Rival Ballast Install

[dogbert]

that would create suction and empty your sacks. Calabria uses a rotating scoop valve (that they patented), which fills while underway w/ the valve forward and empties with the valve backwards while underway.

That's cool!

[third timer]

guests

I have come to a conclusion and I think it will work. When you have the tube out and the children are tubing, do everything or anything to cause them to have a bad ride. When you do that, the next time they will think twice about tubing and would rather wakeboard or wakesurf...

Ive developed a strategy that works well when guests come over who are all pumped up about getting on the water and doing something. Most of the time there isn't time to teach a hole family how to get up on a wakeboard or waterski. Kneeboarding is o.k. but the fastest way to get a bunch of grins out of a bunch of tourists is to put a bunch of tubes behind the boat and tell em all to sit and hang on. The driver is in control and everybody is happy. In the old days we used to do some pretty extreme tubing when the water was to rough for anything else, but that has faded as we get more serious into the real stuff. I guess that explains why I'm not so negative on tubing. But It's still fun to bash em!

[Moki]

Most honorable and esteemed Talltigeguy, XPjim, Chpthrl and others,

I am still very tempted to forgo the whole manifold system and go directly to drilling a hole in the hull for each of my three pumps as Malibu does.

What think ye?

[Moki]

that would create suction and empty your sacks. Calabria uses a rotating scoop valve (that they patented), which fills while underway w/ the valve forward and empties with the valve backwards while underway.

How does it rotate, by hand, switch, etc?

[TeamAllen]

Dude, you are the drilling machine!

[chpthril]

Most honorable and esteemed Talltigeguy, XPjim, Chpthrl and others,

I am still very tempted to forgo the whole manifold system and go directly to drilling a hole in the hull for each of my three pumps as Malibu does.

What think ye?

I don't see a problem with it. My only concern would be to not drill the holes to close together to maintain structural integrity. Maybe 8"-10" apart. Any pics inside and out of Bu, anyone? I suppose you are going to use mushroom style thru-hull? I guess you will still need to use a check valve for each fill pump line to keep the bags from draining.

I agree with Tall, that the mushroom will allow you to fill on the fly, but not force-feed like the scoop Anyone know if this theory works?

[xpjim1]

I prefer the manifold and drilling only one hole. But I have never seen the malibu. I guess they both have there advantages and disadvantages . To make an informed recommendation I would like to see the locations of the thru hulls and pumps.

[talltigeguy]

Most honorable and esteemed Talltigeguy, XPjim, Chpthrl and others,

I am still very tempted to forgo the whole manifold system and go directly to drilling a hole in the hull for each of my three pumps as Malibu does.

What think ye?

I think that would be a fine idea. I noticed on the X-45 that I rode on the other day that they have independent holes for the ballast system as well with mushroom through hulls with strainers on them. The holes would be smaller, so a little less nerve racking to drill. It would simplify things a lot. I will consider that on my next install too.

My main concern would be what happens if say one of your pumps cracks and starts to fill the bilge. There is the 'OH CRAP' factor that I can put one brass valve in there and be very sure I can stop the bleeding immediately. If they are all separate, then you will need to do some detective work as the boat seems to be getting heavier. Maybe the flow would be slow enough because of the smaller hole the bilge pump could keep up?

I agree with Tall, that the mushroom will allow you to fill on the fly, but not force-feed like the scoop Anyone know if this theory works?

I am about to find out. I hope to install the mushroom and remove the scoop this week. I have the mushroom in my garage now. It will be a $40 experiment.

[GVelvet]

Finally got around to ordering the Rival system. Got it in and none of the install instructions have been updated. (You would think someone over at Rival would have read your post and updated the install instructions.)

As with your shipment, no screws were included for scoop. After reading some of the recent post activity, I may not even use the scoop, but in case I do, what size screws did you use for this?

Also, dougofkc mentioned "slicing scoop off of through hull". Forgive my ignorance, but what does that mean?

[misfits1981]

talltigeguy-Im not sure if this was mentioned but what size breakers are on the switches?

[chpthril]

talltigeguy-Im not sure if this was mentioned but what size breakers are on the switches?

It would depend on what pumps are used. Each model pump will have an amp draw rating. Use a breaker or fuse that is no more that 1.5 X the draw of the pump.

[talltigeguy]

Finally got around to ordering the Rival system. Got it in and none of the install instructions have been updated. (You would think someone over at Rival would have read your post and updated the install instructions.)

As with your shipment, no screws were included for scoop. After reading some of the recent post activity, I may not even use the scoop, but in case I do, what size screws did you use for this?

Also, dougofkc mentioned "slicing scoop off of through hull". Forgive my ignorance, but what does that mean?

I do not know what you are referring to with 'slicing scoop...'

I think they were a #6 3/4 inch. Don't forget to get the stainless.

Another advantage of a mushroom instead of the scoop. No screws.

talltigeguy-Im not sure if this was mentioned but what size breakers are on the switches?

I think the breakers were just 5 amps. I hope to be out monkeying in the boat tomorrow, hopefully I will remember to check for you.

I still haven't put the mushroom on yet.

[talltigeguy]

I got around to putting the mushroom on this weekend...sort of.

I was worried that I should have used the 3M 5200 sealant, which is more like glassing the thing into the boat, but my concerns are resolved now. Getting the thing off of there was a bear to say the least. It never leaked, either. If I had used anything stronger, I would have had to just hammer and chisel it off of there.

The silicone sealed nice and snug. Once I finally got the nut off, which was difficult all by itself, the scoop would not come off. Even after removing the screws, the through hull was sealed to the hull in a major way. I finally got impatient and pried it off with a flat blade screwdriver. Each of the screw holes has some spider cracks next to them. Most of them are just about 1/2 inch. I think I will have it fixed professionally this winter. I put some gel coat repair on them and that will do a decent job of keeping the water out, but I think any discriminating buyer is going to see it as a hack job if they check it out when I sell this summer. It doesn't look real professional. I don't have the right tools or patience to make it look nice. I have to have the boat back together by Wednesday for the weekly run.

[GVelvet]

I wonder if that is why they said to use 2" hole saw. So in case you needed to remove the scoop, it would be easier to come off?

I'm gonna make my run to the HW store and get everything in hopefully one trip. On the hose, when you say 1" or 2", do you mean Inside Diameter or Outside Diameter.

Also, I ordered these switches from Tige to match the other switches:

[talltigeguy]

I'm gonna make my run to the HW store and get everything in hopefully one trip. On the hose, when you say 1" or 2", do you mean Inside Diameter or Outside Diameter.

That is the golden question that burns in many hearts. They frequently interchange ID and OD without saying. The ballast hose I have is 1 inch OD. that means that anything that plugs into it is 3/4" OD or 1/2" ID.

I filled a sack in the walkway today. Emptied it with a Tsunami...it emptied way faster. The goofy size Tsunami fittings are a curse to the world, but it might be worth working around them.

Got the boat out on the water to day. The mushroom worked fine. We hurried and filled the ballast, and it still works great. I do not think that there is any water coming in to the sacks when underway, but did not undo the hoses to check. I do know that we wakeboarded for 2 hours and my surf sack did not fill to capacity like it used to if I left the valve open...so I think the mushroom is a success. Will take the time to get it checked thoroughly at the reunion. That is likely the next time she will get out.