Extra v-drive sacs in the X-star

[Jerseydave]

I want to add the (2) Fly High V-drive sacs in my '05 X-star. My question is can I just connect the existing ballast overflow hose to the bottom of the new sac and run a new vent/overflow hose? Do I need any one-way check valve anywhere, or just the hose? Will it fill and empty okay?

Looking for the most economical way to do this. Not wanting to spend $1200 for the whole Fly-high X-star system.

Thanks,
Dave

[ridesdirt]

Call these guys an ask for Joe.
http://mymastercraft.com/index.cfm

Joe should be able to hook you up.

[skeeler]

I was wondering the same thing. I often thought about doing just that, but I was wonder if anyone had tried it, and the out come.

I want to add the (2) Fly High V-drive sacs in my '05 X-star. My question is can I just connect the existing ballast overflow hose to the bottom of the new sac and run a new vent/overflow hose? Do I need any one-way check valve anywhere, or just the hose? Will it fill and empty okay?

Looking for the most economical way to do this. Not wanting to spend $1200 for the whole Fly-high X-star system.

Thanks,
Dave

[Harvey]

I haven't tried that but if you are going to buy the V drive sacs why not just do a couple 750s for a little more and pull out the hard tanks. You gain storage and you get the benefit of the weight of the tank and the v drive sac. They fill and drain easy and you only have about $50-75 bucks extra cost for the upgraded bags.

[shunra]

I want to add the (2) Fly High V-drive sacs in my '05 X-star. My question is can I just connect the existing ballast overflow hose to the bottom of the new sac and run a new vent/overflow hose? Do I need any one-way check valve anywhere, or just the hose? Will it fill and empty okay?

Looking for the most economical way to do this. Not wanting to spend $1200 for the whole Fly-high X-star system.

Thanks,
Dave

I have thought about this myselft and I think if you do it that way you might have trouble emptying the sac. When you fill it, the hard tank would fill first then overflow and start filling the sac, which should work for filling. However when it comes time to empty, I think the sac will only empty if the hight of the sac is above the hight of the overflow on the hard tank, which it is not. I am thinking you will be able to empty the hard tank and not the sac.

I was thinking I would put a "Y" in the fill line, run that to the fill line of the sac. I think I will put a valve in that line as well. Then with the valve open the level in the tank and the sac will equalize and they should both fill and empty at the same time. If I ever want to remove the sac, or just not fill it, I will just close the valve.

[Jerseydave]

I haven't tried that but if you are going to buy the V drive sacs why not just do a couple 750s for a little more and pull out the hard tanks. You gain storage and you get the benefit of the weight of the tank and the v drive sac. They fill and drain easy and you only have about $50-75 bucks extra cost for the upgraded bags.

Your X-1 hard tanks are in the back corners of the boat, while the 2005 X-star tanks are more foward under the wrap-around part of the back seat. Plus the X-star hard tanks are much larger than the X-1 tanks, and would be difficult to remove.

My buddy has an '06 X-1 and he did remove the stock hard tanks, replaced them with fly-high sacs, works great. He also has about 750 lbs. in the bow and ski locker, real nice wake! :)

[Jerseydave]

I have thought about this myselft and I think if you do it that way you might have trouble emptying the sac. When you fill it, the hard tank would fill first then overflow and start filling the sac, which should work for filling. However when it comes time to empty, I think the sac will only empty if the hight of the sac is above the hight of the overflow on the hard tank, which it is not. I am thinking you will be able to empty the hard tank and not the sac.

I was thinking I would put a "Y" in the fill line, run that to the fill line of the sac. I think I will put a valve in that line as well. Then with the valve open the level in the tank and the sac will equalize and they should both fill and empty at the same time. If I ever want to remove the sac, or just not fill it, I will just close the valve.

I see what you're saying, which would be true if my hard tanks were above floor level like your X2, however the 2005 X-star hard tanks are below floor level, so gravity would should cause the fly-high sacs to drain into the hard tanks and then the water should pump out from there. I could be wrong on this, that's why I was hoping someone had some real-world experience with it on this boat.

Maybe ERK can chime in, I think he's done this before? ERK, are you there???

[Harvey]

Hooked on phonics didn't work for me I saw you wrote Xstar but I thought old model Xstar. I will go back to 3 grade reading comprehension.

I think what you are trying to do will work now that I actually think about it.

[PaulW]

Dave,
I added the extra sacks hooked into the factory plumbing system as you outlined, and the set up works great. On the 07 they have timed pumps and it does not work as well. You do not need a valve, but you need some sort of thing in the bag to keep it from sucking its self together. I used a piece of 1/2" plastic pvc drilled at 90 deg angles with a 5/16" bit. Just put a few of these in the sacks and it lets the air vent through the sacks so the system can drain. I have an 06 XStar

[Jerseydave]

Dave,
I added the extra sacks hooked into the factory plumbing system as you outlined, and the set up works great. On the 07 they have timed pumps and it does not work as well. You do not need a valve, but you need some sort of thing in the bag to keep it from sucking its self together. I used a piece of 1/2" plastic pvc drilled at 90 deg angles with a 5/16" bit. Just put a few of these in the sacks and it lets the air vent through the sacks so the system can drain. I have an 06 XStar


So just slide those 1/2" PVC pipes into the bottom fill plug of the fatsacs so they don't collapse? Interesting idea, it just makes them stiff, correct? How long should the PVC be? I'd be afraid of it rubbing a hole in the fatsac over time.
Did you connect the upper vent of the fatsac to your vent hose that exits the boat? That's what I think I'll do.

[PaulW]

So just slide those 1/2" PVC pipes into the bottom fill plug of the fatsacs so they don't collapse? Interesting idea, it just makes them stiff, correct? How long should the PVC be? I'd be afraid of it rubbing a hole in the fatsac over time.
Did you connect the upper vent of the fatsac to your vent hose that exits the boat? That's what I think I'll do.


Dave, Yes it works well. You could also use some heater hose and drill some holes to keep the sack venting, if you did not want the rigid pipe.
I did connect the upper vent of the fatsac, to the vent on the side of the boat. It will not work if the system is not vented. Well it will to some degree, but it will suck a major vacuum on the system and will burn out the impellers.
I used a couple of pieces in each sack 8" to 10" shorter than the sacks.
.