Dump ballast before loading on trailer?

[baldbaby2000]

Just wondering if most people load the boat on the trailer with the ballast tank full or empt. Having it empty requires less trailer in the water but from my experience, it can get a little squirrelly if there's much wind.

[Frank C]

Good point, BB. I always empty ballast first. Even so, my truck's tires are just at the edge of the water, so any deeper would risk saltwater in the rear brakes of my truck.

Regarding loading onto the trailer, I have never motored the boat onto my trailer. My regular ramp has a finger dock so I always just walk the boat onto the trailer. No need for ballast.

[Sloop John B]

To ballast or not to ballast is a dilemma for me. It depends on weather and it depends on tide and the two do not work together.

At low tide I have a narrow channel with about 1 foot depth at the entrance, and about ten feet wide. I have to have the boards up and tilt the motor up so the thing is barely sucking water. If it's gusty, it's real easy to get embarrassed.

High tide, I can relax and play it either way. Everything except the centerboard fits. No problem pulling a ballasted Mac up to expose the vent. However, if I am getting evil eyeballed by a gang of anxious fisherman trying to get out to make a living, I leave the front vent plug in and drag the draining Mac across the lot. The radial tires look like they're practically flat with the ballast in.

This launching situation, to be comfortable, makes me dependent on the tide. I'll tell the mate the night before, "We can get underway around 5:35 am or hang around till noon, what do you think?"

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

I prefer to dump the water ballast after the boat is on the trailer.
Quite often, someone will ask where all the water is coming from.
I say that my holding tank is full and I am emptying it out.

[mark,97x]

usually dump ballast after on trailer,open dump once boat is on trailer and procede slowly up ramp,stop on ramp with valve just out of water and go inside ond open bottom dump and vent,,pull trailer so that boat is maybe 5 ft up ramp and start tie down,by now ballast is mostly dumped and i can procede with demasting and attaching electric connections,,and she is ready to go

[Chip Hindes]

If I ever load without ballast, it's by accident. The boat only rides an inch or two higher without ballast, so it's not a big advantage unless the ramp is quite shallow; so far I've never had to put the truck tires in the water. I did it once when launching, also by accident, but that's a whole 'nother story.

Where we usually launch, there is a fairly long no wake/ idle zone to get to the ramp. I like to sail it if I can. If I wanted to dump ballast, I'd have to sail up to the entrance, then motor around like an idiot to dump ballast, then travel quite a distance at low speed, with no ballast. It seems about 90% of the time there's a crosswind as well. No, thanks.

[Mark Prouty]

I've only had my boat one summer but I've launched in a lot of places. If I've been motoring, I've loaded it without ballast. If I've been sailing, I load it with ballast. Like Chip, I wouldn't want to motor around to empty the balast after sailing.

I couldn't vote because I load both ways.

[aya16]

I like what you tell people I have said many times that I have a small leak and im draining the bilge. I like yours better

[Jack O'Brien]

I couldn't vote because I do it both ways. Depends on what I've been doing and the status of ballast as I arrive at the trailer. Where I keep my boat on trailer with mast up we have no pier next to the ramp and with tide, wakes and wind I always have to drive it onto the trailer. Sometimes have to winch it AND use the motor to power it the last couple feet onto the trailer.

If I ever do my pressurized ballast blowing mod the ballast can be mostly emptied as I sit at the dock gettting ready to drive onto the trailer.

[richandlori]

I wish I culd say that I don't drain the ballast before loading for some "technical" reason, but the truth is, the retreiving process is the msot stressfull for me (as I have to back the truck down and pull the boat into trailer, and hull I do it all, as the admiral is watchin the two kids and keeping them out of the way). I typically FORGET to drain the ballast, then wish I had because I have to winch pretty hard to get the boat past the forward V bunk on the trailer!

That is the worst part of the Mac experience for me.

Rich

[Rolf]

I used to be one of those idiots Chip mentioned who would go through the process of pulling of all boards after sailing, driving around in circles fast, and then lowering boards again for control up to the dock to load unballasted. Both my cars (Toyota 4x4 and Infiniti FX35) are only rated 3500 pounds towing, so ballast made me nervous...
No more. Now I always leave ballast in and load off a finger dock. Cars pull boat up ramp no prob, empty ballast there.
Rolf

[vatalon]

I single hand most of the time so I wait until I'm tied up at the ramp to open the valve and let it drain as I tow the trailer up the ramp. there is still a considerable amount of water that needs to drain as I continue de-rigging the boat for the trip home. I too have had some peculiar looks at the ramp as the water spills out on the ground!

[mgg4]

Most of the time I empty the ballast before loading back onto the trailer. However I do occasionally load with ballast and drain on the ramp. Because I only do this very seldom, I voted that I empty ballast first.

You are right that it can get squirrelly, especially if there is any cross wind. I have a mod in the trailer section of this board that helps. Ok, it's not really a mod, but Heath doesn't have a section for "Tips".

Here it is in a nutshell. Just tie two 25-foot dock lines from the winch post to the goal posts (one line to each goal post). Now you just run the boat SLOWLY into the corral formed by the lines. Go SLOW. The dock lines will keep the boat from getting away from you, and you should be able to load with a minimum of fuss.

--Mark

[kmclemore]

Like some of the others, I kind of do a hybrid of your question... In order to provide stability during windy conditions or in close quarters we leave the ballast in until I'm part-way on the trailer and the wench hooks me up to the winch... then I open the valve, wait a bit for part of it to empty, then finish the haul-out.

BTW, Mark, that's a great tip on the docklines, and one I'll surely try next time!

One thought, though - you might want to change your tip regarding the goal post extensions - try drilling the vent-hole in the side of the extension tubes just below the lip of the cap, instead of in top of the cap - that way they won't collect rain!

[ronacarme]

I follow the drain-ballast-on-the-ramp school.
To seat the bow as close as possible in the bow chock, and starting with boat floating above trailer, I winch the bow tight into the trailer bow chock, pull up the ramp a foot or two, hit the brakes (modified Macgregor bump) to ooch the bow into the chock at the new smaller angle between floating boat length axis and ramped trailer length axis, retighten the winch and repeat the process until far enuf up the ramp that the boat is not to any extent afloat.
The secondary benefit is that the ballast tank is drained by the time you are pulling the full weight of boat and trailer up the last part of the ramp.
This takes a bit more time and so works particularly well on a cold, rainy Tuesday when no one else wants to use the ramp.