Water ballasting steps
Filling your water-ballasted H240: 1st - Suggest you keep the valve closed until the boat is launched. The gasketed valve plate on the bottom extends below the surface of the hull in the open position. Potenially it could catch on something during launching, causing serious damage. 2nd - In open water, remove the vent plug; turn the wing nut counter-clockwise fully (until it hits the stop nut near the top of the threaded shaft); push down the wing nut and shaft and hold it down while ballast tank is filling (you'll feel and hear the air escaping from the tank through the vent hole). 3rd - When tank is filled (air will cease escaping through the vent) in three to four minutes maximum, turn wing nut clock-wise until it stops against the base washer. 4th - Replace vent plug. Other tips and information: 1. Make sure the threaded shaft is not turning when you turn the wingnut. There is a pin on the valve plate (which is attached to the shaft that runs up through the tank and on which the wing nut turns) which is designed to keep the plate and shaft from turning. If that pin has been sheared, the shaft could turn and not move the full extent intended up and down. 2. Keep the valve closed until the boat is on the trailer during retrieval from the water, then open the valve just before pulling the boat up the ramp. 3. If you are keep the boat in the water for more than a day or two, I'd suggest adding a gallon of bleach (like Clorox) to the ballast tank, pouring it through the vent hole with use of a small funnel. 4. Water in the ballast tank should be within about six inches of the vent hole. Hope all this helps. Dale Wile, Sandpoint, Idaho
