After crawling around under the deck of my 30 Motion I found an unused 20 gallon ballast tank. Now that I found this I am wanting to hook it up and use it when the water gets rough.

I have a idea on how most of it hooks up but I was wondering what is the easiest way to fill the tank when the boat is powered by outboards. I have seen some transom pickups and hull mounted pickups but I am not sure which one to use. Any ideas would be great.

It is possible to tee off both of the motors (under the cowling) and use the low water pickups fill the ballast tank? This way I would not need to drill and holes in the boat which would be a good thing!

Thanks
Don

Anyone have any ideas?

Mine has a transom mount pick up from Fountain. I have a lever that i push forward and it drops the pick up down when i need to fill on the run. Then I have a switch to pump it out of tank when im ready to be light again.

Could you take a picture of your pickup for me?

I believe daredevil posted about his a while ago. He had a pickup in his trim tab and it looked pretty neat...

I did see that. I don't have trim or tunnel tabs. All I have is two gearcases in the water.

Sure...give me a few.

Have you considered something like a bilge pump (modified) in-line with a pickup like Chattviper uses. The pump would serve when stopped or at low speeds. Subject to plumbing, restriction shouldn't be a problem.

For those considering ballast tanks, they can make a difference. However, note the lever arm, for example: water @ 6.5# x 20 gal. = 130 # (not much until 130# is multiplied by distance from transom, say 25', then the fulcrum sees 3,250 # which may be enough to stuff the bow.) Or, it can be argued the measurement should start @ CG centerline, not transom. The two can get confusing because one is a running Force and the other is static force.

Here you go.
Photo from back of boat
Photo with scoop down
and scoop up

Any Idea who the vendor is on that unit?
Thanks
Steve