MacGregorSailors.com

What is your move closing the ballast valve underway? When I empty the ballast, I'm going around 8mph. When I look down at the valve and see no more water coming out, the next move seems a little scary or crazy , not sure. Do you lift the seat, take a quick look in front of you and then reach down and close the valve hoping you don't run over anyone. Or do you bring the boat to a stop and shut the valve quicky so no water runs in?

From the helm seat reach over with your boat hook to open and close the valve.

Marc

You can open the valve gate from a stand still, no biggie either way. Once you are up to speed and want to close it, I always just lift the seat, reach down and push it closed with my hand, only takes a few seconds. I suppose the boat hook is a good idea too, but I never tried it. I do have a rope line strung across the engine well to prevent me from being bounced off the transom while the seat is up and me leaning over. I guess it depends on how congested the water way is where you do it, where I am there is no one within a mile of me so it is quite safe, but in a busy channel it could be dicey. Most times I have someone else steer while I reach over.

Mine is long enough to just reach over the helm seat while it's down and push or pull it. I don't know if that's OEM or the PO extended it, but it's pretty long.

Edit: Found this pic of my stern in a trailer lighting thread, but it shows the long valve stem. The handle is almost to the top of the light, though you can't see it here.

I sometimes use my foot and just step on it.

BNG wrote:What is your move closing the ballast valve underway? When I empty the ballast, I'm going around 8mph. When I look down at the valve and see no more water coming out, the next move seems a little scary or crazy , not sure. Do you lift the seat, take a quick look in front of you and then reach down and close the valve hoping you don't run over anyone. Or do you bring the boat to a stop and shut the valve quicky so no water runs in?

Yes. Only I am normally going about 12-14 MPH. Works just fine. Takes less than 10 seconds. I definitely try to make sure there is nothing in front of me or heading my way.

Cheers,
Jim

Thanks for the input. I like the idea of extending the handle.

Brian

On my , I keep the boat hook relatively close by. I keep it verticle just indside the hatch way, to the left of stairs when going below. This position makes it easy to grab. I mention this because I am able to use the pole to both close the valve by pushing the valve handle down with the pole's blunt end, and open the valve by hooking the handle and pulling. I find that for me, this is the least risky way to operate the ballast vale while soloing.

I am not comfortable with the idea of extending the handle. A lateral force accidentally exerted could bend, or even worse, break the verticle rod. I am sure that the long handle makes the process of opening and closing much easier, but I just don't think it's worth the risk. It's too vulnerable to an accident.

Ray

tkanzler wrote:Mine is long enough to just reach over the helm seat while it's down and push or pull it. I don't know if that's OEM or the PO extended it, but it's pretty long.

Edit: Found this pic of my stern in a trailer lighting thread, but it shows the long valve stem. The handle is almost to the top of the light, though you can't see it here.

I love your rear light set up. How does it attach to the motor?
Q1

This is a good area for a mod that's rarely been talked about! A longer handle is easily an extra snag point for lines and other things, though raising the seat for manually manipulating it, open or closed, is not something wisely done under power. A change I had in mind would seem to fail closed with a line to put it open, and a spring (?) to draw it shut. I want to look into that this year. Just about all the time, your prime concern is whether the valve is closed, not whether it's partially open or closed - just secured.
For the last two years I've just got into reaching over the back with a boathook and whacking it about. Of course the ideal mod would involve a 12v window motor from a Volvo, and a NMEA interface.

Hey BNG -

Dowsar has, as an option, an extension which is bent so as to fit flush with the inside wall of the tansom, above the well. A small pipe clamp-type of fitting loosely secures the 1/4" or so diameter rod in place, and it makes the reach much more accessible and safe.

It's a fairly simple retrofit - remove the existing "T" handle, screw in the new rod, and reattach the "T" handle, and secure the guide with 2 screws. IIRC, stainless steel components.

This might be a usefull mod for me in the future as I age, but the factory setup is nice and simple for now.

- Brian.

I have Karen close the valve, so if she falls in, its no biggie Naaa I just close it when Its safe and not going to run into anything.
Mike

aya16 wrote:I have Karen close the valve, so if she falls in, its no biggie
Mike

Dem's famous last words!

I've always used a boathook to open & close the valve while under way, but the angle is a little different from the , where the helm seat is forward of the transom, to the , where the helm seat is flush with the transom.

As a general rule, however, I don't close the valve at all when powering. So long as the boat is moving quickly, no water is going to re-enter the ballast tank, and when I slow down, it's because I've gotten to my destination - so it's time for either sailing or docking -- in either case, I want the ballast tank to re-fill.

I put an extension on the valve rod on our 2000X and it works great, and does not snag any lines.
No need to go over the stern.

I took off the existing T handle, bought a coupler and a 3 foot piece of thread rod, then put the T handle back on top.
Also bought a white plastic shroud cover to go over the thread rod to tidy it up.

I saw a better mod for this somewhere and it is on my wish list. Install an electric gate using the hardware they use on RV grey water discharge tank, as it is the same size valve.Install the switch on the pedestal, and just push the button to open and close. A light comes on or off to tell you when the gate is fully open or closed.