Booms Ballast Install

[Booms]

I am going to try and make this quick.
Summer, I think, is finally here in WI and I want to spend time in the boat.
Thanks to Chpthril and all the other posts in the Ballast section of Tigeowners - Coach, SPBFan, DieselPWR, NHarp1 and all the others.
I decided to go with the Ballast Puppy system. I have two of the custom 1,000# custom sacs in each of the rear lockers and a Fat Sac integral bow sac (Which I did not hook up yet - to anxious to get on the water. Plus the wife wanted the tools and the mess out of the garage.)


I used three check valves per sac. Probably the more expensive choice but I wanted the sac to get completely empty by creating a suction.


With this system I had to drill a hole in the hull for each rear sac for venting and emptying.



I was happy to see how thick the side of the hull was 5/8"



Here is a picture of the vent line. Sorry I started to get a preoccupied and forgot to take pictures.

I wanted to get the as many of the hoses and valves out of the way so when the bags were empty we could still use the storage with out wrestling with hoses, clamps and valves. As you can see we could still store our surf board.


After the vent lines and the pipe was run to the pumps and sacs I had to drill the thru-hull pick up. I used a 1 1/4" brass mushroom style pick up that I installed on the opposite side of the speedo wheel. I then connected to a 1 1/4" brass ball valve.
I was happy to see an access panel already installed.


Location of the thru-hull on the port side.




I was somewhat bummed when I saw how thick the hull was.


More of the install to come.....

[Booms]

After the 3M adhesive cured I started to build the manifold in the boat for the pick up. I only had one mistake. I spilled pvc pipe cleaner on the carpet. I was planning for that so most of it was caught by the rags I had under the cardboard.


Seeing I did not pipe the front bag I capped it off.


I created the manifold out of 1 1/4" pvc. I then went to a 1" hose.

Once I made the connections to the manifold I ran the 1" hose to the pumps. I do not have any pictures but the pumps are mounted on the smart board behind the engine in the bilge area.

The bags were installed and they are big! It took me 20 minutes to manipulate the Starboard side bag to get in and around the built in cooler. The port side was quick install. Here you can see how big the bag is and that it goes all the way into the storage under the port seats.


This last weekend was the first time I got to test the install. The weather in WI has been in the low 50's. This past weekend was in the upper 70's with a water temp of 66.
Here is the port side bag

Here is the Starboard bag


When both bags are full this is the result


Good thing is I had no leaks! The only water I had in the rear lockers was from the water coming over the side.

Here is the wake with no ballast @ 11.3mph and taps @ 3-4


Here is the Starboard side @ 50% full




Then at about 75% full.




I would have played with it more but the kids wanted to board, ski and tube so I was summoned back to play.
This wave was good enough for me to ride with out a rope for a long time. Sorry no pictures of the ride - Carrie was driving, babysitting and tweaking the speed and taps.

I am going to continue to play with speed and weight. I have not tried to put any weight on the port side while I ride on the dark side. I will update when I get more pictures.

[dogbert]

Nice job. Did you put any ballast up front?

[eks]

Nice Job Booms, That drawing looks familiar...

My RZ2 also had 1/4 of an inch thickness in the hull. The good news is that we still have life time warranty no matter what. But I was very disappointed as well.

FYI, I found that only filling only the ballast on the side you are surfing makes the wake bigger. Unless you have a full boat where you can have enough people to make the boat a lot heavier on the surfing side.

I usually set the speed around 11.2 More speed makes a little longer wake.

[Booms]

Nice job. Did you put any ballast up front?

Dog - I did but it is not hooked up yet. I took out the storage walls, have the sac on the floor but did not pipe it yet. From what I read the front sac in the RZ2 is more for wakeboarding. When I ride I usually have 6 peps in the boat. I will just throw them up front in the bow.

[Booms]

Nice Job Booms, That drawing looks familiar...

My RZ2 also had 1/4 of an inch thickness in the hull. The good news is that we still have life time warranty no matter what. But I was very disappointed as well.

FYI, I found that only filling only the ballast on the side you are surfing makes the wake bigger. Unless you have a full boat where you can have enough people to make the boat a lot heavier on the surfing side.

I usually set the speed around 11.2 More speed makes a little longer wake.

Thanks eks! I do not remember what post I found that picture in, but thank you. I printed it out and had it taped on the trunk doors for reference.
How much weight do you have on one side? Do you have any up front?

[Micah]

Nice clean install! You got to love those custom sacs, they are huge.

[da.bell]

I wouldn't discount the idea of needing ballast in the bow. That will allow a longer pocket for wakesurfing while letting you slow the boat speed down.

Very nice install and now I am not looking forward to installing my ballast. The thickness of the hull doesn't make me excited to find out the fact that I have more fiberglass on the sides of the boat than the bottom of the boat.

[dogbert]

Dog - I did but it is not hooked up yet. I took out the storage walls, have the sac on the floor but did not pipe it yet. From what I read the front sac in the RZ2 is more for wakeboarding. When I ride I usually have 6 peps in the boat. I will just throw them up front in the bow.

That works, too. Keep in mind that a V-drive boat will actually want more weight up front than in the rear.

[eks]

Thanks eks! I do not remember what post I found that picture in, but thank you. I printed it out and had it taped on the trunk doors for reference.
How much weight do you have on one side? Do you have any up front?

I was just kidding, I made those drawings when I was getting ready to install my ballast.

I have about 750 lbs in each back compartment and about 750 lbs at the bow. The bow ballast is what makes the difference, without it the shape of the wake is not the same.

When surfing, make sure the side you are surfing has the most weight. Even with lots of peeps I still empty the side I am not surfing.

[Timmy!]

Nice install, beautiful wave!!! You can get a little more pocket and somewhat get rid of that line but running some ballast on the port side, maybe 25% full, and increasing the speed up between 10.8 and 11.2 (like eks said) it will help lift that corner of the platform out of the water a little bit and smooth out the top. I'm very jealous of your setup! Congrats!

I had 12 people in my boat a few weeks ago and we filled both v-drive sacs and pile all of the people that we could to one side and had 4 up front, it was the most beautiful wave ever and I have no pictures of it

[da.bell]

Ops, one question. did you reprop the boat? And if so, which prop did you go with?

[Booms]

Ops, one question. did you reprop the boat? And if so, which prop did you go with?

Stock Prop. Spent all my coin on the ballast this year. What prop should I go with?

[Booms]

I just wanted to give a shout out to Chpthril. With out his help on the custom surf sacs this would have never happened. He also got the sac fittings to me in less than 24 hours. It helps living only 3 hours from Flyhigh's headquarters. He also gave me ideas on where to hide the pumps!
Thank you!

[da.bell]

Stock Prop. Spent all my coin on the ballast this year. What prop should I go with?

Hate to do this to you but you might want to contact Acme. There are too many variables that play into this that Acme can be your source for more information about this. Sorry.

www.acmemarine.com 1-888-661-acme

Then get ahold of SPBFan since he is an authorized Acme dealer. Not sure if Chpthril can sell them but ask him also. No harm in doing that.