Winter Upgrades

[Wakeman22]

Port Side. I may still need to adjust these a little to have them continue an incline to prevent airlock.

[Iwndr]

Looking Good Wakeman Your wiring looks better than Factory

[Wakeman22]

Nest I worked on fittings and plumming the sacks. I used the nylon snap clamps. These worked well but I was not sure how tight to make them. The broken pliers probably mean the I squeezed too much. Or probably had a cheap pair.

I have a strong grip but putting the hose on the fittings take a little doing. They get hot and are still hard to put on. When you are done you may just have a grip of a gorrilla.

[Wakeman22]

Tonight I was able to finish all the hookups for one sack in the port locker. I got others stated but not completed. The hardest part of this install has been the 5 bag system. It has taken a lot of time to get all of these done. If it was just a two bag setup I would be done. But I wanted to do it all now and not have to add more at a later time. Here is a shot of the hoses in the port locker ready for the sack. I will clean up the area before evrything is done. The boat needs a major detail. If all goes well the rest of the week it will be water test this coming weekend. Updates at that time.

[chpthril]

Nest I worked on fittings and plumming the sacks. I used the nylon snap clamps. These worked well but I was not sure how tight to make them. The broken pliers probably mean the I squeezed too much. Or probably had a cheap pair.

I have a strong grip but putting the hose on the fittings take a little doing. They get hot and are still hard to put on. When you are done you may just have a grip of a gorrilla.

Damn, those are some tough arse temporary clamps

[skippabcool]

You got the clamps closed more than I did. After I broke one I only went so far.

Looking good.

[mls6722]

Harbor Freight channel lock pliers?

[mls6722]

The installation looks great.

[Wakeman22]

Harbor Freight channel lock pliers?

Probably Walmart.

[chpthril]

If you look at the broken surfaces, one is shiny, one is rusted.....those pliers have been an accident waiting to happen. They been cracked for awhile.

[Wakeman22]

Well the first water test is complete and as a plumber I failed. For the most part all worked well but there were a few issues.

First off I want to thanks Ewok for his help. He drove up here with a 3 1/2 hour drive. He had a very systematic way for the testing and setting up the ideal wake that we could obtain with this current setup. Many thanks Ewok.

[Wakeman22]

On to the test. The pumps and wiring worked great. Bags filled great and drained well to. At one point however I had a flood of water coming out along the starboard wall. Appearently the drain pump for the mid sack came off and water was going everywhere. I am not sure why it came off but it may not have been locked on well.

Issues I had...

Leaks at the drain thru hulls. These were some of the first connections I made and used stainless clamps. Even tightening the heck out of them I could not get a complete seal and had a few drips. I will now go back with double clamps.

One pump had a small leak at the hose attachment point and tightening the clamp stopped it. During the install I kept tightening these calmps and I am not sure why they are not sealing completely and are needing repeated tightening.

The two mid sacks would drain out on thier own. I believe this was a siphoning effect. The hoses are roughted up high and back down to the sacks but they would slowely drain back. A check vavle will elliminate this problem. So back to ordering more parts.

Note: There has been a lot of discussion on stainless vs nylon clamps. I did 70 connections and used both. So far what I have seen is that I had leakes at the stainless clamps even when tightened to the point the screw driver stopped. But had no leaks at the connections where I used the nylon clamps. Not sure why. ???

Another issue was the jumbo surf sacks pushing on the engine panels and bowing them in. These will need stiffiners put on them. Also the starbaord side popped the u-channel off of the floor so these areas will need to be reinforced and will probably go to aluminium.

All in all I am happy with the install. After I fix some of the issues it will be even better. It sure beats manual filling hands down. Fill times seemed vey quick. Did not time it but I would say about 6-8 minutes.

The bst thing about yesterday was the first time out in the water for the year. We both got many sets in and had a blast surfing. Ewok worked on dailing in the wave and found settings that worked well. Speed at 10.6mph and taps at 5 or 6 worked very well. Of course it was found that more wieght would be better. I forgot to load in the lead bags I have. That would have probably got the rubrail into the water. Next time.

For all the guys in the warm climates we went and it was 61-62 degree water temp and 74 air temps. Just fine.

[Wakeman22]

If you look at the broken surfaces, one is shiny, one is rusted.....those pliers have been an accident waiting to happen. They been cracked for awhile.

I saw that in a later time. You are right. However I was putting a lot of pressure on them.

[mls6722]

On to the test. The pumps and wiring worked great. Bags filled great and drained well to. At one point however I had a flood of water coming out along the starboard wall. Appearently the drain pump for the mid sack came off and water was going everywhere. I am not sure why it came off but it may not have been locked on well.

Issues I had...

Leaks at the drain thru hulls. These were some of the first connections I made and used stainless clamps. Even tightening the heck out of them I could not get a complete seal and had a few drips. I will now go back with double clamps.

One pump had a small leak at the hose attachment point and tightening the clamp stopped it. During the install I kept tightening these calmps and I am not sure why they are not sealing completely and are needing repeated tightening.

The two mid sacks would drain out on thier own. I believe this was a siphoning effect. The hoses are roughted up high and back down to the sacks but they would slowely drain back. A check vavle will elliminate this problem. So back to ordering more parts.

Note: There has been a lot of discussion on stainless vs nylon clamps. I did 70 connections and used both. So far what I have seen is that I had leakes at the stainless clamps even when tightened to the point the screw driver stopped. But had no leaks at the connections where I used the nylon clamps. Not sure why. ???

Another issue was the jumbo surf sacks pushing on the engine panels and bowing them in. These will need stiffiners put on them. Also the starbaord side popped the u-channel off of the floor so these areas will need to be reinforced and will probably go to aluminium.

All in all I am happy with the install. After I fix some of the issues it will be even better. It sure beats manual filling hands down. Fill times seemed vey quick. Did not time it but I would say about 6-8 minutes.

The bst thing about yesterday was the first time out in the water for the year. We both got many sets in and had a blast surfing. Ewok worked on dailing in the wave and found settings that worked well. Speed at 10.6mph and taps at 5 or 6 worked very well. Of course it was found that more wieght would be better. I forgot to load in the lead bags I have. That would have probably got the rubrail into the water. Next time.

For all the guys in the warm climates we went and it was 61-62 degree water temp and 74 air temps. Just fine.

Thanks for the details of the checkout run Wakeman. This really helps us who are putting new systems together. It sounds like a successful checkout and a fun day.

[chpthril]

On to the test. The pumps and wiring worked great. Bags filled great and drained well to. At one point however I had a flood of water coming out along the starboard wall. Appearently the drain pump for the mid sack came off and water was going everywhere. I am not sure why it came off but it may not have been locked on well.

What exactly came apart? was it the female q/c came off the male q/c that threads in the sac? If so, make sure the little black retainers that hold the red release clip didn't snap. if so, let me know and I will get you a couple replacements out.

The two mid sacks would drain out on their own. I believe this was a siphoning effect. The hoses are roughted up high and back down to the sacks but they would slowely drain back. A check vavle will elliminate this problem. So back to ordering more parts.

How is the plumbing routed? Were the mid sacs draining back into the large sac or out the drain/vent line?

Another issue was the jumbo surf sacks pushing on the engine panels and bowing them in. These will need stiffiners put on them. Also the starbaord side popped the u-channel off of the floor so these areas will need to be reinforced and will probably go to aluminium.

This is a common side-effect of the large ballast sacs. One thing to do is to make sure the sac is filling with water and venting properly. If it does not vent, it will trap air and blow up like a balloon. At this point, it puts a lot of stress on the surrounding walls.

For reinforcing the wall retainers, aluminum angle-iron works great to beef up the plastic U chnl

Your system looks like it has turned out great, with only a couple little bugs to work through. Glad you guys were able to hook up and hit the water