Plumb additional ballast in SAN

I'm looking to plumb a locker sack and a couple nose sacks into my '01 SAN and was wondering if anyone has taken on a similar project? Right now I'm trying to decide whether to tee off the raw water intake, the rear tank inlet or just drill a new inlet closer to the ski locker. I understand the Team Editions come with two thru-hull inlets so thought that may be the way to go. The thought of adding holes to my hull makes me cringe, though.

I'm also pondering where I should vent the bags. I think a one-pump (reversible) setup would be the ticket.

Thoughts?

-Joe

Joe,

There's another recent thread (Ballast Pumps) with some good input as far as how. I've got the same problem as you right now. Where do I put the thru hull. As much as I may cringe about a new hole, I also cringe when considering messing with the cooling abilities of my engine. So does the service dept at California Correct Craft.

Hey Ray -- I've been scouring the threads here with a vengence but thought I'd check to see if anyone has had success getting water up front in their SAN. Maybe someone will share their success story so I feel a little better about the steps I'm close to taking.

Current thought is it'll be a major pain to tap into either of the aforementioned water sources so a pickup in the ski locker would probably be the ticket. I'm also pondering whether I can tap into existing drain ports/vents. The dash cooler is an obvious choice, but that's only one. The rest are back in the butt-end of the boat and hard to get to.

Yeah, I'm using the cooler for one also. I may have to say "screw it" and just drill one hole for each pump. However first I'm going to see if the flow is good enough with one large ID thru hull and a manifold. A couple of guys have suggested laying it out first (outside the boat) and check out the performance before drilling.

A lot of people are finding the reversible pump the way to go, which needs only one hole. As far as vents, I'm considering using a couple "T"s and check valves.

How many pumps you thinking of using, Ray? From what I've read, using more than one of the self-priming jobs (simer, jabsco)can draw pretty heavily on the alternator. I'm thinking one intake into manifold and a single pump to feed/drain all three bags. Might take a few to fill, but simplicity and lower cost would be a bonus.

Also, you planning on venting all your bags to a single vent w/check valves?

Joe,
The amp draw of the Simer pump isn't that much except for start up. When it is up to speed, it is only about 13 amps or so (anyone know exact figures), but spikes up to about 23 amp on start up. How much weight are you planning on adding? That is the important question. One Simer reversible pump will do about 550 pounds in 5 minutes. I have 2 in my system and my fill/drain time is about 5 minutes for 1100 pounds. The Simer pumps (BW8512) are $67 delivered from B.E. Atlas. Takes about a week to get them in.

Just some food for thought.

I put a T in the line for the rear factory tank before the pump and just used another 750 gph pump from walmart to fill a sac in the ski locker. I wired the pump to an unused switch on my dash. I still have to plumb in the drain line though so right now I just hook another pump on to drain. It fills in about 5 minutes.

That sounds like some good news on the Simer pump draw. I'm thinking 3 bags for maybe 800 or 900 lbs. I don't mind waiting a little while as long as it's a turnkey operation and I don't have to fiddle much with stuff.

Mike -- so you T'd off the LCS intake? that sounds like a good deal to me. My big concern is getting down there and routing the pipes. If I used a reversible simer and a couple of checkvalves, perhaps I could fill/drain through there.

Joe, yes. It was a pain doing the plumbing in there. I may have to think about that reversable pump. That would save me another line and thru hull fitting.

I went to www.livebaitlarry.com and got a few pumps and a Perko intake strainer. I'm going to put an intake strainer in the bottom of the boat in the exact place Correct Craft puts them for the front tank. You must use 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200 to seal around the intake and don't forget only stainless steels screws. You drill a 3/4" hole and that is it. Don't forget to use a brass gate valve. I'm going to use a Rule 1100 to fill with the scoop intake these work great. To drain I will use a Rule 1100 out the cooler outlet on the side of the boat. Who uses that as a cooler anyway?

Check out Skylon's locker sac for a sac good for doing this operation. I put the fill line in the front and the drain line in the back. It was designed for Nautique's locker.

Also, for a rear fill system you can run the vent lines from the rear tanks into some phat buddies and then run a vent line from the phat buddies to the vent port on the boat. Makes for an easy way to fill the rear sacs.

Oh another great tip. 2002s and 2003s are prewired for fill and empty pumps in the ski locker in case you choose the front tank option. Just look behind the black plastic locker tub if your boat has one. They are two plastic plugs on the right side underneath the drivers seat in the locker there with all the wires.