Neatest ever ballast breather mod?

[raycarlson]

Have been a full throttle(50hp) accidentilly once or twice with either center board or rudders down with no ill effects other than reduced speed.What would cause your boat to capsize just because the center board was down?

[c130king]

I have never experienced my "overspill cup" (if that is what it is called) overfilling. I pull the "bung plug" (as you call it) and then open the transom valve. I can then leave the boat sitting for as long as I like and the ballast tank will not overfill. I have left it this way for over an hour...and it didn't overfill.

After a few minutes I go forward and if there is an inch or so of water in the "overspill cup" I put in the "bung plug" then walk to the stern and close the gate valve.

The issue for me is that I mostly single-hand so when I walk to the v-berth to check the overspill cup my big butt gets the boat is sitting slightly bow down and I will see an inch or so of water in the cup. But then when I walk to the stern the bow will rise ever so slightly and a little bit of the ballast will drain out before I close the gate valve. Thus I am pretty sure my ballast is never 100% full. But it is probably 97.361% full and I think this is good enough...but you can hear a little bit of sloshing sound.

When I have a partner I send them to the v-berth to put in the plug while I stay aft to close the gate valve. Then I get at least 99.577% full ballast.

Don't see a need for any sort of ballast level indicator...just my $0.02 worth.

And as to the pin to hold up the dagger board...overkill in IMHO. I personally wouldn't drill any holes in the dagger board sleeve.

Cheers,
Jim

[Kelly Hanson East]

The cup will contain the ballast when the boat is heavily loaded. This could be a cool way to measure the Lloyds Rule as you throw those cases of beer down below....

[restless]

Sharp turns at high speed with a board down can throw the boat over.

I'm just not taking any chances with ballast. 1/2 ballast is far less stable than none, and world cruising will not happen if I ever under any circumstance tip our boat. Full (pref 99.73 at least) and I'm happy to chuck her about. Unsure capt woos takes over.
I found this on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT
which is small enough to fit down a bung hole and fix in on a small stainless strip. Rigged to a few flashing bright leds and I'll be happy knowing I've taken some good precautions.

Pinning a daggerboard... rather than drill the trunk I would look at adding a bolt on top with an eye through it sort of thing... put a hole above the trunk in the coachroof, so when board is up you can shove something through. Means you can see the board. I wouldn't like the idea of trying to line up a pin to a board bouncing around in a dark trunk. I don't have an M, just guessing.

Clunking? I'd consider putting a butterfly in the top. That banging is a pain for sure!

Right.. tea time!

[Don T]

Hello,
In the boats with a center fill valve there are 2 problems:
1. The hole through the top of the tank and through the hull bottom were not always directly above one another. It's easy to see when on the trailer. With the valve barely tight you can see that one edge of the valve touches before the other. To fix I put a bend in the rod at the bottom so the valve contacts the hull evenly all around.

2. When the boat sits on the hard with ballast in, the tank collapses from the weight and opens the valve. No cure for this one other than tightening the valve more. My wife complains I tighten it too much for her to loosen but we don't lose ballast and it doesn't over fill while motoring (a problem when the valve does not seal evenly and/or not tightened enough).
Overfill: If the center valve is not tight enough while motoring, water pressure on the hull bottom opens the valve and water then leaks past the top rod seal into the bilge.

Of course boats with no center valve do not suffer from this.

Don T.

On edit: About the drag from the center board trunk. I have considered installing a blower device into the trunk so water would be pushed out and aerated, reducing drag. Only use it when "racing" other X boats. Might be able to get past a blue hull that way. Or just diving under and putting an ethafoam insert into the trunk behind the lowered board to smooth the water flow (only when racing). Rounded fillets at the stern to ease flow at the transom might help too. Secretly make it part of a swim board mod.

[Kelly Hanson East]

You will have to re-PHRF that boat with that transom mod Don....the is hauling a lot of 'junk in the trunk' in the form of transom turbulence.

Jim - with the gear for this crew


you might find the ballast spill cup full - check out the plimsoll line (exaggerated here with all the crew forward, of course)

[Don T]

Hello,
That's the beauty of the double vent for the ballast tank. That 200 lbs of recovered ballast is in the bow so the transom is lifted reducing drag. Made a huge difference in our boat. More stable, quiet sleeping and blue fast.

For that clunking center board, here is my mod.
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/index.php?view=390

Don T

[The Mutt]

Hello,
The history as I understood it:
1. Original boats had the small transom valve and raised bump vent forward. Customers complained it was hard and time consuming to fill the ballast in rough water.
2. Boat modified for center fill valve and vent located under the step. Forward bump vent not drilled.
3. Forward bump removed from tank as it was no longer necessary. Customers complained it was impossible to fill the tank completely resulting in ballast reduced by 200 lbs. Water splashes out of the center valve control rod and runs into bilges when filling. Aluminum washer (w/rubber seal) corrodes and fills the threads of control rod and customers thought the valve was tight when it wasn't causing water to fill into the bilges. (#2 boats suffered this as well)
4. Hole drilled in the cabin sole so water in the bilges will run out under foot so customers can see it and know they are leaking.
5. Transom valve enlarged (moved to opposite side) and vent moved forward again with no bump. Customers complained that with a fully equipped boat, water could overflow the forward tank vent and soak storage items at best and sink the boat if the stopper fell out or was loose. Center valve & vent not installed.
6. Center valve provision removed from the hull and splash guard installed around vent.

My boat (hull # 64) falls under #2 above. I drilled a second vent hole in the forward bump and installed positive sealing screw type plugs in both vent positions. I keep the washer and rod clean of corrosion (lubed with silicone dielectric compound) and intend to make a stainless washer/seal someday.

Don



On edit: When my ballast is full there is no sloshing and opening the center vent produces a geyser.

Any idea what years the changes happened in Don?

Our 97 X has the vent under the step, I have been toying with the thought of putting an electric motorhome waste valve on the transom and tapping the ballast tank somewhere up forward and running a breather to the anchor well.. just a thought.

Glenn

[Don T]

Oh heck no,
I remember seeing the changes and getting the explanations at boat shows through the years but can not reference years / hull#'s etc. We do have the data base right here comprised of all the X boaters on this site.

Don T

[mastreb]

For a daggerboard indicator, just mount a 12 red plastic ruler to the top of the daggerboard with a sheet metal screw. Dagger board is up, you see the ruler. No ruler, daggerboard is down.

[yukonbob]

You can do the same on the daggerboard line with some red tape.

[raycarlson]

dont worry your dagger board will not come down on its own while at speed,once more than a 8-10 inches is exposed there is to much friction pushing it aft that it will not slide down under force of gravity. also from experience i can tell with only 50 HP you can go full throttle with the dagger down with no noticable effects on manuvering other than wondering why the hull am i only going 13mph at full throttle.