How to add water to ballast bags without engine running?

[CLBeerbower]

Hi, I have a 2021XE and am having difficulty getting the Colorado Park Rangers to decon my boat and get me back on the water. We have invasive snails here and they want to push hot water into the ballast bags to kill them before you can get on the lake. Issue is the Connext will not allow me activate the pumps to add water to the bags without the engines running. To run the engines I need a cold water hose. The decon sites only have hot water for the decon and no cold water. I am stuck. Any ideas?

 

[Dave burke]

Not a great idea but you can probably run the engines for maybe 30-45 seconds without the water hose. Is that enough to get water in the tanks?

Other idea is to rent a water sprayer if that exists.

 

[gt5pilot]

How hot is their water? Above or below the thermostat opening point?

 

[PBear]

Hi, I have a 2021XE and am having difficulty getting the Colorado Park Rangers to decon my boat and get me back on the water. We have invasive snails here and they want to push hot water into the ballast bags to kill them before you can get on the lake. Issue is the Connext will not allow me activate the pumps to add water to the bags without the engines running. To run the engines I need a cold water hose. The decon sites only have hot water for the decon and no cold water. I am stuck. Any ideas?

@Cambo sells a cable to activate the pumps directly from the battery (https://jetboaters.net/threads/ballast-pump-jumper-cable.19754/page-4#post-597802).

I had it for my 2020 212x and it worked great.

 

[CLBeerbower]

Not a great idea but you can probably run the engines for maybe 30-45 seconds without the water hose. Is that enough to get water in the tanks?

Other idea is to rent a water sprayer if that exists.

Dave, thanks. They ask that you let them know when it is 50% full. So, the 45 seconds wouln't do the trick unfortunately.

 

[CLBeerbower]

How hot is their water? Above or below the thermostat opening point?

Short answer is I am not sure. I know it is close to boiling as that is how they kill them on contact. When the hot water hits the asphalt when they are done it is straight smoking!

 

[CLBeerbower]

@Cambo sells a cable to activate the pumps directly from the battery (https://jetboaters.net/threads/ballast-pump-jumper-cable.19754/page-4#post-597802).

I had it for my 2020 212x and it worked great.

Thanks so much, so you had the same issue?

 

[Farny]

Thanks so much, so you had the same issue?

The hot water won’t damage the ballast?

 

[CLBeerbower]

The hot water won’t damage the ballast?

I actually just looked on the CPW website and the temp is 120-140, so not too hot

 

[PBear]

Thanks so much, so you had the same issue?

My issue was the center bag and two side ballasts would time out before they were full. By filling them manually with the jumper, I could then do a calibration.

 

[Cambo]

Dave, thanks. They ask that you let them know when it is 50% full. So, the 45 seconds wouln't do the trick unfortunately.

The pump jumper cable is the simple solution and anyone that uses the ballast for water sports will find that it is the best way to deal with all the issues that plague the stock system.

 

[Matt Phillips]

When I decon at Lake Tahoe, I coordinate with the team doing the work and use two hot water hoses on my boat (hey, they charge a higher fee because it has ballast bags so why not). Here's what I do:

1. Stuff one of the hot water hoses up into the through-hull fitting on the bottom of the boat and duck tape it in there and close off the hole as best as you can. Open the sea valve and turn on the water.
2. Flush one of the engines using their other hot water hose. While that engine is running, fill all three bags. Run it no more than about 10 minutes lest you get an overheat alarm (don't ask me how I know this).
3. Shut down the engine, give it three bumps of the throttle.
4. Remove hose from the bottom of the boat
5. Switch to the other engine, and while it is is running not he hose, drain all three bags.

A couple of notes. First, you won't completely fill all three bags in that amount of time but since they are soft sided, the thought is it'll kill any rogue hitch hikers you have on board. Second, you likely won't get all of the water out and you will have air in your bags as the system wasn't designed to run on the trailer. When I get the boat to the lake, I then drain and recalibrate the bags in the system (check your manual for how to do that on your specific boat).

 

[Cambo]

Run it no more than about 10 minutes lest you get an overheat alarm (don't ask me how I know this).

you likely won't get all of the water out and you will have air in your bags as the system wasn't designed to run on the trailer. When I get the boat to the lake, I then drain and recalibrate the bags in the system (check your manual for how to do that on your specific boat).

Getting an overheat alarm hooking up a flush hose with duct tape, who gets to lay on there back for that rig up starting off with a lengthy calabration cycle this sounds like a nightmare on a hot day with a busy boat ramp and passengers that want to have fun .The first time I decided to do the calibration my wife was like, "what the F are you doing stop burning daylight lets go"

Some helpful tips for yourself and others that need to flush for what ever reason, I like to flush out the salt water and flush in anti freeze and I experimented with different things this was the best I found. Using a 5 gallon bucket, Velcro strap with caribiner an old plastic scupper some hose that is a large diameter . Just wedge the hose in the bottom sea valve another velcro strap to the trailer will help hold it in place, fill the bucket with what ever you want to flush hook up the pump jumper cable energize the pumps to fill each bag to what ever you want. Pull the hose re energize each pump to empty and your done no lengthy re calibration needed no air in the bags.