Alternatives to boat installed ballast pumps

Since we have a cottage, I don't necessarily need an on board ballast pump for my ballast bags. I could even get away with a 120v pump that I would run at the dock and fill the bags up like that.

Has anyone used something like a utility pump or sump pump to fill ballast bags. It sounds ghetto but for $60 you can get a sump pump that will do close to 3000 gph which is really good GPH for the $$.

Only problem would be draining the bag. Would gravity drain work if I started the drain and put the hose overboard? I assume most of the water would be drained into the water.

yea i use a big ass sump pump and plug it into my cigaret lighter, works great, the only vrappy part is holding it in the water to fill if you are at idling speeds.

I have used a water hose before. The fittings work perfect on it. Of course if your house is not very close to the dock it would be a pain.

I don't understand how you plan to "gravity drain" the bags once they are in the boat.

If you start draining into the bilge then raise the hose over the side, the flow will stop. Water won't drain up and over. You will have to pump it out.

or drain all water into the bilge. beef up your bilge pump and drain line. simply bilge all water out the boat.

seems like a great way to fill your bags quickly. drain time wouldn't matter cuz you're at the house. grab a snack and its done.

dude just get the pump, when im at my dock i fill the bags with the hose and on my way in i use the pump to drain

you could drain it like my buddy used to in his IO, and just dump the water onto the floor in the boat, and hope it gets bilged out!

Spend 40 more bucks and get a legit pump.

order the parts/fittings from fly high and order a tsunami online. you'll be in the whole thing for under $70, plus 5 min. to put it all together.

on my old I/O I used to loop a hose over the side, lean over, and suck til I tasted water. Then I would leave the hose over the side and it would drain down the bag.

Rich, as long as the bags are slightly above the water they should drain, but slowly. The trick is getting them to start.

i have used a garden hose to fill up my ballast and it was the worst idea ever becuase it took forever to drain them

Im thinking I should just bite the bullet.

How long would a 1200gph attwood tsunami drain a 1200lb sac approx?

To fill stick a hose over the side facing horizontally towards the bow, the boat moving forward should force water into the sacs (you may have to vent the sacs somehow). To drain I would have stuck the pipe in the water straight down or angled slightly towards the stern and let the Venturi effect create the siphon... That or run them horizontally towards the bow (filling) for a few seconds then just hang the pipe over the side and most of the water should siphon out. Down side to this is usually someone has to get wet, unless you built a more permanent system, but pumps aren't really that expensive.

A 1200 gph pump doesn't really pump as fast as it suggests, you will always have some loss somewhere. The fill/drain rate also depends on the size of the plumbing you are using.

It's hard to say as I don't have that pump or that much ballast to drain, but I would bet at least 20 minutes.