what is the deal with ballast pumps -Mine-one and done
 

Tried filling the stock ballast on the v215 today for the first time. All three tanks filled fine but only two emptied. Starboard pump blew. Switch still works (lights up) but pump is silent. Then circuit breaker thingy/reset button pops. So I assume it is a bad pump. I think this same thing was going on when I first picked up the boat from the dealer-(dealer replaced one of the pumps the day I picked it up)-so maybe these pumps have been sitting around a boat lot for a year and just get fried when they are first used.

I assume I got water still in right side tanks. Any way to drain the tank manually/gravity? I sent an email out to the dealer for info on a replacement pump-how many pumps do you guys blow through per season? I told my kid to take some pics of the wake-not much weight in the boat -it looks a little unruly-may need work.

If you can get to the pump try pulling it out and cleaning it or spinning the impellar by hand a few turns. When I first got my boat that same thing happened but the impellar just had some "gunk" on it causing in to seize up. Once I broke it free it was good. You should just be able to disconnect the hose from the bottom/outlet on your tank and let the water just drain out.

As far as the wake. What speed are you at? Looks like you need to be going a bit faster to clean that white wash out.

You're going to fast for surfing and too slow for wakeboarding. Your speedo might be off, but start around 10 mph for surfing and 20 mph for wakeboarding.

thanks for the replies. If the impeller was clogged--would the pump be totally quiet when I turn the switch on?

Yeah, I know these wake pics don't mean anything--I was just driving and having my 10 year click away with the camera as I accelerated. I kind of like downloading pictures on this new site!

-my speedo is perfect in line with the gps on the perfect pass. At about 9 mph it looked good for surfing-at least I think it would be good for it--as I haven't tried it yet.

When my impellar was siezed it wasn't allowing the impellar or shaft to spin causing the motor to over amp and trip the breaker/fuse. It was like a build up of something. The boat has sat a while before I got it.

Don't expect to be very impressed with the surfing wave with the stock ballast. I have a 2006 V215 and from what i hear the surf wave is one of the best after you add the right weight. With the stock ballast I would surf around 9.3-9.5 but if you don't have at least 4 people in the boat it gets to be kinda hard to keep up with the boat. I am going to replace my stock tanks with 750lb sacs and that should get me a good wave hopefully:D

You have to be pretty careful with the pumps. If you accidentally hit the pump at any time over the winter, they don't like being run dry and will burn out really quick. I did this once climbing in the boat and actually hit the switch and ran the pump with no water intake.....BAD!

If the pump is a jabsco find out what color impellar it has. The black impellars tend to freeze up and blow fuses. The yellow or green impellars seem to do better.