Too Much Air in Ballast

[Shoemaker Mobius]

We have a 2004 Mobius LSV that has the single bag Bertha Ballast. We used it all last year with minimal difficulty. However, the last few times we have gone out, we are having difficulty with the bag filling with too much air. There is so much air that it seems only about half the capacity is filled with water and the rest with air. We have manual bags in the back that we open one of the fill holes and push the air out, but I can't see any openings in the Bertha bag other than the fill opening. How do we get the air out of the bag so we can fill it with water? And, why is this happening now? We have tried emptying the bag and refilling, but still too much air. We are sitting still in the water for filling (although we usually have to get the boat up on plane to get it to start filling). We have tried it moving and stopped - same thing, half air half water. Help!!!

[Shoemaker Mobius]

Am I the only one with this problem? Skier's Choice, any suggestions????

[Buttafewcoe]

I'm curious to know............does your ballast fill and drain from the same inlet? The one on my Outback has vent that, when the bladder gets full, pee's over the side to keep the bag from bursting. The reason I ask is if there are separate fill and drain, maybe the drain has a blockage that keeps the air from being purged when filling.
.
Just a thought
.
Jim

[chpprpilot]

I've had the same problem with my 05 XLV. I usually end up burping thr bladders before I fill them for the first time on a given day. To do this I just take the end cap off and push all of the air out...But the problem I'm having is that the filler fittings keep blowing out, but that's for another post.

[Shoemaker Mobius]

I would love to be able to burp the bag, but there is only one opening in the bag and it is firmly attached to the ballast pump. The bag fills and empties by this opening only. When we are manually filling our rear sacs, we attach our pump to one opening on the sac and open another at other end to let the air escape. Our rear sacs have about 8 openings to choose from for this. They are from Straightline Launchpad. The sac in the single bag Bertha is a Fatboy sac with only the one opening. I have never filled the bag to overflow because it pushes up thru the floor opening and I am afraid it will get cut on the door opening and burst. Any ideas? This is really hurting our wake size and shape.

[Buttafewcoe]

I have the twin Launch Pads. Like you, easy to load, several holes to choose from. My factory ballast has 3 inlets (although I'm sure one of those 3 is an outlet). Hard to believe they would not put a vent for air to escape. Anything is possible. I think w/o that vent, it's going to be trouble filling the bag.