Tsunami 800 pump upgrade project

[Fman]

I must say, I've been very pleased with the upgrade in the 3 months I've been using it. I haven't measured/calculated the GPM, but it is much better than the sprinkler valves, and that's good enough in my book. If I were to do it over, I probably would have added a 2nd thru-hull and separated the rears from center pump, and gone with the 1200's vs. the 8's, although I haven't done the calculations to make sure it would be much more efficient.

Only problem I've been experiencing is surging with my center pump. There are times it won't pump a solid stream of water, it more or less spits and surges. The bag eventually fills, but I need to find the time to look in to the problem.

Should be getting at least 30 GPM with all three pumps running, the stock system only had a 20 GPM rule, which did not even put out close to that.

As far the sputtering on the center pump, sound like you are getting air in the system somehow. Does it do it all the time, or just when you put the boat in the water? When you put in the water you should be able to see water in all three lines above the pumps.

[ScottnAz]

Thanks Travis, I'll take a look next time I'm out.
I'm always just so excited to get behind the boat that I keep telling myself I'll look at the problem later.

[Fman]

Thanks Travis, I'll take a look next time I'm out.
I'm always just so excited to get behind the boat that I keep telling myself I'll look at the problem later.

Been there done that many times myself!

[chrisk]

First off I just wanted to say how awesome this thread is, great work guys there's a lot of great information in here. Although I'm not doing an "upgrade" to an existing ballast system, I am planning on installing a similar system and I just want to run it by all of you for advice, do's, don't's, and tips. Basically just to make sure I have all the bases covered, right materials etc.

I'm including two pics; one of the "diagram" I've created for what I want to do and a second that acts as a key for the diagram and a list of materials. Do I have all the materials included? Does the diagram look correct? Do I NOT need any of the materials?

FMan, how much did your brass manifold cost you? Anyone have the PVC one from wakemakers and if so, any problems with it? Thanks for the help, hopefully these pics work.

[Fman]

FMan, how much did your brass manifold cost you? Anyone have the PVC one from wakemakers and if so, any problems with it? Thanks for the help, hopefully these pics work.

I would just go with Wakemakers and save the money, I cant remember the cost but it was pretty expensive because of all the brass pieces.

I am getting ready to install a similar surf system in my VLX, I also found out wakemakers has changed up a couple items. You will need a one way check valve on the fill lines to the bags, apparently when the boat is driving it is sucking water out of the bags once water is filled in them. The water flowing under the boat creates a negative drag and pulls water out.

They are also not recommending using "vented loops" anymore. If you run the fill line up and over the rear compartment area (as high up as possible) you will not get any water in the bags when driving the boat.

They also are now selling the RULE 1100GPH tournament series ballast pump, which has a 3/4" NPT thread to 1" outlet. I am going with these pumps, they put out about 18GPM which is really good, you will fill a 750lb sac in about 5 minutes. Also going to use them for the drain pumps. I think they run about $50 a piece.

[jasonwm]

Chris-

Your diagram looks good, and I don't see anything I would recommend changing. We have a lot of customers doing simple aerator pump based ballast systems like this, so I think you'll be really happy with the results.

Just a couple of comments:

- With only two fill pumps you won't really need a "manifold", you'll basically just need to split the supply to feed two pumps using one of our intake tee fittings.

- As long as you have a ball valve attached directly to your thru-hull you don't need to use bronze (definitely don't use brass in a boat, it will corrode), and plastic is cheaper and lighter.

- Depending on what size pumps you're planning on using for filling that may necessitate upgrading to a larger intake.

- You have a check valve between the fill pump and bow bags, but you're missing one between the fill pump and rear bag, so add one more to your parts list.

- Assuming that you will always be filling and draining both bow bags at the same rate (since you have a single common fill pump), you could combine the two vents and two drains together, instead of combining the vent and drain from each bag. That would allow you to lose the check valves, which would reduce your cost by ~$30 (if you buy the check valves from us).

I am getting ready to install a similar surf system in my VLX, I also found out wakemakers has changed up a couple items. You will need a one way check valve on the fill lines to the bags, apparently when the boat is driving it is sucking water out of the bags once water is filled in them. The water flowing under the boat creates a negative drag and pulls water out.

They are also not recommending using "vented loops" anymore. If you run the fill line up and over the rear compartment area (as high up as possible) you will not get any water in the bags when driving the boat.

Careful making blanket statements with the information we give you, our conversation regarding check valves vs. vented loops was specific to your setup, and certainly doesn't apply to all systems.

They also are now selling the RULE 1100GPH tournament series ballast pump, which has a 3/4" NPT thread to 1" outlet. I am going with these pumps, they put out about 18GPM which is really good, you will fill a 750lb sac in about 5 minutes. Also going to use them for the drain pumps. I think they run about $50 a piece.

We've been really impressed with these pumps so far, and while they're a little more than a 1200GPH Attwood Tsunami, they don't require any additional adapters to install (so the net price is essentially identical), take up less space, and they include both the straight and elbow discharge fitting, which is a huge advantage when installing the system.

[chrisk]

JasonWm,

Could you post a link for what you would recommend to take place of a manifold? I'm not quite following you.

Thanks for the heads up on the check valve. I made a conscious decision to remove that because I was simply thinking that when on plane the sac would be lower and water wouldn't rush out. But I completely forgot to take in account when the boat is just sitting at idle and the bag is higher, as well as negative pressure from water rushing past that hole. Silly...

Anything else guys? Still looking for two bags, between 200-400#'s if anyone has some or sees some for sale.

[chrisk]

Also Jason, the reason I have two separate systems set up for both bow bags is because I want to be able to remove one and keep the other. I don't do a lot of surfing, but when I do I would like to be able to remove that front right bag, set it beside the engine on the port side and fill it up. I was planning on having a valve that I can manually turn off and on on that front right bag so that I can fill just the left and not the right. Then, I was going to have a T-Joint before the stern sac with another manual valve after it so I can close the valve and connect the second hose of the T-Joint to the bag lying on the floor and fill it up. (I would just have that second hose lying beside or on top of the stern sac when not in use).

Does this make sense? Do you think that system will work? I'm just trying to avoid buying a fourth sac and a $100 Tsunami pump to manually fill a sac for surfing.

[chrisk]

All of that said, if I leave everything the way it is right now, are the check valves even necessary on the drain lines?

[docdrs]

All of that said, if I leave everything the way it is right now, are the check valves even necessary on the drain lines?

I didn't read everything , just looked at the diagram and see no reason to have the check valves on the drain lines at all.If anything you want them on your vent lines and even then , with the y connector they probably are not doing much as you are going to eventually drain the bag anyways. You may want to route your rear vent line forward to prevent siphoning during a surf session or you could just put a cork in the thru hull on the surf sides to prevent this. You also only need 1/2" vent lines, but then you need a 1/2 / 3/4 y which may be hard to find or you could just go all 1/2 vent discharge as time is not usually a matter when draining. Just an opinion .......