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Using flexible Conduit for Ballast System


Ian30

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I've seen it mentioned many times on here, but never heard from someone who has actually used it. I want to use flexible conduit to plumb my ballast system. I went to Home Depot and this stuff looks exactly like the original ballast hose minus the grey color. It is only 85 cents a foot and looks super durable, uncrushable and anti kinkable. They have some with metal inside, but I am talking about the kind that is only PVC/Plastic. I am not trying to cheap out, it's just that this is easily available. I was going to order the $1.50 hose from Bakes until I found out that it cost just as much to ship as it does to buy it. So if anyone can give me some personal experience or a good reason not to use it, I am pretty sure I am going to try it out.

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http://www.homedepot...catalogId=10053

heres a link to what i am talking about. It's even cheaper if you buy a 100ft roll.

Liquid tight, flexable and nonmatilic.

Let us know how it works.

My only concern is the inside diameter with the conduit and the fittings. if those work without leaks should work good foryou. Might try taking in a fittiing to make sure it will snug up tight without leaks. otherwise post up the finished product.

REW

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Had a buddy that tried to use that stuff in his Supra when he added some additional sacks. He is an electrician by trade and came by it cheaper than that. Bad news is it didn't work well as it is uncrushable, and not very soft. He tried several types of clamps and traditional screw type clamps would just strip out before getting tight enough to stop the leaks at the fittings. It just wasn't plyable enough to make a water tight seal around the fly-high barbed fittings. He ended up taking it all out and buying the normal marine type hose.

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i tryed using that stuff one time. wont work that well. never can get hose clamps tight enough. i would use the clear hose with a red blue and white reinforced side wall type hose. you can also buy this hose at any home depot. its tyhe hose i use on all my ballast jobs. and it comes in a bunch of sizes!

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i tryed using that stuff one time. wont work that well. never can get hose clamps tight enough. i would use the clear hose with a red blue and white reinforced side wall type hose. you can also buy this hose at any home depot. its tyhe hose i use on all my ballast jobs. and it comes in a bunch of sizes!

never used it, but to get the hose clamps tight you could get a piece of hose to go over the conduit and then clamp it.

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ok, Here are some thoughts off the top of my head on the sealing issue.

#1. Use a heat gun to heat the hose before installing and clamping.

#2. Use some marine sealant at the connections. (Its not like I've ever removed any of them in the last 5 yrs., I'm just adding the bow ballast tank.)

I'm leaning towards the heating method, let me know what you guys think. I know at some point this becomes just a pain and I should just get the proper hose, but well, maybe i will buy a piece and try it out.

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I vote for buying a small piece and expierimenting. I think you will find that it is very stiff and not as manuverable as you think. Also I believe the inside is not completely smooth like tubing which leads to most of the sealing issues. The stuff we had had a slight spiral rib on the inside. It is used to protect wiring from elements, not a transport mechanism for fluids. I personally like the factory look, and they sell the completely Black stuff that Malibu uses at Cabellas. That is what I used for my install, I also used crimp style clamps for a sanitary look. They also have no sharp edges like hose clamps do to possibly puncture the bags.

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Well I'll be damned...... Cabelas, huh.

I didn't even think of that. I work right across the street. Oh well. I ended up getting similar hose from West Marine. It's clear with black webbing inside to hold it's shape. And cost a lot less.

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Cabelas has a decent shipping price too - but I would have never thought to look there. How did the west marine stuff work out for you? I need to go there to pick up the pumps and i figured i would look at their hose, i cant really tell what they have by the website, but sometimes they are pretty expensive on certain items.

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I used the clear tubing with black webbing from West Marine when I fixed the broken hose on my mid-ship tank. It seems to work fine so far. I suspect time will tell for sure.

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I just wanted to post my findings for anyone searching on this in the future. I ended up ordering the hose from cabellas. It turns out that even though the conduit is called 3/4", it has way too big an internal diameter to clamp tightly onto the pumps or through hulls. When I say too big, I mean it is not even close at all, otherwise it is about the same stiffness as the proper hose. If it had been the right size, I definately would have used it as it would have been about a third the cost.

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I just wanted to post my findings for anyone searching on this in the future. I ended up ordering the hose from cabellas. It turns out that even though the conduit is called 3/4", it has way too big an internal diameter to clamp tightly onto the pumps or through hulls. When I say too big, I mean it is not even close at all, otherwise it is about the same stiffness as the proper hose. If it had been the right size, I definately would have used it as it would have been about a third the cost.

another place to buy hose is from Flow-Rite controls,

3/4" is $1.20',

1-1/8 is $1.61'.

Shipping a 100' roll would be $22.36 (to 86403). here is the link

the bonus, made in USA ma-h06.jpg

Edited by Cervelo
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