mounting panel.
When we screwed the brackets into the boat we could only gain access to 2 of the 3 brackets, bit like yours in the picture. We've 3 pumps mounted on that board so pretty busy with motors and tubing!
2 months maybe 3 to go till we can take ours out again.....but who's counting.
Hope you are enjoying the season there.
Cheers BruceR, Melb AUS.