Remove Hippo System

[spokanesx]

I am putting  list of spring time projects together.  The original owner of my SX had a Hippo system installed when the boat was new.  I don't think it has been used much.  I bought the boat last summer and didn't use it at all.  At the end of the season I was testing it out and discovered that one of the drain pumps is not working and one of the other drain pumps runs when the system is set to fill.  The fill cycle is also really slow, if I were to guess total fill time with everything working properly will be 30-45 min.  The other consideration is that they drilled 4 holes in the hull for draining which bothers me.  I have to have keel cleaned up in the spring so I was considering removing the system and having them fill all of the drain ports in the hull.  With a little TLC the system could probably be functioning properly but I am not sure I will ever use it.

Any thoughts?

[cyclone]

I'll buy the system from you if you decide to remove it

Pete

[wakejunky]

im just curious why did you buy an SX if you dont even use the ballast. i added three automated bags on top of the factory system. i will bet if you wakeboard you will use it eventually, our SX's dont have near enough ballast in stock form. id keep it just for resale value. just my 2 cents.

[spokanesx]

I use the factory system.  One of the drain pumps was not working on the Hippo system so I didn't use it.  I just bought the boat in the middle of last season and had a long list of maintenance projects that were higher priority than trying fixing it.  Finally at the end of the season I played around with it for awhile and found that there were a few other things wrong with it.  It is a nice system and I particularly like the control unit but I am not excited about how long it takes to get it filled up.

I have to admit that I made a mistake by buying a low hour boat (155).  Boats are not meant to be sitting around.  Looking back I would much rather have a boat that has been used consistently and well cared for.  Removing this system has been a consideration because I have spent so much time reviving the boat last year.  I think I have most things tackled now but I want to eliminate anything that will create more possible issues.  I think I am going to leave it alone for this next year and focus on rebuilding my stock pump manifold and perfect pass.

[wakejunky]

Im not real familiar with the hippo system but ballast systems dont vary all that much. if you have a problem with fill and drain issues and its not the equipment not working it could just need  to be resized. the big problem with the stock system is the size of the plumbing. mine use to take about 15-20 min to fill. now it fills and drains in less than 5min. you might just need to upgrade your hoses and valves to flow better. post a couple picks of the system and hopefully we can figure out whats
wrong or how you can upgraded it.