calling all Sanger Gurus

Hey Guys.. so I recently bought a 02 V210.. LOVE THE BOAT!! I have a couple of questions that I cant seem to figure out, so hopefully you Sanger Gurus can help me out..

1. Front Ballast.. I take it that the filling from the Ballast comes from underneath the boat? what about the draining? I pulled my boat out of the water this last weekend and there was a good amount of water still in the front bag... but when i empty the ballast I dont see any water exiting anywhere? but the bag does empty when we are in the water

2. there is a through hull fitting on my starboard side witha some sort of other silver probe thing sticking out.. what are these? I filled up my front ballast as full as it goes and Ive never had overflow come out of the through hull fitting

3. how much play should there be in the throttle from the time you want to put it in gear and when it actually gets into gear? or should it be instant or close to?

4. I go out on a full day on the boat.. and I run the bilge as water usually can accumulate in the motor compartment.. Ive never had water come from the bilge area or at the end of the day when i pull the plug 0 water comes out.. is that normal? could it be that there is no water that gets in the motor area after being out on the water all day? (not that im complaining)

Thanks!

Isaac,
Congrats on the new ride.

1. not sure I don't have ballast up there yet
2. is the fitting above the water line? it may be your fuel vent, mine on the v215 is on the port side right about 12 inches below the windshield, but it does have a silver piece and a screen on there to prevent debris from going thru the vent down into the tank,
3. I have probably a 1-1.5" throw from neutral until it engages, my buddy has the same year model sanger as me and his goes probably 2-2.5" before it engages. just takes some getting used to, hand built boats aren't all the same I guess
4. I just tested my bilge pump the other day, it takes alot of water in there to get it to fire up, water can go up into the ski locker so I plugged that hole and the drain out the transom and let the hose run for a while to test it as mine has never fired up either, it worked like a champ, I usually just put the switch to auto bilge and leave it, Usually I get no water out of the rear transom drain hole unless its still on the ramp and we had ice in the cooler, if its flat the water seems to be at a lower level than the hole and none comes out, so I always pull the plug on the ramp

Isaac,

The front ballast will drain from a fitting just in front of the driver on the stbd. side below the rub rail.

The fitting you are referring to sounds like the drain for your front ballast. To find your overflow fill the tank and leave the switch on until it overflows, you should hear it when it starts to pour out. I am not sure if the overflow is the same port as the drain on a V210 (sorry my memory is fuzzy on that one).

From the time you engage the throttle from the neutral position (lets call it a mechanical neutral switch) it should engage slightly forward of the neutral position (probably about 3/4 inch or so of play before you feel the clutches engage and shaft turns). Slightly less or more should be OK but three or four inches would probably be excessive.

Are you running the bilge because you are removing water or is this just a precaution? A dry boat is a good thing. So if it's dry then
DONT WORRY...BE HAPPY.

I see you are in Campbell, if you are around the shop in SJ feel free to stop by and we can answer your questions about Sangers.

Bill, for sure the front ballast DOES NOT drain from the through hull fitting on the starboard side in front of the winshield. I would chalk that one up more for vent/overflow..

Isaac-

A 210 I used to ride on had the intake for the front ballast under the boat and it pumped back out the same way?

I just recently fixed a leaky hose in my boat and did not have to run the bilge for a whole week in the water. the way the boat sits the water that does accumulate is not enough to get to the pump level (mine is not auto). On the trailer there is water under the front bag, as what is in there flows forward to the deeper part of the boat.

PS topside is great, wish they were closer to me!

(Message edited by load on July 06, 2009)

Isaac,

I have the same year V210.

1. My ballast fills & drains via the same thru-hull on the bottom of the boat. You can see the fitting inside the center locker (it should have a valve to turn off if need be). Go underneath your boat and look in the same area.

2. Not sure by your description but I think the thru-hull with "silver probe sticking out" is your fuel tank ventilation. Mine has one of these on each side, just below the rub rail. My center ballast also has an over-flow that is about 6" aft of the starboard side fuel vent. If the ballast is full, excess water drains out this.

3. Once out of the locked neutral position, my throttle moves about an inch before I feel the transmission engage.

4. Who knows. If I'm still on the ramp & pull out the drain plug, water will come out then. But, not as much or none when on a level surface.

Hope this helps.

DRA Doug is right. When in my garage on the trailer, I have water in the center ballast area around the fatsac. This is the lowest part of the boat when on the trailer.

Isaac,

I may be incorrect for your year of V210 but interestinly enough my brother in law was just in the shop with his 06 V210. It had a frozen front ballast pump. When we resolved the issue his tank drained out the starboard side in front of the driver. I will call Sanger in the morning and verify but I suspect the location may depend on the vintage of the boat and type of bag and pumps used.

If the fitting your referring to is just a hole then it is a discharge port. If it looks like a hole with a disk in the middle it is a fuel vent.

1.Starboard side,below the window.

2.They are fuel vents,there is one on each side.

3.Have no idea,haven't been out but twice in it yet!GRRRRR!

4.The bilge on those is in a stupid spot,just waaaay to high.You'd have to have about 6 inches of water in the damn thing to get it to kick on.
I just had a second one added in the low spot,right in front of the motor.Only takes an inch or two to get it to go.

Next project:FAE.

Yeah,thats whats up.

I have the same year boat...
1. Thru-hull on the bottom of the boat.
2. Fuel Vent
3. I have about an inch of play when going from neutral to in gear going both forward and reverse.
4. 2nd above on the comment that the bilge pump is in a goofy place. I need about 4 inches of water in the bilge area before the pump kicks in. If you're dry that's even better.

Hope your enjoying the new ride!!

Isaac,

No real advice on the 2 and 3, everybody already said enough, but on 1 & 4:

#1 My V215 front ballast has the pump and drain hoses at the back. When we are sitting still in the water, it will drain 90% of the way, but the last bit of water won't come out unless I turn on the drain pump while driving the boat. The lift at the nose and the force of the forward motion make the last bit of water go to the back of the sack and finally empty.

#2 When you are coming in at the end of the day, before you take the boat out, can you see water at the bottom of the motor compartment? If you know there's water in there, but its not coming out via bilge or drain, then you have a problem.

If there's a lot of water there,then the packing gland is probably shot(as mine was)

I always have whomever is in my boat flip all 3 tanks to drain for a minute on the way up the boat ramp gets about 99% of the water out of all 3 tanks. If your bilge is totally dry than your packing nut is probably too tight and no water is being let in to cool it.

1. Can't help you, my '99 has no front ballast, except for plenty of pop bags!

2. Sounds like the fuel vents you're describing.

3. I have about 1/2" - 3/4" of travel between neutral lock out and in gear.

4. Try not running the pump, and see if you still have no water in the bilge. If so, your packing is too tight.
You should be getting 6-10 drops per minute from the shaft packing while spinning.

Issac, hey I'm just trying to jump on your band wagon with the Sanger experts, it looks like there are some mechanics here. One thing I noticed on my 2009 V215 when I took it out. My rear ballest never went to the overfill, SO I never knew how filled they were, should they always fill to that point?
For Topside what is a good breakin schedule to follow (Ive read the manual...seems old though)
Thanks

Isaac,

I confirmed with Sanger this morning that your year V210 has both the intake and the output thru the same hole in the bottom of the hull. The overflow is under the driver side rub rail. It used the same pump for both functions. The newer version uses seperate pumps and has the holes in different locations.

Thanks Bill...