emptying ballast bags

[lesman01]

I finally after years of hesitancy got some ballast bags for my s22. 1 underseat pro x bow sac, and 2 pro x vdrive bags. Man what a difference. THe wake was very good for me, and we only had 2 people in the boat.

2 ballast newbie questions:
1. What's the best way to get all the water out of the bags? The tsunami pump gets  most all of it out, but outside of taking the bag out and draining it (pain for the bow sac) any other tips? AND, if there is a small amount of water left in it, will it harm anything?

2. Does it hurt the pump to run dry? Not that I'd leave it on for like an hour, but when draining it i found myself diving all over the  boat to try to pull the plug once it emptied that last bit of water.

Yes, i worry too much...

I'm seeing an auto ballast sytem in my future.....
 

[toyotafreak]

The aerator pumps are cool in that they can run dry for a while. Those rotary-vane rubber impeller deals like the Water Puppy will have big issues, so they often have sensors and circuitry to detect no-water and shut down.

I get what I can from the bags and then hang them overboard to drain.

If you leave agua in there and they mold out, I'm sure you could use a bleach solution or other to clean.

I always wanted to put ballst under the bow seats, but to make room I'd have to move my 175# of ballast and the box anchor and spike.

[boneil]

I just let the pumps turn the sac to a "raisin"  I leave water in the bottom and have never had a problem. 

How was the wake?  Did you get above 2k including people?

[lesman01]

thanks for the response. The tsunami has a plastic propeller in it, I guess it is what you call an aerator pump??

I think i had about 1200 lbs of ballast since you can;t fill the bow sac up all the way....plus 400 lbs of people. need more weight in the front i think.

the wake was awesome, but not as good as pete;s sx internal ballast with 5  people in th boat.