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Ballast Question

 
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BigFire
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Joined: 12 Jul 2005
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PostPosted: Oct 01, 2005 11:19 am    Post subject: Ballast Question Reply with quote

I have been designing my own ballast system for a while now, and have yet to find an answer to one question. I want to have a system that picks up water with a through hull...but will also drain through the hull as well? How can I set my system up so that it will do that AND still be able to fill/drain the right or left side independetly (ie for wakesurfing)?
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Sbt3
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Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 279
City: Okauchee

PostPosted: Oct 03, 2005 4:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You will want to use a revesible pump like the simer or jabsco. The easiest way to be able to fill/drain sacs independently is to have a seperate pump for each. I have 3 pumps in my boat one for the bow sac, one for the starboard sac next to the engine and one next to the engine on the port side. This alllows me to balance the weight very easily. I can fill or drain my sacs going full speed, I tied into the fresh water intake of the engine and can run all three pumps at the same time and have not had any over heating problems. It is on a 97 super sport nautique. I had a similar system in my old mastercraft and never had any problems either. I attached a pic of the intake and the pumps plumbed in. They have been working great all summer. It takes about 15 min to fill all of the sacs which total around 2000lbs.
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Doug
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Joined: 17 Feb 2003
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City: Walled Lake

PostPosted: Oct 03, 2005 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Stan, I thought Simer pumps were not ignition proof?!
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Sbt3
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Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 279
City: Okauchee

PostPosted: Oct 03, 2005 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doug,
I guess I should have said that as well. They are not but I have never had a problem with them. Gas vapors are heavy and will settle to the bottom of the bilge. I mounted the pumps up high. If you are worried about it then go with the jabsco ballast puppy, they are ignition protected or mount the pumps out of the engine area.
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DizzyG
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Joined: 11 Jun 2003
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City: Oconomowoc

PostPosted: Oct 03, 2005 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doug,
I had 3 simers running off of the water intake on our old '95 sunsetter and never had a problem filling or draining on the fly either. It was really easy to install like that and having each bag with a dedicated pump made it run a lot faster. It also makes tweaking the wake depending on where people move to in the boat a lot easier. Just flip the switch for that bag and you're all set!

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Doug
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City: Walled Lake

PostPosted: Oct 03, 2005 2:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What I am battaling is the need to place pumps in the bildge. I have a direct drive. I could mount them dirctly under the floor. Would that be high enough? The ballast puppies are so expensive compared to Simer.
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Sbt3
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PostPosted: Oct 04, 2005 4:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had the simer pumps mounted in the bildge on my 88 tristar direct drive and didn't have any problems either. Obviously it only takes once and then it would be a big problem. Some people are more safety conscious than others. I wouldn't say one way or the other if it would be high enough. The other option would be to mount your pumps in the gunwal areas. The pump should have enough pull to get water up to it there. It would only be lifting it a foot or two.
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DizzyG
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Joined: 11 Jun 2003
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City: Oconomowoc

PostPosted: Oct 04, 2005 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was drawing from a direct drive where the intake is in the middle of the boat. I had two pumps running in the rear of the boat above the gas tank, that was several feet back and up above seat level in the boat, they had no issues. The third pump was mounted behind the spotters seat on the floor. The line for this one went forward, through the storage locker, up into the storage compartment behind the seat. The pump behind the spotters seat had issues occasionally getting going, but once it started to fill it went without any issues. To get around that, I would just run the back pump (or pumps) in reverse for a second or two once they had some water going, this allowed the front pump to get a little help on the initial draw. Once it was filling though, I could run all 3 without any problems until the bags were full.
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mantaray
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Joined: 14 May 2004
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PostPosted: Oct 18, 2005 8:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Check out my system. It sounds like what you want. Pumps are in the bilge about 2" above the bottom of the boat. No problems so far.

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=48510
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Juice75
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Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 218
City: Austin

PostPosted: Oct 21, 2005 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mantaray, I like your setup. What valves did you use?
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