2014-2018 Ballast Replacement/Addition

[Robby77]

Just picked up a 2014 SAN 210 with factory hard tanks. Thought it would be as simple as calling Wavemarkers to get the piggyback kit, but they are backordered and not expecting shipments until summer and fall season is over.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to built a piggyback system with a combination or hardware and other ballast sacs? I'd be happy with just the optional pro ballast system, but bigger would also be better too.

Thanks

[hal2814]

If bigger is better, yank the tanks and go straight 1,100lb bags. You’ll lose your fill sensors. I rolled my own conversion box to keep those gauges working with bags instead of hard tanks but it’s not real simple to do that. I may do a post later on that. Other than losing sensors it’s incredibly straightforward. Pull tanks. Replace with bags. You’ll need quick disconnects for the tubing and whatever size NPT fittings the bags use. You may also need about an extra foot or so of tubing per bag to reach the connections when empty.

if you want to roll your own piggyback, it’s pretty straightforward with a few gotchas. First and foremost, whatever you build must have a check valve to let air back into the hard tanks when draining. To piggyback you take the hard tank’s vent and connect it to your bag’s input. Your bag’s vent is then connected to where the tank originally vents. Without a check valve to let air back in the tank will collapse and probably break your fill level sender in the process. The other gotcha is that the check valve must be at the lowest point of the bag. Since our tanks are wedge-shaped that means the check valve (and fill point) must be at the back of the boat as low as you can get it. If not you’ll only drain to the level of the check valve. The wakemakers kit uses some tubing to make the check valve connect to the vent hose and draw air in from the vent system. That’s the safe thing to do. Do that. Personally, I don’t do that. I pull air in from the lockers. If my check valve fails I risk shooting water out into the lockers while filling. Well, I did risk that before moving to a bag-only setup.

Nautique used 1” tubing during that time. The bags you use will either be 3/4” NPT or 1” NPT depending on who makes them. If you’re buying NPT fittings from a hardware store you need to apply Teflon tape or pipe dope to the threads to prevent leaks. Good luck.