ballast air lock / cooler drain

[Dan Birchler]

Rick and Jay,

I have heard nothing but great things about both of you from my dealer...leading me to believe that your lack of response is not intentionally missing.

I am asking you both to look into the cooler drain issue and the air locking ballast system and reply at this venue (or call me at home...my number is in your system). I have waited for quite a while now for Jay to come up with a solution other than the suggested take 'er up to 25 or 30 to force prime the system and that will fix the problem. I have found better solutions than that without your input but the fact is that I (and anyone else with this problem) should be able to flick a switch and have my ballast tank/bag fill up immediately. Instead, I have to massage the front system to get it to start filling and bleed the rear system about 3 or 4 times to get it to start and fill all the way.

[RickT]

I will have Matt Brown contact you or you can email him at [email protected]. He can provide you with some help to this issue asap. Sorry we both have been on the road for the last 10 days at our dealer show. Jay is still out of town on our photo shoot for the 03 models. My email direct is [email protected] you do not hook up with Matt.

Rick

I'm having the very same problem and it's frustraing when you have a brand new boat (2003 Launch). The quickest way I've found is to leave the c-clamp loose at the pump, so you can pull it off. Pull the hose off, turn the pump on and let it run for about 30-60 seconds. You will hear the water flow speed up and it will really start pumping the water - when that happens place the hose back on and the ballasts will fill up. However, I agree with Dan that we shouldn't have to do this. I expect to flip the switch and the ballast starts filling. Could it have to do with the position of the pump (i.e. outlet facing up/down/sideways)? Keep me in the loop!