2006 SV230 Ballast Set Up

[cbachtel 1]

Looking for some advice on setting up an automated/hidden ballast system for the above mentioned boat. Looking for the best regular surf wave possible, and a decent surfable goofy wave. Typical crew size would be in the 5-8 person range, but there would be times when there is just a driver and surfer. Right now the thought is to remove the hard tanks and put standard enzo's in both the lockers, and also add a plumbed bag under the port side seats extending up under the clam shell.

Pump wise Im thinking about having 2 aerator pumps (one fill, one drain) and one reversible impeller pump on each enzo sack, for the second sack under the clamshell im thinking a single reversible impeller would suffice. Id like to keep fill/drain times around the 10min mark, switching sides with transfer pumps is not a priority.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful, thanks!

[adambomb2000 35]

I have the same boat. I just put new ballast in it this year. 1100lb sacs in the lockers and W705 sacs under the seats. I don't have it all push button yet - that is going to come next year and I plan on just using Johnson or Jabsco reversible pumps for simplicity's sake. Right now I am just using a couple tsunami pumps which is a bit of a pain in the a$$, but hey we're surfing. Last week I borrowed a buddy's 370lb tube sac to throw up on the surf side seat because the crew was small and the wave was awesome (I do have a switchblade so that helps as well). Some other guys on here suggested I go with the separate locker and under seat sacs for more customization ability on ballast placement instead of the enzo sacs and you get more ballast for less money than buying enzo sacs. If you do any wakeboarding then being able to only weight up the midship sacs is a plus. With the enzo sacs if you want to add ballast while wakeboarding and only partially fill them, the water ends up slopping to the back of the boat on you.

[Mike Christie 4]

Been there, and done that..... and I don't think I would do it again.....but that is based on my experience.

 

If you have the SideSwipe, Enzo bags are great because they fit well with the exhaust covers. If you don't have that option, the 1100lb bags work well in the locker. You will find a lot of extra wasted space unless you go with a custom Enzo bag.

 

As for pumps, if you already have inlet holes in the transom for the stock pumps, I would stick with the aerators. I Installed a Johnson pump that is reversible and wiring it was a PITA because the switch was so far from where the pumps were mounted. I know guys on here wire straight to the switch all day long, but I ended up running another fuse panel with some relays to handle all the amperage. Also you have to constantly watch the level of the bag so you don't run the pump dry and burn it up. For this reason alone, I wish I stayed with the aerators.

 

 

[Mike Christie 4]

Oh, and I should add that I have an 06 Enzo

[cbachtel 1]

boat does not have sideswipe, and the install is being handled by a local shop so im just looking for a little more direction to give them (they are working with wakemakers on the install). how much space is wasted with the standard enzo's vs custom's (maybe quantify in lbs)? i like the idea of separate locker bags and under seat bags but that just means more pumps, vent lines, switches, etc... also, in your experience how much more expensive are the custom sacs than the standard, and how long do they take to make? ive got just under 3 weeks to get this all done, tested, and working before the boat moves across the country for a family vaca.

[cbachtel 1]

any input on adding a bag under the clamshell for a better regular side wave? bow weight necessary?

[Shaka 146]

I don't get it regarding Sideswipe and Enzo vs. non-Enzo sacs.

 

It seems to me that both an Enzo sac and a 1000lb sac will both fill the available space which is essentially a big rectangular box. The only thing I can think of that could tilt in the Enzo sacs favor is if it had an extension that went over the top of the Sideswipe cover and filled that space as well. I've never seen a pic of an Enzo sac that does this.

[Mike Christie 4]

The SideSwipe is basically a 6" diameter tube that runs perpendicular to the engine, or parallel with the transom of the boat. There are big covers or boxes that cover up this tube, essentially making a shelf in the back corner of the boat. The Enzo bag stops right at the front of this box, Therefore leaving a lot of extra space for ballast if you don't have the SideSwipe. As I mentioned above, I do have the SideSwipe and I first started with the 1100 lb bags thinking that I could lay them over these boxes, and while it worked, it was not ideal. They kept getting twisted up and were a total pain to fill because the had to constantly be adjusted. I ended up switching to the Enzo bags for two reasons, (1) because they fit in the lockers much better and (2) because of the Johnson pump that I was running. (more on this in a bit) On my boat, with these new bags there is still a small triangular spot on top of the shelf that I have been considering throwing some Pop products bags on for a little extra weight. Right now I just store a couple of fenders on that shelf. Every little bit of weight you get into that back corner seems to help. That is why when some guys go super big, they even throw a little fat brick on the swim step.

 

As for your clam shell bag, I don't think it is super important on the regular side, especially if you are riding with 5-8 people in the boat. 5-8 people,a full Enzo sack and gear will get the job done. What really helps is an adjustable trim tab. Depending on water conditions, that may in fact be too much weight to be safe. I know that I personally don't like to push it in terms of too much weight if the water is even a little bit choppy. People are the best kind of ballast because you can easily place them around the boat and "tune" the wave. When we surf regular, with usually 4 adults in the boat, we don't run any bow weight. For goofy riders we put a 400 lb bag up in the passenger play pen to help get the bow down and lengthen out the wave, however that is really just polishing a turd because the goofy wave on an Enzo is just crumbly and you need a lot more weight to even get close to half the quality of wave that you can get out of the regular side, but this is a whole other topic which pains me greatly because I am a goofy rider.

 

Quickly about the pump and why it lead me to an Enzo bag.... I originally liked the idea of a reversible pump and bought one plumbing it in using the same inlet that the stock pump under the swim step used. After doing the math with a hard tank and the 1100 lb bag, I got pretty close to what an Enzo bag would weigh and was happy enough with that considering (2) Enzo bags were about 1g. I plumbed the pump to the bag then connected the bag to the tank thinking that the water would flow to fill the bag, and then overflow into the tank, then out the vent when full. This worked pretty well, except when draining the bag tank combo, if you were not watching the bag and left the pump on to long, besides the risk of burning the pump up, it would just suck and suck and suck and "raisin" the bag up and then start sucking in the plastic tank. While the tank did not break, I was inspecting it at the end of the season and could see the beginnings of failure due to the vacuum that the pump created. Since I had it all apart I just scrapped the tank and put in Enzo bags. As an added benefit the Enzo bag fit better with the SideSwipe as I mentioned above.

 

I have no idea how long custom bags would take. Someone on here has ordered them... If you do get Enzo bags you can just plum them in using the stock pumps and they would probably fill just as fast. Before you blow a bunch of cash on bags and installation, it might be good to work out where the weight needs to be with people and or bags and then plumb accordingly.

[Dreamer 96]

2007 SV230

We mostly surf the port side and my setup goes like this:

 

I had a custom bag made to fill my entire locker (no sideswipe) and all of the way up under the seat to the observers divider. I figure it holds around 1850#'s. If I only fill this sac my gas cap was pretty close to the water so I tried a 400# sac under the seat behind the driver. This helped get the gas cap slightly higher and made my wave amazing. I have the Bennet trim tab and run it at about 40% to knock down the splash (probably due to my FAE) and we ride at 11.5 mph (gps).

 

Most of the time we are a light weight driver and a spotter sitting on the observer seat beside the driver. When the crew is more than four I find it is almost too much weight in the boat. If your typical crew is over four I would just get the stock enzo sac or split it up and get an 1100 for the locker and a 680 up under the seat and do something similar on the starboard side.

 

Here is how my wake looks with only a driver and spotter:

[guido8000 7]

Hey all, my son started this thread a couple of months ago. Since then we got our boat, we added ballast (thanks for the advise and suggestions on this forum) and we just spent a couple of weeks checking it all out on the lake.

 

We ended up with two custom sacs. The port side bag is (like Dreamer said) about 1850#s, the starboard is slightly smaller. Fill time on port side is just under 10m and dump time is just under 9m. I don't know enough cuz I am a noobie but my son says the wave is really good with only three adults (150# avg) in the boat. We will do some tweaking but it is great not to have to move sacs around.

 

The boat is 1400 miles away from where we live and put away in dry storage for the winter so I don't have the luxury of being able to tinker with it. I won't put in the water until next year.

 

My question is this. What ideas have any of you come up with to avoid having the rear air vents fill with water? Yes we did the duct tape thing this trip. I am used to red neck engineering but looking for a more permanent solution.

 

I was thinking of installing a 3" pvc elbow onto the backside of the vent then immediately plumbed into one of those dump valves that are used on RVs. After the dump valve then plumbed in either pvc or hard rubber (exhaust) hose all the way to the back of the engine compartment. This will eliminate the chance of the wire in the vent hose poking a hole in the custom sac (that hose gets moved around a lot and over time will most likely fail resulting in a broken wire). The idea behind the dump valve is that you can close it while surfing then simply open it when the bag is empty. Yes there will be water after in the elbow after surfing but I figure I can install a small valve (like on the bottom of a radiator) to dump the water so it does not end up in the back locker.

 

My son thought of permanently closing the rear air vents and then adding rear air vents on the transom. Has anyone done this or any other ideas?? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[poidog1 74]

You would think that centurion would have thought of placing the air vents some where that's not so close to the water line. I hope the new boats are redesigned so that the vents aren't so close to the water when you sink it. Can't you rig it with a snorkel like in the jeeps?

[rawinnin 73]

You would think that centurion would have thought of placing the air vents some where that's not so close to the water line. I hope the new boats are redesigned so that the vents aren't so close to the water when you sink it. Can't you rig it with a snorkel like in the jeeps?

The new carbon fiber vent covers are a big help to the issue. They do not get water in very often. So although no redesign they do have the covers rather than trying to fab something up yourself.

[cbachtel 1]

Hey all, my son started this thread a couple of months ago. Since then we got our boat, we added ballast (thanks for the advise and suggestions on this forum) and we just spent a couple of weeks checking it all out on the lake.

 

We ended up with two custom sacs. The port side bag is (like Dreamer said) about 1850#s, the starboard is slightly smaller. Fill time on port side is just under 10m and dump time is just under 9m. I don't know enough cuz I am a noobie but my son says the wave is really good with only three adults (150# avg) in the boat. We will do some tweaking but it is great not to have to move sacs around.

 

The boat is 1400 miles away from where we live and put away in dry storage for the winter so I don't have the luxury of being able to tinker with it. I won't put in the water until next year.

 

My question is this. What ideas have any of you come up with to avoid having the rear air vents fill with water? Yes we did the duct tape thing this trip. I am used to red neck engineering but looking for a more permanent solution.

 

I was thinking of installing a 3" pvc elbow onto the backside of the vent then immediately plumbed into one of those dump valves that are used on RVs. After the dump valve then plumbed in either pvc or hard rubber (exhaust) hose all the way to the back of the engine compartment. This will eliminate the chance of the wire in the vent hose poking a hole in the custom sac (that hose gets moved around a lot and over time will most likely fail resulting in a broken wire). The idea behind the dump valve is that you can close it while surfing then simply open it when the bag is empty. Yes there will be water after in the elbow after surfing but I figure I can install a small valve (like on the bottom of a radiator) to dump the water so it does not end up in the back locker.

 

My son thought of permanently closing the rear air vents and then adding rear air vents on the transom. Has anyone done this or any other ideas?? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

im the son mentioned above and the reason i like relocating the vent to the transom is it would allow the bag to fill the locker space better, not risk crushing the vent lines, and it seems like a pretty easy and economical modification. has anybody relocated the vents on their enzo? also, if so how did you go about permanently sealing the side vents?

 

couple other questions/ideas after spending some time with the boat:

1. Is there a pan available from centurion or has anybody made a pan to fit in the space under the rear center bench (vdrive/bilge access). would like to use this as a trashcan, ive seen it on a mastercraft x35 as a factory option...

2. Ive noticed a couple people on the forums use the space under the bow filler cushion as a second cooler. How did you go about draining it, the current drains in that space just drip onto the carpet. My initial thought was to drill the drain holes a little larger and just run some soft rubber hose further back to the bilge area.

3. At what point does the enzo outgrow the 537 prop? Boat is at sea level and with the custom sac and 3 people it didnt seem to have a problem (running around 3100 rpm surfing), just wondering how it will do with a heavier load should we have more people or ballast in the boat.

4. Am i correct in assuming this temp/depth gauge will be compatible with the airmar triducer http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Faria-Digital-Depth-Sounder-with-Air-Water-Temperatures&i=74431&str=temperature+gauge&merchID=4005

 

thanks in advance

[BenHolloway 29]

Can I asked what the custom enzo bags cost you? does anyone have the dimension saved?

[guido8000 7]

Ben,

 

The boat was a little rough around the edges so we had a lot of stuff done to it besides ballast. But here is a break down on what the ballast cost.

1. starboard enzo sac 490

2. Port custom sac 790

3. Pumps, hoses, etc 1200

4. labor 100

 

Hope this helps. I have looked at the carbon fiber vents and at those prices I can buy cases of duct tape.

[BenHolloway 29]

What about just backing the current vents with a breathable waterproof fabric? On my friends Avy we just blocked them off...

[Dreamer 96]

I silicone sealed hockey pucks in my port vent holes. We only ride goofy once or twice a year so I just use duct tape on that side.

[guido8000 7]

Hey everyone, happy summer to you all.

 

Wow fall came, we put the boat away, then winter seemed to hang on forever and spring all but blew us away. I have trolled the forum a little since but now it is time to think about the water. My boat is 1400 miles away and for now I am only able to get on the water for a 2-3 week period for the entire year. We try to make the very best of it.

 

Thanks to many of you and my son we have dialed in a pretty nice wave but I am still searching for a good fix for the vents on our 06 Enzo 230.I have read in this thread and others where hockey pucks are siliconed in (thanks Dreamer). This seems to take away the whole idea of venting fumes out of the engine compartment tho. My son was thinking of permanently blocking the stock vent on the port side (that will be the side we surf mostly) and add a vent on the transom. Our boat mechanic said it will not vent properly while you are under normal operating conditions so I do not want to present an unsafe environment for friends and family. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated??

[DrPringle 10]

Anyone have the dimensions for the custom sac 

i know there was a PDF floating around somewhere 

wakemakers has a PDF for an 04 enzo 230 our boats a 2008 probably the same just want to make sure 

thanks 

[Dreamer 96]

Just measure your locker dimensions and up under the side seat see what will fit. Max it out.