Chpthril's Ballast install

[da.bell]

Ok, one of the wife helping

[samw]

Ok, one of the wife helping

Bam now that is what I am talking about

[larryueckert]

dam chpthril your babies got back

[Dan and Christy]

Mike, do you really think we can get 500# in the nose with the size of the front compartment? Is there any chance you have pictures of your u-shape bag full?

[chpthril]

Mike, do you really think we can get 500# in the nose with the size of the front compartment? Is there any chance you have pictures of your u-shape bag full?

First pic is sac filled on top of seat. 2nd pic is sac filled when in bow storage. The sac deffinetly fill the entire compartment, but I agree with others that the sac does not fill completly. I think 500#'s is a good est. may be more.

[Dan and Christy]

Thanks for the pictures Mike but now I am more confused than before...when I looked under the front seats last night I saw that there is a fiberglass wall about 30" from the nose of the bow seperating the large mid compartments from the front smaller compartments. Did you have this "wall" or am I just out of my mind

[dogbert]

First pic is sac filled on top of seat. 2nd pic is sac filled when in bow storage. The sac deffinetly fill the entire compartment, but I agree with others that the sac does not fill completly. I think 500#'s is a good est. may be more.

Do you have issues with your cupholders popping out when it's full?

[chpthril]

Thanks for the pictures Mike but now I am more confused than before...when I looked under the front seats last night I saw that there is a fiberglass wall about 30" from the nose of the bow seperating the large mid compartments from the front smaller compartments. Did you have this "wall" or am I just out of my mind

Oh, same wall dividing bow from main compartment. Fly High says it's a 650# sac, I figure it alteast fills 2/3rd's full, if not more. The Tige factory (white) sac fill atleast 400#'s.

Do you have issues with your cupholders popping out when it's full?

Some times I need to add some 4200 around the rim.

[Dan and Christy]

Oh, same wall dividing bow from main compartment. Fly High says it's a 650# sac, I figure it alteast fills 2/3rd's full, if not more. The Tige factory (white) sac fill atleast 400#'s.

Great!!! Thanks Mike

[dogbert]

Some times I need to add some 4200 around the rim.

BTW, I put some large plastic cups (Rudy's BBQ) underneath them. It turns out they are just the right height and go all the way to the floor. Works like a champ and I don't have to permabond them to the gelcoat.

[chpthril]

1. I only see 2 of the fill pumps at the manifold,the 2 to empty in the rear. Where are the other 3 installed ? (pics?)

2. I see you did not install a ball valve anywhere was that not a concern to you? I am scared to death of this step.

3. No where in any of the Ballast installs did anyone cover the electrical part of this, does it go through the fuse box? How? also where did you ground the system? (I am very challanged electricly)

4. What would you have done differently?

5. Do you have a parts list?

6. Pump type? 1200 or 800 gph

I'm sure I will have more questions if you dont mind them. I am going to take my time on this and do it right. I think I will try to install everything and leave the bottom of the hull drilling for last (in case I chicken out)

Thanks for the help,

I had a request for some for info on my ballast system, so I took some more pics and will go into a little more detail about the setup.

?1) I labeled the 3 pumps in the next 2 pics. Pump 1 is for the bow sac, #2 for the port rear, and #3 is straight off the end of the manifold and fills the stbd rear sac.



The 2 rear drain pumps are behind the bulk-head wall as shown in pics 3 & 6 of post 1. The 2 front drain pumps are locate on the port & stbd side of the bow in the storage wells, and connect directly to the sacs. I went with 2 drain sacs, 1 on each bow sac leg, to aid in draining. Each has it's own drain hose and thru-hull.




Here is a pic of the bow sac vent line, it T's into the port side bow drain. There is a c-valve to prevent back-fill in the vent line while draining.


Here is a pic of the stbd drain thru-hull and the fill line. The bow sac fill line runs across the top of the fuel tank from the manifold to the bilge-vent hose pass-thru hole, then up and over the wall separating the console storage from the bow. This loop, which is higher then the sac, prevents back flow when the sac is full and boat is under way.

Stbd drain thru-hull but you cant see the T and c-valve


Rear sac vent hose, c-valve and thru-hull. Both sides are about the same.



?2) a brass ball-valve is on my list of things to do before Spring.

?3) For the electrical: I got 200ft of 14ga red, and 100ft of 14ga blk. The switches are from an ebay seller, I think the are off of Fly High's Ballast Puppies, but all you need are double-lite DPDT switches. I used a 15A marine rated manual-reset circuit breaker. You can get all of this pretty cheap from www.waytekwire.com. I also got 3 connector plugs and terminals. I recommend a lighted switch so you know if a switch is inadvertently left on.

The 3 fill pumps and the 2 rear drain pumps are grounded on the transom gnd BUSS BAR, the 2 bow drain pumps are grounded at the console gnd BUSS BAR. Power for the pumps comes off the console pwr BUSS BAR (circuit breaker box). I ran a short piece of 8ga from the bb to the 15a breaker. I soldered/crimps 3 14ga's into an 8ga terminal, ran it from the breaker to each switch for the pump feed.

?4) The only thing I would maybe have done diff would use 1" hose and 1" q/conns from Fly High, but I dont think the fill rate is really that much different. Would probably use the Johnson 950gph live well pump

?6) Attwood Tsunami T800 gph pumps

?5) Parts list.

[dogbert]

?2) a brass ball-valve is on my list of things to do before Spring.

Have you thought about where you will put this? I'd have it somewhere you can get to easily in case of an emergency. On mine, they are attached to the thru hulls with an elbow in between like you have, but it's solid brass fittings to the ball valve. I get nervous with just a hose there that's not reinforced. Alternatively, you could go with a reinforced hose like you have for your raw water intake and then move the ball valve pretty much anywhere.

But you're probably aware of all of this from your insurance background

[chpthril]

Have you thought about where you will put this? I'd have it somewhere you can get to easily in case of an emergency. On mine, they are attached to the thru hulls with an elbow in between like you have, but it's solid brass fittings to the ball valve. I get nervous with just a hose there that's not reinforced. Alternatively, you could go with a reinforced hose like you have for your raw water intake and then move the ball valve pretty much anywhere.

But you're probably aware of all of this from your insurance background

Ideally, I would like to have a brass elbow on the thru-hull with the ball-valve threaded to it, then a threaded/slip PVC fitting and PVC pipe right to the manifold. I could not what I wanted when I was ready to do the install, so I rolled with what I had. The other problem is that I couldn't reach a valve right there anyway, so I'm looking for one that can be pulled with a remote cable like a choke.

[dogbert]

Ideally, I would like to have a brass elbow on the thru-hull with the ball-valve threaded to it, then a threaded/slip PVC fitting and PVC pipe right to the manifold. I could not what I wanted when I was ready to do the install, so I rolled with what I had. The other problem is that I couldn't reach a valve right there anyway, so I'm looking for one that can be pulled with a remote cable like a choke.

I'm not familiar with the rear center cushion on your boat, but on mine it's removeable. Could you get an access plate installed that was big enough to get your hand through? I think they're called deck plates. I have a few on my fishing boat where I installed the down rigger mounts...they are kinda handy.

[chpthril]

I'm not familiar with the rear center cushion on your boat, but on mine it's removeable. Could you get an access plate installed that was big enough to get your hand through? I think they're called deck plates. I have a few on my fishing boat where I installed the down rigger mounts...they are kinda handy.

It's got an access plate, but unless you have the wingspan of Michael Phelps, you wont reach the valve