How do you keep a ballast bag from emptying?

[zroutt]

Mostly this is about my center/basement bag and that after filling it up and surfing for about a half an hour I see that it has leaked or emptied some water out the drain? When filling, and its full it starts leaking out the drain hole that the drain pump uses. Does this mean my drain pump is bad and allows it to drain?

How to prevent this from happening?

[moombahighrider]

It's normal for water to push past your drain pump, when the bag gets full. That is what i use as my indicator that the bag/s are full.

On my boat the center door pops up because the bag overfills the space. As far as loosing water while you are surfing, does it just loose enough that the center door stays flat in the floor or do you loose more than that?

[moombahighrider]

I just realized/ remembered that your boat has that huge locker and maybe you have no problem with the bag being pressured by the top hatch or door. You may need to play with a anti-siphon valve for the center sac, even though it should not be necessary with the gIII system.

[cab13367]

I'm assuming you have the stock GIII system with the single fill pump and three sprinkler valves on the fill side. If you are losing water from your basement bag, then I doubt you are losing it thru the drain hole since your drain fitting should be higher than your bag, even when listed over for surfing. So I would suspect that you have a faulty sprinkler valve that is not fully closing, allowing water to leak out thru the fill side. Does it also autofill when underway, even if you have the switches off? You might just try swapping the valve with either your port or starboard one, one that you know you are not losing water through, and see if that fixes it. If so, then it's the sprinkler valve and you should be able to get a new one at HD or Lowes.

And yes, it's normal for water to overflow out the drain fitting once your bag is full. The water has nowhere else to go so it's being pushed thru the drain pump and out the drain fitting.

[zroutt]

Thanks for all the responses.

Yes I have the stock fill system for the GIII but I have just recently replaced the sprinkler valves. Yes it does drain out the drain port on the port side of the boat while in motion. It is a slow trickle but with the system off and I have finished filling the basement locker (it doesn't lift the walk through btw), it will continue to trickle out of the drain hole even while sitting still.

What is this anti-siphon valve?

My winter project is to go to a true three pump system, one pump drain and fill for each bag. Will this alleviate the draining issue I experience? Its not that its a huge deal but having to fill up the basement locker again at about a half hour of surfing to get the pocket right and clean up the wave, is a little annoying. Maybe I just chalk it up to a beer break? LOL

Thanks

[08LSV]

Here is a "Vented loop anti siphon valve". It should be mounted in line in your drain line up under the helm/bow seat area. Make sure it is mounted higher than the drain thru hull in the side of the boat. You can get it from wakemakers for like $28.00. I had to put four of these in when I did my tsunami upgrade. One thing I did also was swithched the drain lines to the opposite side of the boat from the bags they were connected to. My 1100 v drives would slowly drain out while surfing. After draining to the opposite side of the boat I didn't have any leaking issues anymore.

http://www.wakemakers.com/3-4-inch-vented-loop.html

3_4_vented_loop.jpg

[zroutt]

Hmmm, good to know. I like the idea of re-routing the drains to the opposite sides of the boat especially for surfing. I don't need competition wakes for wakeboarding, the wake we get with just the basement filled is awesome for all of us. The main thing we are doing is surfing. So by draining on the opposite side of the boat when listed over should prevent it from draining. Then put one of these anti-siphons up front and under the helm sounds like it will take care of the basement draining. Good tips 08LSV!

Since we mostly surf port side should I change the side of the basement drain to starboard?

[08LSV]

Since we mostly surf port side should I change the side of the basement drain to starboard?

You could. Mine drains on the Starboard (Drivers side). The problem is that if you drilled another thru hull and ran drains to the other side (Starboard) the original thru hull (Port) will be left open and could allow water into the boat. Especially if you have your boat weighted on that side... Maybe you could find a way to plug it. I think the Anti Siphon Loop is the best/easiest way to go first. Just my opinion. There are others here with way more knowledge than me. Cab is a good resource for aerator systems. His works well the way he has it designed.

[zroutt]

You could. Mine drains on the Starboard (Drivers side). The problem is that if you drilled another thru hull and ran drains to the other side (Starboard) the original thru hull (Port) will be left open and could allow water into the boat. Especially if you have your boat weighted on that side... Maybe you could find a way to plug it. I think the Anti Siphon Loop is the best/easiest way to go first. Just my opinion. There are others here with way more knowledge than me. Cab is a good resource for aerator systems. His works well the way he has it designed.

True, but I was thinking I would swap my bilge and basement drain thru hulls and put a check valve on the bilge drain. What do you think about a check valve on the bilge?

[08LSV]

Yeah. I think it is never a bad idea to have check valves when there is a hole in the side of the boat were water can come in. If your swapping those two you might not even need the "Loop".