Boat speed while filling factory ballast?

[Octane]

Howdy: How fast (or slow) should I drive while the factory ballast fills (07 23 LSV)? Do you have to be underway for the pumps to prime?

Thanks!

[VLXRonnie]

Howdy: How fast (or slow) should I drive while the factory ballast fills (07 23 LSV)? Do you have to be underway for the pumps to prime?

Thanks!

I know when I demoed my boat before I purchased it, he said not to go any faster that idle. Something of the sort..."you will start sucking in air instead of water." JM2C. BICBW

Edited May 16, 2007 by VLXRonnie

[Brad B]

Yep - not much more than an idle or you won't get any water in

[Mike d Wakeboarder]

i was told the same thing when i picked up my new 07 vlx

[NvBoarder]

Save the hours on your boat, turn off the engine fill up the tanks and while you wait get your gear out and sit back and enjoy the sun and hanging with friends

[VLXRonnie]

Save the hours on your boat, turn off the engine fill up the tanks and while you wait get your gear out and sit back and enjoy the sun and hanging with friends

Good point

[stewart]

We turn the boat off, get our gear ready and by the time were ready to ride they are full.

MC use to say you could fill while going slow, but then again, they also had a lot of people come in with burnt out pumps.

[DizzyG]

Seeing as though they use their own hull holes for the built in ballast it really doesn't matter much. You won't get as much water while underway, but we do it all the time. If you get air, it just gets pushed out of the overflow when the water gets higher up anyway. We fill while cruising all the time and have no issues in an '06 VLX. We are usually in the 30MPHish area and the ballast does fill while we drive. Maybe not as fast as if we weren't moving, but it still fills pretty quickly.

[Octane]

Thanks for all of the input. Couple of more questions.

Do the pumps need to be initially primed by idling along, then stop -or- can they be started from a standstill?

Also, are the ballast pumps hooked to the aux battery, so if I choose the #2 battery with the battery isolator switch, the #1 (main battery) is not drained?

Hope to pick up my LSV this Friday!

Thanks again.

[WakeGirl]

Thanks for all of the input. Couple of more questions.

Do the pumps need to be initially primed by idling along, then stop -or- can they be started from a standstill?

Also, are the ballast pumps hooked to the aux battery, so if I choose the #2 battery with the battery isolator switch, the #1 (main battery) is not drained?

Hope to pick up my LSV this Friday!

Thanks again.

Yes, no priming should be necessary with the way they are set up from the factory. If you're having those issues, it's something else in the system causing it.

The stock ballast pumps require so little power (even on startup) that if you're draining your battery by turning on your ballast pumps while the boat is off, you've got much bigger problems with your system. They should be hooked up to the aux. battery, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are. Either way, your pumps won't present a problem in that regard.

[Octane]

Thanks!!

[chathamsolutions]

We put the boat in the water - head through the 5MPH zone, and by the time we're out of that, and people have the gear on tanks are full and we're ready to go.

I've never worried about speed when filling / draining. Always do it when I need it and haven't ever had a problem with speed of fill / drain. For example: sometimes will fill when someone is riding and I want to tweek the wake a bit.