ballast shutoff valve...

i am having great difficulty getting an emergency shutoff in between my though-hull and the pump location, i just dont have the room i need, so my question is: is a shutoff valve really necesary? how many of you have really had an emergency with a ballst puppy, the impeller fins are so long it seems it would seal no matter what, right?

Just some thoughts:
You run your ballast puppy while emptying, and you forget to turn it off. The run dry protection fails, and the inpeller disinigrates.

For some reason or another you get a hole in your hose between the thru hull, and pump. can you bilge pump handle that amount of water fast enough.
But then we could what if all day long. You might not ever have a problem.

I think a valve is a good idea.

But that is just my opinion.

I have my valve about two feet from my thru hull. I would rather have had it close but I too did not have much room.

Anyone else feel like I do?

yea you need a shutoff attached TO (screwed down onto) the thru hull. Having a valve two feet from the thru hull defeats the purpose, as if it is above or close to the waterline and there was a problem further up the system the water wouldn't move up there.

actually should have posted this 2 weeks ago when i started, coz straight after posting i went for a look and sorted it out, problem solved..Do the pumps get very warm when in operation, as in can you still touch them or not?

Flow-rite has valves that are perfect for shutting off water. They are cable actuated from controls on the dash, so you never have to worry about corrosion to electrical parts.

www.flow-rite.com

Do any boat manufacturers put a shutoff valve on their raw-water intake thru-hulls? There was none on my '86MC or my '98CC. Do the newer wakeboard boats that come stock with dedicated ballast thru-hulls have shutoff valves screwed onto the thru-hulls? Seriously, I don't know either way.

I'm currently putting in a dedicated ballast thru-hull scoop through my ski-locker. It is a big 1.25" one. I have a 1.25" ball valve for it but was going to put it about a foot away, attached to a support. I'd prefer to screw it on the thru-hull, but the ball valve is pretty heavy and I will actually be turning it on and off sometimes. I'm concerned that that much weight and turning torque might, in time, loosen my waterproof adhesive or crack my gel coat. Has this ever happenned to anyone, or should I just screw it on the thru-hull?

You most definitely want a shut off. Also use brass hardware as in thru-hull fitting and ball valve. Past the ball valve use anything you want. I placed a hole in the floor and covered it with an access panel. Typically 6" diam, and you unscrew it to gain access to the bildge area.

The uscg mandates a shutoff valve on the raw water. I found this out the hard way, It was turned off accidently and consequently the next time I used the boat I toasted my impellor. I thought about removing the valve altogether to avoid this ever happening again,however I decided to make it very hard to get to so it won't get turned off accidently.

I think a shut off valve is a must. I wouldn't recommend connecting it to the thru hull though.