Fly High Fat sack question

Does anyone know the thread dimensions for the fly high pro x sacs? I was curious if you can use regular plumbing 3/4 male threading to connect a ballast system to the bag? With my current setup I need to run 90 degree elbow and dont wanna buy all the quick connect stuff.

Yes you can. THe quick connect stuff comes with the bag, and regular 3/4" fittings screw into the QD's.

Okay, So I just want to be clear about this before I drop some coin on these things since I am assuming you are talking about QD meaning quick disconnects.

I want to completely bypass the quick connects and run a male pvc 90 degree elbow into the threaded portion of the sack fill and venting holes. At 6 bucks a pop and 3+ per bag I end up spending over 60 bucks on connectors which is crazy.

On another note does anyone fill their sacks with aerator pumps from a bottom hole location for their ballast system? I want to run the fill and drain to a sack that is flipped upside down but am unsure of the pumps power against the water pushing back out when the sack is full.

Hey Matt,

I'd stay away from the bottom FILL but a bottom DRAIN is a sound idea. Aerators don't have alot of "push power". I've heard of folks cutting in a thru-hull fitting, sealing it with 5200 and then clamping a hose directly to it. I think I'm going to try this route on my FILL side and let the DRAIN side go to the existing fittings.

Wes

I use an aerator pump and fill 2 v-drive sacs from the bottom; my sac in front has a top fill. I'm using one pump to fill all 3 - I think it's 2000 gph, then each sac has its own 750 to empty. It works ok, but would probably be faster if I could fill from the top. I may upgrade the back to pro-x series.

I fill sacks with aerators from the bottom fitting, it works fine. I fill and drain from the same fitting on the bag.

adding a thru-hull to a fat sac is really easy. i added drain ports to all 3 sacs in my ballast system. like Wes said, use some 3m 5200 (I used other marine sealant) and clamp hose directly to it. cutting the sac is a little tricky the first time but its pretty easy. good luck

Please someone correct me if I am wrong but I thought I read on here that some one found a coast gaurd regulation that there had to be a brass ball valve directly connected to thru hull fitting. Maybe you were reffering to doing that but I was not sure. Just wanted to relay that.

Cory

If anyone has a pro x series sac in SJ, CA please email or pm me. I would like to see if a regular 3/4 pvc plumbing fitting will thread into the fill and drain threads of one of these. I will even bring you some beer for the time I take. I checked out what fittings I need for my system and if I buy all fly high fittings its almost $100 in the fittings alone.

Thanks for all the responses guys, I appreciate it!

Matt, its definately not 3/4......my pro-x plug mics a tick over 1".

you will drain back out of your aerator pumps without a check valve in line. I installed a check valve in my system that only allows water to flow from the pump to the sac. Without pump preasure the valve closes and no water can gravity drain.

Cory, I think they are talking about putting an extra fitting on a fat sac; cutting the vinyl and putting a fill or drain where you need it. I was also confused at first (still may be).

Gary, can you tell if the check valve restricts the fill-rate at all? My bow sac will gravity drain if I let it. I have a $1.99 garden hose valve on the fill line that I manually shut off when the big Pro-X bag is full. The two lines that go to the back bags go up an over the engine walls, so they can't drain back thru the bottom. What kind of check valve do you use?

Matt,
I think the Pro-X series is 1" FIP thread. I had a hell of a time trying to find what I needed at the local stores and ended up ordering the pieces from wakeside. I think I've seen other posts on Wake World about this as well. You might want to check the archives.

Good luck...

Thanks guys. You have been a ton of help. I plan on running a check valve for both fill and empty. For those looking for swing check valves on the cheap check out http://www.doityourself.com/shop/checkvalves.htm

They have some of the best prices I have seen for these.

Rich I am planning on running the 1" valve with some pvc male barbed ends. From the looks of the 1 inch it wont restrict any more than a 3/4 fill line IMHO. I am prob going to plumb everything to fill and drain from underneath pending the pump has enough power. 1st day on the lake I will be working out all the kinks and bugs of my new (used) boat anyways, so this goes on the list.

I guess I will go ahead and order the sacks and see what I can find through home depot, osh etc. before I resort to buying fly high's expensive plugs. I would really like to not run a quick disconnect since I will never want to take em out in a jiffy and prefer the peace of mind of a threaded connection.

Thanks again

I do not have any fly high fat sacs yet,but I am looking at the bow sac.I am a machinist so I may be able to shed some light on thread dimension. First there is a difference between straight threads and taper threads. straight the outside diameter along the threads is the same (ex. 3/8-16). The last number is the number of threads per-inch. This is measured by physically measuring how many thread (or peaks there are in 1") You can lay a tape measure on the threads and count how many peaks are there in on inch of the bolt. I suggest trying this with any know bolt(ex. 1/2-13) there are 13 threads per-inch,before trying with taper threads, but it is the same. Now taper threads most threads that deal with water are tapered it helps with sealing. A 3/4 -14 npt (national pipe thread) the outside diameter of the thread is 1.050" there is 14 threads per-inch of thread. Secret about pipe threads if they are done right there will be about 3 to 4 threads exposed when tight. This will make for a water tight seal.Some manufactures make there own threads so standard threads will not work, and you have to use there equipment. I do not think this is the case it runs up the cost of production. I know this is detailed. I do not think bottom feeding a sac is a go idea. Any pump has head pressure. You have to overcome gravity. Head pressure is the pressure on the pump so the more water the more pressure. That is why any tank manufacture if given the chose will top feed a tank.I hope this will help.

If thats the case it may be 3/4, but its not NPT b/c its not tapered. FH uses an o-ring seal.

So here is another quick question. I have a 2000 wakesetter vlx. I was planning on going with these pro x series v-drive sacks for the rear compartments. I am a little afraid they wont be enough weight ultimately though. is anyone running these sacks with a similar year and model as me?

I was thinking that my other option would be to go with their 750 and build a retaining type wall between the hull and the sack. I would somehow tie that wall to the metal support brace running along side the motor that typically holds the divider. What do you think? Has anyone ran anything bigger in these compartments without problems? My ultimate goal is to have as much hidden (switch controlled ballast as possible)

Matt, I have the same exact boat you do and I run the Pro Series fat sacs in the rear compartments. Because of the space, I estimate they only weigh about 600lbs each. I didnt make any divider between the sack and hull and it seems to work fine. I can send you some pics if you want and give you some ideas that I wish I would have done before making my current ballast system.

That would be great whazzup. My email is Liquidmx@hotmail.com if you want to send it there,I will take the time to repost it if anyone else wants to see the setup.

Might I ask how long you have been running those sacks without problems? And how is the rest of your weight placement setup? And on a different issue, did you do anything about the foot long pylon sticking up that gets in the way? Mine is welded to the cross brace so I was planning on cutting it right below the platform.


I was thinking about using 3/16 sheet metal for my v-drive seperators (bought boat used and the owner didnt have them for some reason so I have to buy dividers anyways) and running some sort of strapping or containment to keep the pressure off the hull sides.

Matt, you will need dividers to keep the sacs from shifting into the engine comparment, but I don't understand why you need to keep pressure off the hull. The hull already has water pressure against it coming from outside. You can't hurt the hull with a fat sac unless you don't have an overflow vent; even then its unlikely.

Maybe I don't quite grasp what you're trying to do, but you might be creating more work for yourself than necessary. BTW, I have one of the big Pro-X sacs, and it should be great for the rear compartments.

I guess I never thought of the pressure pushing back against the hull from the water rich. Sorry if some of my posts are kind of haphazard, its tax season so I am a little off tempo.

I guess my main worry is the image of running through dubs and having all that weight bouncing around without anything pushing against it but the hull. I have pushed fat sacks around in boats and felt how much energy it takes just to flatten the side of a sac like the hull would be doing. If you are familiar with cars at all my idea kinda paralllels a tranny blanket. Some serious straps with a blanket type spanning piece between them to essentially pull the sack against the dividers. Otherwise my thought was of taking a piece of 3/4 ply, cutting it to the same internal dimensions of the hull the sack would be resting against and tie all four corners back to the dividers, so the sac is leaning against the wood being supported by the divider. I will draw it out late tonight when I get home.

When I bought the boat it had no dividers between the motor and the compartments. I have no idea how the owner went as long as he did without dividers and soft sacks, must have been super lucky. So I am looking into custom making the dividers (i have heard the originals are a bit flimsy with any amount weight against them (like a sac). So I looked into plastic and its pretty pricey, so my dad suggested some mild steel or aluminum as an alternative.

So right now I am looking into prices for that. I wanted to run something stronger than a thin piece of plastic; Something that could take some weight so I can really fill up those compartments.

Is there much worry of the flooring in BU's or MC's when putting that much weight on them?

Yes you can use 3/4" PVC fittings - it threads right into bags.

I will send you my address to send the beer for looking!

(Message edited by mx21 on February 10, 2006)

Matt, I have a 98 sunsetter vlx that I plumbed a complete ballast system in. I used the pro-x v-drive sacs in the back and a tube sac in the locker. I bought the fly high barb fittings. I used 2 Simer self priming reversible pumps that fill and drain thru the drain hole under the drive shaft (I didn't have to drill a new hole). I drilled a hole in each side of the boat at the rear to vent the v-drive sacs. I have 2 on-off-on (fill-off-empty) switches to control the pumps. When I see water coming out the rear vents I killed one pump and I just watch the locker sac to see when it is full. These pumps don't have run dry protection, so you have to listen to hear when the sacs are drained.

The pro-x v-drive sacs fit perfectly and still have storage space on top of them when their full. You could probably get more weight in there, but it would have to be vertically.

Matt,

I will have the exact same setup as far as bags go. Can you post some pics of your rear sacs? Just curious which ports on the bags you used for in and out, and how you routed the overflow hose.

Thanks.

gvb,
I don't have any pics of the bags and the boat is in storage. Here are the pics I have. I didn't have the rear bags when I took the picture of the pumps so the output side of one pump is not hooked up.

I routed the output side of one pump to directly in front of the engine and attached a garden hose Y adapter with valves to the back of the rear seat and split it to each rear sac. I can close one valve to fill or drain only one sac at a time for surfing. I connected to the rear sacs in the front bottom with 3/4" black heater hose. I vented with flexible bilge pump hose from the rear top of the bag to the chrome fittings. I used bilge hose so it wouldn't get kinked while filling and emptying.

Even thought the Simer pumps do not allow flow while they are not running, I installed a ball valve at the intake for a precaution. I only close this if I leave the boat in the water over night. If you have any more questions just shoot me a email.