2002 Super Air Rear Ballest Tank Question

[rman56]

What is the best way to empty the water from the rear ballast tanks in a 2002 Super Air when the pump has quit working?

[DW SD]

I’d think gravity would do most of it and you could siphon out.
Or replace the pump and drain

You could siphon from the pump line or even remove the top breather fitting and drop in a hose and siphon through that


Sent from my iPhone using PLT Nautique

[rman56]

We thought about getting a pump you would use to fill / empty fat sacs up but not sure if that would work.

[Rockymtnsurfer]

I use a Sunami pump with quick hook ups to drain my rear "hard" tanks........I have not made the conversion yet.....I fill while boating and drain the two rears with one pump......not ideal at all, but works.

[rman56]

Ok, do you hook it up through the top of the tank?

Thanks

[obd666]

yeah, you can siphon the water out through the fill line or through the top, either way ... once you get it empty, take that opportunity to pull the hard tanks and go with fat sacks. then, you'll always be able to access and service the pumps easily.

[rman56]

Sounds good, I will look at getting a Sunami pump to get it drained.

Thanks

[Rockymtnsurfer]

I disconnected my bottom tank drain from the side of the hull......put a plastic valve and attached quick connect to that. I connected to the bottom because we have to get ALL water out for inspection. I lay the tubing and valve along the outside wall of the tank. Takes about 10 min to drain both.

[functionoverfashion]

Unless I'm missing something, when my rear hard tank empty pump failed this summer, I could not reach the pump, nor any drain, to empty it so I could replace that pump.

I siphoned it out with a shaker siphon through the top of the tank by removing the sending unit.

My boat was in the water at the time, so my options were more limited.

[rman56]

Did it drain pretty quickly? I was also told that you can open up the fill ball valve once its out of the water and it will drain back that way.

thanks

[Rockymtnsurfer]

On mine......and they could be different...when my drain pumps broke and my tanks were full........I unhooked the hose from where it ejects out the boat on the side....and plugged in the tsunami that I had for my sacks into the 1 inch tubing......pumped everything out because its the tube coming out of the bottom.....then I could unscrews and pull the tanks....and thats when I re-did my set up....due to not wanting to buy a new pump yet.

Your ball valve drain concept does work....but it takes forever..... it seems

[functionoverfashion]

Did it drain pretty quickly? I was also told that you can open up the fill ball valve once its out of the water and it will drain back that way.

thanks

If you're asking me about the siphon, no it wasn't quick at all. But I also didn't have another pump (as RockyMtnSurfer did) AND I didn't have the boat on the trailer. Actually, after a while I had to siphon into the bilge to get the end of the hose lower than the start point inside the tank. Then the bilge pump removed the water from the boat. Not an efficient operation, but I was doing other stuff at the same time so I didn't care how long it took.

[rman56]

Sounds great, thanks for all of the help.