MLS drain pump removal

[reppright]

I am trying to find and replace if needed the ballast drain pump for the left rear ballast on my '05 VLX. It appears that the pump is located below the deck at the rear of the boat and that you have to remove 1/2 the parts of the boat to get to it! Coould this be right? is there an easy way to access the pump that I am not seeing?

Any help is appreciated.

Edited August 9, 2009 by reppright

[dalt1]

You are correct on pump location. Remove the screws on floor towards the engine. They may be buried in the carpet. Only about 4 if I remember correctly. I had to take out or loosen the starboard side board under the center rear seat cushion too. The whole floor section will have to be lifted and slid forward to come out. You may be able to slide it forward enough without removing it completely. It's not that bad once you find all the screws. That tank is pretty stout with the ribs molded in. After seeing it, I don't worry about extra ballast back there.

[jshap]

Man, I hate how inaccessible some things are on these boats. I guess it's the price we pay for a beauty!

One more quick note if you didn't know already. If the bottom part of the pump isn't cracked, just buy the cartridge(top motor part) and not the whole pump assembly....it's super easy to change out and only $34 for the 800gph pump. West Marine has them here. I changed out the fill pump on my right rear and it took me 10 min. It only took that long because I had trouble with the mini butane torch I bought to heat shrink the butt-splices for power.

[NvBoarder]

This subject comes up a lot heres the run down to remove the floor

In order to get to the drain pump on the rear tanks you have to remove the floor. First thing to do is to remove everything from the rear compartment and the back seat area directly in front of that compartment. You should then be able to see a seam in the floor. That is where the ballast tank compartment starts. Next remove both plastic engine panels. One of them, the back one, you will have to remove the screw that is in plain site. Now you should see a line of screws with washers running along that edge. Next remove the cushion and the tray that is over the tranny compartment. This is the tricky part, the wall that seperates the tranny from the compartment to the left, or righ,t depending on which cover your trying to remove. In order to do that there are two screws holding the front on. The two screws are buried in the carpeted wall that seperates the passanger area and your stoarage areas below the cushions. Then there is one screw attached to a bracket that is screwed to the floor should be easy to see. Then there is one more that is screwed from above holding the rear of that wall in place. If memory serves me right it is on the ledge that the cushion sits on. After that you should be able to tap it out of place with your fist or a rubber mallot. Be cautious when doing this if it seems like it is still attached somewhere, pry around and find what is keeping it in place. Once the wall is removed, there should be acouple other screws holding the panel to the floor in the area the you just removed the wall. Then lift the floor board up and slide it forward as much as you can. You will see the pump towards the back of the boat. Then reverse the order to install again.

IMPORTANT: THERE ARE NO SCREWS HOLDING THE FLOOR DOWN ON THE HULL OF THE BOAT!! The panel is just sitting on the wall and the tank. There are screws only in the stringers.

Here is a pic to help find the screws

[reppright]

Thanks to all. That is a huge help. I actually started taking the floor out but I started thinking that it couldn't really require all that removal and I got stumped on removing the partition wall. The pic really helps.

On a side note, I did see on the forums where people have had a lot of trouble with their pumps but this is the first problem I have had with any of them in 4 years with quite a bit of use.

[NvBoarder]

Thanks to all. That is a huge help. I actually started taking the floor out but I started thinking that it couldn't really require all that removal and I got stumped on removing the partition wall. The pic really helps.

On a side note, I did see on the forums where people have had a lot of trouble with their pumps but this is the first problem I have had with any of them in 4 years with quite a bit of use.

What I have found out is that typically the pumps don't go out unless you forget that they're on, then they burn up. This is what has happened to me on two occasions. Operater error more so than a crappy product.