Manually drain a hard ballast tank

I have a 99 Launch with a hard ballast tank. I was trying to drain the tank the other day in my driveway by turning the battery on and hitting the empty switch, but water did not come out. Do I need to turn the boat on to be able to drain the tank? I was looking for a way to manually empty the tank, but I couldn't find the manual anywhere online.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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Originally Posted by bc1215

I have a 99 Launch with a hard ballast tank. I was trying to drain the tank the other day in my driveway by turning the battery on and hitting the empty switch, but water did not come out. Do I need to turn the boat on to be able to drain the tank? I was looking for a way to manually empty the tank, but I couldn't find the manual anywhere online.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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I could never get mine completely empty either just using the pumps. I have a 2002 launch with a hard ballast as well. Others may have different experiences.

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Eurobound - thanks for the reply. Have you manually drained the tank before? If so, what is the best way to do that?

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Originally Posted by bc1215

Eurobound - thanks for the reply. Have you manually drained the tank before? If so, what is the best way to do that?

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Yes, I have. I've had my whole boat apart. I took the seat off of the top, took the hoses off and lifted it out of the boat. There is a fitting on the bottom. which you can drain the water out of. A bit of a pain but not the end of the world.

Thanks - much appreciated!

Interesting thread. How much water remains in the hard tanks? A lot of hull damage is caused by trailering or lifting boats with water on board. Since it sounds like the hard tanks can be removed, I might be inclined to swap it for a soft tank?!?