Overfilling the ballast tank?

[Neo]

Hi guys,

I'm just back from a wild weekend in Cairns (60th Birthday celebration in Queensland) and I have to tell you that plunging head first down a 50meter tower did not make my head spin as much as reading all your very high-tech replies

The manual says NO MORE THAN 1 inch below the hole. The language above that clearly says to fill it completely.

Many thanks for correcting me on this Jimmy

I fill mine until it won't fill any more, then I close the valve and put in the plug.

Have you considered venting out to the anchor locker?
I used clear tube for the first 8 inches out of the vent hole... So from now on I'll be looking (if possible) to see the water level bobbing up and down in that tube.

All the very best.
Neo

[OverEasy]

On our Mac26X there is a sort of funny dance we found we needed to do with the ballast.

When it was on the trailer we leveled the boat so the galley was level fore/aft and side to side.
This matched to the rib for the keel box at the dinette floor so we figured that was the “design” level. We filled the ballast tank through the vent with Garden hose to do a static leak check which turned out fine. The funny bit was the occasional burps and burbles that ensued as we moved about inspecting where we could over the next couple of days.

Apparently the slight bounce on the trailer springs was enough to get some of the compartments to give up their trapped air.

So fast forward to being on the water and filling the ballast tank.
We have never gotten the tank to fill to the vent hole. It stops about an inch below the hole rim.
But after closing the stern fill valve if we rock the vessel side to side and jump up and down at the stern the water level in the vent hole dropsas the tanks bubbles work their way up to the vent.

We open the stern fill valve to let more water in after the dance and the rise in water level stops again at about 1” below the rim.

For what it’s worth….

[Catigale]

“ no more than one inch below the hole”

a. Fill to at least one inch below the hole.

Or

2. Stop filling at one inch below the hole.




Reminds me of a $1m NMR magnet with a Dewar cover that had a sticker on it.

“ Other side down”