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2020 212x center ballast tank overfills and broke my latch.

Lrichards

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2020 212x center ballast tank overfills and broke my latch. The bag also damaged the partition aft of the tank. Has anyone seen this? I seem to have the opposite issues as everyone else my back is too full.
 

Cambo

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Most likely what is happening the center bag tends to get a siphon effect and will partially fill with water ,its been well documented here with multiple members reporting this. My son and I created a jumper cable that allows you to hook up to any pump and either fill, empty or adjust the level of any of the bags . This will allow you to empty the bag completely so its set to the correct level before it fills .
 

Cambo

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Priceisright

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2020 212x center ballast tank overfills and broke my latch. The bag also damaged the partition aft of the tank. Has anyone seen this? I seem to have the opposite issues as everyone else my back is too full.
Does the tank stay full?
 

MNJets

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I had the same thing happen on my 2019 212X - the ski locker ballast in the bow overfilled and snapped the door latch. I have read a few threads on ballast calibration and the tanks thinking they are empty but are actually still filled 15-20% so when you hit "Fill All" or 100%, the pump continues sending water to the ballast bag even after it's full. My "fix" is to open the locker and visually watch the bag fill which is a slight inconvenience if kids are running back and forth through the boat. I cannot remember how to "calibrate" within the Connext screen so if anybody has those specifics I'd appreciate it. Unfortunately, the boat's put away for the season so all I can do is read / enjoy posts from boaters in the South.
 

Priceisright

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I had the same thing happen on my 2019 212X - the ski locker ballast in the bow overfilled and snapped the door latch. I have read a few threads on ballast calibration and the tanks thinking they are empty but are actually still filled 15-20% so when you hit "Fill All" or 100%, the pump continues sending water to the ballast bag even after it's full. My "fix" is to open the locker and visually watch the bag fill which is a slight inconvenience if kids are running back and forth through the boat. I cannot remember how to "calibrate" within the Connext screen so if anybody has those specifics I'd appreciate it. Unfortunately, the boat's put away for the season so all I can do is read / enjoy posts from boaters in the South.
Really wish Yamaha would go back to mechanical gauges. I’m afraid of the long term reliability of my connext unit.
 

haknslash

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Can you not install and overfill vent hose on top of the bag? Crazy they would use bags with no way of venting!!! I was kind of blown away by JBP’s latest video on the 255 and how Yamaha just now added a vent “feature” which overflow vent is normal for any boat these days that has ballast.
 

ripler

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Can you not install and overfill vent hose on top of the bag? Crazy they would use bags with no way of venting!!! I was kind of blown away by JBP’s latest video on the 255 and how Yamaha just now added a vent “feature” which overflow vent is normal for any boat these days that has ballast.
My exact thoughts, does Yamaha employ any competent engineers?
 

suke

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Can you not install and overfill vent hose on top of the bag? Crazy they would use bags with no way of venting!!! I was kind of blown away by JBP’s latest video on the 255 and how Yamaha just now added a vent “feature” which overflow vent is normal for any boat these days that has ballast.
hard tanks are vented, the bags are not. On my 2020 212x both hard tanks have a vent out the side. I like to "overfill" mine until I see water coming out of them.
 

haknslash

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That is crazy there is no vent on the bag!!! That means there is trapped air as well and it won't fill 100% with water. Hopefully there is at least a way to manually vent via removing fill cap or something. Unreal they did this.
 

MNJets

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2020 was my first full year with a boat with ballasts so I'm still learning. I would need to do some research and get technical assistance before I cut into a ballast bag to install a relief valve or overflow.

Suke - good to know you have overflow vents on the hard tanks in the stern of your 2020. I'll have to do some investigating next spring on my 2019.
 

suke

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That is crazy there is no vent on the bag!!! That means there is trapped air as well and it won't fill 100% with water. Hopefully there is at least a way to manually vent via removing fill cap or something. Unreal they did this.
There's another fill cap, so I'd imagine you could vent it. I haven't had an issue.
 

haknslash

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There's another fill cap, so I'd imagine you could vent it. I haven't had an issue.
If you're not manually venting the fill cap and these don't an overfill vent hose then I have no idea how you're able to consistently fill the bag full of water. If you've ever filled at speed or more than idle you can introduce air into the bag which happens most times. There will always be some residual air trapped each time the system is drained or filled. Have you verified your bags are 100% water? you can't go by visual since it will always appear full and you have to usually shake the bag or press on it to fill for air.
 
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suke

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If you're not manually venting the fill cap and these don't an overfill vent hose then I have no idea how you're able to consistently fill the bag full of water. If you've ever filled at speed or more than idle you can introduce air into the bag which happens most times. There will always be some residual air trapped each time the system is drained or filled. Have you verified your bags are 100% water? you can't go by visual since it will always appear full and you have to usually shake the bag or press on it to fill for air.
I generally fill my center bag to 107%. I open locker and give it a look, smack the bag and it felt all water. I've pulled my bag out before to clean it. When I put it back in it was semi filled with air. The next time out it wouldn't fill all the way. So, once I got home I ran the pump and squished the bag down to get all the air/water out. Since then haven't had any issues.
 

Jim Bingham

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If you're not manually venting the fill cap and these don't an overfill vent hose then I have no idea how you're able to consistently fill the bag full of water. If you've ever filled at speed or more than idle you can introduce air into the bag which happens most times. There will always be some residual air trapped each time the system is drained or filled. Have you verified your bags are 100% water? you can't go by visual since it will always appear full and you have to usually shake the bag or press on it to fill for air.
I had the same issue and also my latch broke. I had to take back to the dealer they needed to replace the O2 sensors. They said they had to put the boat in the water which they did to calibrate the the middle ballast. When I picked it up I was given the instructions on how to calibrate it myself if it happens again, seamed simple once you find it in the computer in the dash, I also recorded the instructions to have for reference. I haven’t looked but there must be something also on YouTube.
 

Jaydubbs

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I had the same issue and also my latch broke. I had to take back to the dealer they needed to replace the O2 sensors. They said they had to put the boat in the water which they did to calibrate the the middle ballast. When I picked it up I was given the instructions on how to calibrate it myself if it happens again, seamed simple once you find it in the computer in the dash, I also recorded the instructions to have for reference. I haven’t looked but there must be something also on YouTube.
This just happened to me on the lake yesterday. I have a 2021 212XD. The ballast bag broke through the crappy barrier and snapped two of the brackets off, I think it pierced the bag as well. The ski locker door latch snapped, and the door popped up.

Extremely frustrating to have this happen.

I’m curious to know more about the calibration…it has to be related to that.
 

Wicked92

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hard tanks are vented, the bags are not. On my 2020 212x both hard tanks have a vent out the side. I like to "overfill" mine until I see water coming out of them.
Center locker on my 255xd is vented.
 

suke

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This just happened to me on the lake yesterday. I have a 2021 212XD. The ballast bag broke through the crappy barrier and snapped two of the brackets off, I think it pierced the bag as well. The ski locker door latch snapped, and the door popped up.

Extremely frustrating to have this happen.

I’m curious to know more about the calibration…it has to be related to that.
man that really sucks. I've been very fortunate with my boat only having minor issues. I do have one screw hole that's stripped on that board. I make sure to have the bag fully pushed towards the front of the hull, so there's not so much pressure on that thing. Kinda wild to think a couple of tiny screws is going to hold 1000lbs of water. HAH!
 

Cambo

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This just happened to me on the lake yesterday. I have a 2021 212XD. The ballast bag broke through the crappy barrier and snapped two of the brackets off, I think it pierced the bag as well. The ski locker door latch snapped, and the door popped up.

Extremely frustrating to have this happen.

I’m curious to know more about the calibration…it has to be related to that.
Not sure about the 21 calibration how its done but this cable can be very helpful with numerous things including calibration


The newest item we realized with a few hose parts you can turn any ballast pump into a bilge pump incase of an emergency
 

Jaydubbs

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man that really sucks. I've been very fortunate with my boat only having minor issues. I do have one screw hole that's stripped on that board. I make sure to have the bag fully pushed towards the front of the hull, so there's not so much pressure on that thing. Kinda wild to think a couple of tiny screws is going to hold 1000lbs of water. HAH!
I had the great Yamaha tech at Irwin Marine in Laconia look at it. He said these bags and their enclosures are a recurring issue for Yamaha, but for some reason they haven’t fixed the terrible design. The pump only tracks cycles, it doesn’t have a sensor to to determine if it’s actually draining or filling.

What happened is during the drain, the bag can cover the drain nozzle and not allow the water to flow. Then when you refill, it overfills and blows through the hardware and locker…unreal.

He then suggested to try velcro on the center line of the bag when empty and run it down the bag, this will keep the bag from sliding toward the stern, and then blocking the drain. He also said to take quick peeks periodically to make sure the bag is actually draining or after the drain process. Obviously we shouldn’t have to do this…but it is what it is.

Warranty covers all this, but there’s no warranty for ass pain of dealing with a busted ballast and driving back and forth to the dealer.

I’m waiting for the warranty parts to come in, but will build a stool shaped barrier for now that will block the ballast bag from hitting the pump.
 
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