2007 22VE Ballast build

[Z3CO23]

The work looks great man. Welcome to the Denver Tige crew!

[Jetdriver]

Thx Z3!
I took a pic of the pieces I took out of the boat from drilling through. The two on the left were closest to the keel, third was on the side of the vdrive. The others are from the vent holes on the sides. image.jpg Here’s a pic of my thru hull tightening tool I fashioned. It works really good But you need to have a helper to either hold it or tighten the thru hull nut on the opposite side. This step is a 2 person job. image.jpgimage.jpg

[Jetdriver]

Check this out! I found this deck plate at west marine, 6" clear lid for $15. I figured this was a quick and easy way to be able to actually use my shutoff valves if and when I need to without trying to reach in from the back while doing a headstand in the rear compartments or removing the seat base altogether. It is made for walking on so its strong enough to not compromise the structure of the seat once screwed down. I used my jigsaw to cut the hole after I marked it. It cut very easily and smoothly. I'm going to put a second one on the other side so it's not such a stretch to reach my third valve on the side of the V drive. image.jpgimage.jpg

[Dandy]

^^^^Nice find. I may steal this idea if needed!

[Jetdriver]

So Ive been thinking a lot about where would be the best spots for my pumps. I already had a two battery system but recently added another deep cycle house battery on the port side and relocated the starting battery to the starboard side by the taps pump. This really limited the space where I've seen people mounting these pumps so I decided to get a little creative with my pump mounting. I came up with, what I think, will work fantastic all things considered and makes great use of otherwise wasted space. I'm gonna mount two of them on the vdrive support. One in the front, one on the back. This way it won't block my access to the vdrive dipstick. I fashioned a couple brackets for the pumps using galvanized steel construction brackets and stainless hardware. I marked and drilled some holes on the vdrive support and BAM!!image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

[Jetdriver]

Damn! I can't seem to get these photos to post the right way, sorry everybody. I'm good with tools, shite with computers.
Im going to mount the third pump on its side right next to the bilge fan and taps pump. I'll post more pics tomorrow after I get the plumbing and power run, hopefully it doesn't take to me long. Supposed to go waking and surfing in the AM with a some friends at Standley resevoir. Cheers!

[Jetdriver]

I made a little more progress tonight. I got the third pump mounted behind the starboard locker and rearranged the taps pump and blower to have enough room for my starter battery as well. I also finished most of the plumbing and fittings. I also ran all my power wires. I'm going to wire the switches and finish up the battery wiring and do the vent plumbing for the rear sacks tomorrow. While I was running the vent tube for the bow sack I punctured the tubing and my hand (sumbitch!) on some really sharp fiberglass shards that are sticking down underneath the bow seat support structure. Has anyone had to deal with this on their installs? I was thinking of breaking out the dremel and grinding down what I can feel or maybe glueing some carpet on the underside (maybe both) so I don't put a hole in my bow sack. Here's a couple pics of what I did tonight.

[Jetdriver]

I can't for the life of me get these pics to post oriented the correct way! I give up!

[Jetdriver]

Just about got the ballast build finished today but ran out of time. I installed a second deck plate on my center seat so I can easily reach all my shutoff valves in case of any problems.image.jpg
I also got the switches set up and wired but choose to leave the switches hanging out of the mounting plate and didn't install the covers yet. I've read through a lot of other posts about how the pump is running opposite the intended switch indication after they got it all buttoned up so I'll pop them together at the lake after I test it. That way if I have to flip any of the switches it's easy.
I still need to finish the connections from the power wire to the house battery bus and the 3 pumps connections to the switch line. I need to run the vent line in both rear compartments but wanted to wait on the bags so I have the best idea of how to route them. I decided to go with bigger bags in the rear compartments so I'm returning the first set and am waiting on the new ones to be delivered. After that I'll drop the batteries back in and be in business!

While I had my upholstery off the starboard side I ran extra wiring for a couple other little projects. I already installed a set of ocean LEDS underwater lights on the transom, some cupholder LEDs I ordered, and wiring for a light bar on the tower. I'll post some pics of the finished product when I get back into town and wrap it up. Flying to Santa Barbara for work this weekend, so I won't get a chance to work on her again until Tuesday.

[killerbren]

Nice! looks good.

it will be so nice not having to throw pumps overboard this year.

[Jetdriver]

Nice! looks good.

it will be so nice not having to throw pumps overboard this year.

So nice, luckily on my previous boat(2003 Crownline 202BR) I filled one big 500 pound sack in the ski locker and pretty much left it full unless I was pulling the boat up to the mountains. It threw a great wakeboarding wake but it was shite to surf behind.
I'm really excited to get the 22VE out on the water and test out the new system!
What part of Alberta do you live in? I'm thinking of a trip to Osoyoos, BC in July with a buddy from BC. Seems like you guys have a ton of awesome lakes up there!

[Jetdriver]

Finally got some time to work on my boat and the ballast install is complete. I took the boat to the lake today for a test run. I opted for the reversible pumps with my system and the switches all ended up indicating water flow in the right direction, I was pleasantly surprised. I did run into a couple issues though. One thing is the holes I drilled through the rear lockers by the battery wall don't line up with the fitting on the sack very well. I did my best to use the bag fitting with the bag inflated with air to line up where to put the hole for the hose but it ended up being different when it was full of water. The quick connect popped off and dumped a bunch of water in the boat before I fixed it. The other problem I had was with my right switch. Initially when I turned it on the light illuminated and it was filling the bag then as I was going to put the switch cover on I noticed the switch body was getting pretty hot. Then I saw that the light was no longer on and the pump wasn't running. I figured it was a fuse so I checked it, actually I checked all three and they were all fine. I checked the wiring on the switch compared to the other two that were working fine and it was identical. My gut tells me that the switch Is bad. If a wire was hooked up wrong it wouldn't work at all or it would blow the fuse right away. Anyone ever have these switches crap the bed on you?

[killerbren]

Now you have me worried. Right now my drains are all lined up okay but I wonder if they will stay that way when the bags are full. I will know tomorrow, test day!

[Jetdriver]

Now you have me worried. Right now my drains are all lined up okay but I wonder if they will stay that way when the bags are full. I will know tomorrow, test day!

Exactly. I thought I did a pretty good job lining it up but it was about 1 inch off after they filled with H2O. I'm going to use my hole saw to cut another hole on both sides of the original, that way the hose can move around and I won't have this issue again.

[Jetdriver]

I ended up using a 2 inch hole saw to put another hole (kinda overlapping the original) on each side of the original hole in my rear lockers for the fill/drain tube. Then cut it straight with my jig saw. This solved my issue with my hose/bag fitting alignment. I won't ever see it anyhow so I don't see the point of having such a small hole for the hose and quick connect in the first place. This way it can freely slide in and out as the bag fills and drains without risk of it catching and popping the fitting off again. I did the same thing to both sides. image.jpgimage.jpg
I called wake makers about the switch problem I had. No questions asked, sent me a new one at their cost. I'm very happy with their customer service thus far. It should be here tomorrow so I'll pop it in and test it again.
Another thing I meant to note for people using reversible pumps was that I had hooked all my intake hoses to the left side of the pumps and the right side to the bags.(looking at the front of the pump with impeller on the bottom) The switches all had the single connector up as pictured in this diagram. This ended up being the correct way to get the flow of water to match the switch indication of the intended direction first try. No cutting wires or popping covers off and flipping switches over to fix it. image.jpg
I'll post some final pics of the whole install when I get the switch in.