Fixing the 242x Ballast system.....

[B0at1n]

@swatski do you by chance know what’s behind the transom wall under the port and starboard rear seats by the motor? Was thinking if there was a empty space behind the wall maybe finding a way to put ballast bags in there so they are under the swim deck instead of on top of it. Any thoughts?

I have the 190

 

[swatski]

@swatski do you by chance know what’s behind the transom wall under the port and starboard rear seats by the motor? Was thinking if there was a empty space behind the wall maybe finding a way to put ballast bags in there so they are under the swim deck instead of on top of it. Any thoughts?

I have the 190

Totally. The 190s have all the space there, more than you can use! That’s the beauty of the 190 rear compartments - those are ginormous.

The only negative there is the noise! Those large compartments are like large acoustic sound boxes - and that’s why Yamaha cut up those stern spaces building in smaller enclosed storage compartments in the new 240s sterns - that they call quite rude technology, it actually works. Not good for ballast though.

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[B0at1n]

Totally. The 190s have all the space there, more than you can use! That’s the beauty of the 190 rear compartments - those are ginormous.

The only negative there is the noise! Those large compartments are like large acoustic sound boxes - and that’s why Yamaha cut up those stern spaces building in smaller enclosed storage compartments in the new 240s sterns - that they call quite rude technology, it actually works. Not good for ballast though.

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So I should be able to pull the wall down and stick a ballast bag back there? That might be cool, cuz the. I can hide them when the boats rented. Lol.

 

[swatski]

So I should be able to pull the wall down and stick a ballast bag back there? That might be cool, cuz the. I can hide them when the boats rented. Lol.

Well, the 2019 I'm not as familiar with the exact dimensions but there is certainly cavernous spaces in the rear, may need to rearrange the batteries on the port side but there is nothing else on the sides of engine bulkheads.

That said, it may or may not be worth the effort. The best results as far as surfable wave are consistently obtained with the Gatlin swim deck bag, most certainly due to the leverage on the hull (pitch). We hardly ever use our custom built in WakeMakers ballast for quick rides, just fill the custo swim deck bag and the ski locker, that's it.

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[jcyamaharider]

Back from vacation, everything worked great and no leaks. Much easier to just have one quick connect hose, but if in a race I can connect a second over the side pump to fill the Transom bag in 5 minutes. Having the port bag with its own intake was awesome. Full bags every time and no delay. Since I re calibrated my port bag to fill by itself when new, I didn't have to re calibrate when I put it on its own intake.

 

[CDENsomnia]

Maybe I missed it but how do you turn the transom bag pump on? Gawd I am going to have to drill holes in the bottom of my boat now! I can't stand my bags not filling properly and I absolutely despise the over the side pump.

BTW - Even after calibration and only filling the port side bag it still doesn't fill all the way...below is "full" after re-calibrating and filling only the port bag.

 

[BigAbe75]

Maybe I missed it but how do you turn the transom bag pump on? Gawd I am going to have to drill holes in the bottom of my boat now! I can't stand my bags not filling properly and I absolutely despise the over the side pump.

BTW - Even after calibration and only filling the port side bag it still doesn't fill all the way...below is "full" after re-calibrating and filling only the port bag.

View attachment 100035

That’s not right. Mine fills nice and tight. Actually fills better than center for me.

Transom over the side pump just comes on when you plug it in. Might have to hold the plug in a little for a solid contact.

Yeah, after seeing @jcyamaharider s new setup the other day... I can definitely see the value in that. My biggest complaint about the over the side pump is 1. I feel like I can’t run in while I’m idling around filling the other bag (since you can’t fill stock with engines off) for being afraid of getting hose or power cord tangled up and 2. The damn hose is coiled so well that the pump is always coming back to the surface.

 

[CDENsomnia]

That’s not right. Mine fills nice and tight. Actually fills better than center for me.

Transom over the side pump just comes on when you plug it in. Might have to hold the plug in a little for a solid contact.

Yeah, after seeing @jcyamaharider s new setup the other day... I can definitely see the value in that. My biggest complaint about the over the side pump is 1. I feel like I can’t run in while I’m idling around filling the other bag (since you can’t fill stock with engines off) for being afraid of getting hose or power cord tangled up and 2. The damn hose is coiled so well that the pump is always coming back to the surface.

Argh! My center is just as deflated as the port. I haven't filled starboard because I just don't use it. lol

My over the side pump actually sucks up to the bottom of the hull because its coiled so much. Im done with that thing!

 

[jcyamaharider]

Boat mod time!!! it is only 2 tiny holes drilled in the bottom of your brand new boat....LOL

 

[jcyamaharider]

Maybe I missed it but how do you turn the transom bag pump on?

I have a hidden switch. It has worked out ok so far.

 

[swatski]

Here is mine, on a wand. Still looking for a permanent mount.

Yep, that might work but would be too easy to trip crawling around the stern. In my case - I have another AUX intake/drain there, albeit I no longer use it right now.
Right now I use the AUX switch on a "wand" remote taped to the tower leg... Drive me crazy, albeit works fine...
View attachment 79967

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[swatski]

Now, if I could only pull the Shelbyville gathering even for few hours, I could get all the scoop again!!!

Last year was fantastic - we were able to stay for only few hours but those few hours were more educational then weeks of trial and error on my own. Thank you @jcyamaharider !

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[jcyamahariders wife]

Now, if I could only pull the Shelbyville gathering even for few hours, I could get all the scoop again!!!

Last year was fantastic - we were able to stay for only few hours but those few hours were more educational then weeks of trial and error on my own. Thank you @jcyamaharider !

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We will be there from the 20th to 28th . . . you might need to play sick a day during the week ! Hint Hint

 

[2kwik4u]

So I should be able to pull the wall down and stick a ballast bag back there? That might be cool, cuz the. I can hide them when the boats rented. Lol.

I was looking around in there the other day on my 190. Going to be a REALLY funky shaped bag to take up just that space. If you are using a regular bag, with the rear bulkhead removed then it can go back probably another 9-10in or so. There is some significant space back in there. It only takes 4 screws to remove the swim platform cupholder and a mirror on a stick to look around in there.

 

[Kevin-yyz]

Maybe I missed it but how do you turn the transom bag pump on? Gawd I am going to have to drill holes in the bottom of my boat now! I can't stand my bags not filling properly and I absolutely despise the over the side pump.

BTW - Even after calibration and only filling the port side bag it still doesn't fill all the way...below is "full" after re-calibrating and filling only the port bag.

@CDENsomnia my port bag looks exactly the same even after calibrating numerous times. Starboard bag and centre are full without issue. Port bag also will drain very quickly but still show about 40% when completely empty. I just picked up the “ballast pump jumper cable” cable from @Cambo. Haven’t used it yet, I’m hoping that bypassing the system will solve my ballast issues.

 

[CDENsomnia]

I thought I would provide an update here on this issue. I went out one morning and played around with the calibration and connext as I suspect that yamaha just didn't account for some scenarios in the computer to truly fill the bag every time without fail. Since @BigAbe75's boat (my boats sister) didn't have issues and I saw my port bag filled once I knew it was possible.

I don't know if this can be replicated and seems wacky but here is what I did to finally get the bag to fill every time. Being a Software Engineer and knowing a little how developers think, my assumption is I am somehow setting a timer to be much longer that yamaha probably wanted to allow.

1. Go to the pump calibration screen
2. Click the empty (or whatever its called) on port bag.
3. Wait for it to be done.
4. Click empty on center bag.
5. Wait for it to be done.
6. Start the fill on the port bag.
7. Wait for it to get about half full.
8. Once the port is half full, Click empty on the starboard bag (I am not totally sure but before you start this process you may need just a little water in the starboard bag so it has something that takes a little time to empty). On my boat doing this stopped the port bag fill (since we only have one fill\empty port) but I wonder if somewhere in the code the timer to fill is still running in memory.
9. Once the starboard bag is done emptying continue filling the port bag by clicking the fill button.
10. Now go to the normal ballast screen and empty everything.
11. Test the port bag fill on its own.

*One caveat here is that I am writing this from memory and may have some of the verbiage wrong but I am pretty sure I have the steps right. I am actually afraid to test the steps because mine is filling every time now. So maybe someone that is having a similar issue can test this to see if it works as well.

 

[Cambo]

@CDENsomnia If your timers get out of sync and you don't want it to mess up your time surfing just plug in the pump jumper and fill or empty what ever bags you want simple and quick. Now that summer is winding down you can use it to winterize as well

https://jetboaters.net/threads/ballast-pump-jumper-cable.19754/

Confirmed it works on the 2018 - 19

 

[tfsnowrider]

3M 5200 is very hard to make “pretty” but that is also one of the main reasons why it works so well - it spreads!

That said, mine are prettier!!!
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Do you have a thread of this whole project? I just realized you have an AR so no factory ballast. I'm curious to see what you did!