Ballast tanks losing water after filling.

[Wedgehead]

My R3 is losing ballast water after filling them up. Anyone else having this issue??
Dealer said they have had some issues with this and have a fix. NOT!!!!!
The water is being pushed back out the intakes because the head pressure from the tanks is greater that the lake water. Intake pumps and tubes are lower than the tanks. Here's there solution, put loops in the tubing to break the siphon. Nope, the dealer says this is Cobalts fix as of now.
Well, first they almost sunk my new boat by putting on the wrong tubes and did not check for leaks. And did not tell me they made the repairs. Second, now I just have a mess of tubes in my bilge with no resolution. They did put proper tubing on that stopped the leaks. Oh, yeah the also have great brass thru hulls but put pvc threaded barbed 90s on them for tubing. They were broken during this process.
Come on Cobalt, you got to do better than this.
What you need are power actuated valves that open when pumps are energized or like the wake boats install the lines high in the compartments to break the siphon.

[akorcovelos]

Seen several issues with the surf models here. Just seems to be out of Cobalts comfort zone. Maybe the acquisition by Malibu will help in future models, but unfortunately that probably won’t help you...

[BobRae99]

My R3 is losing ballast water after filling them up. Anyone else having this issue??
Dealer said they have had some issues with this and have a fix. NOT!!!!!
The water is being pushed back out the intakes because the head pressure from the tanks is greater that the lake water. Intake pumps and tubes are lower than the tanks. Here's there solution, put loops in the tubing to break the siphon. Nope, the dealer says this is Cobalts fix as of now.
Well, first they almost sunk my new boat by putting on the wrong tubes and did not check for leaks. And did not tell me they made the repairs. Second, now I just have a mess of tubes in my bilge with no resolution. They did put proper tubing on that stopped the leaks. Oh, yeah the also have great brass thru hulls but put pvc threaded barbed 90s on them for tubing. They were broken during this process.
Come on Cobalt, you got to do better than this.
What you need are power actuated valves that open when pumps are energized or like the wake boats install the lines high in the compartments to break the siphon.

I think if you are patient and work with your dealer and Cobalt they will get you sorted out. They seem to try very hard to satisfy their customers. BR

[MnLakeBum]

I have the same problem with my R5 Surf but it's not a big enough deal for me to have it fixed until the offseason. I just check the tank levels when in Surf mode and flip the fill switch back on to keep them full.

[Jeeper]

I’m having the same issue with my R5. I just have been refilling the tanks periodically, I will have to get it looked at next time I take it in.

[Norris_Boating]

Humm, I am not having this issue...I don't think.
When I picked up my boat they told me that on first fill sometimes some air is in the tank and pump shuts off. So as you surf around it drops off from full as the indicator See's space. So I sometimes top it off during surfing. Usually two top offs or less is all it takes to stay full.
Can you actually see the water leaving the tanks or just monitoring the control knobs. Seems like you got a lot more in depth than I have with my ballast.

[Wedgehead]

So when Cobalt told dealer to put a loop in the tubing they took it literally. They added hose and created loops at the same level the original tubes were installed. This will not work, what they meant I hope was to create loops higher than the tank that it is feeding. This would mean the loop would have to be installed almost to the top of the engine compartment just under the LED engine room light to break the siphon since the one tank sits very tall. This is a design flaw and should be corrected, I can see this job taking well over 6 hrs to complete. Basically have to re plumb all the supply tubes.
The dealer I'm dealing with will not put this much thought into it and probably will never be repaired unless I do it myself.

[Cmillwheels]

Same issue here with my 2018 R3WSS surf. The dealer replace my pumps and installed the loops up high by the LED as wedgehead suggested. I actually had two problems to begin with. The tanks were self filling when the boat was moored and draining while surfing, especially on the starboard side. The self filling issue was corrected with the loops, but not the self draining. I’ll lose as much as half my ballast in the starboard tank in as little as 10 minutes of surfing. Dealer has been very helpful, but it’s clear that cobalt is floundering to find a fix for this issue. Needless to say, the wave has no push whatsoever when the tank is only half full.

A couple of things with this design don’t make sense. Why didn’t they design an electric solenoid valve to positively shut off the drain/fill line when the pump is not running? Also, why is the vent line on the back of the tanks? Would it not make more sense for the vent line to be located on the front (bow) end of the tanks to prevent water from escaping when the bow is riding higher during surfing?

[Norris_Boating]

Can you guys post some pics of the issue? I have been looking at my plumbing more closely, they only way I can see it being an issue is if the pump doesn't close (bad valve?). Mine doesn't leak at all.
Here is a picture of mine.

IMG_20190728_100031.jpg

[Wedgehead]

The pump does not close. It's just relying on the impeller to stop the flow. Just imagine the head pressure of that tank which is 5 times higher than the pump and tubing. Its just pushed back out until the pressure equalizes. Which in the tall tank, it looses almost half the water. At least after dealer tried to make repaires and put wrong tubes on, the water just leaked back into boat. Wasn't loosing weight at least, because water was sitting in the bilge area instead of tank.
Pure knuckle heads!!!!!

[Cmillwheels]

Wanted to follow up with everyone on this issue. My dealer was tenacious and stuck with it until they found a solution to the issue. As it turns out, at least in my case, we did not have water leaking back through the pumps. Water was being siphoned out of the tanks through the tank vents while under way. My vents are at/below the water’s surface while surfing. The solution was to install loops on the vent lines as well as the pump lines. As long as the “top” of the vent line loop remains above the top of the tank (and the boat’s water line) all is well. We have used the boat extensively after the vent lines were looped and have not lost any water. As a result we are happy with our R3 again! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to post but will get one taken and post it up to show how the vent line was run.

[Big Block Power]

Wanted to follow up with everyone on this issue. My dealer was tenacious and stuck with it until they found a solution to the issue. As it turns out, at least in my case, we did not have water leaking back through the pumps. Water was being siphoned out of the tanks through the tank vents while under way. My vents are at/below the water’s surface while surfing. The solution was to install loops on the vent lines as well as the pump lines. As long as the “top” of the vent line loop remains above the top of the tank (and the boat’s water line) all is well. We have used the boat extensively after the vent lines were looped and have not lost any water. As a result we are happy with our R3 again! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to post but will get one taken and post it up to show how the vent line was run.

Yea 1 big issue solved. Is this a satisfactory repair? Sounds like it is.

[Norris_Boating]

Wanted to follow up with everyone on this issue. My dealer was tenacious and stuck with it until they found a solution to the issue. As it turns out, at least in my case, we did not have water leaking back through the pumps. Water was being siphoned out of the tanks through the tank vents while under way. My vents are at/below the water’s surface while surfing. The solution was to install loops on the vent lines as well as the pump lines. As long as the “top” of the vent line loop remains above the top of the tank (and the boat’s water line) all is well. We have used the boat extensively after the vent lines were looped and have not lost any water. As a result we are happy with our R3 again! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to post but will get one taken and post it up to show how the vent line was run.

That makes sense, also why it seems to be isolated to the R3.

[Cmillwheels]

Wanted to follow up with everyone on this issue. My dealer was tenacious and stuck with it until they found a solution to the issue. As it turns out, at least in my case, we did not have water leaking back through the pumps. Water was being siphoned out of the tanks through the tank vents while under way. My vents are at/below the water’s surface while surfing. The solution was to install loops on the vent lines as well as the pump lines. As long as the “top” of the vent line loop remains above the top of the tank (and the boat’s water line) all is well. We have used the boat extensively after the vent lines were looped and have not lost any water. As a result we are happy with our R3 again! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to post but will get one taken and post it up to show how the vent line was run.

Yea 1 big issue solved. Is this a satisfactory repair? Sounds like it is.

Yes, they did a good job with the repair. Every thing is neat and tidy. In my opinion they secured the lines much better than the way the factory had secured the originals.

This has been a trying summer with this boat. We also had a significant low RPM vibration issue that was part of a Volvo/Penta warranty claim. Dealer had to pull the engine and drive to replace a mounting plate at the transom that had been machined incorrectly. Another extremely frustrating issue.... anyway, that repair is complete as well. Looking forward to a warranty claim free summer of boating next year!

[Big Block Power]

Very good. Glad they found it and took care of the issues
I'm sure it wasn't easy to find that vibration. Can't wait to see pictures of you enjoying your boat the rest of this year and next.