Speed up ballast fill times

[JpCrOOked]

I have a 17 23LSV with the blue/white ballast pumps.  Can I purchase different pumps that will speed up the fill times?

The pnp bags take forever to fill, I think mb 15+ minutes to fill to 100% capacity...

[CaptainMorgan]

is the 15+ min confirmed on a stopwatch?  the blue/white ones typically pump around 110 lbs/min (800gph = 13 gal/hr, 8 lbs/gal).  so between hard tanks and PnP, you should be <10min per side in the rear (if longer than that, maybe you have a blockage?).

if speed is super important, if on a lift you could leave some water in the tanks or use lead and not fill totally.  If trailering, could take the rear PnP bags off the plug-n-play loop and fill them via 12V external pumps like days of old that just sit in the locker; then you'd have blue/white filling hard tanks and external pumps filling soft bags.  sounds like a huge pain to me but it'd have 2 extra beefy pumps and water would get in there fast.

personally, i wouldn't bother with any upgrade.  I usually have the lightest person surf/wakeboard start once bow & mid are full (usually 5min and rears at 50% by then) - totally surfable for most, maybe use extra wedge, while rears fill up; usually maxed by middle of their set. 

 

[pauley71]

46 minutes ago, JpCrOOked said:

I have a 17 23LSV with the blue/white ballast pumps.  Can I purchase different pumps that will speed up the fill times?

The pnp bags take forever to fill, I think mb 15+ minutes to fill to 100% capacity...

I'm not sure when it started by my 2022 has larger pumps (the blue and white ones) than my 2020 had.  That said they may have come with larger thru-hull (both fill/drain) and hoses.  I can't confirm any of that but they definitely upgraded the pumps.

[pauley71]

btw, not only are they larger ... they shoot water 2x farther from the boat than the old ones.  This is obvious b/c they cheaped out and used the smaller version on my front tank (probably b/c its small) and it look like a trickle compared to the larger one.

[JpCrOOked]

Good to know, thanks for the details.  I was only estimating the fill times as it seems to take a while, I need to be more patient I guess.

It's not a big issue, I just didn't know if the fill times could be a little quicker.

[CaptainMorgan]

also for ceiling on performance expectations, most companies that offer "fast fill" pumps that advertise getting all ballast filled in like 4 minutes (Malibu included).  My buddy has a nice Mastercraft that fills in that time and when he is filling he is supposed to put engine in gear and above idle because of the significant current draw on the batteries (4 pumps at 10+ amps each i'd guess, and for minutes straight - probably harsher than stern turn in some respects).  

the only time its really an inconvenience is if you were already in the middle of the lake and someone has an epiphany that they want to go from floating w/ no ballast and surf NOW!  then yes, its 5minutes minimum, 10min to max wave.  otherwise low hanging fruit is small protocol changes like start filling right when splash at the ramp, while idling in no-wake zones, or if switching between activities, leaving rears with like 25%. 

[Cole2001]

You could swap out your 800s for 1200 tsunami's pretty easily. Just not sure how much of a gain you would have. They also typically run 1 1/8” hose where as I believe you might have 3/4”. So either need adapters which will limit flow or run larger hose.

https://www.wakemakers.com/products/attwood-tsunami-ballast-pump-1200-short

Rule makes some 2000 up to 4000 aerator pumps but have not messed with them but would speed fill times up. 

I wouldn’t go fast fill reversible, not worth the headache of running relays for more power to keep it integrated into the screen. MC did figure out how to run 6 of them at once but now you must keep the engine at idle rpms or you will get low voltage. Any sort of low batteries and the boats not happy. 

[wakesonthesnake]

17 hours ago, pauley71 said:

they shoot water 2x farther from the boat than the old ones.

They could keep pirates away, like to turn them on when the kids are swimming around the boat.

The new pumps are huge, would want to see if there is room before purchasing for an upgrade.

[Zippymbr]

I had the same problem that my piggy back system took almost 20 min to fill.  I added 2 reversible pumps that only fill and empty the 1100 bags and left the MLS system intact.  This required 4 Holes to be drilled and a bunch of wiring and hose routing.  Not super easy but not too hard.  Now I can fill or drain in 7-10 min.

[Slurpee]

1 hour ago, Zippymbr said:

I had the same problem that my piggy back system took almost 20 min to fill.  I added 2 reversible pumps that only fill and empty the 1100 bags and left the MLS system intact.  This required 4 Holes to be drilled and a bunch of wiring and hose routing.  Not super easy but not too hard.  Now I can fill or drain in 7-10 min.

This is what I did in my 2016 and 2019. The reversible pumps evened out the fill and drain time nicely. Definitely a more complicated DIY, but doable. 

[COOP]

This is a serious 1st world problem. 

Im still confused by people that need to surf NOW. Idle out while filling and have drink.

 

[Slayer]

28 minutes ago, COOP said:

This is a serious 1st world problem. 

Im still confused by people that need to surf NOW. Idle out while filling and have drink.

 

This is how we roll.  

[dizzygti]

On 11/13/2023 at 4:36 PM, COOP said:

This is a serious 1st world problem. 

Im still confused by people that need to surf NOW. Idle out while filling and have drink.

 

Agreed.  I have a few in my crew that refuse to get in until the rears are full.    We never fill the port rear PnP fully and the starboard rear is full a minute or two after they start riding, but I have to tell them every time to get in and go!   This engine idling isn't running on hopes and dreams!   

Edited November 15, 2023 by dizzygti

[Brad B]

We idle thru the no wake zone leaving the marina and fill. And we are still pretty old school. 1200 gph aerator pumps fill on each 1100lb bag in the trunks. Fill time seems to never be an issue. 

[wakesonthesnake]

On 11/13/2023 at 1:36 PM, COOP said:

Im still confused by people that need to surf NOW.

For me it was the switching between surfing and wakeboarding that made the process seem painful.  Sometimes I had to promise my wife a hard return time to get her out and an extra 20 mins filling and draining is a good amount of riding time.  I will now switch between sports in the middle of the day which I rarely did before, had some to do with the sack in the bow though.