Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

Ballast Fill/Drain Times


05hammerhead

Recommended Posts

Any chance people can chime in with ballast fill/drain times for your given year/model?  Ive been hearing a lot of people talking about their fill times and its making me worry as I ride often in the AM and lunch hours.  Are people modifying their ballasts?  Double pumping?  Reversibles?  I was just on the boarding schools Xstar and it could fill or empty in 3 mins.  Im assuming its using monster reversibles.

Link to comment

I disconnected my PNP bags and put them on dedicated reversibles. They fill in about the same time as the hard tanks now. Either way yeah you’re waiting for a lot longer than 3 minutes. Now it’s more like 6-7 minutes. 

Edited by Slurpee
Link to comment
14 hours ago, granddaddy55 said:

Just answered your own question 

13 hours ago, Slurpee said:

I disconnected my PNP bags and put them on dedicated reversibles. They fill in about the same time as the hard tanks now. Either way yeah you’re waiting for a lot longer than 3 minutes. Now it’s more like 6-7 minutes. 

 

I guess Im looking for a how long was it before you "fixed" it and how exactly you did it.  Im assuming you just tied the the power off the aerators to a relay on the new reversibles?  Does that mean that you are always filling the PNP? Or do you have seperate switches for the PNP vs the hard tanks?  I was really hoping to get away from the separate switches.  

Link to comment
19 minutes ago, 05hammerhead said:

 

I guess Im looking for a how long was it before you "fixed" it and how exactly you did it.  Im assuming you just tied the the power off the aerators to a relay on the new reversibles?  Does that mean that you are always filling the PNP? Or do you have seperate switches for the PNP vs the hard tanks?  I was really hoping to get away from the separate switches.  

A brand new aerator style 800gph pump will fill a 550lb sac by itself in about 6 minutes.  That slows down in my experience as the pump ages.  The rear hard tanks on my boat are about 225lbs each and took about 3 minutes to fill when the boat was new.  When I had PNP setup, I could add another 1-2 minutes on top of the sum of these just because of the resistance of pushing water into filling bags slowed down the flow rate.  All in all it broke 10 minutes.  I didn't mind the fill time so much honestly because I'm idling away from the dock and the first rider is messing around getting ready.  The front and center ballast would be full and I could still get up to a cruise speed to go where I needed to while the rear filled.  The drain time would be an irritation though.  It was just as long, and you absolutely couldn't plan on getting up on plane gracefully after a few minutes because you had no bow and center ballast and the rear was mostly full.  So you sat around for 10 minutes waiting to empty out before getting going on your way home.  Sometimes I'd remember to start draining the rear first while we packed up.  Then when I noticed the % actually start to go down on the tanks I'd start the rest of the boat and I could get up on plain with a balanced ballast gracefully.  Then it was only a 6 minute stall until we got going, instead of over 10.  Enough throttle overcomes all that of course, but I felt like a wally doing it.

So with dedicated pumps I set everything draining at the same time and they all drain at a similar rate so I can get going whenever I feel like it without feeling like I'm in a music video for Bootylicious during the hole shot.

Here's my thread on what I did with pumps and switches.

 

Edited by Slurpee
  • Like 1
Link to comment

Thanks for that.  I guess Im in a unique situation as I work 4 mins from home and can ride over lunch.  20 mins of filling and emptying though wouldnt leave much for both my driver and I to ride.  I could leave the boat loaded on the lift I suppose, but that cant be good for the hull.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...