01 x-star ballast upgrade question

background ... upgrading a 2001 x-star with ballast puppy pumps and fly-high bags. The current fittings are all 3/4" fly-high ...

Is there a need to up-size to the 1" fittings? My assumption is that the bags will fill slightly slower, but should be ok, right?

thanks

Right. The inlets into the fly high bags are 3/4" and I think the ballast puppy pumps have 1/2" connections. Basically I don't think the flow rate is really going to change by going with the 1" tubing. What sacs are you going to use?

Spencer you are almost spot on. The OEM ballast puppys are going to be a 3/4". This will be the smallest spot on your hose line and thus the bottle neck. All 205v's are setup with just the 3/4 fittings. But an 05 and up XStar is going to use the same pumps but a 1" hose for everything. Does it really make a difference? probably not a ton, but if you are buying the parts why not go the extra way and get the 1" hose and fittings and fill a little quicker.

John@waterskis.com

Thanks John,
I thought the internal opening size of the ballast puppy's were 1/2" and are then either adapted to the 3/4" or 1" hose barbs using the 3/4" threaded insert.

Joe,
Do you already have a partial system using the 3/4" fittings? If not I agree with John. Go 1" and get the best bang for the buck.

spencer@wakemakers.com

Isn't there a larger diameter hose feeding the pumps? I'm pretty sure I remember the input side being larger diameter hose than the input on my two locker pumps.

If I remember correctly, the input side was hose clamped directly to the pump and the output had a 3/4" inch fitting attached. If that is the case, would there be any issue doing the same on the output side and using 1" all the way into the sacs??

I stand corrected. You were actually spot on. I was thinking of the barbed hose size that we fit into that pump... I ran back and grabbed one of the Jabscos and they are indeed a 1/2" ID.

Shouldn't be any reason you couldn't use 1" all the through, but whether there is much advantage???
Mine has 1" on the inlet side (clamped on the outside of the pump fitting), and 3/4" on the outlet side (into a 3/4" fitting screwed into the pump).
I have talked to a couple of people who have changed to a 1" line all the way through and they haven't noticed much of a difference in fill or empty times.
So probably not worth changing an existing setup, but if you adding a new one and price isn't much different - might as well go 1".
There is probably some reason (fluid dynamics professor chime in please!) that 3/4" or 1" would be better from a flow/turbulence point of view, but I am not sure enough of the physics to comment.

MIchele, YOu are not seeing things. You are right. MC will also just clamp directly to the pump for the inlet (depending on model and year). They also came up with the distriubot modules that take a 3" hose that feeds to multipule pumps. If you think about it we have come a long way in ballast over the past few years. Looking back on some of the boats that were original stock ballast boats we see a pretty different idea and style.

Wakedoc, you lost me... Actually college physics was an early morning Friday class and there for i am lost...

The rate limiter in this case is the pump fitting. There are 2 options. You can either clamp a hose to the outside of the fitting or screw a pipe to hose fitting into the port. The pump fittings are 1/2". If you thread a fitting inside the pump, you are narrowing the outlet even more. So the best option is to use 1" hose clamped on the outside of the pump. If you're going to use 1" hose from the pump, you might as well just use 1" throughout the system. Thats what I did anyway. All my fill and vents are all 1".

Thanks for all the input guys ... I'm going to stick with the 3/4" fittings for now.

Joe

Have fun Joe. Should be a trouble free install.

spencer@wakemakers.com