Ballast thru hull, On the floor or on the transom?

[Carranza913]

WHich do you prefer and why? Most installs I see have them going through the floor near the v drive but have heard of people using the transom near the drain plug. WHat are your thoughts?

[duffymahoney]

I prefer transom for aerator style, since I can prime them by putting the boat in reverse. If you want to fill while underway transom doesn't work. Most people will say near the v-drive. Cheers!

[BCRider]

I'd say most also go with near the v-drive only because of access to the floor being easier and better working space. Depending on where you put them you just have to watch the floor level so you stay underneath. The other thing to watch is that you don't mount the pumps in a way that they potentially air lock and lastly fitting is one thing....getting wrenches on the fittings to tighten them down with enough room is the other challenge.

Be mindful of your transducer when looking at locations. Some people have noted inaccurate readings because the thru-hull is in line with the transducer disturbing the water flow.

[freeheel4life]

Im pretty much strictly an impeller pump guy though occasionally do aerators so location/pump orientation isnt quite as critical. That being said I like near the Vdrive because I include ball valves on every install, just in case something breaks and you need to stop water coming in, or need to do service on the water. With ball valves at the transom they are hard to access. Easier to shut them off in a pinch when they are next to the vdrive.

[crabo227]

For my install, I thought about using the hole in the transom where the stock underwater light is. Which isn't working anyway.

[IDBoating]

I vote for hull mounting, not transom, if only because any forward motion of the hull generates turbulence behind the transom - and turbulence is the enemy of a pump, whether impeller or aerator.

Be mindful of your transducer when looking at locations. Some people have noted inaccurate readings because the thru-hull is in line with the transducer disturbing the water flow.

Agreed, and stated another way: Don't have hull penetrations in line with each other, i.e. parallel with the keel. Any thruhull will cause some degree of turbulence as compared with the otherwise smooth uninterrupted surface of the hull. That can affect the proper operation of your triducer, pump intakes, etc. And learning you have such a problem AFTER you've gnawed a hole in your hull would be a real bummer.

I do wish boat manufacturers considered aftermarket thruhulls when choosing where to put their own hull penetrations. On my 24Ve, the triducer's location needlessly complicated my own ballast install. The starboard side of the v-drive and transmission is a wide open area that would be super convenient to put pump thruhulls, but they centered the triducer just behind that area and basically rendered all that space unsafe to use. They could have just as easily put the triducer on the port side of the keel and left the entire starboard side open and available. Granted the engine cooling pump intake is on that side, but A) it's a very powerful impeller pump that wouldn't be much affected by slight turbulence; B) they could have simply mounted the triducer to one side of (lateral to) the engine intake, such that neither would be in the other's "downstream" flow; and C) they could have done both, mounting the triducer forward and to the side of the engine intake, eliminating both problems while leaving the entire starboard hull area wide open for the aftermarket mods that are almost a certainty in wakeboats.

Sigh.

[chpthril]

For my install, I thought about using the hole in the transom where the stock underwater light is. Which isn't working anyway.

Sent you a PM regarding this.