Air in Ballast Bags - 22 Mojo

I know I've read a few threads making comments around air in ballast bags and needing to "burp" them. I'm finding that I often have a large amount of air left in the bags sometimes but not every time on our new Mojo when they're "full." Adjusting fill timers doesn't seem to help, we're not seeing water vent out the side of the boat and I'm having to open the "Air Release" valve on the bags themselves. What is causing this, why doesn't the factory equipment vent properly? Why did SC go away from a simple through hull vent attached to the top the bags... would changing to this setup negate any of the smart tech features? Thanks!

The bags from the factory have those little air relief valves (the ones with 5-6 holes in the top) that are supposed to let the air out but they don't seem to be able to keep up with the pumps. I remember hearing people say that they were more for slowly bleeding any air out that got trapped throughout the day. When I had my factory setup I would flip the switches to fill my bags and immediately open my "Air Release" valves. I would leave them open until water squirted out and then close them. I have since upgraded my rear bags and also installed top vents on them as well. That was a game changer as I no longer have to manually vent my bags. I also installed check valves right before the thru hull fitting to help the bags drain better and not pull air back into them. Making the change won't negate any of your smart features.

In order to get the bags full and venting out the side you usually have to cycle your pumps once or twice after the bags are full and the pumps shut off. You have to do this because you have a sensor on your overflow or vent line that when it sees water will turn the little dot next to you fill % on your screen from yellow to red and it will also shut the pump off. So to get it to flow out the vent you have to cycle it off then on again and you may have to do it a few times as this sensor will want to shut the pumps off again.

Everything TXsurf just said! A cheaper quick fix is to install an air bleeder valve in the top of the bag. I did this to my stock Makai bags. It worked fairly well. You can find them on Amazon or lots of other places. They are primarily used for irrigation lines. IF I recall correctly, you need 3/4" for the stock bags.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1d85b3dde5.jpg

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I hear ya on the air in the bags. I just installed the Wakemakers top vent kit on my upgraded bags $100 for both sides. I’m not sure though if the stock bags have the top vent to tie into on yours, I think so though.

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Originally Posted by Schlanseay

I hear ya on the air in the bags. I just installed the Wakemakers top vent kit on my upgraded bags $100 for both sides. I’m not sure though if the stock bags have the top vent to tie into on yours, I think so though.

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The factory bags do have the ports to put a top vent on. I wasn’t aware they would kits for this I just bought all the parts and did it my self. I ended up using crimp style hose clamps instead of worm gear to protect the bag.


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Im a firm believer that a ballast sac or tank needs passive venting. An impeller pump has enough force to pop a bag. Chit, I even know if an MB that a restricted sac vent caused the sac to pop the deck cap from the hull at the rubrail seam. Im also a fan of having that over the side visual and audible signal that the sac is full, when you see and hear the vent purging.

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Originally Posted by Schlanseay

I hear ya on the air in the bags. I just installed the Wakemakers top vent kit on my upgraded bags $100 for both sides. I’m not sure though if the stock bags have the top vent to tie into on yours, I think so though.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4ff4ee2387.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f7fa45dba2.jpg


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...65bf9aab79.jpg


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What boat is that on? And yea to the stock bag vent question. They have caps you can unscrew and add a vent.

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Originally Posted by uniwarking

I know I've read a few threads making comments around air in ballast bags and needing to "burp" them. I'm finding that I often have a large amount of air left in the bags sometimes but not every time on our new Mojo when they're "full." Adjusting fill timers doesn't seem to help, we're not seeing water vent out the side of the boat and I'm having to open the "Air Release" valve on the bags themselves. What is causing this, why doesn't the factory equipment vent properly? Why did SC go away from a simple through hull vent attached to the top the bags... would changing to this setup negate any of the smart tech features? Thanks!

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I did the Wakemakers vent upgrade mentioned here on my boat and it works great. It is a must do upgrade. Until you do this you will have to burp your bags every time you fill. Find the port on the top of your bags labeled “air release “ crack both of them open 1 or 2 turns after you start filling. Leave them open until you don’t hear any air rushing from them and the air has been replaced with a steady stream of water. Close the valve and continue filling and you should have full bags with almost no air.

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Originally Posted by HFarr

What boat is that on? And yea to the stock bag vent question. They have caps you can unscrew and add a vent.

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It’s on a Kaiyen


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Yeah, this vent kit sounds like the solution... I have to ask though... why did SC go away from this basic setup that works great and adopt all these vent fittings that don't work... and likely have just as much cost wrapped up into them?! Is anyone not having air fill their bags?

I'm having my starboard side filling with id say 40% air every time, the port side has hardly no air in it at all.
Mentioned it being a problem when boat was in for service and basically got told to just open the valve as it filled...
So now every time I fill its wait for them to say full, then open the hatch and valve and put your feet on it to push air for 30 seconds then wait another 5 mins to fill it to actually full.
I have no idea if the front bag is getting air or not just hoping it isn't..

Also the water sensors are crap imo, I have to manually cycle the pumps over and over again until it finally puts water out the side on each bag. Water sensors always throw with plenty of room for more water I would much rather them just fill till the spray out the side. same with draining, have to sit in dead silence and try to listen to the change of sound when they are pumping water or not. If they simply sprayed out the side as well like older boats you can simply see when you are done

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Originally Posted by uniwarking

Yeah, this vent kit sounds like the solution... I have to ask though... why did SC go away from this basic setup that works great and adopt all these vent fittings that don't work... and likely have just as much cost wrapped up into them?! Is anyone not having air fill their bags?

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Ya you can even build your own kit for a little cheaper on the wakemakers site. As far as why SC went to these fittings, if I had to guess it is to be able to have "subfloor" ballast. If they had vent hoses on the top of all of their bags then you would have trouble with clearances when using the rear tubs and maybe even problems with the hose getting stuck or pinched as the bag fills.

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Originally Posted by Josh828

I'm having my starboard side filling with id say 40% air every time, the port side has hardly no air in it at all.
Mentioned it being a problem when boat was in for service and basically got told to just open the valve as it filled...
So now every time I fill its wait for them to say full, then open the hatch and valve and put your feet on it to push air for 30 seconds then wait another 5 mins to fill it to actually full.
I have no idea if the front bag is getting air or not just hoping it isn't..

Also the water sensors are crap imo, I have to manually cycle the pumps over and over again until it finally puts water out the side on each bag. Water sensors always throw with plenty of room for more water I would much rather them just fill till the spray out the side. same with draining, have to sit in dead silence and try to listen to the change of sound when they are pumping water or not. If they simply sprayed out the side as well like older boats you can simply see when you are done

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Your comment about the front ballast bag having air in it has also been a concern that I have had. For that matter the subfloor midship bags as well. I am sure they have to be getting air. Why would they be any different from the rear? I periodically hit my fill switch for the front after running for a while until I see water come out the overflows. This is after I have filled it until water comes out from the first time. I figure those stock little vent caps just take a little while to work the air out.

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Originally Posted by HFarr

Your comment about the front ballast bag having air in it has also been a concern that I have had. For that matter the subfloor midship bags as well. I am sure they have to be getting air. Why would they be any different from the rear? I periodically hit my fill switch for the front after running for a while until I see water come out the overflows. This is after I have filled it until water comes out from the first time. I figure those stock little vent caps just take a little while to work the air out.

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I have had the same concern as you two. I have been brainstorming a solution for venting the midships like I have done my rears but it will involve putting a hole in the removable floor. The bow I haven't even looked at yet lol Like HFarr I am always topping my bags off throughout the day and making sure they overflow out the side. Then I just turn Autowake back on and let it do it's thing.

Front def gets air in our Supra.

I’ve always vented ballast bags, even in the good old days so it doesn’t bother me to do it today.

I did install air vents on our rears but they didn’t work so I resorted back to manual venting.

As Josh said, it’s normal for me to fill with vents open (front and rear) and then fill for a few more mins after I vent.

I even randomly hit the switches while riding because as the water shifts, air pockets move as well.

Definitely a PIA but I’m used to it [emoji2369]


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Originally Posted by MLA

Im a firm believer that a ballast sac or tank needs passive venting. An impeller pump has enough force to pop a bag. Chit, I even know if an MB that a restricted sac vent caused the sac to pop the deck cap from the hull at the rubrail seam. Im also a fan of having that over the side visual and audible signal that the sac is full, when you see and hear the vent purging.

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I 100% agree with this. Not having venting stock is frustrating but with wake boats.....in for a penny, in for a pound.

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Originally Posted by TXSurf4

I have had the same concern as you two. I have been brainstorming a solution for venting the midships like I have done my rears but it will involve putting a hole in the removable floor. The bow I haven't even looked at yet lol Like HFarr I am always topping my bags off throughout the day and making sure they overflow out the side. Then I just turn Autowake back on and let it do it's thing.

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My 20 Mojo doesn’t have any significant air in the front when filled. If there is any air in the mid ship tank it vents into the bow sack. The bow sack’s stock vent is in the perfect location up high at the nose of the boat. When I see water coming out the port I know the air has vented and the bag is full. It works really well, I would be surprised to find out this setup isn’t used on other models. FWIW I don’t have Autowake, if that has any influence on what set up SC uses for the bow ballast.

Just to update the group, I went the same route as Schlanseay posted about above. This is what WakeMakers recommended as well. Stinks you've got to spend ~$100 extra to get something that should be there already or function as intended, but such is life.

Attachment 30442

I have that setup on my bags and not only does it help keep air out on fill but it also drains better. I don't know the science behind why but my bags have never drained as completely as they do now after that upgrade.

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Originally Posted by uniwarking

Just to update the group, I went the same route as Schlanseay posted about above. This is what WakeMakers recommended as well. Stinks you've got to spend ~$100 extra to get something that should be there already or function as intended, but such is life.

Attachment 30442

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Is this a kit they sell? I couldn't find it on their website.

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Originally Posted by 996scott

Is this a kit they sell? I couldn't find it on their website.

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I believe they might sell a kit but you can just buy all the parts individually on the wake makers site

so you guys are just removing a fitting off the top of the bag, putting a new fitting on the bag, connect the hose, the other end of the hose has a T on it that you splice into the vent hose going out the side of the boat. Where are you putting the check valve? Between the bag and the T?

I posted a parts list and pictures on one of the Supra and Moomba FB pages for this mod. It comes out cheaper than the WakeMakers kit if you piece it together.

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Originally Posted by 996scott

so you guys are just removing a fitting off the top of the bag, putting a new fitting on the bag, connect the hose, the other end of the hose has a T on it that you splice into the vent hose going out the side of the boat. Where are you putting the check valve? Between the bag and the T?

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Put the check valve right before the overflow leaves the hull.

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Originally Posted by 996scott

so you guys are just removing a fitting off the top of the bag, putting a new fitting on the bag, connect the hose, the other end of the hose has a T on it that you splice into the vent hose going out the side of the boat. Where are you putting the check valve? Between the bag and the T?

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Yes basically. I pulled all of the little air vents out of the bag put solid plugs in place and left one open. Put the quick connect in the open one. Build the hose and splice it into the vent line as you said. The Check Valve goes between the thru hull fitting and the T. At least that is how I did it. Here are a few pics https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e66c186ef4.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0f1389425e.jpg


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Originally Posted by benny32

I have that setup on my bags and not only does it help keep air out on fill but it also drains better. I don't know the science behind why but my bags have never drained as completely as they do now after that upgrade.

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I believe it’s from the vacuum effect from the check valve but 100% agree! I surfed for the first time with the upgraded bags and huge difference!


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Originally Posted by 996scott

Is this a kit they sell? I couldn't find it on their website.

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They don't have a kit for our bag/line size, you need to buy a list of parts. I put a picture in my post but I see it's really small.

WakeMAKERS Inline Check Valve Fitting 1" x 2
WakeMAKERS Hose Barb Tee Fitting 1" x 2
WakeMAKERS Premium Clear Ballast Hose - 1" x 14ft (I got extra)
WakeMAKERS DryLOK 1-1/8" Flow-Rite Bag Fitting x 2
WakeMAKERS Flow Rite 1" & 1-1/8" Barbed Elbow Quick Release Connector W746 x 2
Stainless Steel Hose Clamp 1" x 14 (I got extra)

I'm considering doing this upgrade, but had a couple of questions.

1) Has anyone been running this setup for a long time and experienced any issues with pump wear out? I don't think there would be an issue during fill as you are pushing air through the check valve. On drain through, the pumps will be pulling a vacuum (hence why the bags look like raisins) against the check value and perhaps could run into cavitation as the suction pressure drops. Has anyone looked at the specs for the pumps or run into issues? I'd hate to burn out the pumps prematurely.

2) I've updated my '21 to the '22 software which has the autofill feature. When filling to 100%, it will cycle the pumps occasionally to fill back what air may have been remaining during the original fill and I'll see it dumping out the overflow. With this, I would think the benefit of the vent would only be the time between original fill and when the autofill starts to work. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for the expertise from the group.

@Ironman10

Been building reversible ballast pump systems with a vent line and check valve for 14 years. No pump failures or burned impellers.

As to #2, you are likely correct. Most, if not all of the air, will be purged the initial fill cycle. However, I see no downside to the pump cycling for a short period again, after the initial fill cycle.

Hey all… for those that have installed this kit (or group of parts rather), I assume you had 1” ballast line? I just started installing mine and found that the hose on the port side of the boat is larger than 1”. Starboard side is 1”. Might explain why my vent line was leaking previously where it connected to the through hull vent. Crap…. Apparently SC put larger hose on one side for some unknown reason… either defect or deviation? Now I get to figure out how to deal things up for the weekend since I’ve already but into the hose.


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Just to follow up... there was one stretch of hose from the port side ballast sensor to the port side vent that was 1-1/8" instead of 1". Not sure how this happend but I used some of the hose from my order to fix this. Now waiting on more hose to finish the job...

So I got everything installed. Couple questions before I give it a go on filing.

1. Putting the check valve between the T and drain port is correct?

2. Do you need to replace the vented plugs on the bags with solid?

3. Any special instructions on first fill out subsequent fills?

4. Is it ok to leave the autofill feature on (the one that kicks in if sensor senses the bag isn't full)?

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Originally Posted by WildH

So I got everything installed. Couple questions before I give it a go on filing.

1. Putting the check valve between the T and drain port is correct?

2. Do you need to replace the vented plugs on the bags with solid?

3. Any special instructions on first fill out subsequent fills?

4. Is it ok to leave the autofill feature on (the one that kicks in if sensor senses the bag isn't full)?

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1. Yes this is correct you want it between the T and the thru hull vent port so that when you drain your bags it doesn't pull air in to them.

2. Yes I did for the same reason above to not pull air in to the bags when draining.

3. Just make sure that your top vent hose doesn't get pinched between the bag and the walls when filling.

4. Yes not sure why this would be an issue.

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Originally Posted by WildH

So I got everything installed. Couple questions before I give it a go on filing.

1. Putting the check valve between the T and drain port is correct?

2. Do you need to replace the vented plugs on the bags with solid?

3. Any special instructions on first fill out subsequent fills?

4. Is it ok to leave the autofill feature on (the one that kicks in if sensor senses the bag isn't full)?

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#4 yes when they auto switch off, toggle the switch off then on to override. Do this until they overflow through the vent


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If the vent T is for 2 soft sacs, then yes, place the CV after the T. If there is a hard tank and soft sac sharing a single vent outlet, the CV needs to go between the sac and T. Otherwise, the the sac cant vent and will tin-can.

This is how I have mine on my Max. Works like a champ!

Port side

https://i.imgur.com/76pf4cn.jpg

Starboard side

https://i.imgur.com/fIc0h8x.jpg

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Originally Posted by Schlanseay

#4 yes when they auto switch off, toggle the switch off then on to override. Do this until they overflow through the vent


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Do you find this to be a bit annoying? How does the auto off feature know when to stop? Mine stops pretty dang early and when bags are maybe 80% full. Is rather it just fill without the sensor.

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Originally Posted by WildH

Do you find this to be a bit annoying? How does the auto off feature know when to stop? Mine stops pretty dang early and when bags are maybe 80% full. Is rather it just fill without the sensor.

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The sensors are indeed annoying. I call them false trips when they shut off prematurely. One thing I did to help (not solve) the issue is to slide the sensors up as high in the tunnel as possible on the overflow tube. I’ve also contemplated just sliding them off the tubes entirely but leaving them hooked up so that I won’t get any error messages about sensors or whatever. In theory the sensor idea is nice and all but the reality is they stop too early or get tripped too easily when the bags aren’t even full yet. I wished the bags or system used actual float sensors so that this whole thing could be resolved and also give you truly accurate bag fill levels.

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Originally Posted by haknslash

The sensors are indeed annoying. I call them false trips when they shut off prematurely. One thing I did to help (not solve) the issue is to slide the sensors up as high in the tunnel as possible on the overflow tube. I’ve also contemplated just sliding them off the tubes entirely but leaving them hooked up so that I won’t get any error messages about sensors or whatever. In theory the sensor idea is nice and all but the reality is they stop too early or get tripped too easily when the bags aren’t even full yet. I wished the bags or system used actual float sensors so that this whole thing could be resolved and also give you truly accurate bag fill levels.

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You got a picture of where the sensors are? I didn't have much issue when I had the stock bags, but with the wakemakers, it's all the time.

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Originally Posted by WildH

Do you find this to be a bit annoying? How does the auto off feature know when to stop? Mine stops pretty dang early and when bags are maybe 80% full. Is rather it just fill without the sensor.

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A little annoying but I did this with the stock bags too to make sure they were full. Once you adjust the timers it should be good to go.


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