Dale974

After upgrading my stereo system this winter and looking thru some of the forums and projects about cooling amps, etc i figured it wouldn't hurt to try to keep some space in the storage compartment away from towels, jackets, bags, etc. I picked up a smaller sheet of left over expanded aluminum at the local welding shop. I cut the original piece to size and using my "high tech" metal bender (2 2x6's) i bent the metal to give me a 18" high by 8" deep L-shape piece that was 20" wide. Since i needed to cover more width, i used what i cut off to extend the overall width of coverage up to 25". I then took some extra 3/4" ballast hose i had and split it and covered the sharp edges of the panel to protect the carpet, hull, and stop snags. For now i figure that with extra towels, jackets, etc those will keep the shield in place. If not i may need to attach the panel to the floor, but for now i'll see once how this works. Nothing too fancy, but hopefully it helps keep the amps cooler and keeps anything from messing up any connections, etc.

When i was adding additional rear ballast to my 06' VLX i wanted to plumb in the option to be able to run additional floor ballast or a bow sac that could be filled semi-automatic or at least while moving unlike a throw over pump. Since i was doing reversibles for the rears i decided a reversible for the front plumbed in and out thru the center drain plug would work the nicest. I mounted a johnson pump up behind the kick plate and plumbed it back down the side of the trim where the fire extinguisher and driver's cupholder is. My plan was originally to use a 3 way valve similar to the bosworth sealect valve you can get thru wakemakers. However i wanted the valve over to the side and there wasn't going to be enough room for it there, plus i kinda wanted the option to fill/drain 1 sac or 2 depending on crew size, etc. So i ran 1" line from the pump into a brass T with 2 - 1" ball valves coming off the T. The valve pointing toward the front of the boat then has a hose barb and runs a hose up to the bow that tucks back under the side when not in use. The valve toward the back of the boat has a street 90 turning straight toward the side of the trim with a Ronix PNP pump ballast adapter w/ cap threaded into the 90 and thru the trim. This helps hold the valve assembly in place, plus makes a nice convenient port to plug a ballast hose with quick connector to when in use similar to what shadetreefab did on his install. The plan is to put a sumo 650 on the floor in the back which fits cross ways between the seats with a quick connect 90 so that the hose will tuck right around the seat to the port. I ordered a pack of 2" flexible grommets https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KNXAPK8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 on amazon to run the valve handles up thru to clean up the install on the top side of the trim panel then. Looking back, i could have just used regular 2" open grommets because i ended up cutting most all the rubber out so it wouldn't catch on the valve. One other thing i did have to do since my kickplate went all the way to the outside of the hull was to trim out the kickplate at the end of the trim panel to allow the 2 hoses to run thru that space. Switch wise, i used a reversible rocker switch from wakemakers with just a ballast label on it and added it into my switch panel in the armrest since i had removed the head unit. Hope this helps someone, i'm sure i forgot some stuff. I know one thing i did forget was to take a picture of the valves when i had the trim panel off, so i tried one with it on, but i could draw a diagram if someone needed it. Now i can't wait for some warm weather to get out there and try it out!