Advice Needed

[amax420]

Im a complete newbie... I have a 2000 XStar with 540 hours.. Bought it two years ago in Minneapolis with only 310 when I bought it. About 6 months after I bought it, found out the motor had taken on water a couple of times. :( Had a tough time finding out why, well.. shortly after, came to my friends slip to find my (new to me) boat going down again. I sure found out how water was getting in after that!! A measly ballast fill valve had gone bad and was continuously leaking into the ski locker, bilge float was stuck and the rubber plug which stops water from entering the bilge area was conveniently missing. I probably don't have to say anymore...

I took it to Bricks Boatworks in Shakopee MN (those guys are great btw), they drained water from the block, removed plugs, changed oil, replaced the starter and alternator. About $1,300 and 6 months later, the sickening feeling in my stomach quickly faded away. The guys at Bricks were not able to find out why the valve was leaking so they install a "on/off" switch in one of the ballast fill lines. So anytime I wanted to fill the ballast, I had to remove a seat turn the switch to on, fill and then turn it off. When its time to dump, switch goes on, dump.. and off. Its a pain the rear. Does anyone know how I would find out where the leak is coming from?

Wish the guy that sold the boat to me would have mentioned this to me. Would have saved me a lot of time and money. But, I guess that was heck of a learning experience.

Since, i now have a temporary fix for my ballast issue, I have been slowly cleaning up the boat and am now interested in installing LED's (as courtesy lights) and underwater lights. I am pretty sure I have read almost every thread on this topic. I will post pics as I progress. Any ideas or tips/hints are greatly appreciated.

Tower speakers and lights-

I have the "knight rider" Boss 3 light tower bar and 2 MB Quart Tower speaks running off of a clarion amp (might be the stock amp) but not sure.. They sound decent while just hanging out but I seriously have a hard time hearing them when I am surfing. That is just not acceptable in my book. When the music is loud enough for me to hear it while surfing, the darn amp fuse blows. The stock Clarion CD player was swapped out for a Sony CDX-M30, and I am constantly asking someone to turn the radio up or down while driving. I just ordered a compatible wired remote but am afraid the sony will not fit where the existing clarion wired remote is installed. Again, any suggestions are seriously appreciated.

I know.. I know.. PICS are needed. They are coming soon.

[87PS190]

I know.. I know.. PICS are needed. They are coming soon.

Sorry to hear about your problems and I'm not familiar with the wake boats but glad to see everyone is getting the message. :D

[onejdgreen]

I took it to Bricks Boatworks in Shakopee MN (those guys are great btw), they drained water from the block, removed plugs, changed oil, replaced the starter and alternator. About $1,300 and 6 months later, the sickening feeling in my stomach quickly faded away.

I know the guy that owns Bricks, Travis, he is good friend of mine! They do do pretty good work!

[amax420]

Yeah, I know Travis really well. Travis and Tom have been awesome. I highly recommend them for repairs or just winterization and storage.

[amax420]

Here are the first set of pics... I will soon be sanding and applying teak oil to the platform. The horseshoe vents are yellow. Replacements are in the mail.

[Lars]

wow,
Hey I'm friends with Travis as well, those guys are great and we always take our boat there for service! Just down the road from us.

[dreddy]

I had the exact same X-star for a while (same color and everything) and had a similar intermittent issue with the leak into the ski locker. I don't think mine had anything between the thru-hull ballast intake and the locker except for a bilge pump. It would pump and fill alright, but then it seemed like it would continue to siphon even after turned off. A valve in the line seems like a good, safe way to go but accessibility and hassle is the issue. Replacing the bilge pump with a reversible ballast pump may do the trick. Also just putting a section of the line between the pump and locker at a higher elevation may help if it actually is the same issue that I had of course this would probably require replacing the line with a longer one. I don't think that I had any leaks anywhere.

Good luck.

[amax420]

Thanks Dreddy, It has been a great boat since the shut off valve was installed. I was afraid that I was gonna have to replace the line. Just cant forget to turn it to the off position when leaving in the water. Were you happy with the sound of the MB Quarts?

[BNIROOSTER]

The first thing I would check is the MB Quarts, if the speakers are blown or on their way out, it will cause the amp to run hot or to blow fuses. Disconnect your speakers and take them out of the cans. Get out your multimeter or ohm meter and check the ohm load (resistance) across the speaker terminals. If the speaker is a 4 ohm then you should have around 3.5 - 4 ohms of resistance. If it is much greater, then the speaker is likely blown. If it is within specs then it could be your amp. Reconnect your speakers. You will want to check the ohm load at the amp also, this will tell you if you have a short in your wiring and exactly what each speaker is pulling while connected and operating. If you are out of spec at the amp and your speakers are good then you may have a short in the wiring to the tower, check and recheck this! If your wiring is good then its the amp. If you want some serious volume while you are surfing/boarding then upgrade the MB Quarts to a HLCD speaker like the wetsounds pro 60s or 80s or the krypt audios also samson makes an awesome speaker too. If you are only going to replace the amp remember to match the amps rms to the Quarts rms. The rms of the amp can be greater just be sure to turn the gain down so you dont blow the quarts across the lake! I had a pair of quarts and they sounded ok, but for serious volume and sound quality I would recommend a better speaker like wet sounds 650 series or if you are on a budget get yourself a few pairs of polk db651s, they are relatively cheap and sound great.

[dreddy]

I never could push the MB Quarts to a volume level that could be easily heard while behind the boat. I had always thought that my speakers and tower lights were aftermarket so I'm frankly a little surprised to see you have the exact same setup right down to the Boss3 cans. Can't remember exactly what amp I had but there was only one. The sub was under the dash pointing at the driver's knees if I remember correctly. It sounded good from inside the boat but didn't have near enough juice to push it out to a rider.

[BNIROOSTER]

I dont think you have a factory setup, the cans that were on my boat are mastercraft 5.25". they were the stock units and they were the first to go when I bought it. I now have (4) 6.5" Krypt audio HLCDs and (2) 8" Krypt audio HLCDs in the middle.Wet sounds xs-650-s in the boat. I have (6) alpine subs and (3) rockford fosgate amps running the mids and highs with (2) mtx jachhammers running the subs. I had the MB Quarts in my bryant for about 10 minutes and decided that they didn't cut it. If I had pics of the subs I'd attach them.

[amax420]

The first thing I would check is the MB Quarts, if the speakers are blown or on their way out, it will cause the amp to run hot or to blow fuses. Disconnect your speakers and take them out of the cans. Get out your multimeter or ohm meter and check the ohm load (resistance) across the speaker terminals. If the speaker is a 4 ohm then you should have around 3.5 - 4 ohms of resistance. If it is much greater, then the speaker is likely blown. If it is within specs then it could be your amp. Reconnect your speakers. You will want to check the ohm load at the amp also, this will tell you if you have a short in your wiring and exactly what each speaker is pulling while connected and operating. If you are out of spec at the amp and your speakers are good then you may have a short in the wiring to the tower, check and recheck this! If your wiring is good then its the amp. If you want some serious volume while you are surfing/boarding then upgrade the MB Quarts to a HLCD speaker like the wetsounds pro 60s or 80s or the krypt audios also samson makes an awesome speaker too. If you are only going to replace the amp remember to match the amps rms to the Quarts rms. The rms of the amp can be greater just be sure to turn the gain down so you dont blow the quarts across the lake! I had a pair of quarts and they sounded ok, but for serious volume and sound quality I would recommend a better speaker like wet sounds 650 series or if you are on a budget get yourself a few pairs of polk db651s, they are relatively cheap and sound great.



I appreciate the advice, headed to the store to pick up an ohm meter. I will advise of my progress. Looking into the polks.. Thanks again!!

[amax420]

I never could push the MB Quarts to a volume level that could be easily heard while behind the boat. I had always thought that my speakers and tower lights were aftermarket so I'm frankly a little surprised to see you have the exact same setup right down to the Boss3 cans. Can't remember exactly what amp I had but there was only one. The sub was under the dash pointing at the driver's knees if I remember correctly. It sounded good from inside the boat but didn't have near enough juice to push it out to a rider.


I am not sure if this was a stock setup... When I bought the boat, the Quarts were hooked up but the lights were not. This makes me think that the previous owner bought the speaker and light bar.. I removed the stock sub and replaced it with a 10" Marine Apline. I'm running two amps. One 800W Pioneer for my sub and replaced the stock deck speakers to Marine Infiniti's with the original Clarion amp for mids/highs. I need to check the wiring to make sure all of my connections are good. Thanks for confirmation on the Quarts!

[amax420]

Today, I am installing blue LED's in the interior. Just got the main light from Abyss (M-300) and several 4 LED clusters to place around. Should look nice!! Next is the underwater lights!! I am wanting to install red LED's in the glove box, hatch and battery compartment as its a little hard to see things in blue. I was thinking about putting the lights in the cup holders and speaker grills as others have mentioned in other threads. I am not sure if there is a way to mount the lights inside the speaker grills that I have. Pic's will follow!

Thanks guys...

[amax420]

Here are a few pics of the LED's I installed yesterday.

[amax420]

Here is the swim platform after a little sanding and first coat of teak oil. (before pic is on page 1)

Does anyone know where I can get a bezel for my tach gauge? Local Mastercraft Dealer says they don't sell just the bezel. Could not bring myself to replace the entire gauge for a broken bezel.. Any ideas?

[amax420]

Any suggestions on the bezel?

[BricksBoatworks]

I know the guy that owns Bricks, Travis, he is good friend of mine! They do do pretty good work!

Yeah, I know Travis really well. Travis and Tom have been awesome. I highly recommend them for repairs or just winterization and storage.

wow,
Hey I'm friends with Travis as well, those guys are great and we always take our boat there for service! Just down the road from us.

Thanks for all the kind words guys! Let us know if there is anything we can do for you in the future! Oh and make sure to check out our new website at http://www.BricksBoatworks.com

Hope your all having a great holiday season!
Cheers,
Travis & John Brick
Bricks Boatworks, Inc.

[bturner2]

You may want to give wake Makers a call on the siphon problem. The guys there focus primarily on ballast systems and may have a couple suggestions for you. While cruising their site a couple days ago I ran across this anti-siphon valve (http://www.wakemakers.com/1-inch-vented-loop.html). Seems like this may do the trick for you. Don't know if this will solve your problems but it may be a start in the right direction.

[east tx skier]

This isn't a fix for the water leak, but might make your life a bit easier. Why not replace the manual valve with a high pressure/high flow asco solenoid valve that you wire up to a switch on your dash. Call it a master shutoff.