New Manifold Install

The first thing I did after removing the stock plumbing was to build and install the new manifold.  This new manifold will allow me to redirect water to and from any of the sacs and tanks.  It will also allow me to isolate each pump so that one can be used to empty while the other one is used to fill.  I plan to fill and empty using both pumps most of the time but wanted that flexibility.

The new manifold is a series of 1" PVC slip tees, 1" slip ball valves, and 1" slip x 1" NPT adapters.  Be sure you measure where your manifold will be installed and make sure you'll have enough width.  My Falcon V had 3 feet to work with and this new manifold will take up all but a couple of inches.  Also, make sure none of your engine components will interfere with the lines coming off the new ballast manifold.  I actually dry fit my manifold first to make sure there wasn't going to be any surprises.  Once you glue the manifold together there's no turning back.

An important thing to note when building your manifold is to allow enough space between each tee so that the valve handles do not bump into each other when closed.  The width of the valve handles are slightly wider than the PVC tees.  So you won't be able to butt each tee up against each other.  I found it was best to  install each valve onto a tee before attaching all the tees together.  Doing this allowed me to turn the valve to the closed position and helped me make sure I had enough gap between each tee while glueing them together.

Here is a picture of the completed manifold.

Take special care to make sure your valves are aligned straight when glueing them to each tee.  You want the valve handle to be running completely parallel with the straight part of the tee it is attached to.  This is mostly for cosmetic reasons.  One of mine was off a bit and there's no way to fix it once the glue sets...which is very fast.

You'll also notice in the picture above that there is a valve located in the center of the manifold.  This is what I call the "isolation valve".  This allows me to isolate the flow from each pump.  By closing the valve I can fill with one pump and empty with the other pump.  By opening the valve I can supply water to all lines using both pumps together.

The elbows on each end of the manifold is where the lines from each pump will be attached.  The lines for each aux sac will not be part of the manifold.  They come off the main lines before the manifold as I'll show in the pump installation section.

Once you have your manifold built and the glue has setup you can go ahead and mount it in the boat.  I mounted the manifold in the same location where the old sprinkler valves used to be located.  The old sprinkler valves were attached to the wall using two straps.  The two straps had a rubber liner to them.  By removing the rubber piece I was able to use them to mount the new manifold.  The straps are not big enough to go around the 1" tee without removing the rubber piece first.

Here is a picture of the manifold installed in the boat.  You might have to fish your manifold into the engine compartment.  There's not enough room to drop it in from the top.  I had to fish mine in sideways from the port locker (with the engine divider removed of course).

Be sure to leave enough room between the top of the manifold and the metal frame of the engine compartment for the isolation valve to spin closed.  It may be helpful to just mount it with it closed so that you know how high you can mount the manifold.