Repairing holes in ballast tank

[BOAT]

Well, since the hole is already there why not put hose fittings on them? - then put two real big fat bilge pumps attached to the hose fittings - one for each hole.

Then hook them up to a switch on the battery and see how fast you can evacuate your ballast! An electric ballast tank empty-er (er?) That would be cool!

[Divecoz]

Well except that I have had one for about 8 years now? On a Trip to SWF before I retired here. I was left grounded on a sandbar because of super low tide and the fact that the winds had blown a foot of water out of the entire harbor..I went back to my brothers House / Dock and we plumbed the macerator over board pump to allow me to pump out my ballast tank..I posted the story and mod here on this board about 8 years ago???

Well, since the hole is already there why not put hose fittings on them? - then put two real big fat bilge pumps attached to the hose fittings - one for each hole.

Then hook them up to a switch on the battery and see how fast you can evacuate your ballast! An electric ballast tank empty-er (er?) That would be cool!

[BOAT]

It sounds like a great idea - especially for folks that run the shallows a lot. So where do you get the water out of the ballast tank? Do you run a hose down the vent hole? How exactly does it work?

[Russ]

I bet those screws for the bilge pump are fine. If they aren't going through (which is amazing), you could leave them.

If it were me, I'd take them out. Then I'd fill them with epoxy and epoxy the dang pump/switch thing down and be done with it.

I don't have a bilge pump, but if I did, I'd have a portable one with a long cord and hose so I could move it where needed. Do you get water in there? If so, finding the leak might be a good idea also.

--Russ

[BOAT]

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[BOAT]

I have two bilge pumps and one of them is just like Russ said - it's just a pump on a cable that sits in the lower part of the boat with an internal float switch - the other pump is inside a container that is connected to the shower but if the water level in the bilge goes higher than the walls of that container that bilge pump will flood and it will start pumping - and now I am also putting in another pump that can be worked from the cockpit manually with a handle - it's called a shale gusher pump - I wanted a whale pump.

I do not recommend putting holes in the ballast tank

[K9Kampers]

...it's called a shale gusher pump - I wanted a whale pump.

- shale gusher pump? Isn't that a big pump used in fracking?!

[BOAT]

No! It's the one with the picture of the whale on it:



That's the one I want - the WHALE pump -

it has a whale on it - that's how you know

[Jwnj]

Thanks for the tips, will probably take a screw out and see how far they go first (after checking the outside of the hull for punctures that is)

[Divecoz]

Well for starters its a 2005 M so my vent is in the forward V Berth. I have a Macerator pump in that V berth storage area for the head that pumps that product overboard when and where its legal. So with the use of a couple switches and a solenoid I can pump from either the holding tank for the head or draw ballast water up through the vent of the ballast tank, thus pumping the ballast overboard lightening the boat and floating her if there is 8-10" of water covering the grounding surface.

It sounds like a great idea - especially for folks that run the shallows a lot. So where do you get the water out of the ballast tank? Do you run a hose down the vent hole? How exactly does it work?

[Highlander]

so u can avoid being a beached whale

J