01 2100V Surf Ballast

[chopper515]

New Tige owner here. I'm setting up surf ballast on the port side. Has anyone ever done anything like the picture below shows? I figure both sacks will fill till the 325 is full, then the 600 will fill up and vent out. I spoke with wakemakers and the only issue they saw was the 325 might not drain all the way. If this is the case I could always set the boat at 10mph, turn the pump on and all the water should go back to the pump. Sorry for the crappy drawing, I did it in 2 minutes on microsoft paint.

Surf Ballast.jpg

[chpthril]

In scenarios like this, filling is usually ok, but draining is the issue. The aerator pump will not do well to draw water form the forward sac, unless the boat is at a high attitude allowing the water to gravity drain back into the aft sac. Having said that, without a vent on the forward sac, there is a chance that it will trap air. This will reduce the amount of water it holds.

Are these 2 sacs that you already have?

[chopper515]

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll give it a try and if I have issues I'll just buy another pump and Y the fill pump and do separate drain pumps and vents.

[duffymahoney]

Trust me and just do seperate drain pumps or get chpthril to make you a custom sac. The wave will be better and doing it once is cheaper in the long run.

[chopper515]

I already ordered the sacs and plumbing. I might as well try it and upgrade the pump situation if necessary.

[davcoug]

I have the same boat, I tried similar to what you are doing. Finally broke down and bought the 1100# enzo bag. I am sure Chpthrl sells them. Everything you need is done and you won't have the headaches. You can throw your 325 in the bow when you don't have enough friends along and the 600 in the starboard for when you are wakeboarding.

[chopper515]

I ordered extra fittings and hoses so I can vent the 325, so this will solve the trapped air issue while filling. The only thing I'll have to worry about is getting it to drain. I guess I'll see in a month or two. Otherwise davcoug has a good idea for a long term plan. davcoug, what issues did you have when you tried this setup?

[davcoug]

I didn't do that exactly, i plumbed in a 750 in the back compartment and then threw a manual fill 300 on the seat in front of it. Finally said screw it and bought the big sack so i just hit the button and filled the one and made life easier. If you have everything and it works more power to ya. I would think that if you vent the front bag it would drain most of it back into the rear bag as it drains out. You probably should run a vent for each bag though. When the first fills it will vent out the top before the bigger one is done. Hope it works for you.

[chopper515]

Both vents will "Y" together and go out 1 thru hull above the height of both bags. As the small bag gets full, it should simply continue to fill the big bag until both are full and then it will vent out. Water will seek its own level so the small bag can't vent out higher than the big bag until they are both full.

[davcoug]

That makes sense. Let us know how it turns out.

[chopper515]

Drilled and installed the thru hull last night and mocked up the manifold. Anybody see any issues/concerns? I'm still waiting on my sacs and switch panel.

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[davcoug]

Looks good to me. That is very similar to what i did.

[chopper515]

Here are some more pics. I got all the plumbing except the vent lines done (waiting on another order). I have the wires ran to the dash to where I can connect ground to either fill or drain to run the pumps so I can try it out this Sunday. With the sumo bags I should be able to burp the bags with the built in link valve (check valve) until I get the vents done.

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[chopper515]

I tried it out Sunday and it works very well. I still haven't gotten the vents installed but it's a proof of concept. I was able to get almost all of the water out. I drained it stationary until it stopped pumping and then I drove at surf speed for a minute or 2 to get all the water to run to the back and and it drained it really close to dry.

[duffymahoney]

Wave pictures!? That's the fun part