Ballast System Make Over

[prostar205]

Here is the start of my winter ballast system make over. First, a little history. I have a 2002 X-30. I removed the hard tanks and replaced them with the Fly High 750lb sacs in the rear compartments. I also had a custom larger center ski locker sac made that holds roughly 500lbs. Finally, I have the triangular Fly High sac for the bow that sit on the bow cushions. I fill this sac up using the Tsunami pump. The other 3 sacs are filled (very slowly) with the 3 stock ballast puppies. This winter I decided to rip out the ballast manifold that came from the factory.

Next, will be to drill to additional holes for thru-hull fittings. My plan is to feed each ballast puppy with its own water source. I will also be draining the water from these same thru-hull fittings. It that does not work I'll add y-adaptors and drain out the stock locations.

Lastly, I have polished the insides of the ballast puppies and will be mounting the pumps with the impeller on the bottom and motor on top - as directed by the people at Wakemakers.

I'm getting all my stuff from Wakemakers.

Here are some pictures of the ballast pumps and ballast manifold.

[lintwurm]

I have a 2000 XStar (205V) and have been doing the same (filling and draining through the same thru hull). I do not have a vent on the bag and thus when draining suck out all the water and air thru a fitting I made which ensures that the hole is not blocked by the bag when draining. They say that this is not healthy because I could burst the bag but it has been working for me. When filling I stand still not to suck up any air. Basically I need no check valves and this speeds up the filling and draining process.

[KnoxX2]

What did you use to polish the pumps?

[prostar205]

Originally Posted by lintwurm

I have a 2000 XStar (205V) and have been doing the same (filling and draining through the same thru hull). I do not have a vent on the bag and thus when draining suck out all the water and air thru a fitting I made which ensures that the hole is not blocked by the bag when draining. They say that this is not healthy because I could burst the bag but it has been working for me. When filling I stand still not to suck up any air. Basically I need no check valves and this speeds up the filling and draining process.

I definately agree and understand that not using check valves will increase the flow. I am not planning on using check valves either. However, I do have vents plumbed on each bag.

[prostar205]

Originally Posted by KnoxX2

What did you use to polish the pumps?

Mothers Aluminum Wheel polish and the rubbing compound that came with the Dremel polishing kit. The Mothers Alumimun polished worked best. I also used a high speed polishing wheel on the cover plates.

[KnoxX2]

I wonder if the Mothers Power ball mini would work!

[prostar205]

Originally Posted by KnoxX2

I wonder if the Mothers Power ball mini would work!

I removed the impeller housing from the pump so the pump shaft would not get in the way. You might be able to use the small power ball. I have one but did not think of using it. It may still be too big to get into the corners. I also polished the inlet and outlet portions of the impeller casting.

[KnoxX2]

Did you see a big improvement on the time to fill and empty the bags?

[prostar205]

Not a big improvement in fill times because I'm still limited by the manifold not being able to supply enough water to run all 3 or even 2 pumps at the same time. What I believe polishing the ballast pumps help with is the reversing of the impellers. They never get stuck with the insides polished. I am sure that when I get done with this project - feeding each pump with an individual thru-hull supply of water that I'll be able to fill all 2,000 lbs in less than 10 minutes.

[KnoxX2]

BTW when I had my ballast system installed a few years ago I had them do a seprate pickup for each pump. They also empty through the same pickup. Mastercraft is useing a plastic through hole pickup. I have not had a problem with them but I know that this year it is time to change all the impellers. One thing i had to do so I could rum all three pumps at the same time is install a larger circut braker. Just something to think about!