Factory Ballast Woes

[Matt Garcia]

I was hoping some dealers or members could help me out with some issues on the new factory ballast that Tige offers. I have the factory ballast on my RZ2 and some of the pumps pump water intermently. It appears that some of the pumps are not getting primed and possibly gets air locked. Its usually one of the two rear tanks that will not fill. The front pumps have been working fine up until this past weekend, now only one of the pump fills.

Andrew and one of the techs over at Tige gave me a few solutions to try and they work but its gets to be a hassle. One of them was to put the boat in reverse since the ballast pickup is a through hull in the transom of the boat. That works occasionally. The other solution is to open the pump top up (950 gph catridge) and screw it back on. This method always works but its sort of cumbersome since I have to reach in the bilge area and squeeze my hand down in there.

Do any dealers or members have a solution for this I know my local dealer had the same issue with there RZ2 when they first got it.

Thanks in advance.

[talltigeguy]

I guess you could put a check valve between the through hull and the manifold that stops water from leaking out the back of the boat, then the pumps will always have water in them, thus preventing the 'vapor lock' as I call it.

Could it be fixed by changing the angle of the pump manifold, to allow the water to get into the pump better.

Do the pumps sit higher than the through hull when the boat is in the water? I wonder if they had put the through hull a little higher on the transom if the water would then run 'downhill' into the pump easier.


Has anyone else had this problem?

[Matt Garcia]

tall, I am not sure if the pumps sit higher that the through hull, I wanna say it might?

I need to get a picture of everything so that way it might be better to visualize.

[Domsz06]

if you could make it sit lower in the boat that would help like Tall put in. That was what they made sure I did on mine when I installed my Rival. If you do that you should never have the problem, as the water is always looking for the same level or lower then what it is currently at.

Can you even move the manifold?

[Timmy!]

He's not the only one that has had this problem. When we test drove an RZ2 with the factory ballast it was having similar issues. The one tank in the rear would start to empty and then stop. Kinda glad I don't have the factory ballast from the sounds of it!

[wakeboarder247]

Is this a problem that has only been occurring on the RZ2's or have 22Vé owners been noticing this same problem with the factory ballast? I know that there is a difference in the shape of the transom on the RZ vs. the Vé but I doubt this affects the ballast...

[Wet Sand]

Have 20 hrs on mine and it's been in the shop twice for the same problem. Picked it up from service last Tuesday and took it to Havasu for a long weekend. The work they did (lower the pumps in relation to the tanks and the pickup) helped - but-----. I think some further tuning is necessary.

[talltigeguy]

Timmy,

Emptying should be another problem altogether.

A scoop through hull is not sounding that bad after all.

[xpjim1]

Now they tell me!!

[Razzman]

I have absolutely no experience with ballast and given that it sounds like a very simple case of vacuum lock. What about a very small nipple ( ) installed at the top of the tank with a very small diameter pice of hose running up to a remote location with a one way plug such as is used on auto differentials. This would eliminate the vac lock and allow it to fill. I don't know how it shuts off whether auto or manually but it should shut down before filling the vent. just my unbiased

[juniors]

I have the thru hull scoop and it is a long way up to the front bags for those little pumps, all I do is open my slidegate turn pumps on put the boat into gear and drive around @ 10mph or so for about 15sec it helps the pumps, its a lot of head to push. I think that is why they are telling you to drive in reverse

[jleger98]

I like the "vent hose" idea. I've done this before as have a couple of others I know. Put a straight hose off the top of the tank, and have it run out the side. As soon as there is water coming out of there, tanks full. No vacuum lock, no nothin. Now, that said, I know nothing about the factory ballast systems.

[wakeboarder247]

From my understanding.. when the factory ballast is full it spits out the side and that is how you know it is full.. I don't know much about how ballast systems work but I'm sure it spits out when full and stops spitting out when its drained.. someone please chime in if I am wrong.

[jleger98]

Then there must be a checkvalve that is stuck or the spring is too heavy or something.

[dogbert]

I have the thru hull scoop and it is a long way up to the front bags for those little pumps, all I do is open my slidegate turn pumps on put the boat into gear and drive around @ 10mph or so for about 15sec it helps the pumps, its a lot of head to push. I think that is why they are telling you to drive in reverse

This sounds like the best idea since you can actually control where your boat goes Doing it in reverse sounds like a problem.