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Repairing Ballast Tank


Technicallyabu

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Had a leak this summer that I couldn't pinpoint but narrowed it down to the centre tank.  While I was winterizing I decided to find it.  Turns out the flange on the bulkhead fitting for the drain pump is cracked.

 

Pulling the centre tank looks like a project from hell.  Remove the fuel tank, four ballast pumps, hoses, ball valves and maybe the thru-hulls since space is so tight.  Not interested.  I suppose options are take it in to try and get some poor sap to plastic weld it or try some sort of epoxy.  Anyone with any experience?

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I doubt a flexible fix would hold for very long in that scenario. The weight/leverage of the pump and the hose would only cause a flexible fix to separate again. I have used JB Weld Qiuick cure on some other plastic stuff on the boat and it has worked great! With prepping the surface by cross hatching, a good cleaning and a good amount of the stuff I bet it would work pretty well. I would provide some strain relief to the hose to take some weight and stress off the flange area once fixed.

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8 hours ago, Technicallyabu said:

Had a leak this summer that I couldn't pinpoint but narrowed it down to the centre tank.  While I was winterizing I decided to find it.  Turns out the flange on the bulkhead fitting for the drain pump is cracked.

 

Pulling the centre tank looks like a project from hell.  Remove the fuel tank, four ballast pumps, hoses, ball valves and maybe the thru-hulls since space is so tight.  Not interested.  I suppose options are take it in to try and get some poor sap to plastic weld it or try some sort of epoxy.  Anyone with any experience?

The boat listed in your profile is a '13 A22; By my math you should still be covered under the factory warranty. I know it's a pain-in-the-a** job to pull the tank, but your dealer has all winter to work on it, do the job correctly and keep your boat clean while working on it. If it were me I would at least be asking about a replacement tank from the factory under warranty. If you decide to use JB Weld (or something similar) and it doesn't work then you'll have the tank. It might be worth investigating all the options before you take action.

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5 minutes ago, teamerickson said:

In 2013 Axis had a one year full two year parts warranty. 

OK, my bad. It still may be worth a call to ask about it. It's possible that the manufacturer of the hard tank provides a longer warranty than Malibu/Axis does. I realize that's only the replacement tank and not the labor, but it's getting cold soon and therefore time for projects.

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Might call the dealer to see if theres anything they can do. They are 9 hrs away and Ive done all warranty issues myself other than some gel coat work that I didnt want to deal with. Id like to avoid pulling the tank for obvious reasons. Ill give the epoxy a go first. Worst case I pull the tank and put in a new bulkhead fitting.

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