On my 2001 X-Star, the 3 hoses connected to the center ballast are kinked (see attached pictures). They must be too long and the weight of the full bag bent them. One hose even leaks. If I cut them off at the kinks, there's not much left sticking out. Any ideas on what to do in terms of what I could use to extend from the cut off area (assuming I cut it) to the bag nozzle? <BR>Any other suggestions on how to handle this? <BR>Thanks <BR> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/174367.jpg" alt=""> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/174368.jpg" alt=""> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/174369.jpg" alt=""> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/174370.jpg" alt="">

Replace it with stronger hose.

Have you replaced your hose? Was it a tough job? <BR> I don't think the strength of the hose is the problem. I think the hoses are just too long and the enormous weight of the bags shifting back when you accelerate just crushes them. <BR>The idea of replacing them does make sense but I was hoping to avoid that. Maybe that would be less work than trying to cut them and piece another section on.

Good question, I have this exact problem on my '01 X-Star as well.

heres what you do yeah cut them at the kink. Then reattach the bag stuff the hoses back down into the holes and no more kink....or cut them real short almost to the hole and put your blue fittings back on so they cant kink anymore. thats what i did to mine

Steven, <BR> <BR>Thanks for the reply. <BR>I don't think the hoses will "stuff" back in the hole. I'll test it again, but I thought I tried pushing them. Maybe I can pull them back a bit from the rear? <BR>That would be better than cutting them real short since that leaves no room for adjustment at some later time. <BR>Thanks again, <BR>Billy

Are those special clamps that hold the adaptor on? They are metal but don't have a screw on the outside like the clamps I'm used to seeing. That's a good thing since that's 1 less thing to be sharp, but what are they call so I can get more? And how do you put them on? <BR>Also, other than cutting off the end of the hose, how do you remove those clamps if you want to? <BR>Thanks.

The problem is that the suction power of the pumps is causing the hose to collapse on itself. <BR>When you empty the bag you need to turn off the pump immediately, or the hose will kink. Once the hose has kinked it is a weak spot in the system, and will continue to collapse. Your probably going to have to replace the hose at some point, when you do use hose that is metal reinforced (wire inside that looks like a stretched out slinky). If you have to replace, undo one end, duct tape the new hose to the old one and pull it thru, it should not be that hard.

Here's what I did. Whether or not it prevents the problem in the future remains to be seen. <BR>I cut the intake and overflow hoses at the kinks. I removed the factory clamps on the hoses by prying the end up with a small screwdriver and then using a pair of snips to bend them off. By opening the floorboard, I was able to see that there is more hose to pull through (though Mastercraft appears to have a VERY POOR design of how those hoses are crimped coming into the sack area over the gas tank). I used normal screw clamps to hold the nozzles back on, and then I covered the clamps with electrical tape to reduce the sharp edges. The outtake hose (the short one on the bottom) was too short to cut. So I replaced it with a piece of heater hose that I got from Home Depot. I used screw clamps to hold it on the pump and the sack. <BR>The cause of the kinks was the bag shifting back whenever the boat accelerated, so to prevent that, I have inserted some packing foam in the center compartment in the area of the hose lines coming out of the bag. This is to take the weight of the shifting bag off the hose lines. <BR>Now we wait and watch...

BillyB, <BR> <BR>The company that manufactures the materials MC uses in their ballast systems is Flow-Rite (<a href="http://www.flow-rite.com" target="_blank">www.flow-rite.com</a>). <BR> <BR>You can get all stock materials there. Also, the aerator pumps MC used in '01 don't have enough suction to collapse the hose.