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Thinking of Rerouting Ballst Lines


teamerickson

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Malibu, unfortunately, put my rear drain and vent lines in the back of the lockers. I think they only did this for one season on the T22 and went back to putting them in the front of the lockers like every other boat in the Malibu lineup. I moved the ballast lines as far up in the rear locker as they will go. I still experience water loss when the bow is up, usually when starting off. I currently have 750's but I'm thinking about going bigger (900) on my rear plug n play bags. I'm thinking about rerouting the vent and/or drain line to help with water loss. Thinking about running the line from the back of the tank, up the bilge to top front of the locker, then down the gun wall to the existing thru hulls. In theory this should eliminate the water loss when the nose is up. The lines should always be higher then the bags. Do I need to do both vent and drain or will just vent suffice? If I do drain do I need to worry about a long run from the pump through 10 ft or so of line to the thru hull?

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For the vent, that should work since the fitting is onto of the bag, theres no way for it to siphon. For the drain, you may have to add a anti siphon loop since the thru-hull will be lower than the top of the bag and the drain has all the water pressure it needs to start siphoning out.

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I had a similar issue and used these.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B95UJTC/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1448589871&sr=8-5π=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=valterra+3%2F4&dpPl=1&dpID=31qyaSiG5lL&ref=plSrch

They are spring loaded check valves. Keeps the water from siphoning out of my vent line but still allows it to vent once there is some pressure. I have only bags in my rear lockers (built in ballast was in the lockers also and I took those out) and my thru hull is below the top of the bag so water would drain out while we were riding and the bag would only stay about 2/3rds full. For my situation I had to use one on my drain and vent but that was because both were below the height of the bag. With these they stay totally full The valves have a 1/2 psi cracking pressure. A tusnami pump puts out like 4 psi if I recall my measurement correctly. I don't know your exact setup and if it's a piggyback system or has stand alone pumps but one of these with 2 barb fittings is pretty cheap and may solve your problem. Also by having a check valve on your vent line your bag will end up flatter.

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ahopkins22LSV

A couple people around here that I know and own T22's had the same issue you have and I believe the fox was exactly what you are describing.

Are you still in warranty? I'm pretty sure their fix was covered.

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I had a similar issue and used these.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B95UJTC/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?qid=1448589871&sr=8-5π=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=valterra+3%2F4&dpPl=1&dpID=31qyaSiG5lL&ref=plSrch

They are spring loaded check valves. Keeps the water from siphoning out of my vent line but still allows it to vent once there is some pressure. I have only bags in my rear lockers (built in ballast was in the lockers also and I took those out) and my thru hull is below the top of the bag so water would drain out while we were riding and the bag would only stay about 2/3rds full. For my situation I had to use one on my drain and vent but that was because both were below the height of the bag. With these they stay totally full The valves have a 1/2 psi cracking pressure. A tusnami pump puts out like 4 psi if I recall my measurement correctly. I don't know your exact setup and if it's a piggyback system or has stand alone pumps but one of these with 2 barb fittings is pretty cheap and may solve your problem. Also by having a check valve on your vent line your bag will end up flatter.

Great info. I may try this.
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A couple people around here that I know and own T22's had the same issue you have and I believe the fox was exactly what you are describing.

Are you still in warranty? I'm pretty sure their fix was covered.

I'm probably out of warranty. Surprised it would be covered. Seems like a bad design not defective product.
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I'm probably out of warranty. Surprised it would be covered. Seems like a bad design not defective product.

Mine was covered. It was a factory defect as far as I am concerned. You didn't spend 60k to have you ballast draining while under way. It's at least worth a call to your dealer.

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Any other thoughts on if I just move the vent line the overflow would stop? Sitting in the boat right now thinking about moving it. Could probably do it without any additional parts. But, once I move it I would have a really hard time reversing it back to stock through the structure of the bilge area.

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I talked to Malibu technical about this. They recommend moving both lines to the front of the locker high behind the seat. They said they would cover it under warranty. My dealer is an 1.5 hour each way. Not sure if they've done or do much ballast work. I guess I need to decide who I want to do it, me or them. :)

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I talked to Malibu technical about this. They recommend moving both lines to the front of the locker high behind the seat. They said they would cover it under warranty. My dealer is an 1.5 hour each way. Not sure if they've done or do much ballast work. I guess I need to decide who I want to do it, me or them. :)

Drilling holes in the class A of the boat is never fun. If it were me, I would let a dealer handle it.

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Drilling holes in the class A of the boat is never fun. If it were me, I would let a dealer handle it.

No new holes needed. The plan would be to run the lines up to the front of the locker then back down to the existing thru hulls. Basically, a U shaped line run.

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No new holes needed. The plan would be to run the lines up to the front of the locker then back down to the existing thru hulls. Basically, a U shaped line run.

That's not going to help unless you have an anti siphon valve in the vent line.

Also, be wary of the spring loaded check valves. Some require 1 or 2 psi to open. Even one psi spread over 2,000 sq. inches (one side of a locker bag) is 2,000 pounds of pressure.

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That's not going to help unless you have an anti siphon valve in the vent line.

Also, be wary of the spring loaded check valves. Some require 1 or 2 psi to open. Even one psi spread over 2,000 sq. inches (one side of a locker bag) is 2,000 pounds of pressure.

Do you need an anti siphon on a drain or vent line above the water line? I don't think any of the current models have them?

I think just getting the lines higher then the water level (In PNP Bags) gets should stop the draining out the side thru hulls? Pretty sure that's what all the current models do.

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If the water level in the bag is higher than the thru hull then, without an anti siphon, you can have drainage no matter how high your loop is (within practical limits). An anti siphon valve will only be effective if it is above the water level in the bag. If the whole line is below the water level in the bag then you just have downhill flow out the side of the boat - there is no siphon (vacuum pull) effect for the valve to rectify.

Solutions: Thru hull above the bag water level; Anti siphon valve above the bag water level.

You can do it yourself or have the dealer do it. If the latter just make sure they know what they are doing.

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