Ballast Upgrade on a Budget

[moombadaze]

Al, nice job.

Thats just how my ballast fill upgrades started

[cab13367]

looks great! where did you find the brass swing check valves? have you had problems with autofill or drain with the rear sacks at all, or just the ski locker sack?

Found them at the local George Morlan plumbing supply store. Both sizes were about $7.50 each. Lowes also had them but I think their 1" was like $14. One thing to note about these is that you have to mount them at least 45 degrees from horizontal or water will leak past them. My pic shows them lying flat and water was auto draining back thru them. The swing check valve is simply a round metal gate that swings on a hinge above. So when the boat is in a nose up attitude, I think the gate is swinging open allowing water to pass thru. So they need to be either mounted vertically or at least a 45 degree angle to prevent this. Or just go with the rubber version but I found that those are not full bore and I can see how the rubber would wear out over time.

The rear bags did not autofill but they auto drained. The front bag both autofilled and autodrained. In fact, because the front bag is below water line, it autofilled even when just sitting still. I did not put anything on the fill line other than looping it up about a foot above the pump then down to the bag since I did not have a long enough hose to loop it higher. I am going to experiment with it a little more but I think I am going to have to put in a vented loop.

Al,
All that brass and no leaks?
Must have been tight in there tightening everything down??
Came out real nice and clean! Great post!

Yeah, it's definitely tight in there. I used both teflon tape and pipe dope at each brass to brass connection. The manifold sits so low that I had to remove the top part of the Rule pump, screw it on to the tee, then re-attach the body of the pump. I could not thread the pump on as the outlet would hit the bottom of the boat.

can anybody tell me if the stock scupper is a 1 inch, that I would be able to cut off the 3/4 part as in the picture and make it a the one inch so I don't have to change the fitting?

Like Brain says, it's 3/4 all the way through. Be sure to buy the thru hull from wakemakers. Theirs is combinatio thread - standard on the bottom and tapered (NPT) on top. This will allow you to get the tee fitting (which is NPT) nice and tight onto the thru hull. Regular thru hulls are standard thread and a tapered thread tee will only tighten down to about two or threads on a standard thread fitting and will go no further.

[cab13367]

BTW, as far as the electrical aspect, just cut the wires between the deutch connector and the solenoid then attach those to the corresponding T-800 pump. Be sure that you match the black wire from the harness with the black from the pump. For the Rule, just unplug the existing connector and plug it into what the port side solenoid valve used to plug into (if that is what you are using it for). No cutting of wires needed.

Then find the fuse panel under the dash and replace the 3 amp with a 5 amp for the T-800s and with a 10 amp for the Rule.

[cab13367]

Also, I made it a point to optimize water flow throughout. So I made sure to buy full port ball valves and eliminated all elbow fittings wherever possible. So for example, my T-800's came with elbow fittings at the pump outlet but I took those off and got straight fittings instead. I also bought straight quick connects at the sacs instead of 90 degree elbows. I also went with the swing check valves as they have a larger orifice thru the valve than the rubber check valves that I looked at. Finally, I routed the hoses to ensure the shortest hose runs possible.

[brain_rinse]

...Be sure to buy the thru hull from wakemakers. Theirs is combination thread - standard on the bottom and tapered (NPT) on top. This will allow you to get the tee fitting (which is NPT) nice and tight onto the thru hull. Regular thru hulls are standard thread and a tapered thread tee will only tighten down to about two or threads on a standard thread fitting and will go no further.

This is really important info. If anyone wants more on this topic this is the best writeup I've seen. http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...Valves+-+Groco

But if you want to keep it simple, just buy a combo thread thru-hull, don't cut it, and use all NPT after that.

[cab13367]

Thanks Brain. I saw that from one of your earlier posts and read thru it carefully, then decided to do what you did and get a combo thread thru hull so I could get maximum thread engagement with the tee since I was going to be hanging valves and pumps on both ends of the tee.

[jester]

Al,

That looks great. You are a master plummer now. Did you already have the pumps or did you buy them?

[saskie99]

Found them at the local George Morlan plumbing supply store. Both sizes were about $7.50 each. Lowes also had them but I think their 1" was like $14. One thing to note about these is that you have to mount them at least 45 degrees from horizontal or water will leak past them. My pic shows them lying flat and water was auto draining back thru them. The swing check valve is simply a round metal gate that swings on a hinge above. So when the boat is in a nose up attitude, I think the gate is swinging open allowing water to pass thru. So they need to be either mounted vertically or at least a 45 degree angle to prevent this. Or just go with the rubber version but I found that those are not full bore and I can see how the rubber would wear out over time.

The rear bags did not autofill but they auto drained. The front bag both autofilled and autodrained. In fact, because the front bag is below water line, it autofilled even when just sitting still. I did not put anything on the fill line other than looping it up about a foot above the pump then down to the bag since I did not have a long enough hose to loop it higher. I am going to experiment with it a little more but I think I am going to have to put in a vented loop.



Yeah, it's definitely tight in there. I used both teflon tape and pipe dope at each brass to brass connection. The manifold sits so low that I had to remove the top part of the Rule pump, screw it on to the tee, then re-attach the body of the pump. I could not thread the pump on as the outlet would hit the bottom of the boat.



Like Brain says, it's 3/4 all the way through. Be sure to buy the thru hull from wakemakers. Theirs is combinatio thread - standard on the bottom and tapered (NPT) on top. This will allow you to get the tee fitting (which is NPT) nice and tight onto the thru hull. Regular thru hulls are standard thread and a tapered thread tee will only tighten down to about two or threads on a standard thread fitting and will go no further.

great thanks for the heads up! I will contact wakemakers again, they never responded to my 1st email which was a week ago.

[cab13367]

Al,

That looks great. You are a master plummer now. Did you already have the pumps or did you buy them?

Thanks jester. No, not a master plumber by any means. More of a trial and error plumber I did not already have the pumps, bought them from wakemakers.

great thanks for the heads up! I will contact wakemakers again, they never responded to my 1st email which was a week ago.

Yeah, they are sometimes hard to get a hold off. They are local to me and Jason has been pretty good about returning calls within 24 hours. If I know what I want, I just call Spencer at Active Water Sports (AWS). He is the other owner of wakemakers but also works at AWS. Also, remember the coupon code when ordering online - it gets you 10% off. I think its moombaowners. Let me know if that's not right and I'll look it up.

[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?