The Pumps:
My design will consist of two Johnson Ultra Reversible Ballast pumps (13.7GPH) supplied by the single stock 1" inlet. I will be removing the stock Jabsco ballast pump, sprinkler valves, and aerator pumps. I chose the impeller type pumps over the aerator type pumps for two reasons: 1) I wanted to be able to install some auxilary fill lines which would allow me to fill and empty extra fat sacs on the seats using the same hose tied into the ballast system. This is not possible when using aerator pumps due to the fact that they are not reversible and are not self priming. 2) I was concerned that it would be difficult to mount aerator style pumps below the water line in my boat. The Falcon V has a much shallower hull than the other Centurion models. The aerator style pumps require that they be mounted below the water line in order for them to be primed without user intervention. The aerator style pumps have a lot of advantages though including that they are quieter, draw less power, and are cheaper. If I didn't have the two concerns listed I would probably have gone with aerator style pumps. From what I've read regarding other's experiences, the single 1" stock inlet is sufficient to supply water to both Johnson impeller pumps. If I see any restrictions then it will be easy to add another inlet to the system at a later time.
The Manifold:
I wanted the system to be as flexible as possible. I will have quite a few additional sacs to fill but didn't have the budget for more than two pumps so I wanted to be able to pick and choose where the water is directed. I also wanted to be able to fill any sac with both pumps but also have the flexibility to fill with one pump while emptying another sac with the other pump. This required the use of several valves. I decided to build these valves into a manifold that will be centrally located behind the rear seat bench on the front engine wall (the same place the stock sprinkler valves were located). Given the amount of lines required, this manifold was going to be fairly large in width. My max width on my engine wall is 3 feet. So I had to ensure that my manifold would fit within that size limitation. As I went through the design process, I realized that I would not have enough room for a manifold unless I removed the stock sprinkler valves. There wasn't enough room to relocate them. So that was my main reason for removing them....If I could make it work, I would have left the stock system untouched. So the manifold valves will consist of 2 lines for the starboard rear locker sac, 2 lines for the port rear locker sac, 1 line for the integrated bow sac, 1 line for the stock starboard hard tank, 1 line for the stock port hard tank. The manifold will also have a valve placed in the center as shown in the diagram which will allow me to isolate the two pumps by closing the ball valve. I refer to this as the isolation valve. To add flexibility, each rear locker sac will have 1 line on each side of the isolation valve as shown in the diagram. This will allow me to get max flow into each sac when filling with both pumps. With 7 total valves on the manifold, it can become a bit confusing at first to know what goes where. My plan is to use a sharpee to label each valve to help reduce any confusion.
The Fat Sacs:
The custom ballast system will consist of a Fly High Jumbo 1100# sac in each of the rear lockers, a Fly High Integrated bow sac under the bow seats, and two Fly High 400# sacs to be placed on the floor or seats as desired. Total ballast weight per side for surfing (including stock ballast) will be approximately 2500LB. The bow sac will be filled/drained by a single line which will be split using a Y adapter. This will make it so that the bow sac is filled and emptied from both legs of the bow sac. I will discuss this more in the install sections of this blog. The two rear Jumbo sacs will be supplied by two lines (one at the base of the bag and one on top). The 400LB auxilary sacs will be filled using the auxilary lines as discussed later and will have a Fly High check valve (W744) to prevent water from escaping when the pump hose is removed.
The Hose:
The ballast system will use 1" hose for all fill lines with the exception of the stock hard tanks. The stock hard tanks will be filled using 3/4" hose. I did this so I could reuse the existing stock hose and save a few pennies. I also figured the small stock tanks will be full before the larger Jumbo sacs so I didn't worry about the smaller line reducing my overall fill times. The two Jumbo sacs and the bow sac will each have a single 3/4" hose used as a vent. Yes, I'll be filling the Jumbo sacs with two 1" lines and only venting with a single 3/4" line. I don't foresee that as being a problem since the pumps are not producing more pressure than a single 3/4" vent line can handle. 1" hose will also be used for the drain lines that direct water over the side of the boat when emptying.
The Check Valves:
This ballast system uses a number of check valves for two different purposes. Check valves are placed on each vent line with the exception of the vents for the stock hard tanks. The purpose for check valves on the vent lines are to allow the bags to completely "raisin" when emptying. Essentially, it allows the pumps to completely collapse the sac since no air will be drawn through the vent line when emptying. The two other check valves are placed on the inlet side of the impeller pumps as shown in the diagram. This is done so that water is redirected overboard when the pumps are emptying. Many people choose to just empty back out the thru hull in the bottom of the boat. That works well but I like to have the visual and audio confirmation that water is still flowing through each pump. So each pump will have its own discharge line over the side of the boat. Another check valve is placed on each drain line so that the pumps do not suck in air when filling.
Auxiliary Lines:
As mentioned earlier, the ballast system will consist of two auxilary lines. These lines can be used for filling and emptying sacs that are placed on the floor or seats of the boat. Each auxiliary hose will have a manual shut off valve at the end of the hose. This eliminates the need to have the lines coming off the manifold and allowed me to stay within the 3 foot manifold width limitation mentioned earlier. The aux lines are split off each pump's main line before it is fed into the manifold. I used a Y rather than a tee where the line splits to help direct the flow a little better. Others have previously used a tee and have said that the force from the pump makes it so that most of the flow goes through the straight part of of the tee rather than up the top. If there is some resistance further down the line then that doesn't become a problem. I'm hoping by using a Y that it will help direct the flow of water more evenly.
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