SSLXi Ballast Plan

[pennery]

Is the T handle drain in front of the motor big enough to use 1200gph?

Probably not, but the 1200gph are cheaper then some 800gph pumps

I saw an article in one of the Boat/US publications that I receive discussing various reasons for boats sinking. IIRC, under the "missing drain plug" reason it stated the water flow through a 1" hole located 1 foot below the water line was something like 30 or 35 gallons per minute (1800 - 2100 gph).

If so, the drain fitting should work fine as an intake for your ballast system.

Well I can tell you that with all 3 plugs out, and the boat in the water, after about 1 minute you can have 6" or more of water in it

Quick question, does anyone know the size of the drain hull in the center where it uses the T plug? Is it 1" or 3/4"?

I only have 2 holes in my boat and I never take the transom plug out....

Anyways last year I ran 2 tsunami's "T"d off of the Raw water intake for the cooling system on the engine and I know not the safest thing to do it actually wasn't that bad but I could not have the engine idleing while filling the sacs because the engine would starve the pumps... So this spring I intend on drilling a 1.25" or 1.5" hole as Skicrave recommended for those 2 pumps with the possiblity of adding a third pump for a side sac.... I do not have a vent line in my system yet as I just ran a drain line from each sac with a valve on it for emptying under the gunnels and I flip the hoses over the side of the boat whle emptying(saved me from drilling holes)... When the sacs get full the water pushes past the drain pump and out the drain line so I don't think you need a vent or seperate drain holes drilled in the boat... I don't see why you can't y the vent and drain line together with a check valve on both lines...

[WakeGirl]

3/4" is typical for the plugs.

[jetskipro550]

3/4" is typical for the plugs.

Good, cause the pumps that I wanna get have 3/4" fitting. Chad and I are going to head to Home Depot and see how much valves and stuff is going to cost Can you tell me if those pumps will be good for my application? I am now thinking about getting the 800gph ones since I think that the 3 1200gph will not be able to perform to their full potential because of the small water inlet.

[WakeGirl]

Yes, those will work well. I have the 800 gph version on one of my bags as an empty pump & it drains it pretty fast.

[jetskipro550]

Yes, those will work well. I have the 800 gph version on one of my bags as an empty pump & it drains it pretty fast.

Cool! I will probably order them tomorrow...but right now I am going to go drink my way into being 22

[WakeGirl]

& have a drink for me if you would.

[jetskipro550]

& have a drink for me if you would.

Oh I did

I bought the plumbing hardware last night, and I bought 6 pumps this morning. I am looking for the fittings that go through the hull that allow ballast to empty...any idea what those are called and where to get chrome or polished ones?

[WakeGirl]

The fittings that you get from the dealer are sweet, full stainless steel. For the money I'd go with those. David at Madras can get them for you.

[jetskipro550]

I hope they are cheaper then the $50 ones I found on the internet I will give them a call, and check out the prices, thanks!

[jetskipro550]

I called, and although its not that bad of a price I decided to just go with the plain ol black plastic ones. I am trying to keeps costs as low as possible and as of right now I just can't justify spending anymore...down the road I am sure I will replace them though

[Lieutenant Dan]

& have a drink for me if you would.

Oh I did

I bought the plumbing hardware last night, and I bought 6 pumps this morning. I am looking for the fittings that go through the hull that allow ballast to empty...any idea what those are called and where to get chrome or polished ones?

They are called Mushroom Head Thru Hulls....I found these at West Marine....

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/store...hallpartial/0/0

It looks like a 3/4" Stainless Mushroom (if dimensioning is same as for Bronze then the mushroom flange OD is 1 7/8 inches) is only $22.49 ($28.99 for 1").... Don't know if they would look as good as "chrome" ones, though...

Edited February 24, 2007 by cincinnati_dan

[jetskipro550]

& have a drink for me if you would.

Oh I did

I bought the plumbing hardware last night, and I bought 6 pumps this morning. I am looking for the fittings that go through the hull that allow ballast to empty...any idea what those are called and where to get chrome or polished ones?

They are called Mushroom Head Thru Hulls....I found these at West Marine....

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/store...hallpartial/0/0

It looks like a 3/4" Stainless Mushroom (if dimensioning is same as for Bronze then the mushroom flange OD is 1 7/8 inches) is only $22.49 ($28.99 for 1").... Don't know if they would look as good as "chrome" ones, though...

They are about 1/2 that from Malibu...I would call your dealer if you go that route. I am going black plastic for now.

[jetskipro550]

Here is what I have so far for the side sacks. I am using a brass male/male end which screws into the thru-hull on one end and into the ball valve on the other. After the ball valve there is another male/male end which plugs into the all female brass T. From there both of the pumps screw into the T. I will be spending my afternoon tomorrow hooking this up to the boat to make sure everything fits and is below the water line.

[jetskipro550]

To give you an idea of how tall the thing is.

[jetskipro550]

With SB just around the corner, I will be jumping into this project this Saturday. I have the older style Launch Pad 540lb. fat sacks and I am in need of connectors that I can screw onto the sacks and then on the other end hose clamp a hose onto it. I will need 9 of these connectors for the sacks, any ideas of where to find something like this? I have searched wakeside and only found stuff that would work the the fly high sacks.

Also, should I just slide a hose over the pumps and clamp them down or try to find a fitting that can screw onto the pumps. The pumps are threaded as you can see from the picture above^^^^

[Skiier64]

With SB just around the corner, I will be jumping into this project this Saturday. I have the older style Launch Pad 540lb. fat sacks and I am in need of connectors that I can screw onto the sacks and then on the other end hose clamp a hose onto it. I will need 9 of these connectors for the sacks, any ideas of where to find something like this? I have searched wakeside and only found stuff that would work the the fly high sacks.

Also, should I just slide a hose over the pumps and clamp them down or try to find a fitting that can screw onto the pumps. The pumps are threaded as you can see from the picture above^^^^

I would use the plastic screw-on barbed connectors on the pumps in and out. For the sac fill connections I used waterbed fill connectors. On the drain side of the rear sac I inserted a piece of rubber tubing right in through the sac's drain hole and used a hose clamp on it. That way the hose lays on the bottom of the sac and drains it better.

[Brad B]

3/4" i.d braided hose fits very snug in the older (pre 2007) style Launch Pads. These are the ones that use the blue waterbed fittings.

Anyway - that hose fits in real tight and then you secure it with stainless hose clamp on the outside of the sacs threads.

Put a waterhose fitting on the other and and you got ez disconnect

All for very little dough

[jetskipro550]

Thanks for the info!

[jetskipro550]

I have a question for all you DD owners, how can I get tubing from the engine area to the gun wells? I see 2 grills which I think are vents in the engine area just below the floor but I can't see exactly where they go.

[lakewaterjunky]

I have a question for all you DD owners, how can I get tubing from the engine area to the gun wells? I see 2 grills which I think are vents in the engine area just below the floor but I can't see exactly where they go.

On my Sunsetter the vents are chambers that run to the engine compartment from under the dash through flexible duct tubes that are just shoved into the openings in the floor behind the driver kick panel and under the pass. Seat compartment. They feed the fresh air for the engine from the inlets on top of the deck in front of the windshield.

[jetskipro550]

I wasn't sure where they led so I just ran the tubing to the back of the boat then behind the back seat and into the gun wells.

New questions...

1. I have been following the old how-to article that skicrave did for the old MBO. It says that he filled and emptied from the same location. How is that possible?

2. Can I get away with not having overflow lines? Will the water/air flow out of the drain line while I am filling? Thats how my existing system (which I didn't install) works and with that I have no need for burping the sacks, or an overflow line.

[Slalom Frog]

I wasn't sure where they led so I just ran the tubing to the back of the boat then behind the back seat and into the gun wells.

New questions...

1. I have been following the old how-to article that skicrave did for the old MBO. It says that he filled and emptied from the same location. How is that possible?

2. Can I get away with not having overflow lines? Will the water/air flow out of the drain line while I am filling? Thats how my existing system (which I didn't install) works and with that I have no need for burping the sacks, or an overflow line.

JSP - I fill and empty from the same location. I have a check valve just after the water intake. When I run the pump in reverse the water can't go through the check valve which forces the water out of a drain line.

Not sure about not having overflow lines. My system has them. I would think that you would want overflow lines. They certainly help you tell when a bag is full, just in case you are not paying attention.

[ffdawg]

Also, I was thinking about making it so that the front and rear sacks fill using the same pump, but empty on their own.

Keep them separate if at all possible. If you're going to use separate empty pumps, then you're going to need 2 switches anyway. A manifold like what you've posted wouldn't be hard to build at all.

Vent....On a stock system, they usually use a y fitting that the vent line hooks into the fill line close to where it goes into the tank. Now, the orientation of the fitting is such that it shouldn't have water easily going out of the overflow before the tank is full, but I've seen a lot of systems that spew water well before it's full. This sounds like the way that yours is hooked up, & if Madras did it then that's probably the case. Ideally, you want the overflow on it's own line coming directly off of the bag, so if you have a third valve on the bag that isn't being utilized, then I'd start there. You shouldn't need any valves to get it working correctly.

Incidentally, did you buy the boat from Madras? If so, when?

WakeGirl - Ideally, where would the vent line go from the third valve on the bag? T into the drain line?

[jetskipro550]

Also, I was thinking about making it so that the front and rear sacks fill using the same pump, but empty on their own.

Keep them separate if at all possible. If you're going to use separate empty pumps, then you're going to need 2 switches anyway. A manifold like what you've posted wouldn't be hard to build at all.

Vent....On a stock system, they usually use a y fitting that the vent line hooks into the fill line close to where it goes into the tank. Now, the orientation of the fitting is such that it shouldn't have water easily going out of the overflow before the tank is full, but I've seen a lot of systems that spew water well before it's full. This sounds like the way that yours is hooked up, & if Madras did it then that's probably the case. Ideally, you want the overflow on it's own line coming directly off of the bag, so if you have a third valve on the bag that isn't being utilized, then I'd start there. You shouldn't need any valves to get it working correctly.

Incidentally, did you buy the boat from Madras? If so, when?

WakeGirl - Ideally, where would the vent line go from the third valve on the bag? T into the drain line?

It can T into the drain line (past the pump) or have its own outlet. It makes no difference.

[jetskipro550]

This is what I have so far. The first picture is of the intake and the pumps. On pump is running a 5/8 hose (garden hose) and the other is running a 3/4 hose. The second picture is of the fitting that I have for the sacks. I put them together in such a way that I can easily take the sacks out of the boat.

Edited April 1, 2007 by jetskipro550