Ballast Upgrade on a Budget

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Originally Posted by jester

Al,

Was the New 1" intake just a unscrew the old, Pop it out and put in the new? where did you get this at? Also if you run all three pumps at a time do you have any issues with the pumps fighting for water?

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Well, it was more like, unscrew and beat the crap out of the old, then install the new. The old scupper has 4 screws underneath in addition to the big nut from inside. The sealant would not give in easily so it took some force to finally dislodge the old intake. Plus, part of the gel coat stuck to the sealant and chipped off. I scrapped off all the old sealant with a sharp razor blade then installed the new one with a generous amount of 3M 5200 marine sealant.

Good question about the pumps starving for water. Next time I go out, I will disconnect the fill hoses at the sacs and turn all the hoses on and see if any of them are not producing full output. My guess is that yes, the output from the pumps with all three running will be less than with just one running. But even so, my fill time with all three pumps running reduced from about 15 minutes to about 9-1/2 minutes.

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Originally Posted by cab13367

Well, it was more like, unscrew and beat the crap out of the old, then install the new.

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Al, Thanks for the update. I am not sure I like the "beat the crap" part of this upgrade. That is a nice drop in fill times for the system. You have now made me excited to upgrade my system from a GI to GIII using what you did for the fill pumps.

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Originally Posted by jester

Al, Thanks for the update. I am not sure I like the "beat the crap" part of this upgrade. That is a nice drop in fill times for the system. You have now made me excited to upgrade my system from a GI to GIII using what you did for the fill pumps.

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Yeah, I wish that part would have gone better. I think my experience was worst that others. Seems like most others did not have that hard a time getting the old one off. Someone suggested heating the sealant first and that would probably have helped. I actually ended up sticking a thick, steel tube inside the fitting and then pushing it back and forth and eventually got one edge to let go. It was easy from there.

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Originally Posted by cab13367

. Seems like most others did not have that hard a time getting the old one off. .

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No you didnt. Mine is still on. Had all the 1" parts ready to go. :mad:

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Originally Posted by moombadaze

No you didnt. Mine is still on. Had all the 1" parts ready to go. :mad:

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Well, I stand corrected! Stacy, try sticking a strong steel rod of appropriate diameter and length in the thru hull from inside the boat and then push it fore and aft and left and right. This way, you are trying to break the seal on one side instead of beating on it downwards and trying to break it free all at once. I think heating it up first would also help.

Update: I got out on the water today to do some further testing and resolve the autofill/autodrain issues. I modified the installation of the swing check valves on the fill lines to the rear bags so that they are at a 45 degree angle to horizontal and that did the trick - both rear bags no longer autodrain and they do not autofill.

The front bag is a different story. I don't have anything on the fill line, just hose, which I looped up just under the engine cover and down to the bag. I hoped that would fix both the autodrain and autofill issue that I was experiencing but it did not. It still autodrained at speed and autofilled at rest. So there's no way around it - I have to install a vented loop which I did when I got home. I mounted it up next to the ski pylon as high as I could, under the engine cover. That should take care of it.

I timed how long it took to fill all three bags again, at rest, with the engine off. And this time, it took exactly 8:58 whereas it took 9:27 during the initial test to fill 1310 lbs of ballast. I considered a bag full when water would come out of the drain fitting at which time I turned that pump off. With the stock system, it took 14:55.

I'll post up some pics when I get a chance to take some.

Al

Thanks for the update, Al. I'm in a similar spot... rear check valves work great, front bags autofill/autodrain. The difference is that I already have the vented loops on them. Not only that, but they leak out out the top of the loops when filling.

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Originally Posted by cab13367

Well, I stand corrected! Stacy, try sticking a strong steel rod of appropriate diameter and length in the thru hull from inside the boat and then push it fore and aft and left and right. This way, you are trying to break the seal on one side instead of beating on it downwards and trying to break it free all at once. I think heating it up first would also help.

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Ive allready returned the 1" fittings so Im not going to mess with it. after cutting off the backside of the scoope I no longer auto fill.

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Originally Posted by brain_rinse

Thanks for the update, Al. I'm in a similar spot... rear check valves work great, front bags autofill/autodrain. The difference is that I already have the vented loops on them. Not only that, but they leak out out the top of the loops when filling.

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So the vented loop is not fixing either issue? Where do you have it mounted? Did you call Jason at wakemakers to find out what he recommends?

The interesting thing is that initially, the front sac did not auto fill - I turned each pump on when I first put the boat in the water to make sure they were all primed and there was water in the fill hose all the way to the bag. Then I drove at 25 mph and looked all three fill hoses (there were no bags attached to any of them) and no water was coming out of each one so I thought I was good. Then, after I filled the bags and started emptying them, I noticed the front bag was taking a long time to empty. I suspected that it was autofilling while at rest so I dicsonnected the fill hose at the front bag and sure enough, water was coming out of it. I think that when I hit the empty switch, it created a suction/siphoning effect and was drawing water thu the pump, up and over the looped hose and into the bag.

That also sucks that the vented loop leaks while filling as I just mounted them above some electrical connectors so I think I better remount them somewhere else.

I'm glad you're figuring all this out for me, Al. Thanks!