Ballast problem

[Shoebox]

Hi - I just bought a 2014 Mondo last week, and I'm having an issue getting the ballast in the nose to drain. I don't know a lot about the system, but it has a hard center tank (400 lbs?) which feeds into the horseshoe bow bag (650 or 750, the seller didn't remember which).

The pump fills the bag fine, but when I drain it, the pump sounds like it's cavitating, and shuts off after about a minute, without emptying much from the bag. When it's pumping, I can hear gurgling from the overflow vent.

Any ideas? Is the vent line check valve stuck open, causing it not to pump properly?

[Stazi]

There should not be a check valve on the front bag as this would cause the tank to oil can and collapse. Check valves can only be used on the rear bags. If the previous seller put on on the front bag, remove it. You can test this by disconnecting the vent line from the bow bag and see if this alleviates the problem. As you described, this setup fills the tank first which then overflows into the bow bag. Emptying happens exactly in reverse; bow bag will empty and then the center tank should empty.


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[Shoebox]

I'll give that a shot.

Yeah the strange thing is it worked when we test drove the boat, but of course the minute I get it home it starts doing this. I'm going to the boat in about an hour to fiddle with it, so any suggestions in the meantime would be great.

[BrettLee3232]

I'll give that a shot.

Yeah the strange thing is it worked when we test drove the boat, but of course the minute I get it home it starts doing this. I'm going to the boat in about an hour to fiddle with it, so any suggestions in the meantime would be great.

Do you only happen to have 1 side connected to the bag? I think it was the 14s where they only did starboard side fill/drain so the port side of the bag wouldn't drain 🤷🏼*♂️


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[Shoebox]

Do you only happen to have 1 side connected to the bag? I think it was the 14s where they only did starboard side fill/drain so the port side of the bag wouldn't drain 🤷🏼*♂️


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I'm not sure what you mean. It's an added bag in the nose, piggybacked onto the hard center tank.

[BrettLee3232]

I'm not sure what you mean. It's an added bag in the nose, piggybacked onto the hard center tank.

So is mine. But on 15s there's a fill/drain on each of the legs. I think on the 14s they just cut off the vent line for the center tank and filled the bow bag. I could be wrong though. Do you only have water on the port side of the bow bag?


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[Shoebox]

No, it drains/fills from the starboard side, and seems to do so equally - the little bit that will drain. It's sitting a little over half full now.

[JD14Mondo]

No, it drains/fills from the starboard side, and seems to do so equally - the little bit that will drain. It's sitting a little over half full now.

14 only has starboard side vent. I put quick connects so I can drain IBS then disconnect bag so tank will vent easily. I have to move port let of bag to the middle while draining to get all the water out. It is a pain but I don't want to put any stress on the hard tank when draining. This winter I will install port side drain/fill line.

[Shoebox]

I just looked at how it's plumbed. The fill and drain lines both T to the vent. Both sides have a check valve. It seems strange.

[Stazi]

I don't get it....


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