Automatic Ballast for a 2100v Ltd

[SPBFAN]

Nice job Dogebert call me on the impellers.

[dogbert]

Nice job Dogebert call me on the impellers.

Will do. So far so good. We were out again surfing. It was soooo cool just to switch ballast in about 3 minutes. We had about half the crew riding goofy and half riding regular. We switched back and forth a few times.

Thanks again for getting me motivated to do this myself!

[KonaKing]

[eks]

Great job! I like how you did your intake.

[samw]

Dog,
Sometime when your out and you have the ballast filled could you take a pics?? I would like to see how it fills the space.
When filled what do you do with all your stuff, cooler, towels, etc.

Thanks

[Thomas]

about that leak you detected in the bow I heard from one of the guys at wakeside to use pvc apoxy I'm in the works of putting a system in my 21v throught the raw water hose anybody had any luck with this

[dogbert]

I tried this and was not happy with it. I had issues with air getting in the water intake to my impeller. It caused my temp gauge to do weird things.

You're better off doing what I did. It's really not that hard and you have plenty of room back there. You will need a buddy to help, tho.

[jwanck11]

Wow. Cool! How long did the project take??

[SPBFAN]

Wow. Cool! How long did the project take??

I just sent you a PM about this.

[dogbert]

All-in-all, it probably took me twice as long as it should have, but I was being anal about having all the right stuff on hand. Way too many trips to Home Depot and the aborted raw-water intake option.

I would say you could get it all done in a weekend pretty easily. There's a fair amount of dry time for the thru hulls. I used the fast drying 3M 5200 adhesive, but it still takes 24-48 hrs to cure. If you have a helper, it goes much faster. The installation of the fittings was relatively easy, it took longer to wire everything and run all the hoses.

My situation was somewhat unique because my boat couldn't handle the 2" intake SPBFAN and others have used, there just wasn't room for it anywhere. That reminds me, I have a 2" thru hull, scoop and shut-off valve that I never used if anyone needs one. These parts are kinda expensive, so I'll just include the shipping to wherever you are in the price.

The vents were easy to install and didn't take a lot of thought. The bigger dilemma for me was the intake. The idea for the 1" intakes came from my son Ryan. SPBFAN validated that it would work when he told me that Mastercraft used the Ballast Puppies in their boats and had individual intakes in the bottom of their hulls.

The system is really nice and I've not experienced the leakage the others reported...perhaps because there's no vacuum created at the transom like there would be with the scoop. It fills and empties really fast and I can dump ballast while underway. I do have to be either in lock forward or idle to fill, but that's not a big issue.

As for the other issues mentioned in other threads about not knowing when you're empty, it's pretty easy to tell by the bubbles coming up from the transom when I'm just floating.

[Coach]

I used the fast drying 3M 5200 adhesive, but it still takes 24-48 hrs to cure. .

Did you use he 5200 on the vent though hulls as well or just a silicon sealant?

[dogbert]

Did you use he 5200 on the vent though hulls as well or just a silicon sealant?

Yes. I suppose silicone would have been enough, but my rear vents are often bellow the waterline when we're surfing as we have water flowing over the rubrail

[rogersbm82]

Nice thread and nice job on the install. Do you have any pictures of the switches you used for the pumps?

[dogbert]

Ooops, I'll try and get some today.

[Coach]

Yes. I suppose silicone would have been enough, but my rear vents are often bellow the waterline when we're surfing as we have water flowing over the rubrail

Good Point! Didn't think of that. 5200 it is. Did you have to put a check valve on your bilge pump line? Whould it even matter?