Ballast Bags?

[jbheuerman]

Just got my first boat this year... 2006 Mobius XLV. Got a quick question about the ballast. With the main valve open, should the bags fill with water up to the lake level on their own? When I am sitting still, the bags will slightly fill with water, without turning the pump on. I thought the ballast pump would prevent water from entering the bags until it was turned on. Is there something I may be forgetting, or do you turn the main valve on and off everytime you want to use the ballast? Thanks for the help!

[mmandley]

Not positive on the XLV. I have and LSV but there's tons of people who can help with your ballast and tell ya what to look for here. Give it a few hours or the afternoon and you will get lots of responses im sure. Also there's a lot of posts on Ballast under Modifications.

My ballast never fills on its own. I can be out all day and it never fills unless i hit the switches. I have more issues trying to get it to drain then fill LOL. My aerator pumps love to get air in them.

Only thing i can offer is there's small black levers on each solenoid and if there in the open position they will full the ballast automatically. Or your solenoid might have a weak spring and leaking water by.

[jasonwm]

Only thing i can offer is there's small black levers on each solenoid and if there in the open position they will full the ballast automatically.

This is the first thing to check for sure. How quickly is water coming in?

[jbheuerman]

The water seems to flow in at the rate of gravity. It stay's approximately 1/4 full while sitting still. It will not completely fill up until I turn the pump on.

Another thing is that I turned on the right ballast only and both rear bags filled up? I'll have to dig around and see if I can find a problem, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[98outback]

Which bag is it? Sounds like one ofyour valves is not sealing. Had the same problem this year. Took the valve apart and had a piece of grass in it. 5 minute fix. This was on my supra ssv.

[mmandley]

Along the same lines here.

Once again yesterday i was working in the boat and my center locker < Ski locker > bag is completely full of air. I am constantly having to unhook this bag and bleed air out of it.

Is this normal or something i can do? I have herd of putting tape over the drain hole but do i really have to put tape on my boat?