01 air ballast questions

[01bigair]

OK, so I've been doing alot of reading on here regarding additional ballasts. So I semi tore into my 01 last night looking around and cannot figure out how my tanks fill and empty. I can see both pumps, the overflow lines, the gauge senders and a small grey hose that runs from the top of each tank to the panel where the white valve knobs are. I did not want to take the gas tank out so I could not trace the hose very far beyond the "empty pump" in the rear. Where does it "T" to each tank or does it go all the way to the white knobs and "T" there? I would like to add a rear locker bag and a ski locker bag to the auto system, am getting tired of a bag on the back seat. I do not want to spend $400 on Jabsco pumps so please dont recommend that. I have seen pics of others and read installs but some use different terms for different hoses, vents, overflows and such. I also believe some major changes with the valves took place sometime around 00-02. I have no problem waiting 10-15 minutes for 2 stock and 2 additional bags to fill. If I go with a seperate pump for the two new ones, I am not very comfy with electrical yet on the boat, but have not seen anything on hear to make me feel better about trying that route. Any help is always appreciated.
01 air DD.

Thanks PN Nation!

[bchesley]

RE: 01 air ballast questions

Your system is pretty arcaic in design. You have one fill pump that is in line with another that is your empty pump. It fills and empties through a small 3/4 scoop style thru hull. The grey hoses are actually attached to a air valve that creates an airlock on your tanks when closed. The tank can not fill unless you open the air valve. The tanks could be added on to pretty easily by taking the vent from one side and filling an extra bag that way. Its just going to take for ever to fill and I am not sure the little 800gph pump has enough guts to fill a bag stacked on top the existing tanks. It might be worth a try though.

[01bigair]

RE: 01 air ballast questions

I understand the just of how it works , but where does the water go in/out of the tanks, I could not find another port in either tank. If I abandon the old system what would it take to redo or better yet what would be the cheapest/easiest route to take to get what i want with the push of a couple buttons.

[WakeSlayer]

RE: 01 air ballast questions

I do not want to spend $400 on Jabsco pumps so please dont recommend that.

OK. Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

If I abandon the old system what would it take to redo or better yet what would be the cheapest/easiest route to take to get what i want with the push of a couple buttons.

Umm.

[DanielC]

The ballast tanks fill and drain from one hole on the bottom of the tank. The valve behind the seat is just an air valve that allows the ballast tank to vent. If the vent is closed, only a little water moves. I think if you leave the valve open, and stop moving, and turn off the fill pump, the water will siphon back out of the tank. Closing the air valve prevents that from happening. Likewise, if you try to fill the tank with the air vent valve closed, only a little water will go into the tank, as much as the fill pump can push against the building air pressure in the tank. when you turn the pump off, the air pressure will drain the tank again.
There is also a valve in the line between the through hill fitting, and the pumps. If this valve is closed, nothing happens.
If you have boat this valve open, and the air vent valves open, the ballast tanks will slowly fill, from the forward motion of the boat, without turning on the pumps.
Sometimes the ballast pumps will air lock, and will not pump water until you move forward fast enough to force water through the pump, and then it works normally.

It might be possible to go to fat sacks, and fill and drain them from one hole. the air vent valve will just be ignored. Plumb the hose that currently goes to the bottom of the stock tank into one hole on the fat sack. To fill, open the valve on the through hull fitting, and turn on the pump, optionally drive forward. When the sac is full, turn off the fill pump, and close the through hull valve. To drain, open the through hull valve, and optionally, turn on the drain pump. You may have to move the sac around to get the water to the pickup, to get it all to drain. Close the through hull valve.

The original system used two hard tanks, and one fill and one drain pump. There are two air vent valves. This allowed you to fill the tanks independently, to balance the boat with out having to tell the "curvy" gal in the boat to move to the other side, and getting her all upset. There was a "T" fitting between the two tanks, to the pumps that fill and drain both tanks. Opening only one air vent valve allowed water into only that tank.

[WakeSlayer]

In other words: Cut the system out, and install a bag and jabsco system.

Oops.

[01bigair]

Thanks DanielC. I will try to locate the fill lines to the tanks. Should have known a fellow Norwesterner would help!
Wakeslapper, you have 1250 posts I hope the other 1248 were more informative than these two. Must be compensating for something else, I guess?

[bchesley]

Re: RE: 01 air ballast questions

I understand the just of how it works , but where does the water go in/out of the tanks, I could not find another port in either tank. If I abandon the old system what would it take to redo or better yet what would be the cheapest/easiest route to take to get what i want with the push of a couple buttons.

There is no cheap and easy way to get what you want. There are guys on here that have tried every way possible to better their systems. What we have found is there is no substitue for a jabsco ballast puppy system. You cant make yours work any better for any lessor amount of work. If you keep your old pumps you are going to have to add some sort of valves to keep the water from flowing out of a bag after it fills if you ditch your current hard tank system. It will be hand operated. So no way to make it push button unless you go jabsco. This might not be what you want to hear, but if you want push button ballast, start saving your money and do it right. If there was a better way this group would have figured it out. I promise you that.......

Brad

[01bigair]

RE: Re: RE: 01 air ballast questions

Thanks Brad, I felt that if I kept the boat as original as possible it may help if I decide to upgrade, but I haven't come across anything about that issue with boats, like you have with cars when people mod them and the value decreases.

[WakeSlayer]

Well, my friend. You are contradicting yourself. Repeatedly. What you have, and what you want vs. what you are willing to do, and spend. I have plenty of experience to draw on with respect to our boats, and particularly ballast systems. It is great that you now have a knowledgeable guy to explain how your boat works to you, rather than digging in and figuring it out. Daniel brings a wealth of knowledge to this site and is extremely helpful. How do you think he gained that ability? My first post was simply doing what you asked and being a little funny. Noting that your sense of humor ranks right there with your comprehension of how your boat works.
If I really need to explain myself, which I guess I do, because you are incapable of doing a search and figuring out that your system in general doesn't work that well. It is going to be really hard to annex additional ballast to it as it is and the best solution to be able to "push a couple buttons" is, in fact, to pull what you have, spend a little more than you want to, and plumb in a bag system with Jabscos. Or leave what you have, and plumb just the locker and trunk with a Jabsco. You really will get what you pay for, and will understand why the majority go this way.

Just trying to help you see through the fog.

[01bigair]

If I had a dime for everytime you type "do a search" I could afford to what I want. I guess 2 weeks of reading post on ballasts additions/installs is not to your standards. You imply that I dissed DanielC somehow, guess I missed that one. Make sure to pat yourself on the back "again" for pointing out the obvious about my knowledge of my boat. I've only had it 1 year, and just started this year trying to make it better, but hey why not bring another brother down, feels good doesn't it.

[WakeSlayer]

Dude, really, you are confused. I meant no harm in any of my first couple posts. I did not imply you dissed Daniel, that makes no sense at all. And my last post was pretty much in line with the stupid comments you made above. Lighten up, kiddo.

[bowvan]

01bigair,

Does your stock sytstem still work? What I mean is, do all of the original componets function as they were designed? If so, just plumb new bags on top of your tanks via the overflow lines. It might not fill as fast as it would if you had two deticated pumps, but it will still work. The scoop style through hull intake will create plenty of pressure to fill the bags. You will most likely have to keep all of you valves open (pump off) when riding, so that your bags will stay topped off. They will leak down a bit when your not under way, but will fill quickly once you get going again.

You can also upgrade your fill/empty aerator pumps for pretty cheap. This would speed your fill/empty time and increase your system pressure.

When plumbing, just keep the hose from the tank to the bag as low as possible and the hose from the bag to the vent as high as possible. Don' tforget to consider the angle of the boat when it's on plane, when figuring the highest point possible.

[DanielC]

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, slow down everybody!
There is more than one way to add ballast to a boat, just look at the ways Correct Craft has done it.
I would suggest no system is perfect, that all have advantages, and disadvantages. Not just one way is the only right way.
There have been problems with the ballast puppys burning up impellers, and popping circuit breakers. There were problems with the helm control valves in the 03 system not being installed correctly. Obviously there were some problems the air vent valve system used in the boat discussed on this thread.
A lot of people with their own creativity have figured out a solution that works for them.
A lot of people have the ability to throw a lot of money at the problem, but some people do not, or maybe they do not want to.
In any case, in order to modify what you got, it is helpful to understand how the original system works.
People, play nice. If somebody does not want to use the exact system you discovered, or designed that works great for you, do not be offended, just offer the information, and explain why you like it.
Here I am, a show skier who would rather wakeboarders and wake surfers just go away when we want to put up pyramids, and I am giving advise on making ballast systems work.

[WakeSlayer]

Well said, and true to form, Daniel. Thank you.

Man those pyramids really mess up my surf wake.