ballast system

[clintw]

ok heres the deal I have a 2000 san the boat did not come with a factory ballast system. I have been kicking around adding a custom system because i have filling and empting my two fat sacks that came with the boat. (which are old launch pad sack that have really bad connections and a slow pump.) I was wondering if anybody could give me some good advice on if i should try to order the parts myself of if i should try to find a dealer around here that would be slow this winter and get a good deal that way. I called wakemakers the other day they were very helpful but seemed high on there package for the boat. I found the reversable pump on another web site for over a hundred dollers cheaper. I have seen where guys on here have installed the system and was just wondering if i could get a step by step or what my best option is. Thanks for the help.
Clint

[ers906]

You can definitely do it yourself with just a bit of 12V and wiring knowledge. The stressful part is the drilling the hole in your boat for the intake, but if you have a dealer or mechanic nearby, they could do that for you. The first thing I would recommend is USE WAKEMAKERS. They may seem a bit high in price, but in reality there seems to be a pretty minor price change in the sacs regardless of where you look. Plus, They will help you design the system, down to every fitting etc. THat alone is worth the price of admission. I do not know how many times I would have had to reorder parts if I went by my initial design plans (mixture of home depot/hardware store parts and ebay buys) if Jason at wakemakers did not help me out. THey also use the same pumps and parts that the manufacturer uses, which not only makes it look better but function better (in most cases) as well.

[wake_fun]

Do it yourself, that's what I did...........about 7 years ago

[clintw]

wake_fun did you only cut one hole in your boat for the water intake is that what the one spliter is for? also where did you get your bags and pumps from?

[TRDon]

I am goona be the one person who says use an aerator system. :uhoh:

After trial and error in setting it up, I finally set it up right and got it working mint and I havent needed to do anything since then.

There are many advantages to an aerator system. The lower cost of the pumps (30 or less a piece), you never have to do an impeller change (which are 40-45 just for the impeller), you can use stock electronics on the dash to run it because of the low current draw (without the use of aux relays), it is quieter, you can run them dry with no ill effects, you can run them without the ball valves. The only real bummer with them is you need 2 per sack, no big deal, and a couple of specialy anti siphon elbows which are about $25 a piece and one is needed for each bag.

If you have interest in this type of system instead of using a $239 a piece impeller pump, I will be happy to let you know how I set mine up. I got almost everything from wakemakers that I couldnt get at the hardware store locally. ``

[wake_fun]

wake_fun did you only cut one hole in your boat for the water intake is that what the one spliter is for? also where did you get your bags and pumps from?

Yes, one hole in the bottom. I picked up the bags at www.wakeside.com and the pumps I got from www.westmarine.com because of a friends discount (you could get the pumps elsewhere).