Ballast Intake Question ? ? ? ?

Ok I know it's been discussed over a 100 times but I can't seem to find many posts about it actually causing problems . . . . I have plumbed in front and rear ballast sacs with 2 simer pumps and I set it up to where I can add a 3rd pump later for the 2 side sacs so my question is for a 2-3 pump system is it a bad idea to use the raw water intake ? I have all the stuff I need for a thru hull intake setup but I'm not too wild about cutting a hole in the bottom of my boat at the moment

i remember (i think) 2 is good. 3 pushing it.

or you could nut up and drill it! Drill some vent lines first if you like. drill it. (i didn't like the idea of tampering with my engine vs. fiberglass.)

Yeah that's a good point I will have to cut holes for my vent lines so I guess I'll have to cut the fiberglass no matter what ballz . . . . Are you supposed to cut it from the outside or from the inside

above water line, outside only. below, you'll have to do both. start from outside. A pilot hole works best on engine bay intake. Keep in mind, its a pilot HOLE. no redo's.

blue painters tape so it doesn't splinter. run hole saw in reverse. I sprayed a lil 40 so it doesn't get too hot.

Measure twice. Drink a beer. Measure again. Measure, then drill.

Have fun

do you run it in rev. through the entire cut ?

To add to nacho's comments, drink a lot of beer first. It took me a lot of liquid courage to do.

On the other hand, don't drink too much or that could be bad too.

Yes, run it in reverse and don't put much pressure on it. Let it drill slowly and don't force it.

damn so I'm just gonna have to suck it up drink some liquid balls and do it

I'm planning on doing it this weekend

Not to hijack, but do you have any pictures of your pump setup? I need to add front ballast. I have factory ballast plumbed in to the rear sac, but want to add to the front.

we have a rule 4000 gph pump and its almost to much, it will fill our front sac and due to the play-pen can only fill to about 700 lbs. of the 1000lbs....but the pump will pop the whole bow up, moving the windshield and everything, and maybe break it (never gotten that far)... but its so crazy powerful

Taft, Yeah I'll take a pic for ya and post it tomorrow

Nick, the rule 4000 gph is an aerator pump right ?

I always drill the pilot hole all the way thru from the inside, and then run the hole saw from the outside. Much easier to make sure where you are putting the hole, so you don't end up cutting into a stringer or something. Mask it off on the outside, and you really only need to run in reverse thru the gelcoat. Clean up the edges with a Dremel, and coat the now-exposed raw glass layer edges with resin or at least 3M 5200.

no, its a bilge pump that was intended for yatchs, i think... its just a beast... but it will fill 700lbs+ in the bow, 900 in the rear in about 3-5 min

Good lord, Nick... that's crazy powerful.

How much did that baby set you back?

125.00 + shipping -- cheap as it gets
the site i bought it from was terrible. got it broken, wouldnt respond to email and no phone # on the site... but Rule (pump company) replaced it for me

hell you could fill like 5 sacs with that thing got any pics of your setup ?

Thats right. 5 sacs in a few minutes. My next boat will have 1 fat daddy fill pump and drain pumps on each bag. With a manifold and big pump you can send water wherever you want, fast.

Taft, thats super easy. T into your fill line, add the pump at the back, run hose up the front. You could even piggy back the two fill pumps and drain it with your bilge. You could have front ballast by this afternoon.

Do you guys remember the cat that had the crazy (turbo-jet-something) pump at the boathouse?

I wonder if you could use some of those to make a wake box

i can get some pics... its done about as cheap as possible... everything sacs, plumming, and pump was like 600 bucks maybe... i did get a great deal on the proX stuff though,
**It is only semi-auto, still have to put the pump over the side**
when I take some shots I'll post up

I didn't want to cut a new hole in my hull either. I did however enlarge the original raw water pickup from 1" to 1.5". The suction from the engines rubber impeller is greater than the suction from the three aerator style pumps so there is no problem with using the ballast while the boat is running. I have been running a ballast system like this for many years with no problems.

I wouldn't worry about running 3 pumps of the raw water intake. I have had three simers doing that for 3 seasons now with 0 problems. I can fill and drain at full speed without issues. I wasn't worried about drilling a new hole in the boat, it was just easier to tap into an existing one.