R8 Surf Maintenance

[2023BlackR8SURF]

All,
Just bought a 2021 R8 Surf and had the surf system erroring out because an impeller had failed in the ballast pump. It makes sense but didn't even realize those had impellers. Obviously not something covered under warranty. I did the impeller maintenance on the penta 380 motor, and I will do oil changes, but what other maintenance should I be looking at doing on an annual/semi-annual basis? Any good documents on this?

Thanks in advance.

[Titaniumboy]

Sorry you are having issues. Why would the ballast pump would not be covered under warranty?

[2023BlackR8SURF]

Pump would be covered the impeller is a maintenance item and not covered. Making that assumption.

[dsthomas]

there's a 5 year warranty, it should be covered. I've never heard of switching out an impeller on the ballast pumps. I would think they are similar to the bilge pumps. Unless my dealer is missing something. I'm not mechanical and I don't have time to mess with that stuff so I have my dealer to all the maintenance. They've never mentioned anything about impeller maintenance on the ballast pumps. This is my fourth season with a cobalt surf boat. We had an R7 surf for 20 and 21 and and we had our R8S for 22 and now into 23.

[2023BlackR8SURF]

I thought so too. Thought it was odd. Called cobalt and they confirmed the ballast impeller is not covered and also recommended having them replaced yearly. Don’t shoot the messenger. . Just wondering if there is anything else that needs semi annual/annual maint?

[Titaniumboy]

I hope our resident ex Cobalt dealer service manager weighs in on this. Yearly replacement of ballast pump impellers sounds like a lot of fun. And is there more than one ballast pumps to deal with?

[dsthomas]

I thought so too. Thought it was odd. Called cobalt and they confirmed the ballast impeller is not covered and also recommended having them replaced yearly. Don’t shoot the messenger. . Just wondering if there is anything else that needs semi annual/annual maint?

Thanks for letting us all know. Maybe they consider that common knowledge. I had no idea. When I bought my boat I was told impeller on the engine needed to be changed yearly or semi-annual. But they said nothing about the ballast pumps. The impeller it self is like $50 and it looks like it's very easy to do. I would push back a little because there is no information on the ballast system maintenance in all the cobalt lit that I was given. In the cobalt manual it has a ballast system map showing the pump locations on 3-10 but that's it.I had to go out and check my boat to see we have the jabsco king pumps on our R8. This is for the smaller pump. The R8S uses the larger pump with the purple impeller.

https://www.westmarine.com/jabsco-balla ... qUEALw_wcB

[dsthomas]

This site has them for $37.

[2023BlackR8SURF]

I thought so too. Thought it was odd. Called cobalt and they confirmed the ballast impeller is not covered and also recommended having them replaced yearly. Don’t shoot the messenger. . Just wondering if there is anything else that needs semi annual/annual maint?

Thanks for letting us all know. Maybe they consider that common knowledge. I had no idea. When I bought my boat I was told impeller on the engine needed to be changed yearly or semi-annual. But they said nothing about the ballast pumps. The impeller it self is like $50 and it looks like it's very easy to do. I would push back a little because there is no information on the ballast system maintenance in all the cobalt lit that I was given. In the cobalt manual it has a ballast system map showing the pump locations on 3-10 but that's it.I had to go out and check my boat to see we have the jabsco king pumps on our R8. This is for the smaller pump. The R8S uses the larger pump with the purple impeller.

https://www.westmarine.com/jabsco-balla ... qUEALw_wcB

Thanks so much for posting this. I found this as well. Unfortunately, I was too late to know about this. Had my dealer do the replacement. They charged me $92.50 for each impeller (did all 3) and then roughly $150 to replace them. Will do them myself going forward.

[2023BlackR8SURF]

I hope our resident ex Cobalt dealer service manager weighs in on this. Yearly replacement of ballast pump impellers sounds like a lot of fun. And is there more than one ballast pumps to deal with?

There are 3 pumps in my R8S. I had them all three replaced.

[2023BlackR8SURF]

Just some follow-up here. Had all 3 pump impellers replaced. Took the boat out to test it and use it this weekend. No dice. None of the pumps would pump any water, and the values are open. Back to the dealer. We haven't been able to surf all summer. Super frustrating! Will see what this week holds.

[Sierra588]

2023BlackR8SURF - Sorry to hear your issues with R8S. I have a 2021 R8S as well and it has been riddled with issues since I bought it new. I continue to get alarms (STBD Trim Tab Fault) is the most common. It is hit or miss if my surf system will work from one-day-to-another. My feeling is the Gen1 surf system that we have isn't reliable. Hope you get things figured out. With how much these surf boats cost, they should certainly work when you want to surf.

[2023BlackR8SURF]

Finally got to surf this weekend after the correct impellers were put in the pumps.

Just some follow-up here. Had all 3 pump impellers replaced. Took the boat out to test it and use it this weekend. No dice. None of the pumps would pump any water, and the values are open. Back to the dealer. We haven't been able to surf all summer. Super frustrating! Will see what this week holds.

[AsLan7]

Finally got to surf this weekend after the correct impellers were put in the pumps.

Just some follow-up here. Had all 3 pump impellers replaced. Took the boat out to test it and use it this weekend. No dice. None of the pumps would pump any water, and the values are open. Back to the dealer. We haven't been able to surf all summer. Super frustrating! Will see what this week holds.

Outstanding!..how'd you like the surf wave?

.

[2023BlackR8SURF]

I like it; we just haven't perfected the wave yet. We will get there.

Finally got to surf this weekend after the correct impellers were put in the pumps.

Just some follow-up here. Had all 3 pump impellers replaced. Took the boat out to test it and use it this weekend. No dice. None of the pumps would pump any water, and the values are open. Back to the dealer. We haven't been able to surf all summer. Super frustrating! Will see what this week holds.

Outstanding!..how'd you like the surf wave?

.