Increasing ballast on 212X

[bobbie]

@swatski well...the Willamette River does have an issue with sewage spills. Maybe that's where the "heavy" water comes from

 

[swatski]

@swatski well...the Willamette River does have an issue with sewage spills. Maybe that's where the "heavy" water comes from

Okay, at least it's not deuterium from a nuclear reactor, lol.

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[Gerrie]

Anyone any advice on the switch situation?
Totally appreciate that a bespoke ballast bag system better than stock, BUT, stock bags OK for start. If I can bypass timer, that is.

 

[Jump Right In]

Yep Bruce you use all of that and then some.

View attachment 5727

View attachment 5728

I know this is a very old thread but I just noticed something interesting. My fat sacs are connected to the ballast pumps through the top of the bag while yours are connected through the bottom. I like the idea of the bottom, as clearly that would be better to drain but I presumed mine came from the factory with the top connection. Also, has anyone put a quicker ballast pump in these boats?

 

[Scottie]

I know this is a very old thread but I just noticed something interesting. My fat sacs are connected to the ballast pumps through the top of the bag while yours are connected through the bottom. I like the idea of the bottom, as clearly that would be better to drain but I presumed mine came from the factory with the top connection. Also, has anyone put a quicker ballast pump in these boats?

Yes, I installed 4x jabsco Ballast king pumps, but I also added 1" intakes and 1" hoses, as others have done. I don't know how much improvement you'll get if you just replace the pump and leave everything else the same. Factory hoses are 3/4" and so is the intake.

 

[Scottie]

Anyone any advice on the switch situation?
Totally appreciate that a bespoke ballast bag system better than stock, BUT, stock bags OK for start. If I can bypass timer, that is.

This is a late reply, but I just saw it. You can bypass the timer, but you'll need to re-wire to do it. In factory config, the timer handles reversing polarity so the pump fills, or drains. If you remove the factory timer, you'll need to replace the rocker switch and re-wire it so the switch itself can reverse the polarity of the pump when needed. Wakemakers has pre-wired switches and the appropriate pump wire. If I were doing that, I'd probably pull the timer, wire, and switch, and replace, rather than rigging the wiring that is there, which could also be done. You can also add a wakemakers timer, which is easily adjustable for whatever fill times you want. That would be a good idea, as you'd still have some safeguards for your pump, and your boat.

 

[Jump Right In]

Yes, I installed 4x jabsco Ballast king pumps, but I also added 1" intakes and 1" hoses, as others have done. I don't know how much improvement you'll get if you just replace the pump and leave everything else the same. Factory hoses are 3/4" and so is the intake.

For the record, forgive my comment about about the fill location on my ballast. It is at the bottom, I had the bag out of the boat as I blew out a fitting last year and was thinking of my secondary bag I use on the swim platform.

Has anyone just swapped out the pump for a faster pump? or are the 3/4" hoses truly the limiting factor? I don't want to rework the entire boat, as I think next year I may look at swapping boats but if I can get something a bit faster to fill/empty the bags this year I would probably do it.

 

[Scottie]

Has anyone just swapped out the pump for a faster pump? or are the 3/4" hoses truly the limiting factor? I don't want to rework the entire boat.

The 3/4" is definitely limiting. I'm not saying you won't get SOME improvement, but I don't think it would be significant. Now that I think about, it would also require re-wiring, even just swapping the pump. The factory pump pulls 11.5a on either 14 or 16 gauge wire. The ballast king that I installed, which is what you would do I assume (it's the fastest reversible pump available right now) pulls 19a and requires 12ga wire. So you would have a fair amount of effort, and a new timer, and a new switch. I don't think the juice would be worth the squeeze.

 

[swatski]

For the record, forgive my comment about about the fill location on my ballast. It is at the bottom, I had the bag out of the boat as I blew out a fitting last year and was thinking of my secondary bag I use on the swim platform.

Has anyone just swapped out the pump for a faster pump? or are the 3/4" hoses truly the limiting factor? I don't want to rework the entire boat, as I think next year I may look at swapping boats but if I can get something a bit faster to fill/empty the bags this year I would probably do it.

3/4 to 1” is almost double the area!
Huge difference in flow.
We tend to focus on gph or other flow capacity ratings of a pump but those can only be realized if there is sufficient space in the pipe/hose/line.

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[Gerrie]

Thanks for reply @Scottie. Absolutely right you are. You can’t just bypass the timer. I swapped out the switch as well as redid the wiring. Wasn’t difficult. Works fine. Start filling bags as we are heading out into lake, by the time we are out of the tortoise zone, bags are full. About 10 min or less. We just eyeball them.

 

[Steve212x]

I am not sure about the 212X but on my SX230 the floor that is in the under seat storage continues all the way back to the back of the upper swim step. It is hidden in the engine compartment by the plywood walls. The shelf is approximately 16 inches wide and 6 feet long.

This is a picture looking forward from a cup holder hole at the back left corner you can see the shelf in the bilge. The carpeted area is beside the engine. I plan to install 400 pound bags using about 3 feet of this area.

View attachment 5723

This is in the engine compartment with the plywood removed.

View attachment 5725

how did you remove that plywood??

 

[Scottintexas]

how did you remove that plywood??

I'm mot sure how to remove the walls in the engine compartment but I'd beleive it's pretty straightforward, if you want access you can also remove the false wall in the under seat storage area, it's just held by a couple phillips self tapping screws

 

[Bruce]

how did you remove that plywood??

Removing the screws is the easy part. The plywood section likely are too large to remove with the engines in place. I cut them into smaller pieces to remove.

As Scott mentioned you can access the same space from under the seats without removing the sidewalls.

 

[lamphax]

I have a 2016 212x and not able to get the Jabsco timer into program mode as others have reported. I wonder if it is possible to simply replace the timer with this one so I can set the duration longer?

Jabsco AI Pump Timer Module (Mastercraft)

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I also was thinking it might be a good idea to replace the existing bags with larger ones and just fill them as much as possible, they would conform to the available space and be less than completely full adding a couple hundred pounds or so?

Straight Line Sumo Max 675 Wedge Ballast Bag (675 lbs)

Free shipping, expert advice and our best price promise on the Straight Line Sumo Max 675 Wedge Ballast Bag (675 lbs) at WakeMAKERS.

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Thanks for your time in advance.

 

[Gerrie]

I would just bypass it. Couldn’t get mine to program either. Got fed up with pushing the button. Replaced the switch with a reverse polarity 2 way switch from Amazon. Wiring was easy and have not looked back since. We just eyeball the bag and switch off when full. A lot easier than the stupid timer.

 

[lamphax]

Thank you friend. I agree that is likely easier, downside is if my grandson decides to push the button and blows out the bag. Do you think putting in oversized bags is bad idea?

 

[Gerrie]

I too spent a lot of time looking at that space and planning a bag upgrade. Plus the original bags and fittings are just a bit, well, cheap. Maybe a bigger pump? The end result is that unless you go somewhat all in, you don’t gain much. The difference in bag size AND how much it will fill to capacity for the space available, was for me not worth it. As for the pump upgrade? I decided that if I don’t have the time to sit and enjoy the lake for the time it takes to fill, perhaps the problem was me, not the pump. Further, I’ve had those original bags for 5 years now. Used them a bit over that time and no leaks.

 

[lamphax]

Thanks Gerrie. I am thinking the same the more I read. I have all these ideas but all of them require a ton of upgrades and I am too lazy. At some point I will sell it and get the 2021 model with hard bags and built in wake wedges.

 

[anmut]

Sort of on/off topic, has anyone messed around with adding lead weights? I'm thinking of picking up 500lbs, putting an even distribution of bags in the rear seat locker area. What I wand to do is eliminate the need to move the deck bag for goofy/regular surfing. So fill the ski locker, put the rear bag in the center of the rear platform, then use the lead and just move to surf side.

 

[lamphax]

I have seen other threads on this forum from people using lead bricks successfully. I recently added the TVW setup and with the custom 750 rear deck bag, full stock ballast and about 300 lbs on the rear floor I get fantastic wave on both sides. I am hoping to add enough to stock ballast to not need the one on the floor.