Piggy back system reviews

[timelinex]

Summer is hear and I've been enjoying the lake in my 2007 23lsv as much as I can (unfortunately only like 3 times a month with my schedule) To surf I use a big bag that I fill up with an external pump that I have to set up (on top of my built in ballasts).

While its not the BIGGEST deal to use the external pump, its definitely a big hassle, with the biggest hassle being the draining and babysitting the pump during the draining. The point is that I can afford to pay some decent $$ to upgrade the system to something that minimizes any hassle involved. To me, the least hassle free system is the stock system (flip a switch and done). I noticed people talking about the Wavemakers piggyback system and immediately realized that this is EXACTLY what I'm looking for!

I did a little more research and it seems like there isn't much info on it. I found some posts from an employee (or owner?) about how the system works great and at worst barely leaves any water in the system upon draining (which can be left in there). However I found other older posts from people complaining about the system leaving a SUBSTANTIAL amount of water in the hard ballast, or in other , the external bag.

To me, if I have to worry about the leftover water and deal with this issue, it negates the point of the system (get rid of the hassles).

Any word on this? I messaged the employee/owner for his input yesterday but he hasn't had a chance to reply yet.

Edited June 30, 2015 by timelinex

[t a]

Mine leaves about 50lbs of water or so in the bag, i roll the bags up and the water drains into the tank and out. This also keeps carpet underneath dry so no mildew/mold issues.

[timelinex]

Ah ok, so its not much of a hassle then? Seems like some people said that it makes the ballasts leave water in there too (I don't know how it effects the actual hard tank)

Also, I see on their page that they recommend a 800lb bag for the 23lsv. Any reason not to get the 1100lb option? Seems like its always better to have room for more and not use it. Is it just too much weight for that locker to hold safely?

EDIT:

I found 2 diffferent systems. Theres the Wavemaker system and the Bakes system. About the same price. They look almost exactly the same from the pictures, except the Bakes one looks like it includes seperate draining pump for the system. Is this to overcome some other inherent disadvantages of the gravity system the Wavemaker one has, or is it because the Baker system works completely different.

Edited June 30, 2015 by timelinex

[WaBackcountry]

I have purchsed both and Bakes is better if you want the ability to fill hard tank from Presets

[timelinex]

I have purchsed both and Bakes is better if you want the ability to fill hard tank from Presets

What does that mean "fill hard tank from Presets".

Was the Bakes one about as easy to install? I'm a complete noob to boats, but I can generally do any mechanical job with GOOD instruction.

[pawter1970]

The Bake system includes an extra draining pump and directional valve, so the bag gets drain by a separate pump and the directional valve allows you to fill the hard tank or/and the bag. This would be great set up for people who are both wakeboarding and wake surfing, so you can choose to only fill your hard tank for wakeboarding and fill both hard tank and bag for surfing. Wakemaker system is very simple; fill line connected to the bag, which drains into the hard tank. So when draining the bag drains by gravity into the hard tank and the hard tank is being drained by the stock pump, which makes the draining slower and will leave some water in the bag. I've used it for years and don't mind the extra draining time and the water. IMO if your going to add pumps, wiring and switches then you should go with the reversible pumps.

[dalt1]

I have 1 Bakes add a bag system without the bag that I would sell if anyone is interested. Pump, Valve, Hoses.

[crayfd]

Dalt1... PM sent.

[allhawkedup]

I've had the piggy back ballast system in my 05 and 07. Love it. The new and improved system has two drains on the sumo sack for quicker and more thorough emptying. Highly recommend!! Go with 900 on a VLX.

[ozsurf]

I've had the piggy back ballast system in my 05 and 07. Love it. The new and improved system has two drains on the sumo sack for quicker and more thorough emptying. Highly recommend!! Go with 900 on a VLX.

I agree wakemakers piggy back if plumbed right works great is faster to fill and drain then my reversible bow bag.

[timelinex]

I've had the piggy back ballast system in my 05 and 07. Love it. The new and improved system has two drains on the sumo sack for quicker and more thorough emptying. Highly recommend!! Go with 900 on a VLX.

I went with the 1100, not that much more than the recommended 800 and I would rather maximize the space back there if I wanted to, rather than wish I had more!

[pwmort]

I just installed piggyback system into my 2014 VTX which the stock pump fills the bag from the top and gravity feeds and fills the hard tank below. My question is this--the hard tank is no longer registering water level even though I know that it is filling up because bag it drains into it. Has anybody else seen that or what is the water sensor in the hard tank looking at?

[timelinex]

I do not have this issue, but to be honest I never monitor the levels because they were never that accurate for me.

[timelinex]

I just wanted to check back in a few weeks later after some use and give my review of the wakemakers system.

If you have any doubt about buying the system, BUY IT. Holy crap it makes a big difference. It was always such a big hassle to manually fill external tanks. Now the fill and drain is SO easy. Unless your OCD or have very specific needs, don't listen to all the complaints about fill/drain speed or it leaving a few gallons of water in the tank upon draining. For me it fully fills by the time im out in the water and fully drains by the time I'm back to shore (10 minutes maybe? Haven't timed it). It's not any slower than manually doing it anyways. As for the remaining gallons upon full drain..... I barely have anything left in there. I'm sure whatever amount of water I have left is inconsequential.

My only concern now is that I need like 300 more lb in the bow to make my wave better, but I REALLY don't want to have to start manually filling ballasts again haha.

[Edstygar]

I just installed the Wakemakers piggy back system and its not working so good, slow and not draining properly. I am thinking I want to modify it to the Bakes system. Does anyone have a diagram or instructions for the bakes system?

[timelinex]

Makes sure you have the tubes in a good position. Remember that it all works on gravity. So if you have the tubes in funny positions, it could severely change the effectiveness of the system

[Smdutchy]

I just installed piggyback system into my 2014 VTX which the stock pump fills the bag from the top and gravity feeds and fills the hard tank below. My question is this--the hard tank is no longer registering water level even though I know that it is filling up because bag it drains into it. Has anybody else seen that or what is the water sensor in the hard tank looking at?

How do you have it plumbed? I have the same problem and don't think the bottom one is filling at all due to me having both of the bag drains going into the original hard tank and vent pipes. I think the gravity feed isn't working as there is now no vent pipe on the hard tank which helps the feed.

Does anyone have the right way to install the wakemakers system? Which hoses go to where in case I too have made a mistake in the installation.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Smdutchy

[Smdutchy]

I managed to get the installation instructions the other day an I seemed to have done it right. The main problem is that the bag drain outlets aren't higher than the hard tank inlets. The hard tank inlets sit higher than the locker floor and the bag sits on the floor so it isn't high enough.

I lifted the bags up 2 inches by putting some towels under them and that allowed the hard tanks to fill as the bag outlet was now higher than the hard tank inlets. You just need to make sure the boat is level when filling and not too low on the rear. I will be looking for some 2" thick rubber mats or maybe some timber to make a false floor to keep the bag up higher.

Gravity can be annoying sometimes.

Edited January 14, 2016 by Smdutchy

[Smdutchy]

This is what I did last weekend. 70x35mm treated pine studs and some 12mm thick ply board.

The 600lb bags go on top and gets them 82mm above the hard tanks. The hard tanks filled quicker and all registered full on the dash.

This also means I can slide some skis under the false floor too.

Just needs some paint now.

[SnubNose]

On 1/28/2016 at 1:45 AM, Smdutchy said:

This is what I did last weekend. 70x35mm treated pine studs and some 12mm thick ply board.

The 600lb bags go on top and gets them 82mm above the hard tanks. The hard tanks filled quicker and all registered full on the dash.

This also means I can slide some skis under the false floor too.

Just needs some paint now.

Is there anyway to just plumb it so it fills hard tanks first and then bag? This seems like good idea for drainage though

[gobble]

Oh crap. I have the wakemakers piggyback set to arrive today for my new boat and that's what I have to do to make it work? I'm sorry but you have a nice boat and that nice plastic floor and adding plywood in the lockers looks ghetto. I bought a new boat to clean up some of the manual stuff that was required in my old boat and there's no way I'm willing to do that.

My old wakemakers system had the fill line Y'd into both the tank and bag and an extra drain pump on the bag. Why not just do that? Or even just Y the fill line and forget the extra drain pump if not necessary?

[SnubNose]

5 hours ago, gobble said:

Oh crap. I have the wakemakers piggyback set to arrive today for my new boat and that's what I have to do to make it work? I'm sorry but you have a nice boat and that nice plastic floor and adding plywood in the lockers looks ghetto. I bought a new boat to clean up some of the manual stuff that was required in my old boat and there's no way I'm willing to do that.

My old wakemakers system had the fill line Y'd into both the tank and bag and an extra drain pump on the bag. Why not just do that? Or even just Y the fill line and forget the extra drain pump if not necessary?

Hey I just called wake maker because I have the same problem. I think that a Y going to both sack and hard tank is the solution. I'm going to get one with a directional valve so that if I just want to fill up hard tanks for wakeboarding I don't have to fill sacs. I don't think the drain pump it completely necessary. My bags seem to drain fine once full. Takes about 5-10 min but I'm not in a rush since I don't list my boat anymore with the new delta surf tab. I'll save you some energy now as well as you should reinforce your panels because they will pop out of the track. Get some aluminum bars to put next to the track and on the plastic divider. 

I don't understand why wake makers had the Y and pump before yet changed it to this current system. 

[gobble]

19 hours ago, SnubNose said:

Hey I just called wake maker because I have the same problem. I think that a Y going to both sack and hard tank is the solution. I'm going to get one with a directional valve so that if I just want to fill up hard tanks for wakeboarding I don't have to fill sacs. I don't think the drain pump it completely necessary. My bags seem to drain fine once full. Takes about 5-10 min but I'm not in a rush since I don't list my boat anymore with the new delta surf tab. I'll save you some energy now as well as you should reinforce your panels because they will pop out of the track. Get some aluminum bars to put next to the track and on the plastic divider. 

I don't understand why wake makers had the Y and pump before yet changed it to this current system. 

I think that setup makes a lot more sense. Did they just ship you the parts or do you need to buy them somewhere? I wonder if a store like Menards or Home Depot would sell a Y fitting that works?

[gobble]

Well I just installed one side of the wakemakers system and same problem as everyone else. The hard tank will only fill 50% when the fill goes through the bag. You'd think they would test this before selling the package?

Edited July 20, 2016 by gobble

[SnubNose]

17 minutes ago, gobble said:

Well I just installed one side of the wakemakers system and same problem as everyone else. The hard tank will only fill 50% when the fill goes through the bag. You'd think they would test this before selling the package?

Seriously it's not a good system. It's given me problems this whole season. I called themy yesterday and gave them a very specific details on what was going on. They were supposed to get back to me but never did. I called them again today and was on hold for an hour no joke and resulted in leaving a voice-mail. 

This system really needs a Y from the fill line with a valve so you can choose whether to fill hard tank or sac or both. Possibly even a drain pump.