Closing ballast valve underway??

[Crikey]

Parrothead, my main reason would be to avoid slipping up and allowing some water back in before I properly closed it. That is far more dangerous than doing a hard turn on an empty ballast because no water will surge to one side, affecting stability.
I enjoy straight line running under power on an empty ballast but with the mast up there's too much weight up high for strong changes of course. The idea of an electric gate valve having an indicator and a manual override seems a nice mod, but I haven't seen any RV product that is guaranteed submersible yet. Fail closed is the way to go I think.

[DaveB]

You either have the ballast fully loaded or fully empty. There is no other way or if you try, will cause major problems in the stability of the boat.
Doing hard turns on a partial full ballast will cause the boat to heel much more in the direction you turn, as all the ballast water would go to the Lee side increaseing capsize .
A good trick is to keep the gate open and vent backing astearn very slow, this will top out the ballast and keep your crew forward.
Forget the electric Gate valve for balance unless you have a cruise ship.
Stay safe my friend.
Dave

Parrothead, my main reason would be to avoid slipping up and allowing some water back in before I properly closed it. That is far more dangerous than doing a hard turn on an empty ballast because no water will surge to one side, affecting stability.
I enjoy straight line running under power on an empty ballast but with the mast up there's too much weight up high for strong changes of course. The idea of an electric gate valve having an indicator and a manual override seems a nice mod, but I haven't seen any RV product that is guaranteed submersible yet. Fail closed is the way to go I think.

[parrothead]

Fail closed is the way to go I think.

"Better safe than sorry"... I can't disagree with that.

[yukonbob]

I'm gonna admit I forgot and left the valve open last summer...and after powering through some 1' then 2' chop it slowly built to 4' chop...and I couldn't figure out why the ride was so ruff (this is all at or just above 7kts) At one point half the front half of the boat left the water and slammed down...lots of mixed words at the water. After getting through Chatham straight where the bulk of the waves were they settled back down to 3' then 2'. It wasn't until as we were pulling into harbour at 11pm after four hours or so of battle that I heard the unmistakable glub glub glub of the balast filling with the vent plug in . In NO way did I or would I attempt this again, and the same reason the gate valve is only open when filling or emptying and is closed as soon as it is complete.

[Wind Chime]

Yup yukonbob, I've done exactly the same thing.
That's one of the reasons I put the valve extension on, helps me remember to close the valve as soon as it's full, and right after it's empty. Never anything but full or empty for me as well. And empty only in light chop.

[raycarlson]

don't confuse the M with the X or S or D, i don;t know anything about the X's.But with the M you never need to let go of the wheel or take your eyes off the road. lift your seat then increase your speed to drain,then press down on t-handle with left toes, then drop seat and your done. why you would choose to do this in a marina or busy channel I do not know but thats your bussiness i guess.

[Retcoastie]

You might check that electric valve mod. IIRC, it did not stand the saltwater test and was removed.