Ballast leaking from drain while surfing.

[travis11holland]

How can i stop the ballast leaking from the rear surf side bag while we are surfing. I have a 1100 lbs bag with a attwood 800 gph pump draining it. The pump is on the front side bottom fitting on the bag and the drain is on the starboard side about mid way up the boat. Im sure this question has been asked 1000 times. looking for any help or direction.

[chpthril]

Travis,

The 1st step is to confirm any all places the sac is passively draining from, as in vent line, fill line and or drain line. Theres a different approach for each one.

[travis11holland]

I have a check valve on the fill line and im filling the bag from the top. The vent is on the other fitting on the top of the bag. it seems to be only running out of the drain.

[chpthril]

Is the sac and the sac's drain t-hull on the same side? can you post a pic showing how far forward of the sac, the t-hull is?

[travis11holland]

Yes they are on the same side. The dain hose is about 3 feet long.

[Ewok]

Sounds like you need to route the drain line for the sack to the opposite side of the boat.

If you haven't done so, your drain pump line and vent lines for big surf sacs should be routed to the opposite side of the boat in order to prevent passive draining from the drain line or vent line.

[travis11holland]

What about putting a loop in the line?? And make the top of the loop above the t-hull fitting.

[Ewok]

What about putting a loop in the line?? And make the top of the loop above the t-hull fitting.

Not going to help, the thruhull fitting is lower than the water level in the sac so it's going to want to drain out of that hole. When weighted for surfing with a good list your going to need to run the lines to the opposite side of the boat to prevent passive draining. You could also put a rubber stopper in the thruhulls as a temp fix until you get time to run the new lines.

[chpthril]

The trick is to get the fill line higher then the top of the filled sac.

[travis11holland]

The trick is to get the fill line higher then the top of the filled sac.

You mean the drain line correct??

[travis11holland]

So does the t-hull need to be on the opposite side or can i just route the hose that way then back to the same t-hull i already have?

[chpthril]

You mean the drain line correct??

yes, drain line, sorry. What ever the suspect line is the offending line, getting to to loop higher the filled sac will cure passive draining in a lot cases.

[Ewok]

So does the t-hull need to be on the opposite side or can i just route the hose that way then back to the same t-hull i already have?

yes, drain line, sorry. What ever the suspect line is the offending line, getting to to loop higher the filled sac will cure passive draining in a lot cases.

Travis,

I had the same problem as you. If you want to add a loop in the line it has to be above the top of the water level in the sac, which is going to have to be at least the middle of the boat. If your going to go through the trouble of looping a line high enough in the middle of the boat to be above the level of water in the sac you might as well route the line to the opposite side of the boat, since that side and thruhull will be higher than the water level in the sac.

I'm going to assume with your setup you have an attwood fill pump at the thruhull fitting on the bottom or stern of your boat, sounds like you have a check valve on the fill line to allow water to travel one direction, into the sac, you have a drain pump connected to the low fitting on the sac, and a vent line for the sac. With this setup the only 2 places you could be seeing passive draining is from the drain or vent line, and I've had passive draining from both. The only thing that is sure to solve the problem is to run the lines to the opposite side of the boat, so that the fittings are higher than the water level in the sac. If you want to try to stop the draining you have to get the loop high enough to keep an air pocket in the line and that must be above the water level in the sac.

[travis11holland]

Thanks for all the advice. I put a loop in the drain and vent hose higher then the bag will fill. So i will try it out this weekend and if that doesn't work i guess i will be ordering some t-hull fitting for the port side.

[Ewok]

You shouldn't need to add new fittings, just remove the hoses from the existing fittings and run new hoses to the opposite side of the boat for all the bags. I say run new hose since it will be a longer run and you'll slow the flow if you add a connector between two separate pieces of hose. Good luck with the loop, hope that takes care of it.