Ballast problem

[julzdad 0]

I have a new to me 06 Centurion Avalanche C4.  My boat came with 3 ballast tanks (center, port and starboard), I replaced the port and starboard rear ballast with the Wakemakers factory upgrade (740# per side, YAY!!).  When I fill up either rear or both the center tank will also fill even though I did not hit the switch.  After 10 minutes or so the center tank will start overflowing, this makes filling the new sacks take an extremely long time to fill up(putting water in full tank).  There is a manifold in the rear of the boat, btw one pump fills and 3 drain, where the main line from fill pump goes into, and then it splits off to each pump.  Any Ideas how I can fix this? Thank for any help. And could use help with delta mission location on boat, (goofy foot)

[InfinitySurf 302]

9 hours ago, julzdad said:

I have a new to me 06 Centurion Avalanche C4.  My boat came with 3 ballast tanks (center, port and starboard), I replaced the port and starboard rear ballast with the Wakemakers factory upgrade (740# per side, YAY!!).  When I fill up either rear or both the center tank will also fill even though I did not hit the switch.  After 10 minutes or so the center tank will start overflowing, this makes filling the new sacks take an extremely long time to fill up(putting water in full tank).  There is a manifold in the rear of the boat, btw one pump fills and 3 drain, where the main line from fill pump goes into, and then it splits off to each pump.  Any Ideas how I can fix this? Thank for any help. And could use help with delta mission location on boat, (goofy foot)

I do not know on the ballast question but on the Mission suck gate....if you go the the WakeMakers website and look at pics, if you scroll all the way to end (right) of the pics, there are a few videos on proper setup. The last video is like 6:30 long and seemed to have a lot of good info, probably more detailed than typing out something. Its a good suck gate. Great boat too that will give you an excellent wave that you will love. (FYI....adding 500lbs of lead will take your wave to the next level on that boat!). Enjoy

[julzdad 0]

Where do you get 500lbs of lead?  And where do you put it?

 

Thanks

[InfinitySurf 302]

20 hours ago, julzdad said:

Where do you get 500lbs of lead?  And where do you put it?

 

Thanks

Few places that sell "lead" bags (Actually filled with steel shot). I bought mine from LeakWake.com (think he has a deal where you buy 9 bags you get the 10th free)...and he ships thru post office in the flat rate boxes, so think they only deliver to residential and sometimes they will ask you to come pick it up, lol. Great customer service. Another company called WakeBallast and one called POP bags. There are probably more, just what I can remember.

As far as placement, depends on your boat. You basically wanna play with it to see where you get the best wave. I would say maybe start with 300lbs in rear (150 in each rear locker as far back in corner as possible)....and 200 in bow. You may find that its better all being in back tho, or in center, etc. Leverage counts tho so the further back, or forward  gives you a bit more leverage and makes a difference. (use center trim tab as little as possible cause they you are working against yourself on how weight is positioned and you can actually knock down the wave without realizing it). Run just enough trim tab to make the wave clean, for me that is typically about 25-30% but each boat is different.

Further back you place weight the bigger and steeper the wave will be, typically weight up front is gonna reduce some height, but add length. That is why I have a LOT of ballast.....I was long AND tall, lol.

[Troy 234]

in my 08 Avy There are 3 grey "sprinkler" valves in the port locker. you can twist the black portion to keep the valve open all the time. twist the black part of the valves all the same way and try again. if it doesn't work twist them the other way. if it still doesn't work then you have a bad valve. Sometimes we (old timers, lol) removed the spring on the valves to let the fill times be quicker which will also let water pass sometimes when you don't want them too.  You can PM me with your number and I can try to explain this better. 

[julzdad 0]

I did figure out that they were sprinkler valves, I took them apart and cleaned them, not sure how they were turned, I assume they have to be turned to the off position to work.  Just waiting for it to stop raining so I can take to lake and test out.  Is there a way to fill ballast out of water to test?  Thanks for your help

[Troy 234]

You can put a fake-a-lake on the ballast water inlet and fill that way. Fairly easy, just wouldn't fill all the way on the trailer. Good luck! You're headed in the correct direction. 

[fjohnp 2]

I have a 2007 Centurion Lightning and had a similar set up and issue with the solenoids on my boat - water going everywhere and long fill up times!  No amount of cleaning and tinkering on mine made them work any better.  Two options which I did and you may want to consider:

1. Upgrade your pump with something with higher capacity (ie jabsco water puppy) - this helped improved my fill times, but I think it ultimately was too much pressure on the stock solenoids and lead to the water leakage issues.

2. Put in new always closed solenoids which will better direct the water (see my post here: https://www.wakegarage.com/projects-archive/ballast-projects/ballast-solenoid-upgrade-distribution-r161/) . 

3. If you're putting in new solenoids, you could also consider upgrading from the stock 3/4"  tubing to 1" hose.  Even though mine was 1" in through the stock solenoid, it was 3/4" tubing from the solenoid to the bags.  In hindsight, I should have gotten 1" solenoids and then sized up the hoses and fittings to the bags to 1" to further improve flow rates.

I also run a homemade suckgate which did make a big difference in my wave and am continually experimenting with the speed (as per the Mission video referenced above) to make the pocket and push better.

Edited July 5, 2018 by fjohnp

[julzdad 0]

nice right up john, I will do this on mine, I tried mine out and all are still leaking.  however my sea water pump went out while I was testing ballast, so I have to take care of that first. I was hoping it was just the impeller but as I was pulling the pump out the whole shaft pulled out of pump.  Oh well