Changing ballast tanks on a 210

[tnyhwk]

RE: how long does it take

ag4ever,

Could you tell if there is room to put in a larger center tank?

[OldFart]

RE: how long does it take

tnyhwk, the rear tanks are easy, NOT strapped in place. There is a drain pump on the bottm to be careful about. Otherwide a 15-30min job per tank if your the slightest a rooke. ONly tools should be a screw driver for clamps. Maybe a vise grip for bottom pump.

[ag4ever]

RE: how long does it take

My tanks are bolted to the floor with some aluminum brackets. Two bolts holding them in, so a socket, and flat head screw driver are all that are needed for mine. Yours might be different.

[jonbassham]

RE: how long does it take

bowvan...

Have you weighted down the front to even out with the extra weight from the sacks in the back???

What have yall used to weight down the front... does it run the seating up there... i am looking at some sacs to sit on the seats.

Thanks

[bowvan]

RE: how long does it take

Jonbassham,

I have the factory bellly tank(300lbs), plus 360 lbs of lead in the bow. It's just enough lead to allow the boat to plain quickly and not too much to sink the nose when the water ballast is empty.

[Cisco-Kid]

Bowvan, (Sorry to bring an old thread back to life! :o )

This is a simple and effective design! Very nice convenient way to add weight. I decided to add more ballast exactly how you have done so in my '04 210 directly from this thread back in August. It finally got warm enough in Michigan recently for me to get around to plumbing my Wedge Sacs and testing it on the Lake.

There is one this that I missed originally that I answered for myself by revisiting this thread, regarding the emptying of the bags. I used a simple ELBOW connector on the fill/empty line and did NOT penetrate the bags with the hose. My bags did not drain all the way. It makes sense that if I put the hose INSIDE the bag it would help empty. What type of fitting do you use to seal the entrance of the hose into the bag? Also, you mentioned to use a cork on the empty holes right? (LARGE HOSE) I just wanted to make sure, because the entire time I was filling the SACS, my DRAIN holes were leaking which surprised me. I thought that maybe some water would go out the overflow/vent hole, but why would the water go out the DRAIN hole? Doesn't it have to be PUMPED out? I mean why doesn't that happen on the stock tanks,? Is it the added pressure of the SACS? In any case, instead of putting corks in, I was considering putting small shut off valves in so that does not happen during filling, what do you think?

Thanks again, it seems like a great, trouble free design once it is dialed in...

[bowvan]

Cisco-Kid,

Thanks for the interest. I secured all of the hoses with a hose clamp, directly around the fittings on the bag. If you look close at the picture in this thread, you can see what I mean. The connection that leads outside the boat and into the bag needs to be flush with the fitting (just stick it in far enough to secure a hose clamp). The hose that connects the bag to the tank needs to penetrate about 12'' into the bag. If you use the same type of black hose that came with your boat, it's just big enough to shove through the fitting. It's also important to notch out the end of this hose, so that when you empty, the hose doesn't suction to the bag. Again I just secured it with a hose clamp.

The answer to your second question: You need to stop the flow of water comming out of the "big" empty hole. The reason for this is because when you fill your tank under normal conditions (without any modifications), the tank fills and vents out the side of the boat, never pressurizing. If you watched closely you would notice a little water comming out of the empty hole, but not much. This all changes when you modify the system. Because the bags sit on top of the tank and above the drain holes, as soon as they start to fill, you are pressurizing the tank. The water naturally seeks the path of least resistance and flows out the "large" empty hole in the bottom of the tank and out the side of the boat. Water will also naturally flow out the vent and into your bags, but it has to compete with the water flowing out the empty hole. To prevent this, just stop the flow of water out the empty hole and force it out of the vent and into your bags. You can install valves, I just found it easier to plug the hole with a cork. They're cheap and easy to find (Home Depot).

Hope this helps. Good luck...

[newwakesurfer]

update completed - still waiting to test drive

bowvan,

thanks for the idea on the 210! I just finished installing two 260# Fly High Pro X Series Side sacs on my new 2001 super air. Using your idea, I installed a 3/4" T off the overflow line of the stock water tank and directed this into the new bag as both a fill/empty. I used a 3/4" elbow male x female that threaded into the Pro X bag. The "straw" is just a 1/2" hose that I glued inside the bottom of the elbow. I was able to use 3/4" hose for all the fittings as not to restrict flow, except for the 1/2" hose inside the bag. The Pro X side sacs are nice, since they have two NPT fittings on the top of the bag. The second fitting on the sack top was hooked up to the existing vent system. The only difference from your idea was I had to install a shut-off valve on the overflow line, since the bag height (when filled) is over the height of the overflow port - if no valve installed, fill water would just dump to the outside of the boat. So, now, I have the added weight of the Pro X bags on top of the stock water tanks - can't wait until it stops raining here in Oregon to try out the new surf wave.

Thanks again for the great idea.

[bowvan]

Newwakesurfer,

I'm not too familiar with the '01 set-up. Is the picture with the "T' a overflow/vent line or is there an additional vent line? I'm not so sure you need to use a "T". You should be able to run the overfill line directly to the bag. Either way, just make shure that your bags "vent". Keep in mind that when you fill your hard tanks, the water displases the air out the vent hose. If you have the vent hose closed, you will fill your bags with the displaced air. The same principle is applies when you empty. The tanks need to be air tight in order to "suck" the water out of the bags first. When the bags are empty, the tank will vent and begin to emtpy. If you drain the tanks first, you will be stuck with half-full bags.

Also, is there a thru-hull intake scoop attatched to your fill line(s)? If there is, you shouldn't need the valve. My vent hose is also lower than the top of the bag and when the boat isn't moving, the bags only stay half full. I leave the intake vavles to my tanks open (pumps
off) and the movement of the boat keeps the bags topped off. Additionally, having the valve increases the chance of you accidentally overfilling a bag, causing damage to your compartment doors and/or bags.

Anyway, just something to think about. Like I said, I'm not real familiar with the '01 set-up. What you have might work. Let me know if it does, I have a friend who just bought an '01 and he was thinking of installing custom system.

[noti_dad]

So I diagramed what I think you did. Is this correct?


Was thinking of doing the same thing to my 06 211. Couple questions;
1 do you have a problem with water syphoning out of the bag when it fills & overflows?

2 any issues with the pumps filling an additional bags (ie pushing more water from the bottom to fill them).

[bowvan]

Noti_dad,

That's the idea. The only difference is the hose connecting the tank to the bag, attaches from the top.. not the bottom. I had originally designed it that way to keep an eye on the fittings. I like seeing that there are no leaks. The way you drew it up will work just fine, in fact if you do it that way, you don't have to extend the fill/empty hose into the bag. You only need to do that if you come in from the top.

Your going to have to consider a couple of things to make this system work on your '06. Because your pumps are positive displacement pumps, you don't have the "scoop" style thru-hull fitting. You won't be able to keep your system topped off like i do, by just leaving the intake valves open. Because the bags sit higher (when full) than the vent hole, they will naturally leak untill they equalize with the vent . Your going to have to find a way to stop the bags from leaking by either: 1. Running your pumps occasionally 2. Plugging the vent hole with a cork, after your full 3. installing a valve in your vent line. Also keep in mind, you won't need a cork to stop water from escaping from the empty hole (like I do), because your empty line is also your fill line.

Other than that, sounds good. Good luck...

[newwakesurfer]

Ballast Tanks on Super Air

hey bowvan,

thanks for the comments - yes, the super air stock systems has a combined fill/empty on the bottom of the hard tank, 1 vent line and 1 overfill line. I T-d off the overfill line and kept the vent line attached to both the bag and hard tank. Will be testing this whole system out this weekend - weather permitting. No in-take scope on the boat. I will post later with the results, have included a few pics to help illustrate. Based on our comments - I may have to disconnect the vent line from the hard tank and just have the one vent line to the bag.

later

[noti_dad]

RE: Ballast Tanks on Super Air

bowvan-asking around I have found from a couple sources that the new system does not have a seperate vent. Overflow and vent are the same. Posting on WW to see what info I get over there also. Gonna look at the boat tonight and verify. Dealer thinks that with the new 06 pumps it would work really good. I'll post when I get around to actually installing it. Thanks for the help and ideas.

[ag4ever]

RE: Ballast Tanks on Super Air

On my '02, it has a fill line, an empty line and a vent line. The vent is also the overflow.

http://users2.ev1.net/~ag4ever/Nauti...ne_Ballast.jpg

[newwakesurfer]

New Bags on top of the stock tanks worked great: SANAT

Bowvan - your "slurp tube" idea works GREAT. Took the new boat and new plumbing out today, bags filled and empty with no problems - awesome wake to surf behind. Thanks again for the idea and if anyone want's more info on how to add ballast sacs to their current stock tank system, please don't hesitate to email me for additional pictures. \

Now it is time for summer fun.