Changing ballast tanks on a 210

[tnyhwk]

Has anyone ever pulled out the stock ballast tanks and put in larger tanks in a 210?

I am someday going to upgrade from my 1996 Super Sport to a new 210 Team (Lord willing). For me, my wake is perfect with about 450Lbs on each side of the engine and about 550 in the ski locker.

I am pretty sure that the stock ballast set up in the new 210's are as follows. It has a 300lb tank in the ski locker and 270lb tanks on each side of the engine.

[ag4ever]

RE: Changing ballast tanks on a 210

I have pulled my tanks to service the engine, and it is not too hard. The hard part would be finding new tanks that would fit the area right. You could have some fabricated out of aluminum.

[Flux]

RE: Changing ballast tanks on a 210

You could also replace them with larger sacks. Maybe get 500 lbs in each locker. I may do this to our 02', pretty simple, but make sure you get sacks with drain/fill/vent holes and you can do a 1 to 1 swap on the hoses. This also helps if you empty the sacks and wanna use them for storage while hauling or whatever.

Just be sure to add whatever wieght you add to the back to the bow as well. If you add 400 more to the back, add 400 to the bow. This keeps the boat balanced, planes quicker, and keeps the good balance between transition and pop on the wake.

[tnyhwk]

RE: Changing ballast tanks on a 210

ag4ever: My plan would be to use the original tanks as a mold, and create a new one with the same "foot print" only make them taller. Have you ever had to pull the front center tank out? If so, is there room to put a larger tank back in?

Flux: I have heard of people removing the hard tanks and replacing them with bags. I personnaly like the hard tanks. I currently have installed a custom ballast system in my 96 super sport. The bags by the engine hold 300-350 and the ski locker bag holds about 350. I have additional lead plates that I use to balance the boat. Everything works fine, I just worry about a bag springing a leak or bursting.

[Flux]

RE: Changing ballast tanks on a 210

I am thinking of using these, or something like them.

http://www.wakeside.com/page/W/PROD/...drive_sac_W701

[OldFart]

RE: Changing ballast tanks on a 210

do u have porpoising problems w/ the added weight? W/ center/more forward weight that prevents it.

[bowvan]

removing ballast tanks

To all you guys talking about removing your tanks,

Leave them in. Unless your looking for the extra storage, you can plumb additional bags right on top of the stock tanks. I have a 04' 210 with flat tanks and I have can fill two "V-drive" locker sacks- automatically.

You will have to lengthen the size of your stock hoses and add one extra hose, but that's it.

Attach the vent hose from the stock tank to the bag. Attach a new piece of hose from the bag to the vent port in the hull.

To operate, just run the pump. Once the tank fills, it pressurizes and overfills into the bag. Once the bag fills, it overfills out the vent. To empty, run the empty pump. The tank will create a negative pressure and empty the bag first. Once the bag is empty and the hoses suck air, the tank empties.

You can speed the process up by plugging both empty hole's on the exterior of the boat. This prevents water from leaking out when you pressurize the tank. I use a cork. Just be sure to remove the plug before you run the empty pump.

[actiondcpd]

RE: removing ballast tanks

bowvan, how long does that take though? The vent hose is really restricted coming out of the tanks. I'm planning on using the same v-drive sacs and a big sac up front but am going to use separate pumps I think.

[bowvan]

how long does it take

I was concerned about that too... before I installed it. If I run the pumps while the boat is not moving, it takes about 8-9 min to fill both tanks and both bags. If the boat is cruising, it takes half that- no joke.

I also have a belly tank and 360lbs of lead in the bow, to offset the rear weight.

[wakejunky]

RE: how long does it take

Bowvan,

So, what do you do it you only want to run the tanks?

I tried a little different configuration than you and didn't have the same luck. I took the overflow connection from the top of the tank and left the vent tubing alone. I ran the overflow connection to the sac and then the overflow from the sac into a Y at the vent hole so, that the vent hole was venting of the tank and overflow from the sac. I found that the back pressure from the overflow tube of the tank into the sac would actually no allow the sac to fill and just push the water out the vent tube of the tank.

So, I now have two "Y"s I took the fill line and Y'd it with a garden hose Y that have those on/off valves. One line to the tank and one to the sac. Close off the sac when not needed. When I want to fill the sac I close the Y valve for the tank and fill the sac. The 2nd Y is for overflow from the sac to the normal tank overflow.

I then have a pump connected to the fac sac for draining (This part still needs to be improved, those aerator pumps don't like to draw water plus they air lock real easy)

I also changed out my stock 750gph pump to 1100 gph pump (that's a whole other story)

Chris

[actiondcpd]

RE: how long does it take

Wakejunky,

Isn't the overflow for the tank and the vent the same thing?? I think I might try what Bowvan did this weekend since it is much easier than what I was planning and I don't have much time before my shasta trip. I suppose if you didn't want to fill the sac up you'd just turn the pump off as soon as your ballast gauge said full... or since most of the time they dont work right you'd just keep and eye on it.

Also, please tell me it wasn't that big of a pain to switch out the stock pumps. I just bought some of the 1200 gph tsunami's and I can already tell it is going to be a nightmare.

[bowvan]

RE: how long does it take

Chris,
To answer your first question. If you just want to fill your tank's and not the sac's, just run the pump untill the gauges read full, then stop. Close the intake valve's so you aren't filling off the intake scoops and your done.

I'm not sure I fully understand what your set up is. You have a overfill line and a vent line? My tanks have three hoses connected to them. One fill hose. One empty hose (big). One vent hose. When the tanks are full, they "overfill" through the vent hose and out the side of the boat. That's how I got the idea for my setup. I just direct the "overfill" into a sac instead of the lake.

The reason the sacs empty, is because of the hard tank. Normally, when you try to empty a sac, you have to purge all of the air so the pump doesn't "airlock". You get the airlock because the pump is higher than the water. In my system, the sacs empty through the tanks... there's no air. When you run the pump (located below the tank), you create a negative pressure in the tank. The tank creates a vacuum and "sucks" the water out of the bags. To prevent the bags from sucking air and creating an "airlock" situation, just plumb the fill/empty hose into the sacs like a straw. If you look at my picture, the hose on the right is the fill/empty hose. It actually penatrates about 12" into the sac. The idea is to keep the hose at the lowest point in the sac. The hose on the left is the vent hose and it needs to be flush with the top of the sac so it can breath. I used hose clamps to secure all the fittings.

The system is really low tech and you don't need any additional valves or pumps.

Hope the info helps.

[actiondcpd]

RE: how long does it take

The new Fly high sacs will work well with this setup since they have 2 openings on top and one at the bottom. I'm going to give mine a shot. I just need a good way to fill my front sac. Might need to bust out the separate pumps.

[bowvan]

RE: how long does it take

actiondcpd,

That sac in my picture has the openings on the bottom too, I just didn't trust the fittings. I like being able to visualize that there are no leaks or problems. I ran it both ways. I just have more peace of mind knowing that I can see the fittings.

[ag4ever]

RE: how long does it take

tnyhwk,

I have not removed the center tank, but my dealer has. It is a real job. The factory had foamed my bow drain hoes solid, so it would not drain. to clean the foam out the dealer had to pull the belly tank. This involves, removing the rear floor panel, pulling the fuel tank, unbolting the ballast tank, and sliding it out thru the rear opening. A real PITA.


actiondcpd,

It is not that hard to change the pumps, once you pull the tanks, which is at most a 15 - 20 minute job.