Improving Ballast Fill/Drain Times

Looking for options to decrease my fill and empty time on my 2016 moomba mojo. My current system:

1100lb rear lockers
400lb under seats
700lb center hard tank
500lb bow sac

The 400lb sacs under the seats are piggy backed off the 1100s in the rear lockers. Each fill and drain through a factory stock Jabsco reversible pump, one for each side.

The bow sac is piggy backed off the center hard tank. This fills and drains through a single factory stock Jabsco reversible pump.

So basically I have 3 pumps total and the most one has to fill is 1500lbs. This takes roughly 14.5 min. I believe the factory stock pumps are the "Ballast Puppy" pumps. Would it be worth swapping these out for the "Ballast King" pumps? Could I add three more "puppy" pumps in parallel to decrease time? Is there any other options I am not seeing? I am not very comfortable drilling more holes in the boat but may entertain the idea if no other options make sense.

14.5 minutes is really good for the amount of water you are pumping in.

I basically have the exact setup that you do. I am adding a 4th reversible pump. I'm using the center drain plug as the thru hull, so no drilling. I am using the added pump to fill the bags under the rear seats. I'm going to use one pump and one wye fitting to fill and drain both bags at the same time. I will vent into exsisting vent lines.
If I want to list to one side or the other, I can let ballast out of rear locker bags.
Total parts via WakeMaker using coupon code is $550.

I like it! Thanks for the info. May have to do the same.

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Originally Posted by Fat-chance

I basically have the exact setup that you do. I am adding a 4th reversible pump. I'm using the center drain plug as the thru hull, so no drilling. I am using the added pump to fill the bags under the rear seats. I'm going to use one pump and one wye fitting to fill and drain both bags at the same time. I will vent into exsisting vent lines.
If I want to list to one side or the other, I can let ballast out of rear locker bags.
Total parts via WakeMaker using coupon code is $550.

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Can you provide a parts list? especially the connection with the center drain?

Thanks.
Bill

Attachment 25255
https://www.wakemakers.com/3-4-brass-nipple.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PuraVida

Could I add three more "puppy" pumps in parallel to decrease time?.

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This probably wouldn't be practical. Each pump will pull about 12-15 amps while running. If you went to 6, you'd need about 75A: alternator, batteries, etc... You could add some aerator style pumps to fill with. I'm with sivs1, I think I'd be happy to fill 4000lbs in less than 15 minutes. If you really don't want to wait, just start surfing at 10 minutes and let it go from great to awesome in the next 5 minutes!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fat-chance

I basically have the exact setup that you do. I am adding a 4th reversible pump. I'm using the center drain plug as the thru hull, so no drilling. I am using the added pump to fill the bags under the rear seats. I'm going to use one pump and one wye fitting to fill and drain both bags at the same time. I will vent into exsisting vent lines.
If I want to list to one side or the other, I can let ballast out of rear locker bags.
Total parts via WakeMaker using coupon code is $550.

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That's what I would do when adding a new pump for the bags under the seats - 400# each.

I used this setup for my center and bow bag - an easy to reach wye valve on one johnson pump.

Difference between 10 and 15 mins, no biggie for me. More time to finish my beverage.

Sent from my P00I using Tapatalk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PuraVida

Looking for options to decrease my fill and empty time on my 2016 moomba mojo. My current system:

1100lb rear lockers
400lb under seats
700lb center hard tank
500lb bow sac

The 400lb sacs under the seats are piggy backed off the 1100s in the rear lockers. Each fill and drain through a factory stock Jabsco reversible pump, one for each side.

The bow sac is piggy backed off the center hard tank. This fills and drains through a single factory stock Jabsco reversible pump.

So basically I have 3 pumps total and the most one has to fill is 1500lbs. This takes roughly 14.5 min. I believe the factory stock pumps are the "Ballast Puppy" pumps. Would it be worth swapping these out for the "Ballast King" pumps? Could I add three more "puppy" pumps in parallel to decrease time? Is there any other options I am not seeing? I am not very comfortable drilling more holes in the boat but may entertain the idea if no other options make sense.

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I tried adding a Ballast King to my boat for the bow, because it took a few more minutes to fill, but I found that the Ballast King requires a higher amperage to turn on than the control box provides. I think you would have to run heavier gauge wire direct from the battery and then use a relay to turn on and off.

It would definitely speed things up, though.

I have three reversables but have been thinking about swapping out for the Ballast King. I think they draw about 20A max per. Right now each pump runs at 15A so slight upgrades may be needed. It would be less upgrade cost and power wise than adding more pumps by only increasing overall load by 15A max. That is at startup and the draw should drop once started. The Ballast King fills 50% faster which will bring your time to <10 minutes. You won't need to use the drain plug or make any more holes.

Replace the 400 with lead

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yooper

I tried adding a Ballast King to my boat for the bow, because it took a few more minutes to fill, but I found that the Ballast King requires a higher amperage to turn on than the control box provides. I think you would have to run heavier gauge wire direct from the battery and then use a relay to turn on and off.

It would definitely speed things up, though.

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Did you purchase a Ballast King then return it?
I'm wondering if it was dimensionally the same size as the current pump?
Did you install it, then found it would not turn on? Or had trouble tripping breakers?

I would love it if someone would make the upgrade and provide instructions as to what it entails.
I am all for increasing the speed of filling all these bags.
Bill Z

Yeah, I returned it. It was the exact same size. I did a write up on it in another thread. In fact, I even had a solution for turning it on that I think would have worked, but I never finished it up. I decided to just return it instead.

Check out the thread.... the relay wiring that I mapped out should work.

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread....o-Ballast-King

Thanks.
I seem to remember that thread now.
You never had your question answered about the controller I guess?
I have a 2015 and have no idea if the controller would be the same as yours.