Jbort's Custom Ballast Upgrade

[chpthril]

Jb brought his boat up on Sunday for a custom sac upgrade. He is going with one of our custom sacs on the port side.

We are pulling the factory hard tank to make room for the custom. The batteries are getting relocated back against the transom and the engine side panel and rear bulkhead wall are getting remade.

We will be using the original fill and drain pumps, but also adding in new fill and drain pumps to speed up the process.

Here are a few pics of today's progress.

Port side from the factory


Batteries pulled


Tank pulled


New home for the batteries


New fill pump installed

[skippabcool]

We will be using the original fill and drain pumps, but also adding in new fill and drain pumps to speed up the process.

Will the pumps be inline with each other or separate lines?

[chpthril]

Will the pumps be inline with each other or separate lines?

Totally separate plumbing wise, but wired together at the switch.

[jbort]

looking good - love to see it. Kinda cool to see my boat on here. Stay out of the nasty weather.

[Timmy!]

I'm confused as to why you pulled the stock tank? Isn't it like 400lbs? It's also right in the corner where you need it for surfing. I think I might have gone a custom sac approach that fits around the battery box rather than removing the factory hard tank.

[joaquin12345]

What are you going to be doing with your old setup?? If u would like to sell any of those parts and they still work let me know. I have the 2008 RZ4 with no kind of ballast system whatsoever and would like to add something to it. Not wanting to spend killer money is my only problem but if u were just gonna get rid of the factory stuff then maybe i can help you out.

[jbort]

Joaquin - will let ya know. not sure if that would work in your boat or the benefit to you with just one tank unless its to surf on that side.

Chpthril will also likely comment later.

[chpthril]

I'm confused as to why you pulled the stock tank? Isn't it like 400lbs? It's also right in the corner where you need it for surfing. I think I might have gone a custom sac approach that fits around the battery box rather than removing the factory hard tank.

The factory tank is rated at 250#, although I do not know what it actually holds. But I can find out now! 2 things that drove the decision. 1) If I could have talked Fly High into a "stair-step" custom sac, the cost would far out weight the cost of the mod I am doing. 2) I was afraid of what the weight would do setting on top of the battery box. Its not at all designed to be load bearing, just cover the batteries.

Once I got into this, I thought long and hard about where I could relocate the batteries and leave the hard tank. It would take a ton of expensice 2/0 battery cable, but they could be moved to either the passenger mid-ship storage or over to the starboard v-drive locker. But this would result in an 80# shift in weight to the opposite side of the surf side.

[chpthril]

What are you going to be doing with your old setup?? If u would like to sell any of those parts and they still work let me know. I have the 2008 RZ4 with no kind of ballast system whatsoever and would like to add something to it. Not wanting to spend killer money is my only problem but if u were just gonna get rid of the factory stuff then maybe i can help you out.

Joaquin,

The only part of the factory setup that is getting discarded will be one hard tank. I can tell you from experience that it will probably not fit in your boat. I have tried to install the factory tanks in a Tige that did not have factory ballast.

You best bet is to go with some sacs and a manual-fill pump or two. Shoot me a PM with your budget and who you want to use the ballast and I can give you some ball-park pricing on what you may be looking at.

[skippabcool]

You best bet is to go with some sacs and a manual-fill pump or two.

Chp, from what you have stated it sounds like I would be able to use 2 pumps to fill the custom surf sac that I got from you? I haven't unpacked it yet, are there multiple places to connect into the sac? I know you had a picture on here of draining one but could not find it. Or do you use a Y to go to one connection?

The next question would be if it is worth it? I am already anticipating liking the sac and wanting to do a automated system. Can the cigarette plug pumps be converted to a switch?

[chpthril]

Chp, from what you have stated it sounds like I would be able to use 2 pumps to fill the custom surf sac that I got from you? I haven't unpacked it yet, are there multiple places to connect into the sac? I know you had a picture on here of draining one but could not find it. Or do you use a Y to go to one connection?

The next question would be if it is worth it? I am already anticipating liking the sac and wanting to do a automated system. Can the cigarette plug pumps be converted to a switch?

The sac comes with 3 ports, but additional fittings can be added if someone wanted to do a multi fill/drain pump system. I will be doing this to the custom sac going in Jbort's and will document it here in the next couple of days.

I suppose you could Y a pair of pumps together into a single sac port. I have not tested the flow, but I would guess it would be faster then a single pump, but not double the speed of a single pump. The key would be to use 1" hose and fittings from the Y to the sac.

yes, the W709 Tsunami manual pup you have could be incorporated into the plumbed-in system, but I would recommend keeping it as a backup since you already have it.

[skippabcool]

Thanks.

[chpthril]

Update

new walls are cut and test fit and have first coat of resin. I'll have pics of those once they are finished and carpeted.

FAE is installed


Additional ports are glued into the sac. One on the bottom side of the rear side for the 2nd drain and one in the far front corner on top as the vent. The two original ports on top will be for the fills.
Deiced on port placement, mark and cut with exacto knife. The hole will need to be larger then the threaded neck so the flange will pass through, but its better to cut hole and try the fitting and trim a little more until the flange fits. Keep the hole round, do not make it a slit. Just dont cut through the other side of the sac.




I used rubber cement. Apply a bead on both the flange and the nut, pop the thru-hull into the sac and without letting go, drop the nut on and thread it down and tighten it up. If using an elbow, get it oriented before the nut is tight and the glue is set.


new fitting on the top


I did one at a time to allow the glue to cure. Keep the sac ballooned up a little so the fitting doesn't glue itself to the inside of the sac.

[embo]

Nice work on all that. Thanks for putting up the pics on your progress. Love the FAE.

[jbort]

Its lookin sweet!