Lake Test

Ballast Install 039
Originally uploaded by gkemp

We did a fake a lake water test on Saturday night and there were no leaks! It was solid and worked great. Took it to the lake on Sunday morning and gave it another test. Worked great and no leaks! The water wasn't great but here is the wake at 22 and taps at 4. G-Money did some boarding and we both surfed. It drained great and created a vacuum like we thought. With some tweaking next week we will have it dialed in. Here is the link to all of my photo's on flickr http://flickr.com/photos/19181202@N06/sets/72157606230615556/
I had to throw this one in for laughs. G was throwing some spins and got caught.

Front bag Assembly

Ballast Install 032
Originally uploaded by gkemp

The front U bag took some more planning. We are filling from the top on the port side and from the bottom of the starboard side. I removed all of the vent hose and got rid of it. It wasn't doing much but getting in the way. We ran some multiflex though the hole the vent hose was in and fished it though on the first try to the other side. We mounted the pump on the port side because my Sub box was too big and was going to put the bag right on the pump. From the pump we ran a T so we can fill both sided of the bag at the same time. We fished the electical though the same vent hole to the other side. That was more trying and we used a fishing tool to get the wires pulled. On the Starboard side we put the vent on top of the bag and filled from the bottom. We found that the front cup holders have sharp nipples on the bottom of them so cut them off and filed them down and put some duct tape on the bottom to protect the bag. When the bag was full it popped the cup holders out and pushed up the front seat in the middle.

Electrician at Work

Ballast Install 013
Originally uploaded by gkemp

G-Money pictured here did all of the wiring. Sorry not many pics as I had to be at a car wash for my football team and G was working all morning by himself. 6'8" in a boat doesn't work very well. G can put comments up on how he did the electrical. Here is the simple break down. We removed the 3 dead switches that aren't used on my boat and replaced them with the ballast puppy switches. G tapped into the large fuse box under the dash where he found the ground and power. The wires to the pumps were run though the middle of the floor and the front pump power was run though the top of the panel.

Rear Bag Assembly

Ballast Install 006
Originally uploaded by gkemp

We put the pumps behind the access panel in the rear lockers. It made for a very easy run of hose and the wonder board is very easy to screw into. I drilled a hole below the access panel for the hose to connect to the bag. We ran the wire from the Port pump across the factory wires and up the side of the engine though the middle of the boat to the inside of the drivers helm. One thing to watch out for is the screws that they used to put in the table base stick out and are sharp! The last picture shows that. I have to go back and cut off the screw ends or buy smaller screws that don't poke though. If I fill the bag all of the way it will make contact and can pop the bag.

Time to Run the lines to the pumps

Ballast Install 007
Originally uploaded by gkemp

After everything set over night we started the assembly of hose to the pumps. Friday night we figured out where the pumps were going and how to tap into the electrical.

We ran the flex PVC from the manifold to the pumps. We used teflon tape on the ends of the pumps which helped with the connections. The manifold is right up to the floor which helps brace the overall structure.

Hole in the bottom of the boat

Ballast Install 084
Originally uploaded by gkemp

This is the scoop assembly for the manifold. We used a 1 5/8" hole saw. The scoop is 1 1/4" scoop grate. From that I attached a 1 1/4" ball valve so I can shut the system off if there is a problem. After the ball valve it is PVC.

More Holes in the boat

Ballast Install 059
Originally uploaded by gkemp

As you can see the storage lockers on the Tige are huge. I am 6'1" and 230 lbs in there. The rest are the pics of the holes we put in the boat and location of the vents and scoop.