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Okie Boarder Ladies Man
Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond
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Posted: May 02, 2012 8:26 am Post subject: Ballast System "Upgrade" |
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I decided I would do more to plumb in the ballast this year so it can be filled up a bit quicker. My system is set up with a 400# bag in the rear ski locker, a 400# bag under the rear seat, and a 350# bag that fits under the cooler down in the bilge in the space I opened up during the rebuild. A lot of times we put a 250# bag right in front of the engine too. I have a Simer pump mounted up under the helm (not in the bilge), and that pump is all plumbed to a through hull fitting and wired into a fill/drain switch. Until now, we've just had a hose off the Simer that we manually connect to each of the bags for filling. I didn't want to add more pumps (yet), but wanted the process to be sped up a bit. So, I made a PVC manifold to distribute and control water flow to each of the bags independently. Each bag will be plumbed in with a fill/drain and also a vent line. This should speed it up significantly.
Here is the manifold finished and ready to be installed.
_________________ If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? |
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HHI Dave Wakeboarder.com Freak
Joined: 10 Jun 2006 Posts: 2550 City: Hilton Head Island, SC
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Okie Boarder Ladies Man
Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond
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Posted: May 04, 2012 8:34 am Post subject: |
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Had a bit of difficulty getting the thru hulls mounted, but worked through that. I just about have it all done...will post some more pics once I do. _________________ If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? |
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Okie Boarder Ladies Man
Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond
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Posted: May 14, 2012 12:33 pm Post subject: |
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Got it finished and tested. Everything seems to work fine and should be a big improvement over the original set up. I timed the drain...was messing with other things during the fill...and I'm down to 15 minutes...not too bad.
Issues right now...not sure if there is a cure.
1. Bags won't drain all the way unless I lift them up.
2. Water doesn't push out the vent lines when filling so I'll have to keep an eye on the bags.
Some pics of the manifold and thru hulls all finished up.
_________________ If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? |
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Okie Boarder Ladies Man
Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond
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Posted: May 16, 2012 5:58 am Post subject: |
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Went out for our first riding session last night. I timed the fill and it was 14 minutes. I did let the rear seat bag overfill a bit and water did come out the vent line. All in all, I'm happy with the set up...definitely is much easier and quicker. _________________ If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? |
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mgs917 Addict
Joined: 17 Sep 2008 Posts: 532 City: Spartanburg
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Posted: May 23, 2012 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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Looks great. Did you drill the hull yourself? |
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kartman Wakeboarder.Commie
Joined: 29 Oct 2008 Posts: 1542 City: meridian, Idaho
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Posted: May 24, 2012 5:12 am Post subject: |
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looks killer. you have any more pics of the boat? im about over the whole i/o thing and am thinkin of sellin mine to pick up a saltare/sunsport project. hows the wake? hows the room for people? _________________ trying to find a $5-7K usable saltare if anyone knows of one. |
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Okie Boarder Ladies Man
Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond
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Posted: May 24, 2012 8:38 am Post subject: |
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mgs917, yes.
I'll see what I can find or take some new ones. The wake is good and it is fairly roomy. Being a DD, it lacks some seating benefits of the VD's. We regularly have around 8 people on board and it works. _________________ If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? |
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