custom cube for 09 RZ2 v-drive locker

[kerlee]

Here are some pics of a custom fat sac cube that chpthrl got for me to fit the v drive locker on my 09 RZ2. I wanted to maximize the volume in the v drive locker but preserve the storage space in front of the partial slant wall that protects the fuel lines. The dimensions are 26x28x22. I think we figured they would weigh in at around 577lbs. Thanks Mike, I think they are going to work out well.

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[chpthril]

Looks like it came out to be a pretty good fit. Let us know how it works out when filled with water

Thanks again

[Carter13]

Looks great.

[majestic]

The amount of fittings has me a little confused!

[kerlee]

No problem,
on the top of the bag 2 openings, one for vent tube, one for fill tube.
on the side near the bottom, one for a drain pump

[Guapo]

Let me know how they fit and work out for you. I have some 450# fat sacs in my rear lockers, but would be interested in more weight.

Mike...PM me with pricing. Also, can you get different connections on them?

[majestic]

No problem,
on the top of the bag 2 openings, one for vent tube, one for fill tube.
on the side near the bottom, one for a drain pump

I meant there seems to be a lot of fittings on you hoses.

[kerlee]

oh, I intentionally had the installers reverse the direction of the top 2 hoses, which necessitated the extra fittings there. The reason being, that I could remove the sacs and reconnect the fill and drain hoses via the quick connects. This would stop any passive leaking from the fill and drain lines in the v drive locker. We did a put a pretty high loop in the fill line to create an air trap because with the stock ballast lines we found that if you were going WOT the stock ballast would passively fill sometimes and we did put a one way valve in the drain lines, both the for the add on sac and the stock drain line below. this was done before the y connector on the drain line. On the vent line, we think you cannot use a one way valve otherwise the bag will not collapse when being emptied, will test out in the next few weeks.

[majestic]

Got it! I am finally starting my ballast system and I was just trying to learn something new! Looks great.

[kerlee]

Majestic thanks for your good question. That's what I love about this forum. It made me think twice after I wrote my initial reply. The way I had it hooked up, I could take the sac out and hook up all fill and drain lines to prevent passive leaking while underway. The downside was all the fittings. The other option was to minimize the number of fittings and then when the sac was removed have a "jumper hose" available with a y-split or t-piece with 3 barbed male quick release fittings to prevent the passive leaking while underway. I am going to change to this latter option and will be making a jumper hose. Thanks for the question.

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[majestic]

Your last picture was how I am used to seeing it! I am glad I could help spark the thought process. I have been over all the ballast installs to date and the one thing I have come away with is the least amount of connections, clamps,splices, etc the better.

[kerlee]

one tip I can provide, I placed my drain pumps behind the aft wall of the v-drive locker. The shape of the v-drive locker is such that it is narrower in width at the bottom than at the top. The locker does not necessarily expand evenly as it comes up in height. Most of the time your drain inlet on your sac is going to be in the middle of the sac about 2" up from the bottom edge. If you choose to hide your drain pump in the compartment behind the v-drive locker and drill a hole to run the drain hose through then make sure you account for the above. If you measure along the bottom of the aft wall and divide in half, your sac may not be in the middle of the compartment when it fills up. If you measure along the top of the aft wall and find the midway point and drill the hole at that point along the bottom, your sac may sit better when full of water. Hope this is not too confusing as I had to drill a second hole and move my drain hose over.
I thought about putting the drain pump at the front of sac towards the front of the boat, but when they are full and the bow is up, transom down, alot of water gets left in the sac vs if the drain pump is mounted in the rear.

[Guapo]

Majestic...for what it's worth, the link below is to a thread talking about the factory ballast piping, but I also went into how my additional ballast was installed (it's a few pages in...with some pics). I'm just posting this in case it's of benefit. Feel free to ask questions.

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...hlight=ballast

[majestic]

Majestic...for what it's worth, the link below is to a thread talking about the factory ballast piping, but I also went into how my additional ballast was installed (it's a few pages in...with some pics). I'm just posting this in case it's of benefit. Feel free to ask questions.

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...hlight=ballast

I appreciate the help. I have had lots of time to think about what I want to do but I keep going back to chpthril's install and it seems to work best for what I am trying to accomplish. I wish I had found your link sooner I have been tossing the idea of individual thru-hulls for a while but I think I remember the tsunami pumps (which I already own) like to be laying on their side versus the Johnson's which it looks like you have, plus I will be drilling one hole versus three.

[kerlee]

I appreciate the help. I have had lots of time to think about what I want to do but I keep going back to chpthril's install and it seems to work best for what I am trying to accomplish. I wish I had found your link sooner I have been tossing the idea of individual thru-hulls for a while but I think I remember the tsunami pumps (which I already own) like to be laying on their side versus the Johnson's which it looks like you have, plus I will be drilling one hole versus three.

Majestic, just remember you don't have to drill a hole in your hull for every fill pump. I have the stock ballast system and for my additional v drive locker sacs, they did the following. They inserted a brass Tee between the existing hull inlet and the existing fill pump. They did this on the stock inlets for both rear stock ballast tanks. This created 2 spots for additional fill pumps, one for each v drive locker. I have heard that in some other boats, they have one big inlet with a manifold attached that they can attach several fill pumps. It will be interesting to see what happens when i try to use both fill pumps that share the same inlet hole, whether they will fill slower or no difference. Either way, I will be sitting in the drivers seat kicking back, flipping a switch rather than doing it manually.