Ballast and stereo project finished.

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:25 AM

There was a long pause over winter but i finaly finished the ballast system today.
Using 9 sacks 15 jabsco water puppys and alot of squezing.
It works perfectly six through hull fittings to fifteen pumps and 9 sacks powered by ther own optima yellow top.
Controled by eight 3way switches to 15 reversing polarity relays and a lot of fuse protection.
each sack fills completely in 4 mins giving a total approx weight of 3000lbs.1000lb rear 800lb mid 600lb front and 600 lb bow.
Havent seen the effect on the wake yet as the sea was to choppy.
Just like to say that this would'nt have been possible without the information gathered from this forum.
Hope the pics come out.
first the stereo all boss and pheonix gold of course

first the stereo all boss and pheonix gold of course

inlet / outlet pipeing under rear centre seat

(typhoon) · (typhoon) **Join Date: Jul 2001** 03-31-2003, 10:26 AM

All I can say is...WOW.

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:30 AM

these are the sacks used all custom made by a local waterbed company.

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:35 AM

and some more

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:36 AM

and some more

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:40 AM

check out the water line bfore and after 2 mins of fill time

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:43 AM

some ofthe wiring loom made for the job

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:45 AM

And finaly all preped up and ready for some fun if the wind ever changes.

(magic) · (magic) **Join Date: Mar 2002** 03-31-2003, 10:49 AM

Oh my!

ghetto 03-31-2003, 10:49 AM

Typhoon coming from you I take that as a complement. It was alot of youre posts that I used to get the info.Thanks.

(typhoon) · (typhoon) **Join Date: Jul 2001** 03-31-2003, 10:50 AM

Anytime. Awesome work...

(sae4life) · (sae4life) **Join Date: Mar 2003** 03-31-2003, 11:15 AM

That is the most elaborate ballast set-up i have ever seen. Damn impressive!!!

(ralph) · (ralph) **Join Date: Apr 2002** 03-31-2003, 11:32 AM

Time to change your username from "Ghetto" to "Pimp"

chris_hargis 03-31-2003, 11:36 AM

You just prove that anything is possible. Great job on both systems.

jmccallum 03-31-2003, 11:52 AM

nice work on the wiring. I'm ashamed to show my pics now. What's the max current draw on your system anyway?

bigd 03-31-2003, 12:27 PM

Bling Bling!

(south30) · (south30) **Join Date: Apr 2002** 03-31-2003, 4:37 PM

Mike,
sweet,,, what is that board that your amps are mounted on?? where can i get it at?

dave

(jwat142) · (jwat142) **Join Date: Jan 2002** 03-31-2003, 6:21 PM

I thought you were kidding until I saw the pictures. I would love to see your wake! What is the total weight when full?

ghetto 04-01-2003, 9:31 AM

The amp boards are just mdf which are covered in an alloy check plate effect plastic. Over in the Uk we can get it in most car part stores under car mats. There light plastic which is easily cut with a knife when you shine blue neon on it it certainly looks bling bling.
The total weight of the ballast system was calculated using the dimensions of the sacks made to fit the lockers it worked out to be just under 3000lbs. More advance testing was done with the left seating sack which when full I actualy weighed the water expeled into jerry cans 400lbs exactly it took two pumps 4mins to fill.
The boat is carrying an extra battery and all the stereo eqipment on one side and so I ballanced it out with 300lb of lead bars on the other.Also the extra speakers and lights and the weight of the ballast system itself must come to a fixed total weight above factory speck of 1000lbs add to that 3000lbs of possible ballast and thats 4000lbs total weight above factory, put 7 people in the boat and that would be a second sunk Tige to my name.For those that didnt already know I sunk a 22i last year(not through playing with ballast I might add).
I think I will only ever use half the ballast possible so that I get 1500bls of weight within two min .The reason its so excessive is two fold one to see if it can realy be done the second is if I ever take some big waves over the bow again I can slash open all the sacks and put the system on empty hopefully keeping this boat above the waterline this time.

(fernandob23) · (fernandob23) **Join Date: May 2002** 04-01-2003, 7:00 PM

That is awesome! I really want to get a ballast system into my boat, but it just seems overwhelming. Your boat looks great and I am sure you will enjoy the wake and music.

(bbeach) · (bbeach) **Join Date: Jul 2002** 04-02-2003, 7:11 AM

What engine does your boat have in it? And is it struggling to operate the boat with that much weight? Nice setup!

jlm 04-02-2003, 7:19 AM

very impressive, when you're done you can start on mine!

ghetto 04-02-2003, 9:40 AM

Mercruiser 6.2ltr black scorpion.

(jon_a) · (jon_a) **Join Date: Feb 2003** 04-02-2003, 1:36 PM

I don't know about everyone else but I don't like the idea of ballast weighing more than the boat. That just doesn't sound too safe to me. Very nice job with all of it but where does a person draw the line with all the ballast?

(bog) · (bog) **Join Date: Sep 2002** 04-02-2003, 3:34 PM

infreakingsane!!! good work though, looks like it was a pain in the ass to build!!

(bob) · (bob) **Join Date: Feb 2001** 04-04-2003, 1:38 AM

Mike, you need to come with me now, im the ballast police and you have WAY too much time and BALLAST on your hands

skihardkore 04-06-2003, 6:00 PM

holy geez.....how long, in terms of hours do you think that took you? i assume you did it all yourself?

(thane_dogg) · (thane_dogg) **Join Date: Jun 2002** 04-06-2003, 6:24 PM

that's stupidcrazymuchograndeabundant ballast. DUDE ARE YOU CRAZY?!

(slipknot) · (slipknot) **Join Date: Aug 2001** 04-06-2003, 6:50 PM

ghetto, unreal! When you coming to san diego to help me with mine. Nice job man!

Lets see the pics of the wake next.

(wakinwestcoast)

i think i'm going to go cry now.

(bruce) · (bruce) **Join Date: Feb 2002** 04-06-2003, 7:21 PM

Oh Mylanta!

(h20jnky) · (h20jnky) **Join Date: Mar 2003** 04-06-2003, 10:27 PM

save some salt-water for the dolphins mate! very nice......

(cyclonecj) · (cyclonecj) **Join Date: Jul 2001** 04-07-2003, 6:09 AM

Uhh Mahh Godddd. I thought you were joking until I saw the pics. Are you going to carry a couple of sacks just in case the wake isn't big enough?

ghetto 04-22-2003, 9:04 AM

Its probably to early to tell but Iam having great difficulty getting the weight rite on this sucker.I have only been out twice and only once was the water truley flat.
Need a new prop for sure, tried the system as full as I wanted to go about 2000lbs all round and couldnt get the bow down. lowered the rear sacks left more wieght up front boat rode more level but my mate put the bow into the wake wile coming to pick me up.To be honest didnt think the wake looked that much bigger but when ridding it the other night it was so steep i lituaraly fell of the top of it.I guess ill find the sweet spot soon and then ill post pics so you can all rip it apart.

ghetto 04-22-2003, 9:08 AM

oh by the way time wise it took about 4 hours to put the holes in the boat 6*2 inch fittings.8 hours to place and run hoses from pumps to sacks.8 hours to instal all the pumps and about 8 hours to wire everything up.

tclagggym 04-22-2003, 10:30 AM

Holy cow ! That my friend is a work of art. I've never seen such a thing. Heck, I've never heard of such a thing! I would have not believed it if you had not shown us the pics.Wow! Let us know how the wake is.

krug 04-22-2003, 2:54 PM

i have two simers and it is loud when on. this must sound like a swarm of killer bees!

nohalfboats 05-06-2003, 7:23 PM

$$-[]O[][]V[][]O-$$

sub_zero 05-06-2003, 9:11 PM

Hey Mike, That looks HUGE! I'm just trying to set up my first ballast system. Won't be near as elaborate as yours.

Just curious....How did your other boat sink?

Terry

(skydog96) · (skydog96) **Join Date: Mar 2002** 05-06-2003, 10:18 PM

dont you think its a lil obvious. hahah