Front Ballast Makai

Guys, new makai - ‘19 leftover. At about 70% full the front ballast starts leaking water into the bilge. It will continue to fill to 100% but the bilge pump will come on automatically by the time it’s full. The first time it happened I didn’t know why the bilge pump came on, the above is what happened during troubleshooting.

Problem is I can’t figure out how to access the front bag. I called the dealer who just now opened back up and they’re slammed right now (obviously). 3-4 weeks out for service - now I haven’t called my sales guy to try and squeeze them yet to push me up in line but I’m pretty sure it’s something easy to fix if I could just get to it.

Any suggestions?

One spring, after I picked up boat from storage, I went out and started getting a rush of water into the boat, Freaked out and noticed it was coming from the front, I lifted all front seat cushions to acess the IBS, checked the hoses for the IBS and noticed one was just loosely seated by the dealer during winterization, became disconnected and was rushing water into the boat. Reconnected and the day was saved. Maybe something as simple as that. You prolly already checked the front IBS hose conections to make sure they're tightly seated. The front hard tank, you should have the access to the mid T-drain plug , when you open that, you should see the connector for the front hard tank and see if its leaking. I am assuming this design should be pretty consistent throughout Moomba boats.

Thanks for the reply. When I open the round access cover, I can access the pumps and the connection point on the bag. The front subfloor ballast is not a hard tank rather a bag under the floor (subfloor ballast). There has to be a vent line, bag plug or something else but I just can’t see or reach anything from the small access cover.

If your bags have them, also check the vent caps on the top of the bags that screw open and closed.

When I received my Mondo one of these caps were left open and when the bag was full it would allow water to leak from the bag and in turn end up in the bilge.

Thanks for the reply! I did have to tighten a plug on each of the back ballast bags as well, only a small drip coming out of each. First time I filled the bags I had water in the bilge but I had no idea if it was due to filling ballast or another issue. The next time we went out, I didn’t fill the ballast for a few hours on the water to rule out something else leaking then filled each ballast 1 by 1 to try and isolate which bag was causing the leak. I had to tighten the bag plug on each of the back ones then when I turned on the front it started pouring into the bilge at about 70% full. So now I know my issue is in the front.

Problem is, I can’t figure out how to get to the bag to solve the problem. Anyone have a suggestion? I’m about to pull the floor panel up and am hopeful I can remove the vertical piece the front ballast pumps are attached to and pull the bag out.

Any other suggestions?

I've looked in there as well out of curiosity. About the easiest access I see is taking the batteries out and going in through that way. But I think your on the right track the vertical bulkhead would have to be removed to ever get to the bag. I haven't ever payed enough attention to see if the floor panels under the front cushions can be removed or not, might look at those as well.

My max has a round access cover that is held down with Phillips head screws under the middle front bow cushion to get to the front of the bag. Not sure if your model has this though.

I didn’t look under the front middle cushion yet...thanks for the tip! I wonder why they didn’t put a removable floor panel in the front directly over the bag?

There is one under the front middle cushion on the Makai as stated about the Max above. I have never had a need to open it but I assume it is there for this very reason.

I’m going to walk out to the barn here between rain drops and check it out...thanks guys!!! I will report back soon.

Well, thanks for pointing me in the direction for the access hole, I already had it covered with junk and didn’t even realize it was there.

The vent or overflow line wasn’t hooked up to the bag...simple fix!

Attachment 28618

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Originally Posted by Max20

Well, thanks for pointing me in the direction for the access hole, I already had it covered with junk and didn’t even realize it was there.

The vent or overflow line wasn’t hooked up to the bag...simple fix!

Attachment 28618

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Easy enough, glad you got it taken care of!

Anyone know how to bleed the air out of the front Makai bag? I see the air vents on the two back bags. By the way they had a lot of air in them. I purged them filled them tight again, then next time I emptied and refilled, the air was right back again! Any thoughts?

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Here is a video of me venting the air out of one of my rear bags. This is after the pumps filled it, shut off, and I rand them some more until water came out of the overflow. I was able to fill it more after venting too. Built like I said, when I drained them and filled again, air was right back in there. Also when I drain them, there is always some water left in the bottom. Probably 4" worth. I ran the pumps more, but it just won't suck it all out.

https://youtu.be/JvPQ9EbPzy0

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