Ballast 3.0 ( Another ballast upgrade plan)

[BlacklimitedS]

WOW! That is a nice looking wave! Great write up.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Thanks. I think my favorite addition was the thru hull with the quick disconnect for the seat bag. Dramatically decreased that fill time and I don't have over the side pumps to have over board anymore. A flip of a electric ball valve switch and I can fill my starboard bag or use the top port.

 

[KXCam22]

Nice being able to fill at 30mph. Cam.

 

[0627Devildog]

Nice being able to fill at 30mph. Cam.

No one is doing 30MPH with that much ballast. . . . . = )

 

[jcyamaharider]

When it starts getting full is when it slows WAY down.

 

[swatski]

@jcyamaharider I have to ask: how do you connect the W730 quick connect to 1" hose?
This is roughly what I plan for my aux port connection (similar to your brilliant use of the nav light spot - the insert pic), but I can not figure out the connection pointed by the arrow.
I'm not getting much help from Wakemakers on that, I think they are stumped...


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[jcyamaharider]

@jcyamaharider I have to ask: how do you connect the W730 quick connect to 1" hose?
This is roughly what I plan for my aux port connection (similar to your brilliant use of the nav light spot - the insert pic), but I can not figure out the connection pointed by the arrow.
I'm not getting much help from Wakemakers on that, I think they are stumped...
View attachment 52977

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Being an engineer at a machine shop I have access to all of these lovely tools that I can custom make threads, which is what I had to do. I couldn't find the correct part either so I made a delrin coupler that was threaded on one end for the nipple and threaded on the other end for the quick connect fitting...

Short Answer....... I cheated....

 

[swatski]

Being an engineer at a machine shop I have access to all of these lovely tools that I can custom make threads, which is what I had to do. I couldn't find the correct part either so I made a delrin coupler that was threaded on one end for the nipple and threaded on the other end for the quick connect fitting...

Short Answer....... I cheated....

Thank you, that really helps. As much as I like the Wakemakers' attention to customers, and they are very responsive, I could not get a strait answer from them about that issue. Now I know why.
I appreciate your advice!

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[KXCam22]

On the 230 there is a gap behind the rear deck cushions. I have vents there, but it seems it would work to have a 1" line hanging in the gap with the quick-coupler on the end. Then you would not have to have the fitting on the outside of the hull. Essentially you would pull the line down a bit couple the aux hose on , fill the bag then push the hose back up out of sight. I know this would work on the 230 but I am unsure on how the 240 is built. Cam.

 

[swatski]

Being an engineer at a machine shop I have access to all of these lovely tools that I can custom make threads, which is what I had to do. I couldn't find the correct part either so I made a delrin coupler that was threaded on one end for the nipple and threaded on the other end for the quick connect fitting...

Short Answer....... I cheated....

@jcyamaharider - need your advice please!
So, me NOT being an engineer (nor having access to a machine shop) I can make the simple connector kind-of fit with a standard 3/4" coupling - it will go in far enough so that I can be reasonably sure it will hold water. However, the Quick Connect (W730) is less forgiving, and I can only (maybe) drive it in 1/4" or so (into the other side of this same coupling).
Importantly, this connection would ONLY be used for the aux fill-in hose (mounted inside the "wet compartment") so if it failed I would not sink the boat.
Q: Should I jam it together (the Quick Connect into the 3/4" coupling) and see what happens..., or do I need to find a machine shop to machine the appropriate part?
Unbelievable, but Wakemakers have nothing to connect W730/W739 with a 1' hose...



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[jcyamaharider]

@jcyamaharider - need your advice please!
So, me NOT being an engineer (nor having access to a machine shop) I can make the simple connector kind-of fit with a standard 3/4" coupling - it will go in far enough so that I can be reasonably sure it will hold water. However, the Quick Connect (W730) is less forgiving, and I can only (maybe) drive it in 1/4" or so (into the other side of this same coupling).
Importantly, this connection would ONLY be used for the aux fill-in hose (mounted inside the "wet compartment") so if it failed I would not sink the boat.
Q: Should I jam it together (the Quick Connect into the 3/4" coupling) and see what happens..., or do I need to find a machine shop to machine the appropriate part?
Unbelievable, but Wakemakers have nothing to connect W730/W739 with a 1' hose...
View attachment 53556View attachment 53557


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@swatski I think the fittings are a parallel pipe fitting, or you can maybe use a 1" 14 straight tap. I thread gauged the fitting tonight and I know for sure it is 14 tpi. I will see if I have a tap at work and see if I can make a good thread and report back to you tomorrow. Hold tight man I got your back.


The good thing is the 3/4 npt coupling you bought is also a 14 tpi coupling.

 

[swatski]

@swatski I think the fittings are a parallel pipe fitting, or you can maybe use a 1" 14 straight tap. I thread gauged the fitting tonight and I know for sure it is 14 tpi. I will see if I have a tap at work and see if I can make a good thread and report back to you tomorrow. Hold tight man I got your back.


The good thing is the 3/4 npt coupling you bought is also a 14 tpi coupling.

Awesome, and big thank you! I understand about half of what you said there, lol, but it sounds good.

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[Mainah]

@swatski I think the fittings are a parallel pipe fitting, or you can maybe use a 1" 14 straight tap. I thread gauged the fitting tonight and I know for sure it is 14 tpi. I will see if I have a tap at work and see if I can make a good thread and report back to you tomorrow. Hold tight man I got your back.


The good thing is the 3/4 npt coupling you bought is also a 14 tpi coupling.

Well that is counter intuitive. I would have thought the threads on ballast stuff would be tapered which is meant to be a sealing thread for water and gas. Straight threads are meant for load bearing. Foolowing as I will be doing the same thing at some point.

 

[buckbuck]

That does seem odd.

 

[swatski]

Well that is counter intuitive. I would have thought the threads on ballast stuff would be tapered which is meant to be a sealing thread for water and gas. Straight threads are meant for load bearing. Foolowing as I will be doing the same thing at some point.

That does seem odd.

Yes, I find it very odd, indeed.

I was also dumbfounded the Wakemakers (or anyone else for that matter) do not offer any solution to that particular connection (1' ID hose to W730/739). Needless to say, I tried everything obvious first, water bed fittings etc., before bugging @jcyamaharider. But now I came to a stop. Initially, they (WM) were steering me the wrong way (with more parts and such) so I sent them this pic (with @jcyamaharider credits and a link to this thread) to clarify exactly what I am after:


They came back after a day to tell me they don't have anything that would work there, and offered another useless "solution".

So, @jcyamaharider - looks like you have created another "Yamaha surfing special" gizmo!

My overall experience with Wakemakers has been extremely good, they are very responsive and helpful. Also the field has evolved so rapidly, they are offering many solutions right now that were not available on the market even last year, making all the (slightly) older ballast systems (including all the expensive ski boats) starting to look a bit obsolete.

But boy, still what a project! I though I would progress much faster once I decided to blow 3k+ on custom ballast, but no such luck. This still feels like a bird watching expedition at times, lol.

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[jcyamaharider]

Most of the ballast bag fittings use orings so a tapered thread is not needed. I don't think there is enough surface area to create a seal with a tapered thread anyways.

What I found out @swatski : Using a 3/4" NPT coupling the 1"-14 tap will fly thru but the fitting will not even start. Measuring the threads last night the threads ( in a perfect world ) seem to be a 1-1/16" -14 thread size. So we can do one of 2 things here. We can open up your current coupling so the fitting will slide right down in and we can 3M 4200 or 5200 it in, or you can get a custom delrin connector made like I have. Should be easy for any machine shop to make since I gave you the thread size. I would do it but WW is staring to get really busy.

 

[swatski]

Most of the ballast bag fittings use orings so a tapered thread is not needed. I don't think there is enough surface area to create a seal with a tapered thread anyways.

What I found out @swatski : Using a 3/4" NPT coupling the 1"-14 tap will fly thru but the fitting will not even start. Measuring the threads last night the threads ( in a perfect world ) seem to be a 1-1/16" -14 thread size. So we can do one of 2 things here. We can open up your current coupling so the fitting will slide right down in and we can 3M 4200 or 5200 it in, or you can get a custom delrin connector made like I have. Should be easy for any machine shop to make since I gave you the thread size. I would do it but WW is staring to get really busy.

@jcyamaharider This is hugely helpful! Again, thank you.
A friend of ours runs Henry Plumbing Co. here so they will help me - now that I know what to ask for!!!

And just for my education:

We can open up your current coupling so the fitting will slide right down in and we can 3M 4200 or 5200 it in

By opening up the coupling - do you mean filing those off (female threads in the coupling)?

EDIT: I think I know what you mean - basically open up/rethread the W730 so that it will fit the coupling!

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[jcyamaharider]

@jcyamaharider This is hugely helpful! Again, thank you.
A friend of ours runs Henry Plumbing Co. here so they will help me - now that I know what to ask for!!!

And just for my education:

By opening up the coupling - do you mean filing those off (female threads in the coupling)?

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Yes essentially you would just drill out the threads in the coupling so the fitting could just slide in.

 

[swatski]

Yes essentially you would just drill out the threads in the coupling so the fitting could just slide in.

That will work!

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[KXCam22]

Swatski
With plastic threads you can cheat quite a bit on the tapered to straight thread connection by jamming them together. The threads are malleable and seal great. Bit of Teflon tape helps. My link adapter is jammed on to a tapered thread and seals well. Cam