Water ballast permanently in - question

[Phill_Tijeras]

Hello all,

We are keeping our 26M in the slip in Pacific salt water all year around and mostly using the boat under sail, so with full ballast. At this point we had the ballast in for the whole year. I check the level before major outing and there is some smell when I open the air valve. It doesn’t smell with the valve closed so we don’t mind it. I know that I can drain and refill ballast under power but I wonder if there are any ill effects if we just keep it in until eventually we haul it out for bottom repaint - probably next year.

I haven’t added bleach or pool tablets yet, but will do it if necessary..

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone,
Phill

[Russ]

I keep ballast in all season. A couple of broken-up pool chlorine tabs keeps things from growing. When I dump in the end of the season, smells like a pool.

[DaveC426913]

Just maybe don't overdo it with the chlorine. You don't know what parts it'll eat at or weaken.

[Wyb2]

Just maybe don't overdo it with the chlorine. You don't know what parts it'll eat at or weaken.

Stainless steel parts as it turns out. Though I don’t have an X or M, so no idea if there is any important stainless inside the ballast tank.

https://bssa.org.uk/bssa_articles/selec ... xide-clo2/

“ Chlorine as a sterlising or sanitising agent

When using chlorine as a steriliser or sanitiser in contact with 316 type stainless steel items, a maximum of 15-20 ppm, (mg/lt), ‘free’ chlorine is suggested, for maximum times of 24 hours, followed by a thorough chlorine free water flush.
As with any additions, thorough dilution around the injection point is important to avoid localised ‘over-concentration’ problems.

Residual chlorine levels in waters of 2ppm maximum for 304 and 5ppm for 316 types should not normally be considered a crevice corrosion hazard.”

[DaveC426913]

Stainless steel parts as it turns out. Though I don’t have an X or M, so no idea if there is any important stainless inside the ballast tank.

I was thinking about any rubber or vinyl hose components or anything like that. It's not like chlorine will actually eat anything but it might make flexible tubing brittle?

Actually, I'm just talking though my hat. I have no special knowledge of such things.

[DaveC426913]

Stainless steel parts as it turns out. Though I don’t have an X or M, so no idea if there is any important stainless inside the ballast tank.

I was thinking about any rubber or vinyl hose components or anything like that. Chlorine can attack rubber and weaken it.

Normally, I wouldn't be worried about such a small problem - the problem is that bits of tubing in a boat's bilges are rarely checked for wear and tear, so they are susceptible to failing and letting water in over long periods without getting checked.

The transom scuppers in the aft berth are a known weak point for long-term water ingress on Macs.

[Wyb2]

Stainless steel parts as it turns out. Though I don’t have an X or M, so no idea if there is any important stainless inside the ballast tank.

I was thinking about any rubber or vinyl hose components or anything like that. Chlorine can attack rubber and weaken it.

Normally, I wouldn't be worried about such a small problem - the problem is that bits of tubing in a boat's bilges are rarely checked for wear and tear, so they are susceptible to failing and letting water in over long periods without getting checked.

The transom scuppers in the aft berth are a known weak point for long-term water ingress on Macs.

Oh yeah, plastics and rubbers are definitely a valid concern. I think generally PVC (as in vinyl tubing) and polyethylene are pretty tolerant, but anything else I would look up for the specific chemical in question. Of course thats tough because it’s pretty much impossible to determine which plastic or rubber you are dealing with if you weren’t the one that bought and installed it.

I just think a lot of people don’t know that regular old chlorine can also be bad for stainless steel (I didn’t for a long time).

Funny you mention the cockpit scupper, the one on my 25 leaks like a sieve, but I’m pretty sure it’s because they tried to bond the plastic 90 elbow directly into the fiberglass of the cockpit floor, not because the vinyl tube is failing.

[Russ]

I drop 3 or 4 small chlorine tabs in the Spring and dump the water in the Fall when I pull the boat out. I don't know how many PPM that works out to be.

As far as I can tell, the ballast tank is all glassed in with the exception of the valve that is plastic and rubber. The valve is just an RV dump valve and I assume chemical resistant as folks flush all kinds of nasties in an RV.

For the last 14 years it has not been a problem with our M.