Fat Sacs for ballast install

[youngunz]

Hey Yah'll,

With 3 new jabsco puppies on the way, I got to thinking..Can I still use my stock ballast tanks from my '02 SANTE? If not, would it be best to install 400's or 750's in the back?

New to nautiques as of last year so any help would help!!
Cheers

[crobi2]

I'm sorry, it's difficult to know where to start. I think I saw you had another thread about this also in maintenance.

OK - with 3 ballastpuppies to start with, you can get rid of the tanks in the back and replace them with sacs. If you use the 400's and have the GT-40 (you might or might not) you may not have to change the prop. If you go with the 750's, the prop will have to be changed.

You need to find out how many intakes you have. Early SuperAirs had only one 3/4" scoop. Later ones had 2 3/4" scoops in the back and a grill in the front for the center tank. Do you have the center tank? The center tank may be more difficult to remove than the rear tanks. Anyway, you need at least one 3/4" intake for each ballastpuppy (or some kind of settup with a single shared larger intake at least 1 1/4"). Also, if your stock intakes are scoops, you will probably have to remove the scoop function to keep the water from filling your bags when you don't want them to.

Please post more information and also do a google search "ballast planetnautique" to find old threads with pictures etc.

[youngunz]

ok, well the boat is in storage right now but this weekend I will check out some of the details..what I do know is, GT-40, stock 250lb tanks, 2 stock scoop intakes, no ballast tank in the ski locker, along with two and a grill..will verify this weekend..

Another question I have is, with bags is there any fear of leaving the pumps on for too long when emptying or is there a pressure feature built in to the pumps that shuts them off??

Is there any chance that I could use the new pumps and plumb accordingly for the stock tanks??

Thanks

[crobi2]

Ok, good - you don't have to get rid of a center tank. With your two stock scoops, you have enough already there for your two rear bags (whichever size you choose).

Most people use the ballast puppy to fill and reverse it to drain. That can cause a problem like you said if you don't notice that the bags are empty and the pump is pulling vacuum or air for too long. I don't have impeller pumps yet myself, but I understand that they are loud enough to hear, especially when they change pitch when the bags empty. If I ever do get ballast puppies, I will probably use them to fill and I have aerator style pumps on the bags to pump them out. This involves more plumbing though (I have drilled a lot of holes in my boat).

You probably could use the ballastpuppies with the stock tanks. Some of the tanks (maybe starting in 2002) have an aerator pump screwed into them for drain. Perhaps you could fill with the ballast puppy and drain with the aerator. You will have to check what you have. The oldest style (2000 &2001) had just two aerator pumps hooked to each other* and then plumbed into the tanks for both fill and drain. If you try to use the ballastpuppies without removing the scoop part of your intakes, let us know if your tank fills past the pump when you don't want it too.

* The old style had a 3/4" scoop to the intake of one aerator pump which pump THROUGH the exhaust of the second pump and then into the tank. The exhaust pump then just did the same think backward and drained out the 3/4" scoop.

[brhanley]

Depends on how big you want to go...the more you put in back the more you need up front...60/40 so you'll need 1000 or so in locker plus up front to even out 1500 in back...the people who want a big wake go 750s...

One thing you can do is a custom sac in the ski locker and you should be able to get 800 lbs in there...Ive been trying to figure out the specs of the ski locker as I have a tank in there and want to remove it. post up the specs of the ski locker if u have a chance. 72" x 27" x 11" is the best I could figure.