Vent/overflow line

Coming off of the top of the main part of the sac is a vent/overflow line. This line is used to vent any air out of the top of the sac so that it can fill completely with water. It is also used as a pressure overflow in case you leave you pumps running too long and risk bursting the sac.

I used quick connects for this line as well. The vent line hose comes out of the sac and goes into a one way valve and then to the side through hull. The one way valve stops any water from coming in from the side through hull into the sac. It also allows the sac to raisin up and lay completely flat in the bottom of the locker when empty.

I initially put on a flapper style check valve but the surging of the boat when we would start and stop would push water out of the vent/overflow. So I switched to a spring style check valve which worked better but I still would lose some water. So ultimately I put a manual check valve in line. I open it to burp the air out of the sac... other wise it is closed. I have to watch the sac to make sure I do not overfill it because there is no emergency overflow now.

Since my install many people have started to run the vent/overflow line to the opposite side of the boat. This allows the check valve and side through hull to be much higher than the overflow on the sac (because of the leaning of the boat). Because of this lean the water does not flow out of the side through hull. With this design you can utilize a flapper or spring check valve only and it functions as it is designed. If building another ballast system I would definitely use this modification.

Here is a picture of the top of the sac. You can see the quick connect in the middle of the sac for the vent/overflow line. You can also see how well the sac raisins up when it the water gets sucked out of the sac.

Here is a picture of the one way check valve and then you can also see the 90 deg angle and then the side through hull.

Electrical

Before starting the ballast install I located 3 sets of wires tucked up under the transom lip in the back of the boat.  They were heavy 10 gauge wires in 3 pairs.  These were obvious factory wiring for the ballast that was never installed in my boat.  I planned to use 2 of these sets for the new Johnson pumps.  

This is a picture looking down the side of the boat (under the gunnel) while laying in the driver footwell area.  If you notice in the wiring bundle near the top left corner you can see the same heavy gauge wires that we found in the rear of the boat.  These come forward to the switch panel.  

Here is a picture of those same heavy gauge wires coming from the rear of the boat (6 heavy gauge ones plus a few others).  They already had slot connectors on them and were all bundled up together.

Here are the same 6 heavy gauge wires from the back of the boat now separated out and ready for wiring.  (I only used 2 pairs and tucked the others back away for some other project)

Here is a picture of the fuse block under the driver console.  On the right side you will see a separate area that  has label for port, starboard, and center ballast, as well as tower lights.  These all have the heavy gauge wire on them already.  These wiring colors match the wires that come from the rear of the boat.  There are a few fuses missing for the starboard ballast and center ballast.  I followed these wires (not easy to do) and they took me to some white relays.  See 2nd pic.

These are the white relays that the wires from the fuse block go into.  I was able to follow them through the other side of the relay and then to an area behind the switch panel where they were bundled together with slot connectors on them.  

So all the wiring was in place except for there were no ground wires coming from the fuse block.  Only hot wires.  So I obtained some 10 gauge wires and ran two wires from the grounding slots on the far left of the fuse block (see fuse block picture above) to the rear of the switch panel.  I used green wire because its all I had.  The fuse block picture does not show the green ground wires yet.  The following picture shows the switches that came with the Johnson pumps.  I did not like how they looked because they did not match the factory switches.  But I tried to use them anyway.  I got them all wired up and they worked great..... However they did not fit into the slots of the switch panel board.  

So I ordered factory switches from Fineline.  Shell was a big help there.  These are what the starboard and port factory switches look like that match my other switches.

Unfortunately the switches from Fineline have the incorrect wiring pins in the back of them for use with a reversible pump like the Jabsco or Johnson pumps.  These switches are designed to be used through a relay of some sort and use a ballast puppy to fill and mayfair pumps to empty.  Here is what the pins on the back of the factory switches look like.  There are only 5 pin connectors.

So I decided to order some different switches.  I found these switches on Ebay at a store called The Boating Mall...  http://stores.ebay.com/theboatingmall .  I took a picture of the switch packaging so you have the correct switch number and everything.  These are double pole double throw (DPDT) switch that also has the LED light on them.  They are generic switches with generic face plates with no writing on them.  They do fit in the holes in the centurion switch panel.  So what I did is pop the face plates off of the switches I purchased from Centurion and swapped them with the face plates on the switches from Ebay.  So now i had the correct switch body and now also had the matching factory face plate with the correct ballast text on them.  Here is the switch packaging.  It is a Cortura rocker switch number 12982.  Make sure and get the illuminated one if you want the LED lights to work.  

Here is what the back of the new switches look like.  There are 7 pins.  

Now for the switch wiring.  There are 7 pins on the rear of the switch.  There are 3 in the left column and 4 in the right.  They are numbered as follows:  The top left is 1, the middle left is 2, the bottom left is 3.  The top right is 7, the 2nd on right is 4, the 3rd on the right column is 5, and the bottom right is 6.  So here is how I wired mine.  Hot wire from the fuse block goes to 5. Ground wire from the fuse block goes to 2.  Run a loop from 2 to 7 to get the LED light to work.  Run the wires that are going to/from your pump to 3 and 6.  Run a loop from 3 to 4 and from 6 to 1 (this steps allows the pump to reverse).  Hopefully that works.  This next part is kinda complicated.  Now you have to test the switch and pump.   At this point I disconnected my ballast sacs and filled a 5 gallon bucked with water.  I put the hose to the ballast sac into the bucket.  I then hit the fill switch.  If hooked up correctly the hose will blow bubbles into the water (sucking air from the intake and pushing it into the water.  If that happens then great.  Then hit empty.  If hooked up correctly then water should start sucking from the bucket and coming out the bottom thru hull.  If this happen great!!!  If just the opposite happens (sucking water with fill and blowing bubbles when empty) then you need to reverse wires 3 and 6 and their corresponding loops to 1 and 4.  That will fix that problem.  The other potential problem is if the empty LED light comes on when you hit fill and visa versa.  If this happens pull the switch out of the panel.  Pop off the face plate and turn it over and pop back on.  Then put switch back in the panel.  So essentially you just turned the switch upside down.  That will fix the LED light problem.  Here is a picture of the wiring of the back of the switch.  Make sure and buy big enough wire diameter connectors so that on several of them you can push 2 wires in them before pinching them down (pins 2, 3, and 6).  In this picture the green wire is ground from fuse block to #2, Reds are loops from 3 to 4 and 1 to 6, Thin black wire is loop from 2 to 7, Large black wire with blue stripe is wire from pump as is the large darker brown wire (hot and ground does not matter here.  You just want the pump to spin the correct way for fill and empty), the light brown wire with a blue stripe is hot from fuse block.     

Here is the butt connectors I used to connect the factory wires near the rear of the boat to the pump wires.  I used liquid electrical tape (red stuff) to make the connections waterproof.  The wire was then put inside the plastic black spiral conduit and taped shut with electrical tape. 

Here is the finished switches in place.  Looks clean and just like a factory install!

Fake a Lake test

So I figured the first thing I needed to do once the system was completely put together was to see if the system itself worked. Would the pumps actually pump the water in and out. Also a great time to check for leaks in hoses, clamps, etc.

So I hooked the fake-a-lake up to the water intake for the ballast system, not the water intake for the motor. I turned on the hose and then jumped in the boat. I wanted to try out each pump individually so I started with the starboard pump and switched the switch on to fill. The moment of truth..... The pump fired up and water started flowing through the hoses and into the custom sac. I could also get water flow through the starboard aux fill line. And no leaks! I then tested the port side the same way. Success!

I took off the fake-a-lake and then reversed the process and hit empty on the port side and sure enough the pump reversed and shot water back out the floor intake. Same thing for the starboard side.

I did not fill up the ballast sac very much just cause I didn't want all the additonal weight in the boat. Its not good for the boat or the trailer.

Now it was time to go launch the boat and check for leaks in the new "holes in the boat".

Water test...... hope this works!!!!

Ok the moment of truth has arrived. Time to see if the boat still floats. I went down to the lake and launched the boat. To start off I had the brass ball valve closed. I wanted to make sure the water intake scupper was water tight. I watched it for about 5 minutes and no leaks.

Next I opened up the ball valve to which allowed water into the system to as far as the pumps. The pumps are a closed type system and will not allow water past the impeller. I watch for about 5 minutes and no drips or leaks.

At this point I was getting impatient so I hit the fill switches for both pumps and we headed out into the lake anxious to get some surfing action. After about a 5 minute ride I stopped and opened the V-drive locker under the rear seat. HOLY CRAP!!!! THE BILGE WAS FULL OF WATER! My bilge pump had kicked out but I didn't notice. I immediately shut off the ballast pumps and regathered myself. The bilge pump cleared out all the water and no more seemed to be coming in. So I turned on just the port side pump this time and we watched and listened. Pretty soon the bilge started filling up again but the water was coming from the front of the boat. What the Heck???? Then is dawned on me. I had forgot to shut the ball valves on the aux fill hoses. So I opened up the starboard locker (ski locker under walk thru) and sure enough... soaking wet. And I opened up the observer compartment...... sure enough soaking wet! Ok major oversite. I won't do that again!

So after shutting off the aux hose ball valves I hit fill on both pumps. Everything worked like a charm. The bag filled the compartments completely! They emptied perfectly as well. Success!

Results... Fill & empty times, pics of wave

The the custom install worked awesome! I timed the fill and empty times and it takes exactly 7 minutes to fill the custom Avy sac with both pumps running. If I am also filling any aux sacs then the time increases. My usual set up is to fill the custom sac completely, fill a 500# sac on the back seat completely, and also a 200# sac in the bow completely. To fill all of these sacs simultaneously it takes about 11 minutes. About the same amount of time to drain them but maybe a little faster. The system will both fill and empty while sitting still in the water or while the boat is moving. I was a little concerned about how well it would drain while under way because of water being forced into the water intake. It seems to slow the draining down a little but not significantly.

The only slight problem I have with the system that I was not anticipating was that the aux fill lines do not have very much pressure when filling. The pumps are so powerful they shoot the water right past the "T" that goes to the aux fill lines. The aux lines get some flow but not very much. I got around this by slightly closing the inline ball valves that go to the custom sac. That way there is not quite as much pressure going to the custom sac and it forces some into the aux fill lines. I just keep them slightly closed (mostly open) all the time now. This allows me to fill/empty the custom sac as well at the 2 aux sacs that I always use at will. Fill/empty time with the valves like this is 11 minutes.

Now I can launch the boat, hit the fill switches, pick up my tow vehicle park guy, and by the time we go wakeless out of the marina the ballast system is full and we are ready to ride. No more wasted 20 minutes once we get out of the marina to fill the ballast. Although the ballast install was rather expensive it gives us 30-40 minutes extra riding time every time out. And to not have the headache of several manual pumps and moving stuff everywhere is worth it alone.

Here are a couple more pics of us surfing. I am 6'3" and well lets just say 250+ to be nice. The wave is large, long, and tons of push even for us big guys.

Also included 2 pics of how the custom sac looks filled up in the compartments. This was filled with air before the install was complete. I keep meaning to get some pictures of it full of water on the lake but keep forgetting. Too much surfing fun to be had!

Hindsight is 20/20... What I would have done different

Actually there is very little I would have done different. I have made 2 small modifications from the original design.

The first is I lengthened the aux fill hose in the port observer compartment. I needed it to reach all the way to the front of the bow for filling the bow sac. I may actually hard plumb in this sac under the port bow seat and add a overflow/vent line to it to make things even more simple.

The second one I have already talked about in the vent line install section. I had to install a ball valve in the vent line to keep from loosing water out of the custom sac as the boat would start and stop. I originally thought the spring loaded one way valve would keep enough pressure to keep the water from free flowing out. And for the most part it keeps it from free flowing but the surging of the water during boat starting and stopping pushes water out and you loose a fair amount of water out of the top of the sac after an hour or so.

Installing the ball valve fixed that problem. I actually leave the ball valve closed most of the time now. I am careful to watch the sacs as they are filling so I don't overfill them because I have the overflow shut off essentially. I only really open the ball valve when I need to burp some air out of the top of the sac.  However on my next ballast system I will run the vent/overflow line to the opposite side of the boat.  This will completely eliminate the water getting pushed out of the sac with the boat surging and it will allow the overflow and vent to work without having to use a manual ball valve.

The only other problem was the initial low pressure in the aux fill lines that I mentioned in the results section. I discussed in there how I worked around this problem and I am very happy with the solution and results.

One other modification I have make lately is that I replaced my older Fly High sac that had the older water bed style connectors with a new Fly High Pro X series sac that has the good quick connects.  I also replace the old Launch Pad sac with a new Fly High Pro X sac.  So I took the end connectors off of the aux fill lines (one was water bed style and the other one was for the launch pad link system) and replaced them with Flying High part W738 (MALE QUICK CONNECT - 1 1/8" BARBED TSUNAMI PUMP HOSE END) ....  http://shop.maxwake.com/product.sc?productId=48&categoryId=12   I had to really heat up the end of the 1" hose to fit over the 1 1/8 inch barb filling but it worked good.  Now I can fill my two new FH Pro X 400# sacs from the aux fill lines.  These FH Pro X sacs are so much nicer then the other brands of sacs.  More durable and much better connectors!

Modifications for other ballast systems

My ballast system is a two pump system to fill one very large main sac for surfing . It also has the auxiliary hoses to fill sacs on the seat, floor or bow.  This system can easily be adapted to fill 2 large sacs that are in both rear lockers. Also by building a manifold that has 3 or 4 main lines off of it (I used 1 “T” on the main water inlet/outlet so I only have 2 main lines.) you could also fill a center or bow ballast sacs.  This general idea can be adapted to many different set ups.