ballast pumps "T'ed" off raw water intake problem

I have a 03' malibu sportster and am planning on installing 2 jabsco ballast puppys for my automatic system. I have heard rumors of over-heating with that much flow tapped from the raw water intake. If anyone could help with this problem it would same me a ton, because I really dont want to drill in the hull for a new intake THANKS!

only run your pumps at idle and not full or mid throttle

What joshua said or don't have your motor on.

i would rather drill the glass than risk a problem with the engine. to each his own.

^ Me too. What if that "T" connection creates an air leak? Now you have no water in the engine. Less is more. Drill the boat!

drill, follow directions and it's easy!

amen.

lets say you T the raw water and get a system up and running. next on your list will be reducing fill time and increasing capacity. can't do either if your engine is starved.

If you tee off make sure you install one way ck valves or the engine will suck the bags dry anyway. Poor idea in my mind. I installed a new through hull and had dealer drill & install it.

well, if you check valve, then you better drain with separate pumps. and you'll need holes for those as well.

leave your engine alone and
DRILL IT

You don't need a check valve with reversible pumps. The impellor won't let any water through unless its on.

Drill if you like, I've T'd 2 of mine and have 3 friends who have done the same.

I currently run a T to 2 simer pumps. On our old '95 sunsetter I ran 3. I filled while running, just watch your temp. You will notice it go up a little if it's getting hot. I never ran over half or so while filling all 3.

I've seen 3 on a 90's mastercraft, a 97 cc and 2 or 3 on a moomba. Personally I haven't had a single issue. Keep an eye on your temp, use your own judgement. I didn't want to drill the hull on ours either.

No check valves on any of them.

thanks everyone! if I do drill what kind of through hull connection do I need Ive found some on overtons but all I found was what looked like above water line connections for bilge pumps. Does anyone have alink to a site that would have the correct item, to save going through my dealer >60 miles away thanks!

I guess I answered my own question but now I have a new one. Mushroom Or scoop? or does it matter

My MC has the scoop style that faces forward, that way you can fill while you're moving. Thats the way I would go at least, imo...

andrew - what kind of pumps will you use?

if aerator: scoop for sure
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/10001/-1/10001/161611/10001/217/70/11
i used 1 1/2" so you may need to look around if thats what you want.

I have a single Jabsco Ballast Puppy T'ed off the raw water intake, I've never had an overheating problem. I load approx 1600 lbs of water in about 5 mins.

nacho - thanks for the link, i have 2 jabsco ballast puppys filling 1200#'s (1 pump per bag)

I just talked to my dealer and he said he did not want to install a through hull due to liability/ future problems??? any ideas I want to have a dealer install this so it does not void my hull warranty. BTW... Thanks to everyone for all the input!

I put in a 1000lb 2 bag system by using the existing thru-hull bilge plug in the engine area. Its 3/4" and with two 800gph pumps I can fill my sacks in about 7-8 minutes. Its not the fastest but it is easy and I didn't have to drill a hole in the bottom of the boat. If you would like a step by step with pictures I can provide a link, but I have to run to class so it will be a little while...

in your '03 malibu? i don't deal with dealers, so not sure what to tell you. is it under warranty? i can see them being cautious about voiding anything warrantied, but i doubt it is..

Was the dealer going to install it from FW T?

Well... I just got an email from malibu and because a ballasts system was never offered on the sportsters any through hull that is drilled (dealer or not) will void the warranty so that sucks Think I will follow Patrick's advice and go through the bilge plug. thanks that is a great idea to solve my perticular prob. thanks

Patrick, I dont see the link you sent RE your install could you please send again? thanks

Start at the bottom of page 2 and go from there...http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8252&st=20
You will need to be a member so see the pics, but its free and easy to sign up.

Andrew,

I'd just T-off the water intake. You won't have problems if your just idling around while filling. Keep in mind that your water pump pulls more water than your pumps could dream of pulling. If anything got starved, it would be your pumps, not your engine.

I've done a system like this on my buddies boat, recently and we have zero problems. I'm getting ready to do the same in my boat. I would be doing it this week or next, but you bought the one's off e-bay (I think that was u going by your s/n) and the price of new pumps from West Marine is the same (on sale right now) so I didn't want to go to high w/ the bids.

(Message edited by Tanner on May 08, 2007)

Well I have nothing better to do so here is what I did...

To make the manifold you will need
1 2" long 3/4" male/male brass fitting
1 3" long 3/4 brass male/male fitting
1 3/4" bras female/female ball valve
1 3/4" brass female/female/female T

Screw the 3" fitting into the bilge hole, screw the ball vale on top of that, the 2" fitting on the ball valve, and then top if off with the T. Screw both your pumps into your T and your intake is complete

Next you will need to run your tubing. If I were to do it again I would buy 100ft. of 3/4" braided ID tubing from the internet. It is MUCH cheaper then in the stores and its much easier to work with then the irrigation tubing that I bought. You can find all the appropriate plastic fittings, hose clamps, etc... at your local hardware store.

For both filling and draining I used 800gph Tsunami pumps from www.wakeside.com they were very inexpensive at only $25 each. I would have gone with 1200gph pumps, however, with the inlet only being 3/4" the larger pumps would have been a waste. I put the drain pumps under the rear seat and tucked them into the corners so they are pretty much out of the way and out of sight. In the future I may be switching to simer pumps for emptying because the aerator ones loose their prime when the sack gets 3/4 of the way empty.

I wanted to be able to remove the sacks when I wasn't using them so I opted to buy connections that would allow me to be able to unscrew the sacks from the tubing. I did this for a few reasons, but mainly so that they aren't just sitting on the floor all day long, and so I can clean them out.

The next thing I did was install 4 thru-hull fittings with 2 on each side of the boat, near the transom. I purchased these fitting from www.gijoes.com and they are actually plastic painted chrome. They are chip/peel resistant and look really great for a low price. Two of the thru-hulls are for draining and the other two are for the overflow/vent lines.







For the switches, I purchased them locally for less then $10. They are nothing fancy, but they get the job done. If I would have had any more room/unused switches on the dash I would have used them but I wasn't that lucky. I ended up mounting two rocker style switches "on-off-on" on the port side of the drivers console about a foot in front and below of the throttle. Wiring them up was super easy, I just grounded them to the distribution block and spliced into another line under the dash for the power.

awesome post patrick a big help! I dont think I will do any through hulls due to the reversable pumps I have but your system looks great. and the drain plug idea is great, due to the hull warranty ordeal thanks!

sorry tanner didnt mean to sneak the pumps out from underyou like that, im in iraq and cant watch ebay, or get on it much for that matter so i had to use the e-snipe

LOL... you didn't. I was just giving you crap. I only bid the first bid and wasn't willing to go any higher due to the shipping charges. I use snipers usually too ;).

And thank you for your service by the way!