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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Water Ballest

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NCBrew
Captain

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USA
338 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/02/2010 : 08:27:36

Can anyone give me the plus's and minus's of a 250 water ballest?

ncbrew

1998 Catalina 250WK
Ravaging
Albemarle Sound,NC

I spent most of my money on boats and beer, the rest I just wasted.

Edited by - on

zebra50
Captain

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USA
408 Posts

Response Posted - 01/02/2010 : 08:58:06

The reasons I went with a water ballast were that it was easier to trailer, and pull in and out of the water. However, the downside is less head room in the cabin.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 01/02/2010 : 09:48:53

Catalina, Hunter, and MacGregor all went to water ballast for easier trailering with smaller tow vehicles. Some feel the fore-and-aft spread of the mass reduces pitching, or hobby-horsing in seas. The downside is the lack of leverage gives you get less "stiffness" per pound--although you can leave all of those pounds in the lake when you leave. Another downside is the possibility of forgetting to fill the tank, or worse, not filling it completely (which actively destabilizes the boat).

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 01/02/2010 09:49:48

sweetcraft
Admiral

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USA
816 Posts

Response Posted - 01/03/2010 : 22:52:14

How long does it take to remove water and take on water for ballast? Watched a 26 Venture being pulled with a hoist and they drained the water on the hoist while boats waited to launch and load on their trailers. Does the 250 have a pump? The crews that were waiting for the Venture were not too kind.

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2010 : 04:39:26

Ballast doesn't have to be drained on the ramp. I've had no problems pulling the boat up the ramp to a staging area and then releasing the ballast. Salt water may be a different, and best drained at the ramp prior to the trailer rinse.

At any rate, drain time is probably 2-3 minutes. If I recall when I've used a high volume air pump to discharge prior to pulling, it took between 5-7 minutes to pump out.

If it is a concern, there are 12 volt high volume - low pressure air pumps that can be hard plumbed to the vent tube making it very easy to discharge the ballast while still afloat.

The C250 is fully stable afloat without any canvas aloft. This is not true of some competitor water ballast that have capsized with too many crew aboard with no ballast.

Edited by - Arlyn Stewart on 01/04/2010 04:52:52

zebra50
Captain

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USA
408 Posts

Response Posted - 01/04/2010 : 08:51:25

I do mine similar to Arlyn. I usually use a shop vac to blow the ballast prior to motoring over to the ramp. Even in the years where I did not use the vac, it was not that difficult to haul out and drain on the trailer, it just depended on the depth of the water at the ramp, if it was shallow, then it was harder to get the trailer under the boat-blowing the ballast, at least for me, is much preferred.

Edited by - on

bill bosworth
Navigator

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USA
172 Posts

Response Posted - 01/05/2010 : 21:04:37

My two cents;
We enjoy having a centerboard that can be pulled up in skinny water, or to balance the helm of the boat. I also find that the boat sails great to wind. I especially like having a wb when it's time to haul or launch the boat. I generally "blow" the balast out using a manual foot pump, the kind you would use for an inflatable raft. It takes about 7 minutes to remove all of the balast. Removing the balast prior to hauling the boat makes it easier to get the boat on the trailer and to pull it up the ramp. The boat is a bit more tender without balast, I shure wouldn't want to try to sail without balast. We have had several other fin keel boats with lead balast cast into the keels. I don't feel that our wb is that much more tender than our fixed keel boats. We've had this boat for about 10 years and have never regretted our decision.

Bill c250wb #134 Serendipity
On Kerr Lake, NC

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 01/06/2010 : 19:05:29

FYI, I use a 12v coleman air pump designed for inflating an air mattress to blow the ballast before we pull JD up the ramp.

We also have an inflatable dink, that requires that the main tubes be inflated to 4.6psi, the 12v pump does not even get on the scale!
So we inflate the dink tubes using the electric pump till it maxs out, then hand pump up to the correct psi.

The 12v pump seems to have a max output of about 1.1psi very low pressure!

Paul

Edited by - on

Bob Jack
1st Mate

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USA
58 Posts

Response Posted - 01/07/2010 : 10:07:56

I've never blown the ballast and so i'm intrigued by the possibilty. The boat is floating, you hook a 12v pump to the anchor locker vent hole and all the water comes out of the ballast? Seems like a lot of water getting pushed by a tiny pump.Could you please descibe the process ? I guess you know it's done when you see bubbles? Thanks in advance,Bob

Edited by - on

bear
Admiral

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USA
909 Posts

Response Posted - 01/07/2010 : 14:31:58

Bob,I too use the pump method, it takes about 10 minutes on Brandy. Open the ballast valve down in the bilge below the steps. Do not apply pump pressure until that valve is open. Just press/hookup output of pump hose to vent tube in anchor locker and wait for bubbles. Boat will rise on her lines as ballast comes out. When bubbles are seen get rid of pump and quickly close ballast valve in the bilge. It's really simple once you get used to it.

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 01/08/2010 : 16:17:24

Ditto Bear.
I have a long 12v power cord hard wired to the air pump so we can blow ballast more than once (the old battery unit would only blow the ballast once per charge) I also use the pump to inflate our dink.

We did go aground once on soft sandy bottom. It was a while for the tide to float us off. I used the pump to blow the ballast and we were afloat in less than 10mins.

Paul

Edited by - on

NUTHRTOY
1st Mate

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26 Posts

Response Posted - 01/09/2010 : 15:17:21

Hi Y'all

When retrieving our boat, we open the valve just before we get the boat on the trailer, pull it out of the water,let it drain right there on the ramp while we check that it is fully forward and into the front chock. If some one comes by and wants to know what happened (usually most think we had a large leak and the bilge is full, not the case)we explain the principle of water ballast, and by that time the draining is done and we pull out.

You should remember the advantage of not opening the valve to fill, until the boat is <u>off </u> the trailer and the trailer is pulled out. Launching is very simple if you leave the valve closed.

I guess I'm to lazy to mess with pumps and all that. I think that Mr Butler was going for simplicity when they designed the 25oh, and somehow it morphed into a complicated deal. Me, I want simplicity.

Best Regard, Carl Schroeder

Edited by - on

seabear
Deckhand

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Canada
5 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2010 : 09:57:32

HELLO, ONE ADVANTAGE OF THE C-250 IS YOU CAN HIT A SUBMERGED OBJECT WITH YOUR CENTER BOARD WITHOUT DOING MUCH DAMAGE BECAUSE THE BOARD PIVOTS.

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