Venting ballast bags

[Fman]

I am starting my last ballast project on my '08 Supra. I am adding a seperate vented line for each bag. This will eliminate the air pockets forming in the bags when filling. Especially the front sac. It will also aid in draining them, eliminating the "vaccuum" effect when water is being extracted from the bag. Another plus is , when the bags are full it will allow water to exit and eliminate excess pressure that could cause damage to the bags.

Its a pretty easy project, assuming your bags have an extra capped off port in them. I am adding a quick disconnect in each bags extra port (currently plugged off right now) that will tie into the drain line near the exit hole of the boat. There will also be a one way check valve I install to eliminate water from coming back into the bags while draining them.

I will post some pics when I am finished. Total cost of this project with all 3 bags is about $125.

[guinsha54]

Sounds like a good fix, I’ve had a the same problem with air pockets. Where do you plan on, or did you, buy the check valves?

[jasonwm]

Keep us posted on how it goes Travis. As we discussed on the phone, unfortunately most people will not have the available third port on their bags from the factory, so that makes adding the vent line significantly more complicated.


guinsha54- we have 3/4" in-line check valve fittings that will check against both water and air (a huge benefit for this application) if you need some help finding them.

[guinsha54]

Thanks for the info Jason, I tried to follow your link but the site seems to be down? I'll try again later.

[98outback]

My rear sacs are 750's that have the third hole so I know how to run the vent line on those. Is there a way to do some kind of venting on my front sac. It only has the fill hole and drain hole.

[tailgate]

my front sac in my 08 lsv has 3 holes,
2 on the back end (top(fill) and bottom(empty))
1 on the front end (bottom(plug))...

I'm going to try to flip the bag over, and add the vent to the front top (old bottom)...

[sailing217]

My centurion has the vent/overflow lines for each bag. They do help alot. We don't have check valves on the vent/overflow lines so our bags dribble out as we ride. some people put in a manual ball valve, but I don't want to turn anything manually.

If you got pics of the check valve, please post em up. I'm looking for a PVC 3/4" spring loaded. Couldn't find it at lowes/hd, just saw the brass flapper valve.

Thx

[98outback]

my supra is a 2003 so I have the old original fat sac that was made from the waterbed material. It is blue and then goes into a gray zip up bag. It only has a fill and a drain hole. My 2 rear sacs are new 750s so they of course have the vent. I guess I will just have to buy a new sac for the front.

[twaynejackson]

By the way have you had any trouble with water leaking in from sun deck and water standing under ballast bags ? I trying to figure out how to fix, mildew !

[98outback]

I take my ballast out when I put the boat up and shop vac the wet cret so it can dry it.