1st of many questions... Where is my seacock valve? 2000 Super Air

[Chexi]

On the 99-2000, if the vent line knobs are in the closed position, then the hard tanks "should" not fill. They may fill a little in practice.

[jhiestand]

I have a 2001 SAN with the same system. I'm pretty certain I haven't closed the sea **** valve a single time since I've owned the boat. Not saying that's smart, but I've just never had an instance where I've felt the need to.

When we're done with our sets I close the two valves to prevent additional water from entering the tanks on our way back in and that works pretty well. I also close one of the valves when we empty a side for surfing. Again, it does a good job of keeping water out of the tank.

[SoldTheBayliner]

jhiestand, maybe you can help me understand the system a bit... I had the boat out this weekend and I obviously have pump issues to work out too, but I was wondering just what you mentioned... if the vent knobs are working correctly, there shouldn't be a need to use the seacock valve, right? I understand that it's not a perfect system....but I'm thinking if I can make sure everything else is working right, I should just be able to leave it open.

So you open the knobs to fill, and then leave them open? Do you get water coming out the overflow while you are moving doing it this way? If you pull the boat out of the water with the tanks full and the vents open, will it drain in a hurry?

I was also wondering about draining 1 tank... if you keep 1 vent closed, you can drain 1 tank with no issues? What about filling just 1? Does it work well just leaving 1 vent closed?

I opened the vents and tried to fill using the pump, which was apparently not working...so I motored around a bit, but the guages weren't moving, so I closed the vents and forgot about it...figured step 1 was testing the pump and seeing why no water was coming in. I left the vents closed when I pulled the boat out, and we stopped for dinner on the way home. Apparently I was getting water in the tanks, because the boat was peeing in the parking lot the whole time we were parked....
so my assumption is that my guages aren't working, the fill pump isn't working, and the vents aren't closing tightly enough to keep water in the tanks when I pull the boat out. I would have thought that the vents being closed would have kept that water in the tanks with the boat on the trailer.

Are the pick-ups for the guages in the tanks serviceable? It's just a float/slide thingy, right?

[Chexi]

1. The guages are not very accurate. Generally, you will fill quite a bit before they move at all. So, you may not have a gauge problem, other than the margin of error built into them.

2. The pumps on your system are "assist" pumps. That means that you do not need them to fill or empty. You have a scupper thru-hull for your intake, and when you move forward (especially above 20 mph) you will fill (assuming the seacock and vents are open). You can empty by having the vents open and not moving. What you probably did was fill the tanks about half way, didn't see movement on the gauges, and then closed the vents. You then basically locked most of the water in there that was already in there. But, I suspect that your vents do not close 100%, which will allow some water to push through when under way causing the tanks to fill, and also to drain at a slow rate when at rest.

[SoldTheBayliner]

That makes sense, thanks... so with the drain assist pump not working, if I pull it out of the lake with the tanks full, it should drain quickly just by opening the vents, right? And how long will it take to drain on the water, with no drain pump?

I want to replace the pumps this winter, but I also want to play with the ballast before winter. Thanks.

[jhiestand]

So you open the knobs to fill, and then leave them open? Do you get water coming out the overflow while you are moving doing it this way? If you pull the boat out of the water with the tanks full and the vents open, will it drain in a hurry?

Yes, I just leave them open. I do get water coming out of the overflows but it doesn't seem to have any adverse effects. This summer my empty pump finally went on the fritz so we do have to let the tanks drain by gravity when we pull it out of the water. It does not really drain in a hurry! I'd say it takes about 20 minutes for it all to drain out?

I was also wondering about draining 1 tank... if you keep 1 vent closed, you can drain 1 tank with no issues? What about filling just 1? Does it work well just leaving 1 vent closed?

Yes, closing one tank vent I don't have any issues with draining the other tank. This is what we do to set up for surfing. Not sure I've actually tried the single-tank fill scenario, but I'd have no reason to think that wouldn't work, as well.