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gus 08 mobius lsv
09-08-2009, 05:40 PM
i noticed a few times it takes forever for the bags to fill so i reread some things it and it mentioned about filling them on the move to help prime them. what do you guys do fill on the move or when your idle cause you never had an issue?
and when i go to empty them there is always a few gallon of water left that won't drain ...is that normal? any remedy to get them to empty completely?

Razzman
09-08-2009, 05:48 PM
Gus it's normal what your describing. When you pull the boat from the water you lose prime, just like yanking a syphon hose when it's going. When you tow your boat air gets into the system. So you need to get up to planing speed and then start your ballast filling.

Something i do is to roll the bags up when towing, that helps minimize air into the system and then i roll them out soon after i launch. When done for the day and coming in, keep the nose up a bit and hit "empty" and when you pull out at the ramp and if it's steep enough hit the empty switch, the remaining water will pool at the end and you can get more out. Otherwise i pull them in the driveway and lay them over the platform to finish emptying. It's never more than a gallon or two.

yearround
09-08-2009, 11:59 PM
ditto razz
we have a similar exercise we follow. usually the pump will prime while at a wakeless speed.

sometimes getting the water to start t odrain is a problem if we did not fill the bag completely to overflow. i have tried the bag dance, but the most effective is to just lean over the edge of the boat and help the the pump out from the discharge.

VA LSV
09-09-2009, 07:25 AM
Keep my boat on a lift and loose prime so I start filling ballast while cruising to the end of the cove to start. Usually let the bags drain while sitting till the pumps loose suction and turn them off. Then while cruising back to the dock with the nose up start the pumps again. This get all the water out and sucks my bags flat.

gus 08 mobius lsv
09-09-2009, 11:59 AM
ok guys thanks for the input... i'll see if it will empty out completely when the nose is up if not i'll hit the switch when i load up on the trailer and see if that spits it out!

Fman
09-09-2009, 07:20 PM
i noticed a few times it takes forever for the bags to fill so i reread some things it and it mentioned about filling them on the move to help prime them. what do you guys do fill on the move or when your idle cause you never had an issue?
and when i go to empty them there is always a few gallon of water left that won't drain ...is that normal? any remedy to get them to empty completely?

Another helpful item is to build some ramps that angle the bags back towards the rear drain fitting. If you install vent lines into the bags this will also help greatly drain them more easily and fill them completely. I was loosing at least 20% of the capacity in the front 400 lb sac because of air pockets.

The '08 and older ballast systems with the sprinkler valves are terrible, you will have slow fill times, problems priming the system, bags filling when you drive the boat, etc.... the link below has the complete upgrade for this system. Its well worth the $400 investment.

Good luck.

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?t=8849