Question for you guys with homemade ballasts

[mikef]

Just trying to figure out when, and how you know your bags are full, I hate to simply use a stopwatch, and hate to have a bag explode cause I over inflated it. Trying to answer all my questions before I get started, so I may have more, but thats my first. Thanks.

[Sinkoumn]

Since most ballast bags have three inlet/outlets, I just put an overflow tube in the top - so when bag is full, water goes out the side of the boat and doesn't blow up the bag.

[wesgardner]

My system's sacs (cheapies) only have two outlets - a fill and a drain...when my sacs are full, water "registers" by coming out the drain thruhull(s)...I am using an aerator system with 4 Tsunami 1200's as fill pumps...my sacs have not exploded yet...

works fine, is "low tech" with the fewest "moving parts" to fail...I like that

You can look arounf this site for descriptions of my install and e-mail me anytime with questions/comments

[mikef]

you just watch for water out the drain holes? Does it drain even though you use a pump to drain?

[wesgardner]

mikef, yep, My sacs, being the "old style" with only two outlets are laying in the boat on their sides. This is so the drain pump will prime itself. When the fill pump gets the sac full, water is forced out the drain line so it "registers" out the side of the boat. The sac won't actually drain unless the drain pump is turned on... Since these aeator pumps don't impeed water flow when they are not on, the water pressure from the fill pump just moves thru the drain pump and out the thru hull located in the side of the boat.

For this system, you MUST have a check valve in the Fill line otherwise, once the sacs get full and the fill pump is switched off, water would empty back out the fill line...

Got it? Lemme know if you have more Q's...

[DizzyG]

I don't know what boat or setup you've got to start with, but I used an overflow.
I just put a T-into the existing drain valve/overflow on our Malibu VLX. It works great and I don't have to worry about popping bags

[mikef]

yah i don't have a fancy boat so we're winging it here. Wes, that helped a lot, and I think I'll design a similiar system. On your hull pass through, the one you use for fill, you said you have 4 tsunami pumps filling yes? Does that pass through allow enough water through to sustain four filling pumps? Are you using a waste gate valve to shut it off when not in use?

[wesgardner]

mikef, Hey,

I have an 1 1/2" thru hull, not a scoop (I think it would work just as well either way) running into my 2" manifold. There are 4 Tsunami 1200's as fill pumps. I just have a manual ball valve to shut the system off - I cut a hole in the floor and made what my riding crew calls a BCD (ballast control device) basically a "T" handle to fit down over the ball valve so I can shut it off/ turn it on without raising floor boards (my boat's old so I don't care about holes in the floor - the hole is right next to the pylon just forward of the motor cover so you won't catch a toe in it accidently.

In the pic you can see the ball valve the manifold is to the right (you can't see it) under the motor - you can see one of the swing-style pvc check valves and under it is a short piece of hose that acts as a flex coupling releaving the pressure on the pvc so it won't crack

Oh yeah, my fill times are pretty quick so I'm not sure whether or not the 2" manifold is slowing things down or not....usually my front sacs fill by themselves while we're getting the rope ready/boards out of the racks, peeps ready to ride so it's just not an issue...

[mikef]

I think I'll be using only 2 fill pumps and 2 empty pumps to keep it simple. With only 2 I should be able to get by on a scoop, yes? I think I also will use the manifold idea. I'll be starting to put together some of these ideas and actually using them soon.

Went out today with the bags I plan on using, and they did good. I have a seadoo Utopia, 18.5', which needless to say has a very small wake, but was able to feel comfortable w2w today which was a first. I have 700 up front and 350 in the back. Boy it uses more gas.

Where did you pick up your hull pass through and the exhaust pass through's? Could you shoot me a pic of where you have those located? I think I may use what I saw someone else go with, an RV dump valve to close off the intake manifold when not being filled. I am assuming your pvc valves are spring loaded, so you don't actually adjust them, yes? What about switches- where did you find ones you like? I am concerned about the intake side- If its constantly in the water do I need the scoop? How well does it seal down onto the hull, and how exactly does it seal?

Thanks for all the help.

[wesgardner]

mikef, Hey, First of all, my boat is WAY different than yours so the location of things could be much different, however, the basic install and operation will be similar.

In the pic above, you'll see my intake (you call it a hull pass through?) thru-hull is located just to the left of the large white PVC ball valve....there is a bronze elbow there so the thru-hull comes straight up through the hull, hooks 90 degrees by virtue of that elbow and goes into the ball valve. The thru-hull is installed by drilling a 1 1/2" hole in the bottom of the boat and sealing it with 3-M 5200 (a VERY tenacious urethane adhesive/sealant) Th pumps are powerful enough so a scoop is not required.

If you look at the pic of my boat on the trailer, just aft of the tower at the rubrail you'll see two small white dots, those are my drains for the two forward sacs - they are just cheap plastic 3/4" thru hulls. Further aft you'll see another white dot, that's the sarboard side drain for one of the rear sacs. The RV dump valve is a good idea - I went cheap...

When you mention "spring loaded" valves - none of mine are spring loaded - the swing style check valves just use a small weight on the flapper to get it to close, the wate pressure does the rest. Basically my system is either ON or OFF. My switches are from Go2Marine - See my parts list...

[wesgardner]

Boat on trailer...


Ballast System Parts List

4 - Attwood Tsunami 1200 - $36 (Bass Pro Shops)
3 - 2” PVC T’s (Lowe’s)
4 – 2” to 1” PVC Reducing Bushings (solvent) (Lowe’s)
1 – 2” to 1 ½” Reducing Bushing (thread) (Lowe’s)
2” PVC Pipe (short lengths) (Lowe’s)
1” PVC Pipe (short lengths) (Lowe’s)
1 ¼” Tubing (short lengths) - $10.00 (Lowe’s)
24 - Hose Clamps (West Marine)
1 ½” Bronze Thru Hull (West Marine)
1 ½” Bronze Elbow (West Marine)
1 ½” PVC Ball Valve (Lowe’s)
3 - 1 ½” PVC Close Nipple (Lowe’s)
4 – SPDT Switches - $12.00 (Contura/ Blue Seas) (Go2 Marine)
1 – Fuse Block - $10.00 (West Marine)
50’ - 14/2 wire (West Marine)
Miscellaneous connectors - $15.00 (Lowe’s)
Plastic for panel - $15.00 (more than enough)
4 – Swing type solvent/solvent check valves – $9.50 (PlumbingSupply.com)
4 – Thru hulls for drains
4 – Pumps for drain side


Assembly of Manifold

The manifold is made from 2” PVC T’s and short lengths of pipe glued together. Reducing bushings are glued into the T’s and short lengths of 1” pipe are glued into the bushings. The 1” PVC pipe has the same I.D. as the 1 1/8” intake of the Tsunami 1200. The O.D.’s match up pretty closely and are joined with short lengths of tubing and hose clamped together. (You’ll not find 1 1/8” threaded stuff so this is the most compact method). I used 1 ¼” PVC hose from Lowe’s.
I want to be able to separate the manifold from the ball valve/thru hull assembly so I chose a semi-flexible hose-clamp connection at this point (a threaded union connection could also be used).

Ballast System Basics

The system uses four aerator-style pumps. The intake side is fed from an 1 ½” thru hull to a 2” manifold. Tsunami 1200’s are the “fill” pumps. Swing type check valves acting as backflow preventers are installed in the 1” lines feeding the sacs. The exhaust or “empty” side uses smaller xxx pumps piped to above-water thru hulls. No vents are needed. Four SPDT switches are utilized for the fill/empty/trim function.

[mikef]

wesgardner, Thx a ton, I've got your build bookmarked also. Yes our boats are very different. The only other question is, can I get the plastic through hulls at west marine also? I am going to start acquiring parts, and I'll shoot some pics to show you how it goes.

[wesgardner]

Yes, you should be able to get them at West...I think I got mine at Boater's World