Ballast mod 2001 Launch SSV ?

[roosm]

Hi,

I have a 2001 Launch SSV.
The current setup is the hippo ballast system (I think it is called) with one Rule 1100 gph pump, a rather restricting 3 way sprinkler with valves and 3 seperate drain pumps.

The ballast, if I am not mistaken, are 550 lbs in each rear locker and 1000 lbs up front. It was upgraded when I bought the boat in 2008.
The 1000 lbs cannot really fill to the rim as the space up front is restricting. The 550 lb sacks fill and leave about 4" of space to the locker door.

We are usually 2 people in the boat + rider when we go out wakeboarding. We don't surf. Yet, anyways.

I am trying to find the best way of upgrading the ballast for more wake. I could of course upgrade the rear sacks for the 750 lbs I hear some people are running, but that is only 400 lbs, total extra ballast. May not be worth the extra cash.
Though it is hard to find any other way to get significant ballast that is fully integrated.

That leaves loose ballast. I found the ronix eight.3 telescope ballast which looks really neat.
I could get the 1100 lbs bag and just put right in the middle of the floor, in front of the backseat (may need to move the port-side seat to get it to fit, but that wouldn't be an issue). This would be filled by throwing a pump over board.

Would that be a good way of upgrading the wake for wakeboarding?
If I remember the only few times we have been like 6 people in the boat + full ballast correctly, the wake was significantly larger. And the boat, even if it did take some extra time out of the hole, could handle it well.

Any input on that idea?

I have some other issues as well. The ballast is painfully slow to fill and even more so to drain.
I guess one problem is the restricting valves in the sprinkler. Could these be upgraded?
The other issue is that the front sack empties to slow. It should be fine with the 750 gph pump that I have up there, but it isn't pumping anywhere close to 750 gph. I guess this is due to the long hose all the way back.
Has anyone put an extra hole to throw out the water?

Thanks,
Mike

[roosm]

Hi again,

After some research I think I will go this route:

Change the two bags in the back for 750 lb Fly highs.
Use one of the old bags as a port/left ballast in the storage on the port side of the boat. This sac will be used mainly when we are only driver + wakeboarder or if the driver is heavier than the passenger for being able to fine-tune the wake.

For intake I will Tee off my current through hull and add another 1100 GPH Rule making it 2 1100 gph rules.
Keep the manifold but change the valves to irritrol 700 -.75 style.
Connect the new extra 1100 gph rule to the front sac as it is the largest of the four.
Use the manifold and the current rule 1100 gph to fill the other 3 sacs. Keeping the option to fill each seperately.

Swap the rear-drain pumps for Tsunami 800 gph pumps each getting a dedicated thru hull fitting.
Throw out the current front-drain pump and swap it for a tsunami 800 gph.
Use the 2 360 gph rules currently draining my rear sacs to 1) drain the port/left sac and 2) add an extra drain for my front sac (these pumps has the most head/lift to overcome while draining and will go slower than the tsunamis in the back and the sac is the largest, this justifies the 2 drain pumps on one bag).
Each drain pump in the front will get their own thru hull fitting right at the port side rear tower leg.

So this should give me at least slightly faster fill-times (since the current valves are very slow), much faster drain times and more ballast + the possibility of fine-tuning the wake.

Comments?

Mike

[Eric1687]

Let me know how this works I have the same boat with the same problem, I just picked up the new ronix eight.3 set up 800lbs bag with the pump works real good.

[99bison]

I upgraded as such: 3 separate through hulls, 1 reversible for front 1180+ bag, 1200 tsunami fill one rear, existing rule fill other rear, one new and one existing empty for flyhigh 750s bags in rear.

Some of this was to reuse existing pumps, etc.

Note I did add two thru hull pickups and 3 vent/overflow above waterline thru hulls.

[roosm]

I upgraded as such: 3 separate through hulls, 1 reversible for front 1180+ bag, 1200 tsunami fill one rear, existing rule fill other rear, one new and one existing empty for flyhigh 750s bags in rear.

Some of this was to reuse existing pumps, etc.

Note I did add two thru hull pickups and 3 vent/overflow above waterline thru hulls.

What kind of fill times do you see with both your rear sacs?

In general how do you keep water from self draining through your vents/drain-pumps?
Even with my current sacs (which I by the way believe are 400 lbs 42 x 16 x 16 inch after some measurements, though I am not completely sure how to measure) I see some auto draining through the drain-pumps out the thru-hull overflow.
This seems to be because the waterlevel in the sac raises past the thru-hull level while pulling out of the hole when the bow raises.

I imagine this will become a lot worse with larger sacs and I don't know how to solve it.

Basically I have 3 options.
1) Put an irritrol valve on the empty line (expensive, ineffective)
2) Move the thru-hull forward in the boat so that it keeps above the waterlevel of the sac (This might force me to put the thru-hulls above the rub-rail to work 100%)
3) Just keep the fill-pumps running while wakeboarding. Current-draw isn't really a problem so it is just that we are wasting water, but can't really see that it is a huge problem.
I guess the pump should be good for running a couple of hours on end?

I don't know much about fishing but I have understood that these live-well/aerator pumps are used for their water-tanks and from what I understand they keep them on all the time to keep the fish alive or what ever is the purpose? =)


Also, I have come up with another option.
Keep the 3 original slow valves, where one is connected to my port-side and the other 2 are connected to the front bag. Should double (at least close) the fill-rate of the front-sac versus the current setup. That would be fine. I am guessing somewhere around 15 minutes to fill the bag. And if I start them as soon as I get in the boat (mine is mooring in a slip all the time) it should be about done once I start wakeboarding.

Add an extra thru-hull intake without a scoop and put another (I already have it) Rule 1100 gph pump there.
This would then run through a vented loop with 1" lines after the vented loop it would Y-off to two 3/4 lines filling both rear sacs.
I am guessing that would also put me in the 15-minute range. The cost of this additional hardware would be like 75 bucks with thru-hull, vented-loop, 2 x Y-connections and ball-valve, at the same time I would save the cost for 3 irritrol valves and a 3/4 " Tee for the intake. Should even out.

And I guess it should fill quicker than my original setup. If I know your rear-fill-times I can just double them and see if I am happy with that. =)

Thanks
Mike

[99bison]

I don't have the rear fill times off hand, I do know it's faster than the front one. Seemed fairly fast, but it's been a couple months and not sure that boats getting out again this year. I'd say definitely not 15 min... Roughly half that if I had to guess.

I'd guess they don't fill past 600lbs due to size of the compartment.

I have the drains on a short hose and at an angle, I haven't had much problem with it auto draining through them.

The vents yes drains right out, I have them on the front most bag port though and have the hose go "up" as far as possible under the side. Seems to help a little.

I did it this way because it was cheaper having the parts already. All reversible would be the way to go though ideally, just easier all the way around other than having to draw more power/run bigger wires.

[Eric1687]

@roosm do you have board racks on your boat ? I've been trying to find some for my boat.

[roosm]

@roosm do you have board racks on your boat ? I've been trying to find some for my boat.

Well actually the boat I own had previously been damaged (rolled on the high way while beeing trailered and caught in an accident ), salvaged from the insurance company and then completely re-furbished.
Basically the fins, axle, prop, rudder, tower and some of the windshield was damaged. As well as the rub railing and the hull on the left bow where it hit the ground.

Thus I had to get a new tower and went with an aerial tower. I also got racks and a mirror for the tower.
So I wouldn't know where to get racks that fit the original tower. The aerial ones are really nice though. Even after 6 years with the boat sitting in salt water (sits there all season in the water, no lift) the racks are like new.

I also re-did the design of the boat to a custom design though I kept the colour of the interior matched with the boat. Hence the yellow!

Mike

SPPX8315.jpg

[ORIF]

I have a 2002 Launch SSV and completely removed the Hippo system. Replaced it with 3 thru hulls hooked to Ballast Puppies with 1" plumbing. Not cheap, but fast, simple and reliable.

Couldn't be happier.

[roosm]

Hi,

Thought I would give a little update on this.

I decided for the system as follows:
Rear ballast = 750 lb sacs, filled by 1 single Rule 1100 GPH pump through a vented loop and a Y-connection, using 1 inch hoses from the Y to the sacs and 1-1/8 as the rule comes with from the rule to the vented loop.
I replaced the stock Rule 360 GPH pumps with tsunami 800 GPH for empty.

I still have the original hippo-system in place with 1 Rule 1100 GPH pump to fill my front 1100 lb sac as well as one of the old 400 lb sacs that I put in the storage compartment on the left side right behind the play pen.

This setup lets me fill my 1100 lb sac twice as fast as before since I have 2 valves to the 1100 lb sac and 1 to the 400 lb. Still pretty slow and I think I will replace this with a solution where I use a vented loop between the 1100 GPH Rule and the hippo and remove the diapharms for the hippo valves connected to the 1100 lb sac. I still would like the possibility to control the amount of flow to the left hand side sac.
The rear sacs are really fast and fill up while idling out of the no-wake zone and me getting into the wakeboard and everything.

For empty I have the 1100 lb sac connected to a 1200 GPH tsunami that uses 1-1/8 hose and thru hull that I put in the storage compartment where the 400 lb is to have a shorter hose.
The 400 lb empties using one of the old Rule 360 GPH pumps.

Everything works really good when emptying the sacs. Most of the time the sacs are emptied by the time I have the boat tied in at the dock.

Cost was about 200 dollars for misc fittings, trhu hulls, vented loops, switches and hoses.
80 dollars for 2 x 800 gph and 1 x 1200 gph tsunamis.
200 dollars for 2 used 750 lb sacs.

The wake is considerably larger and the system is faster.
The way I can now control the lean of the boat with the port side sac is amazing compared to before. Now I can go only driver as well as one passenger on port side or a bunch of passengers with a clean even wake controlled by the flick of a switch.

If someone is interested I would be glad to help out with input of the system.

This is like a budget tsunami-project but I would guess it works almost as well and you use what you already had in place.