Improve ballast pumping system

Hi there,

I'm the very proud owner of Moomba XLV (2006) with the GIII system.
I'd like to improve the pumping system to fill & drain faster my ballasts in order to save time in switching from one side to the other when wakesurfing.

Here are some questions:
- Does a standard system with greater capabilities than mine exist ? If yes what would be the approximate cost of it?
- Do filling pumps (with electromagnetic switch) exist with greater flow?
- Do I also have to change the standard hoses or is their section enough for a higher flow?

Thank you for your help,

Olivier

A simple and cheap upgrade that takes 20 min and cuts down the fill time by approx 20-25% is going with the Irritrol 700 3/4" valves. Lots of people on here want to fill their sacs faster but no one has ever talked about draining them faster. Some people are after the mother of all auto ballast systems but after months of searching myself I think if you switch sides alot the cheapest and fastest answer is to get a Tsunami 1200 pump from Wakemakers.com that comes with the hose, 12v plug, and 1/4 turn adapter. With this pump you can drain one v-drive sac and fill the other with the same water you are draining. I'm filling/draining 1100lb v-drive sacs in about 8 min in my XLV. Alot of people are using several Tsunami 800 pumps (some people have used 4-5) with various T-connectors to get fast fill times. I haven't seen great filling times with the aerator pumps yet to justify all the vented loops/check valves. Plus you can't fill on the go...but I guess you could drain a little if needed to even out the wake since draining use different pumps. The simplest ballast system but probably the costliest is the Johnson revesible pumps (about $215 each). They fill and drain at approx 12 gallons per min but again, they don't allow you to fill on the go. Any of the revesible pumps are a bit noisier and draw significantly more power (amps). Some people even use a couple stock Moomba Rule pumps to create a custom system. In my opinion, the best system would be the 3 Johnson pumps for 3 sacs. However, I don't mind getting up and manually using the Tsunami 1200 pump to switch my surfside ballast.

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Originally Posted by you da man

Plus you can't fill on the go...

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Not sure what you mean here... :confused:

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Originally Posted by brain_rinse

Not sure what you mean here... :confused:

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Using thru hull instead of stock intake

"A simple and cheap upgrade that takes 20 min and cuts down the fill time by approx 20-25% is going with the Irritrol 700 3/4" valves."

I hadn't read about this or must have missed this. Youdaman, did you do the upgrade? Who else has done this single upgrade and had good results? is it hard to fit them in the same place as the originals?

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Originally Posted by 501

"A simple and cheap upgrade that takes 20 min and cuts down the fill time by approx 20-25% is going with the Irritrol 700 3/4" valves."

I hadn't read about this or must have missed this. Youdaman, did you do the upgrade? Who else has done this single upgrade and had good results? is it hard to fit them in the same place as the originals?

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I did this a few months ago. I timed filling a 565lb sac and it was exactly 8min. I didn't time filling all three sacs because I never fill all three at the sametime anyways. I pull my boat off the trailer and start filling the center. By the time I'm done parking and everyone is in the boat the center is almost or done filling. Then if I'm surfing it's just filling one side anyways. If I'm wakeboarding empty rear sacs is plenty of wake behind the XLV anyways but I may add a couple hundred on each side to clean the wake. Takes a whole 20 min to do and they fit with no problems in the stock location. It does take about 14-15 min to fill my 1100lb sacs now but I also use the Tsunami 1200 external pump to assist and can fill in 8 min with stock pump and Tsunami pump filling one 1100lb sac. When it's time to switch surfing sides I connect the end of the Tsunami hose to the empty 1100 sac on the other side and fill it with the draining water. So you drain/fill in about 8 mins when switching sides with 1100lb sacs. Imagine how much faster it would be with 750's.

I have way to many fill pumps-that happened over time and if I was starting over would not happen again. I have also installed the tsunami 1200 to empty the surf sack-well worth it

Thank for the idea of adding a pump that will transfer the water from one sac to the other. I will not help for the filling of the 1st sac but then for changing side it will be efficient: with 2 pumps on each sac, one will drain faster and the other will obviously fill faster.
The reversible pump feels like a natural choice: ony one pump to operate and you can also use it while riding to adjust the wake when necessary.

Do you know where I can find a switch "moomba style" to operate the pump?

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Originally Posted by kampana

Thank for the idea of adding a pump that will transfer the water from one sac to the other. I will not help for the filling of the 1st sac but then for changing side it will be efficient: with 2 pumps on each sac, one will drain faster and the other will obviously fill faster.
The reversible pump feels like a natural choice: ony one pump to operate and you can also use it while riding to adjust the wake when necessary.

Do you know where I can find a switch "moomba style" to operate the pump?

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I actually use the Tsunami 1200 to fill my 1180 center sac if needed. There have been a time or two when I did not fill my 1180 center sac at the boat ramp when off loading from the trailer and/or while enroute to my favorite spot. When this has happened I just turn on the center fill pump and lift up the triangle cushion in the bow to access the vent plug for the 1180. I then attach the Tsunami 1200 to assist the factory pump and it's filled in just a handful of minutes. I don't know what you mean by saying the Tsunami pump will not help you fill up the 1st sac? It will fill any sac if you have the right fitting. You can use it to fill one side first thing when you get to your favorite spot and then when you're ready to transfer the water to the other side you can use the same pump to do that.

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Originally Posted by kampana

The reversible pump feels like a natural choice: ony one pump to operate and you can also use it while riding to adjust the wake when necessary.

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This is what I would do if I was switching back and forth from port to starboard. Either that or upgrade to three 1" intakes and three T1200 fill pumps on 1" fill lines, and upgrade the drain pumps to T1200's and 1" lines as well. I'm too lazy to do it manually - I'd rather flip a couple of switches and relax :)

We typically only surf on the port side and on the rare occasion when we do have regular and goofy riders on the boat, we have all the regulars go, switch the ballast to the other side, then let all the goofy's go.

But everyone is different and everyone's situation is different so there is no one solution that is best for everyone.

Al