critters in the water ballast tank

[Randy]

Hi-I have a quick question--I am looking at a used 1989 Mac 26, and have a question about the long-term effects of the water ballast. I leave my current boat in the water for an extended season (usually from May through the end of November). Given that I would do the same for the Mac 26, is there anything I would need to do or add to the water ballast to retard the effect of algae formation or "critters" in the ballast tank? Also, once hauled for the season, do you need to do anything to flush out the ballast tank? I have visions of the ballast tank being full of new forms of life after a while. At least the bottom has the advantage of anti-fouling. Any ideas, or is there a protocol for these boats?Thanks in advance!

 

[Nanci E Donacki]

We keep our boat in the Patapsco River through the season and did have "problems" with critters in the ballast water. We can across a tip to fill the ballast with fresh water and decided to give it a try.We emptied the ballanst, use a hose to fill it with fresh water (through the vent hole) and added 1 quart of bleach. Since we couldn't get all the air out of the ballast tank, we topped it off (got the air out) by finishing the conventional way. It's been two months since we've done that and noticed that the ballast water doesn't have a foul odor that it did when we used River water for ballast.

 

[Hank Bartosik]

Critters

Tablets or liquid of chemical used for shocking swimming pools is very effective. The previous owner of my 26C used the powder form, but never used up the complete plastic bag, so for the longest time I had to deal with a chlorine gas in the galley until I located the bag in the "Hold".Use something that won't continue to gas out in the ship's hold area, especially when there are young children around with sensitive breathing tubes. It's not good for us old folk either.The other suggestion is pretty good if you are close to a source of fresh water hose.