Rival Ballast Install

[talltigeguy]

It is now official. This is my first post as a senior member. I hope that they can change my subtitle to 'I have no life but Tige'.

It is only fitting that I start a lengthy thread to detail the installation of the Rival Ballast system. By the time I get done posting here, I expect to be a super senior member.

I have been considering a ballast system since last summer when I started surfing more. I have always felt that my 2005 24V needed very little extra ballast to creat a fantastic wakeboarding wake. Surfing is another matter - I need weight, lots of it. Having a boat full of newbies (seems to be my penchant) and trying to fill sacs and tripping over 12V plugs all got to be tedious.

My dealer, who I think is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world, discouraged a ballast system. He says it was a pain to put in and 2 of the 3 he has done requested it be removed later for various reasons. I strongly hesitated to do anything against his advice, in fact I haven't told him yet, because I don't want to have to tell him I didn't do what he thinks is best. I will send him a link to this thread and we'll see what he has to say.

I am not a craftsman, really. I am not a mechanic or construction type of guy. I love to work in the boat, have done a lot of stereo work on my own and this seemed like a doable project. I do consider myself reasonably intelligent. This project required far more thinking than I was hoping for, but I'll be getting into that later. I initially talked to Kevin Barrett at Rival and he was very attentive and articulate and available. It seemed that with a little phone support, I was sure that I could do the project. Unfortunately, he is no longer with them, but the other folks I talked to seemed decent, although my impression is that they are not up to par with Kevin's communication skills. The person I found most helpful was another fellow named Kevin who does mechanical work and installations for Rival. He was very useful, but sometimes not available, because he would be in the middle of a job. I felt like they made every effort to answer my questions.

I am not afraid of a little hard work, or of busting my knuckles a little (which happened a few times).

[talltigeguy]

A trip to the hardware store

I ordered the system and was thrilled to get it within a week. I opened it in the kitchen and started pulling things out and going through it all. I was sort of like a kid at Christmas.

I went through the parts list and found most everything to be there. I was missing just a few screws for the through hull fitting.

There was a list of the things that I would need included with the instructions. This included tools like a 3/4 inch hole saw for the outlet through hull, a 2 inch hole saw for the intake in the bottom of the boat, to name just a few things.

I immediately noticed that there were going to be things not sent to me and not listed as necessary items that I was going to need. This is where I was most frustrated with the system. It was clear I would need electrical connectors that were not provided, but were not listed in the items to buy either. They sent a fuse holder, but no fuse. I only have one thing to say to Rival about that - pull yourself together!

After Kevin Barrett left Rival, I decided that I could do it myself. There are many resources online if one were to decide to do it that way. I in fact, started a list of necessary parts. I quickly became overwhelmed by the need to pay attention to detail and make sure that all of the fittings came together properly. Wakeworld is full of guys who got nearly done and then couldn't fit things together because one hose was 3/4 inch internal diameter and the other was 3/4 inch outside diameter, for example. I decided that I was into doing the job, not going to the hardware store to get parts. I ended up going to Lowe's and Home Depot way too many times. If the parts needed list had been accurate and complete, I wouldn't have had to waste my time. I don't think it would be too hard to have put things together correctly.

Example number 1: the parts list said I would need a 3/4 inch hole saw.

Now look at the through hull drain fitting and the 3/4 inch hole saw I bought:

[talltigeguy]

I gotta go wakeboarding!

I'll try to finish this thread this afternoon. I have to go wakeboarding now. The glass is calling my name.

[Bog]

where are you going to drill the hole? through the bottom or the back of the boat? If the back, do you realize you wont be able to fill while moving? If the bottom why dont you get a scoop style through hull fitting.

[Domsz06]

I have the rival ballast system, and it was the easiest thing in the world to install, and they were very informative to me. Yeah they didn't put the connectors in, but I have those around the house, so didn't think anything of it.

I thought it was cake, works great, and they fixed my problem with the switch overnight.

Let me know if you need any questions answered.

[talltigeguy]

Dom,

I've got the entire system installed already. I've been working on it piece by piece as time would let me. Thanks for offering to help. I don't mean to state that the system was difficult, I would emphasize that one of my reasons for going with the Rival was so that I would not have to make trips to the store, and they let me down to some degree there. If I wanted to make lots of stops at the store or online, I would have ordered it a piece at a time and done it myself.

Bog,

I think that you misunderstood. The pic above is the DRAIN fitting. So that is installed near the rubrail to empty the sacks.

[talltigeguy]

Another trip to the hardware store

Because I was going to be using the boat as I was doing the install, I tried to not do anything that would impair the function of the boat, unless I could finish that specific job. My first goal was to get the drain system intact. I could even use the 12V pumps that I have always used to drain the bags, just connect them to the tubing and plug in as needed.

The first issue is fittings. I have Pro-X series sacs. I use one V-drive side sac on one side of the engine, one custom made surf sac that holds about 1300+ pounds on the port side and then a U-shaped sac for the bow. I want to be able to easily remove the sacks so that I can dry out the carpet as needed. I purchased the quick connect elbows that can be bought from www.wakeside.com. I found them to be pleasant and knowledgeable. I knew that the system used 3/4 inch hose so I bought 3/4 inch fittings.

The Rival system came with the 3/4 inch hose and some 3/4 to 1 inch connectors. The pump intake is 1 inch. The bag fittings are available in 1 inch. It seemed stupid to me to restrict the flow before it even gets to the pump by putting a 3/4 inch connector and then attaching it to the bottom of the pump via a 1 inch hose. I was eager to get the drain for the surf sac started, so I put it together.

This is a pic of the 3/4 inch quick connect, then 3/4 inch hose, then the 3/4 inch to 1 inch adapter, 1 inch hose, then the pump. In my mind, any extra connectors are simply opportunities for a leak or problem to occur, so I ordered some 1 inch connectors for all of the drains. I had to go to the hardware store to buy some 1 inch hose. it was not included and it seems obvious that they knew I would need it (they included the connectors), but they did not put it on the list of things to buy on my first trip.

[talltigeguy]

Then came drilling the holes in the side of the boat for the drain tube. As I stated a few posts ago, they said I needed a 3/4 inch hole saw to make that hole. No, it is obviously bigger than 3/4 inch. You can see the nut that tightens it is greater than one inch in diameter.

Fortunately, I had some hole saws already. I chose to do this job at night and no one was available to tell me how big to make the hole. I then took an old piece of wood and used my 1 1/4 inch and 1 1/2 inch hole saws to make some holes. Guess what - one was too big and one was too small. So I am off to the hardware store again to get a 1 3/8 hole saw. This fit perfectly.

[talltigeguy]

Now that I have my 1 3/8 hole saw, I am ready to drill into some fiberglass. I found it helpful to use the hole saw in reverse, and had no problems with cracking of gelcoat. I did not tape over the hole, although I have seen some people recommend using masking tape to help eliminate the risk of gel coat cracking.

Make sure that you have a mandrel that is long enough. The Mandrel is the drill bit that is centered in the hole saw. For the 1 3/8 hole saw, mine was too short, so I had no way of stabilizing the saw on the fiberglass and it tends to jump on you. Neither Lowe's, nor Home Depot had mandrels long enough.

If you look close, you can see where it jumped on me. I didn't worry too much, because the flange on the drain pipe will cover that scuff.

[talltigeguy]

Here is a chunk of my baby!
You can see where I first drilled a small hole to be sure it went through to the other side where I expected it to go.

[talltigeguy]

This is how the fitting went in. The hoses are quite tight, so I found it easier to put the first segment of hose on and then put it through the hull.

[talltigeguy]

And then the look from the outside. I think they look very nice. I wondered why they went with the plastic with the cheap chrome overlay, a fully chromed out one can be found on www.iboats.com. If I were ordering it myself, that is what I would have gotten. As long as the durability is there, I won't worry about it.

[talltigeguy]

The drain from the sac goes through the pump, out to the discharge hose, through a 3 way connector and out the side of the boat. The hose that goes off of the three way connector is the vent hose. When the bag is full, I know it because water spill out over the side of the boat. The vent hose comes off of the top of the bag. There needs to be a check valve so that when the sac is emptying, it just doesn't pump water back into the sack. Some systems simply drill 2 holes in the side of the boat and don't have a check valve.

The vent hose has a 3/4 inch quick connect that attaches it to the sack.

[talltigeguy]

Getting the front drain on took a little more effort.

I first removed the stereo speaker and was able to reach inside and loosen a nut on the wall of the bow that holds the cushion on. I was then able to lift the cushion out of the way and remove it altogether.

[talltigeguy]

I was then able to drill another through hull and attach drain and vent hoses as before.

A word about getting the hoses on the connectors. They are very tight. The instructions gave very good advice to heat up the hose with a heat gun or blow dryer. I nearly gave myself a blister before realizing that heat was the key. I found it worked best if I heated it up to the point it was difficult to handle, then using a rag or gloves, I could put it on. It helps to lube the connector with water, 303 protectant or spit, whatever I could find at the time.