Equipment
Ballast Pump
The electric pump that moves water into and out of a boat's ballast tanks or sacs, available as reversible flexible-impeller pumps or one-directional aerator pumps.
A ballast pump fills and drains the water that weights a wakesurf boat. Two main designs exist. Reversible (flexible-impeller) pumps use a water-lubricated flexible impeller to both fill and drain through a single bottom port; they are self-priming, act as a built-in check valve, and need a pump timer to avoid running dry. Jabsco first developed reversible ballast pumps in partnership with MasterCraft.
Aerator pumps are one-directional units originally designed for fishing-boat livewells; they accelerate water at higher velocity for the fastest fill and drain times but require separate fill and drain pumps, must be mounted below the waterline, and are not self-priming. Aerator systems run quieter, last longer, and use less energy.