Ballast & water pressure

[Sea Wind]

Hey guys,

Two weekends ago I took the family and went to the Magothy river north of Annapolis. There was a light breeze so it took about 5 hours to reach our slip after a pit stop at Sandy Point State Park. Even though it was a great weekend two new problems came up:

1. The aft water ballast valve is not sealing completely. When I motor I loose ballast so that after 10 minutes motoring above 8 knots the ballast is close to empty. Also, at the slip I noticed that the level of ballast kept going up until it reached the waterline even though the valve and vent were closed. I also replaced the aged plug but made no difference. When sailing I don’t loose ballast. I lubricated the valve and “guillotine” as another thread suggested but had no luck. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

2. I have a water pressure system that has not been used since I bought the boat. The water that was left over was sewage stinky, so I emptied the flexible water tank by leaving the faucet open until no water came out. After I filled the tank again no pressured water is coming out. I can hear the pump turning on when I turn on the electric panel but the stream is barely above dripping. Could it be air in the system? If so, how do you bleed it?

Last weekend I confirmed that the ballast stays in when sailing or motoring below 5 knots. I am planning to go to Saint Michaels over the 4th of July weekend making it my first time crossing the Chesapeake to the Eastern Shore.

Sea Wind

[Retcoastie]

I'll take a shot....

1. I think you have a faulty gate valve on the transom. The reason you don't appear to be loosing water when sailing is the way the boat sits in the water when sailing. Sailing is normally level or maybe a little bow down. Motoring tries to lift the bow and send all the ballast water aft. That difference is what you are experiencing. Do you trailer? If so, next time you pull out, try to put the boat on the trailer with ballast still inside. Then when you pull out of the water and are still on the ramp, inspect around the gate valve for leaks. Pull the vent plug and see if water does not drip out somewhere. Once you have found the location, go ahead and dump the remaining ballast.

2. Most 12v potable water pumps are diaphram type pumps. These pumps will normally self prime. It may take a while if there is a lot of air in the tank and lines as there may have been if you did not fill the tank. If this is the case, you should be able to look at the flex tank suck down as the air is pulled out. Again, this may be slow if the tank is large and has little water in it. We use the flexible 5 gal jug tanks and it takes a while to get the air out after refilling. You can check this by putting your finger over the faucet spout and feeling for air pressure build up. If you don't get air pressure build up, the suction hose may be blocked. This could be a possibility with an older tank that has crud built up in it.

Good luck

Ken

[Don T]

Hello,
If you are using a vane type "inline" pump then the air has to be bled out. My tank sits flat so I can open the faucet (turning on pump) then I step on the tank to pressurize it and the air burps out through the pump and begins working. If the water went sour you may want to remove the tank and flush it with water/bleach mix to clean and sterilize it. I also use Aquabon to keep the water fresh.

[Divecoz]

You have issues FAR more urgent than making a family outing July 4th..
This boat DEPENDS...... on 100% Full Ballast when sailing..
You will have your family on board , why are you guessing about this situation???
Its a weekend trip and you now no have provisions for potable water..Surely your not planning on drinking from a polluted bladder you " rinsed out" are you?? IMHO .. Fix Your Boat...

[c130king]

Pedro,

Saw you out there on Saturday (or was it Sunday...I was out both days )...we were on our way back from Thursdays where we had lunch. Winds were pretty good the way we were going so I didn't turn around to say "howdy". Maybe I will see you next weekend. Not sure what my plans are yet but I hope to do an overnighter somewhere. Eastern Shore is still on my "to do" list.

The water pump is not that urgent...you can survive with carry-on water...I do. Hopefully you can give the gate valve a good/close visual inspection on the trailer and figure out if it is not sealing properly.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König
Sailing on König YouTube Channel

[Sea Wind]

You have issues FAR more urgent than making a family outing July 4th..
This boat DEPENDS...... on 100% Full Ballast when sailing..
You will have your family on board , why are you guessing about this situation???
Its a weekend trip and you now no have provisions for potable water..Surely your not planning on drinking from a polluted bladder you " rinsed out" are you?? IMHO .. Fix Your Boat...

Divecoz: Thanks for your concern. When sailing I have no problem, and the ballast fills as usual, the only problem is that I loose it when motoring at "higher" speed. I went out Saturday and that was my main concern as well, but over a couple of hours of sailing the ballast level was intact. The water system is not used for drinking. That is why we have beer and milk on board

I am going back to the boat on Thursday and trying Retcoastie's idea and hopefully isolate the issue.

Jim: We were heading for Thursdays ourselves!

Sea Wind

[dennisneal]

I own a 26M. But, I'd check to make sure that the ballast air vent under the Vee berth is fully sealed. Its hard for the ballast tank to drain if air cannot replace the water.

[Sea Wind]

The problem is the gasket in the transom valve. I pulled it out with full ballast and could see a tiny water fall. When I removed the plug the rate increased a lot. So the question is: should I replace the gasket for $3 or replace the whole transom valve for $38? I have noticed that it is also really hard to move it up and down regardless of lubrication, but my real concern is that I don’t think that I want to mess up with those screws more than once. I found also some similar 3 inch Valterra valves for less than $20 which I assume have the plastic guillotine; does anyone have experience with the plastic versus SS models?

In another note, we did go to Saint Michaels and it was a blast, on the way there we had very light winds except in the middle of the bay, so we had to motor about a third of the trip in order to eat crabs for dinner. On the way back there was a great southwest breeze that kept me going on a port tack for over two hours between 4.8 and 5.3 knots. I also was reminded (again) the importance of raising the motor when sailing, I forgot to do it right away and noticed a 0.2 knot gain.

Sea Wind

[Chinook]

You mentioned flexible water tank. If you're referring to a 5 gallon collapsible water jug, like the one that came with my X, your problem might be the valve on the water jug. It can easily get turned to the off position, which would prevent water from pumping.

[Sea Wind]

You mentioned flexible water tank. If you're referring to a 5 gallon collapsible water jug, like the one that came with my X, your problem might be the valve on the water jug. It can easily get turned to the off position, which would prevent water from pumping.

It is a plastimo flexible water tank that is located under the forward settee. When I turn it on, water comes out and then starts dripping and the pump turns on and off constantly without having a stream of water. Due to the issues with the stern valve, I pretty much turned off the breaker switch and I am forgetting about it for now.

Thanks for the tip and sharing your trip log!

[Chinook]

I also have installed a Plastimo bladder tank in the bow of our boat. Ours is the triangular shaped tank. It's a bit of work, but a good idea to remove the tank and give it a good cleaning annually. Disconnect the inlet and outlet fittings, taking care to not misplace the "O" rings. Once the bladder is out of the boat, you can pull the clear plastic bladder out of the protective liner. It doesn't look like it'll come out, but just start pulling and working it from the open corner. Once the liner is out, it's easy to flush with a hose. Mine had built up some blackish slime on the inside, and I used a long handled bristle brush to scrub the inside surfaces. Reinserting the liner into the cover is pretty easy if you just roll it up first, and then slide it in.