RZ2 basic ballast to Surf plus

[Ewok]

Here is the finished product. I figured out the drain lines need to be connected to the center port on the bag. I was also planning to split the bow sac into two halves but I don't think it's necessary, the wave has plenty of height with the rear locker bag full, plus the factory hard tank, plus the full 400 lb bow sac.

[NICKYPOO]

Right on. Looks awesome Ewok. Well done.

[IDBoating]

I got to see this install in person over the weekend, and trust me folks - it's awesome! Everything is clean and tight, and he preserved his storage capacity which is important for how he uses his boat. Most importantly, his wife approves of it too!

Here's an idea: Want to try that "double wave" trick using our two boats? I hear it's really cool to have linked waves that let you surf all the way across from one to the other.

Nice job on the install, Ewok. Looking forward to a fun summer!

[mls6722]

Ewok, the wave looks amazing. Your 360 looks great too.

[NICKYPOO]

What kind of fill and drain times are you getting?

[Ewok]

I am getting a 7 min fill time and about 8-10 min drain time. I accidentally moved a loop in one of the factory fill hoses and now I'm getting a little passive filling into the port hard tank so I'll fix that before I head out again. The fill times are impressive for attwood 800 pumps, having the vent lines from the factory tanks helps speed up the fill times a lot. I also found that the factory tanks help drain the bags too with a siphon effect as long as I don't get any air bubbles in the "vent" line which is plumbed from the hard tank to the top of the new sacks.

[2thdoc01]

Ewok,

How is that IS SS Pro working out?

[2thdoc01]

Are these the same bags everyone is using? It looks like Mike is out of the old style?

Wait for new version or get these?

http://www.wakemakers.com/tige-piggy...upgrade-1.html

[Ewok]

Ewok,

How is that IS SS Pro working out?

Are these the same bags everyone is using? It looks like Mike is out of the old style?

Wait for new version or get these?

http://www.wakemakers.com/tige-piggy...upgrade-1.html

I like the SS pro alot. I haven't ridden many over types of board, most of my experience is on the IS blue lake and it's a huge step up from that board.

I know it's a lot of pages to read but I worked with Chpthrill and WABoating and others on this design. I didn't have the surf or pro ballast system, just the basic hard tanks under the locker floors. Chpthrill has some custom bags for the RZ2 but my goal on this upgrade was to balance cost and ease of install. I went with the W719 sacs from fly high, I ordered all my parts from Chpthrill. I cut and added an extra fill port on top of the bag so I could run the vent from the hard tank into the bag to help speed up the fill times, but I also have a seperate fill and drain pump for the new bags as well, so it's not as easy as the piggy back system on wakemakers website. So to sum it up, it's not an easy piggy back system, it's a custom piggy back system usin a stock w719 that I modified with an extra fill port on top of the bag.

[robert theisen]

Great job EWOK!!! Also a nice write up and lots of props to everyone who helped out!!!

[Ewok]

Based on the other threads digging into upgrading the ballast systems, here is my review and experience so far. From the first water test I realized I had a passive draining problem from the drain lines on the hard tanks, so I had to route those to the opposite sides of the boat. That means that all the line for vent and drain are routed to the opposite side to prevent the passive draining. I also had to install one-way check valves on the fill lines for the factory hard tanks. I routed the lines as high as possible but the pressure from my W719 ended up siphoning and passively draining through the hard tank vent line (which is routed to help fill the big bag). After I put the check valves in I have cured my passive draining issues.

One un-intended consequence of using the hard tank vent line to fill the bag on top is that it doesn't give the hard tank a vent to draw in air to replace the water when the tank is draining. Because it's acting like a closed system, I have to disconnect the vent line going into the bag to break the seal and allow air to enter the hard tank which allows the tank to empty. If I don't remove the vent line, the drain pump for the hard tank pulls water from the lake through the fill line and re-fills the hard tank with water from lake, in effect, it does not empty without some intervention. My 3 work arounds for this issue are to manually remove the vent hose, drain the tank when the boat is on plane, which prevents the fill line from flowing water into the hard tank, or wait till it's on the trailer and hit drain as I'm wiping it down. For some reason it only happens on the port side, it does not have this issue with the starboard side. I'm going to do some more experimenting while I figure out why it's only one side and not the other.