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Ballast Cleaning/Salt Away


SmoothbrainA22

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Haven't got much traction in the maintenance forum, posting here:

Hey crew - I haven't been able to find any relevant topics, and am not getting much detail out of the owners manual. How do I flush/clean the ballast tanks and PNP bags? I have salt water and brackish that I am in and I want to be sure I'm flushing everything, not just the engine.

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10 minutes ago, wdr said:

The easiest way would be to fill them with fresh water until they start puking and then drain them. That will take care of both pumps at the same time. 

I guess that's more my question. How do I fill them when not in the water, so I can fill them with fresh water?

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If you have a fake a lake you could probably prop it under the desired intake port like you would if you were running the engine on it and fill it that way. Short of that, you could probably fill through the pnp vent port which would gravity drain into the hard tanks until both were full, then drain it like normal. 

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51 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

I think I would just live with it on the ballast circuit. The boat is going to fall apart before the ballast tanks and bags get wrecked from salt water. 

Ok, so I should be less concerned with the ballast than anything else? Makes me a bit less stressed. Stay focused on the engine and other components...many of which I believe you mentioned to me in another post. Lol.

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ahopkins22LSV

Thinking outside the box, I’d get on some ocean fishing forums and see if anyone of them have methods for live wells or other holding tanks. No idea what kind of pumps or systems they use but might be worth spending some time on researching. 

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Update here - just stuck the hose on the starboard bow port, filled up the bow ballast until she was draining out of the other port and just let her go for a bit. Threw the pump on and drained them out. Not a dry drain but worked for me in terms of flushing. I may run some salt away through the lines next time. Did the same with the rear port and starboard. Feel better about it now.

Ran salt away through the engine when I flushed after she was in the water for a few days this weekend as well. Honestly don't think I've ever been happier cleaning....anything.

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On 5/26/2022 at 7:55 PM, SmoothbrainA22 said:

I guess that's more my question. How do I fill them when not in the water, so I can fill them with fresh water?

fill it with hose thru top of bag that fills piggy backed tanks too, it doesn't even spill much doing it while bags inflate as they self burp thru hole hose is in but you need spill anyway if your worried about salt, for center and front or even the rear lockers i also noticed that the ballast intakes are threaded , hose wouldnt thread but one of those hose bib splitters “brass” levers would just screw in a half to  3/4 of one thread revolution but it worked and didn't even drip after i turned on water and flipped valve open

Edited by granddaddy55
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