How to sink a H260

[George H260]

There is an old thread that said that if you left the H260 ballast valve and plug open while sailing you'd get at the least lots of water and at the most a sunk boat. I did that this weekend and I don't really think there was any water in the boat. I could see the water came up to the hole but it did not overflow. Was I just luck?

 

[Ron Mehringer]

Water level

On my 26 I've never sailed with the valve open, but I can leave it open when the boat just sits and the water never rises above the stopper. It's actually a couple or few inches down from there.Ron MehringerH26 Hydro-Therapy

 

[Ken Koons]

240 results

I've sailed my 240 with the valve open and the plug out. No problems. This was before I was educated that you need to close the plug to maintain a "steady ballast" Leaving the valve open can let water flow in and out as you move/heel.Perhaps some engineers out there can comment (switched majors in college to Accounting after all the engineering calculus turned my brain to hamburger) The level of water in the ballast tank will stay at the same level with the valves open because the weight of boat/crew etc pushing down into the water remains constant. If you added weight the force pushing the boat down and the water into the tank would be greater. I think if you put enough weight on the boat you could definitely overflow the tank by leaving the valve open. I had 8 full size adults on my 240 last night and made sure I had the ballast tank closed tight for this reason.

 

[Phil Ward]

Earlier this sailing season

we were getting a significant accumulation of water in the bilge area to the point where the mattress in the aft berth was wet (very wet). Of course the bilge pump did not kick on as I believe it is supposed to. We switched the bilge pump to manual and pumped out several gallons of water and then bailed a couple more gallons that was below the pump intake. We trailer the boat and store in a dry dock, so we leave the ballast and plug out when the boat is out of the water and secure them in place when sailing. This happened on a couple or occasions when we had been heeling a great deal, with less accumulation of water on light wind days. Concerned that we had a serious leak, we contacted our dealer and he suggested that we check the tightness of the ballast plug, thinking that water was entering the interior through a loosely plugged hole. We checked the plug and it seamed a little loose, we tighted it and have not had any water come in since. I am still amazed how much water came into the boat over the course of one day.