Bow ballast upgrade

[VLXRonnie]

sweet you . looks like I know what my next weekend project is. I guess ill add it to my amp turn-on wire/rewire. accessing the dash switches for that and the bow ballast. its gonna make for a long weekend.

[VLXRonnie]

where did you drill the hole for the thru hull and mount the fill pump? kinda cramped in the center access area where the center fill pump is.

[liljohn]

I personally stole the t drain fitting in the center compartment. every bu I looked at had the pump mounted in there and yes it was very crowded.

[VLXRonnie]

so where do you drain your bilge? so then, the only holes you drilled were the 2 on the driver side. possibly for the vent and drain line, is that correct? thinking of doing it soon possibly a fathers day gift to myself.

[liljohn]

so where do you drain your bilge? so then, the only holes you drilled were the 2 on the driver side. possibly for the vent and drain line, is that correct? thinking of doing it soon possibly a fathers day gift to myself.

I drain the bilge out the transom. The joy of living 5 minutes from the lake and thats five minutes up hill. By the time I am home it is drained. Yes I drilled the drain and vent out the side.

[kb3]

lil john,

did you have any info or pictures on how you accessed the factory MLS to wire up the sending unit? and thanks for the pm reply also i will be looking forward to converting my 06 VLX.

Ronnie

See the picture in post number 43. that is the wire looms coming out of the floor at the drivers feet. they were already connected at the dash so all you need to do is connect the tank.

Were they already connected to a switch? If so why did you purchase another switch. I have an unused switch on the dash that I was going to use for the bow tank.

Thanks for the parts list and links, makes it easy for me to finally get this done!

[liljohn]

lil john,

did you have any info or pictures on how you accessed the factory MLS to wire up the sending unit? and thanks for the pm reply also i will be looking forward to converting my 06 VLX.

Ronnie

See the picture in post number 43. that is the wire looms coming out of the floor at the drivers feet. they were already connected at the dash so all you need to do is connect the tank.

Were they already connected to a switch? If so why did you purchase another switch. I have an unused switch on the dash that I was going to use for the bow tank.

Thanks for the parts list and links, makes it easy for me to finally get this done!

The switch that was there was an on-off not an on- off- on. So I had to swap it out. all the wires were there and terminated I just needed to dig out the feeds for the pumps. and hook them to the switch.

[VLXRonnie]

so where do you drain your bilge? so then, the only holes you drilled were the 2 on the driver side. possibly for the vent and drain line, is that correct? thinking of doing it soon possibly a fathers day gift to myself.

I drain the bilge out the transom. The joy of living 5 minutes from the lake and thats five minutes up hill. By the time I am home it is drained. Yes I drilled the drain and vent out the side.

my transom plug is very difficult to remove. there is lower cross brace for my power wedge which runs just aft of the plug. its close enough to the plug where i cant completely remove it. i can unscrew it maybe 70% but not all the way.it ends up hitting the bracket. i wonder if my wedge was mounted a few inches lower than normal. hasnt been an issue until now though.

[Intense]

Sorry if this has already been covered, but I read the whole thread and didn't see any references to older boats.

I'll be taking delivery of an 04 23 LSV in a couple weeks. I know it doesn't have bow ballast, not even sure it was an option that year. Could the factory bow ballast be retrofit to the older hull? I have my doubts, but I thought I'd ask.

I guess my only options would be one of the bow sacs.

[VLXRonnie]

Sorry if this has already been covered, but I read the whole thread and didn't see any references to older boats.

I'll be taking delivery of an 04 23 LSV in a couple weeks. I know it doesn't have bow ballast, not even sure it was an option that year. Could the factory bow ballast be retrofit to the older hull? I have my doubts, but I thought I'd ask.

I guess my only options would be one of the bow sacs.

someone may chime in that knows a little more about the hull design. wiring the pump and pluming the everything should be simple; even if your boat was not prewired for a bow ballast. question would be the MLS display (whether or not your boat came with) and the fitment of the bow tank (provided your seat bases are removable). but as with anything, throw enough money at it and it will work. question is if it is reasonable.

[Intense]

Sorry if this has already been covered, but I read the whole thread and didn't see any references to older boats.

I'll be taking delivery of an 04 23 LSV in a couple weeks. I know it doesn't have bow ballast, not even sure it was an option that year. Could the factory bow ballast be retrofit to the older hull? I have my doubts, but I thought I'd ask.

I guess my only options would be one of the bow sacs.

someone may chime in that knows a little more about the hull design. wiring the pump and pluming the everything should be simple; even if your boat was not prewired for a bow ballast. question would be the MLS display (whether or not your boat came with) and the fitment of the bow tank (provided your seat bases are removable). but as with anything, throw enough money at it and it will work. question is if it is reasonable.

OK, i did some digging over the weekend. It turns out I do have bow ballast/hard tank in my boat....yeah!!

The previous owner didn't know for sure, so I just pulled up the cushions and DING! there was the tank.

Now, my next question....is there a way to retrofit the newer dash with the 'ballast monitoring system', so that I'd be able to see how full my tank are? Although, since I'm planning on replacing the rear tanks with bags. I guess I'd only need the BMS for the bow ballast. In that case, is it really worth the effort to swap out the dash? I could just time filling the bow and use that as a gauge. IE 10 min to full (water coming out overflow) = 5 mins to half full

[badluck]

How much in parts do you guess? Can this be done on an 05 vlx?

[kb3]

How much in parts do you guess? Can this be done on an 05 vlx?

The parts are just under $300, I just ordered them, but you can not put a hard tank in the 2005 VLX bow. Many of the same parts could be used to put a bag under the front seats.

[badluck]

how about 06?

[kb3]

how about 06?

Probably not, but post a picture of your bow seating area without the cushions and we can tell you very quickly. We were told no on a 07, but this thread proves that wrong. So the only positive way is for me to see a picture of that area of your boat.

[badluck]

We do not have 1 yet, still a wannabe. We are looking and see alot of good matches but missing the bow ballast. I guess I should ask for a picture of what it needs to look like for it to work. I've been told they changed the bow area in 06 so it might work. I was just checking to see.Was the bow ballast tank about 250? Thanks again

[VLXRonnie]

if you check out liljohn's 3rd post it shows what the seat bases should look like. The 4 brackets holding the seat bases is the key. If you have the brackets you should have a removable seat base. as far as price I set everything up and it was about $525 with the new tank. 300 ish for the hardware and 225 for the tank. Then shipping for the tank is $125 because it is over sized and must be shipped via freight ground.

Edited July 10, 2009 by VLXRonnie

[kb3]

if you check out liljohn's 3rd post it shows what the seat bases should look like. The 4 brackets holding the seat bases is the key. If you have the brackets you should have a removable seat base. as far as price I set everything up and it was about $525 with the new tank. 300 ish for the hardware and 225 for the tank. Then shipping for the tank is $125 because it is over sized and must be shipped via freight ground.

I paid somewhere around $250 for the tank, a carpeted panel that lays on the tank and the carpeted panel that blocks off the walk-thru. Shipping was included. I cannot believe that anyone would charge $125 for shipping a 10 pound tank....wowsa.

And as I said in a previous post I just ordered the list of parts from this thread for just shy of $300.

[snaponman2908]

Just got done with my bow ballast install. Took me about 4hrs. Malibu makes it pretty easy.

[kb3]

Just got done with my bow ballast install. Took me about 4hrs. Malibu makes it pretty easy.

Good to hear....I am waiting on my parts to be shipped and I will be doing it as well.

[GEH]

I'm ordering parts right now. But my dealer gave me a pretty incomplete list, which he says he got from Malibu. I'll just get the rest from Bakes, but I did have a couple of questions that weren't explained above.

Does the factory hard tank have a separate vent fitting? If so, is the through hull shared with the center tank or do I need to install two through hulls in the side of the boat - drain and vent. Where does the anti-siphon go - between the fill pump and the tank - and I assume above the level of the tank? My dealer didn't offer me any wiring. Is the hook up between the pumps, sending unit and existing wiring harness all custom made?

Greg

Edited July 15, 2009 by GEH

[kb3]

I'm ordering parts right now. But my dealer gave me a pretty incomplete list, which he says he got from Malibu. I'll just get the rest from Bakes, but I did have a couple of questions that weren't explained above.

Does the factory hard tank have a separate vent fitting? If so, is the through hull shared with the center tank or do I need to install two through hulls in the side of the boat - drain and vent. Where does the anti-siphon go - between the fill pump and the tank - and I assume above the level of the tank? My dealer didn't offer me any wiring. Is the hook up between the pumps, sending unit and existing wiring harness all custom made?

Greg

I will try to answer some of your questions, and maybe liljohn can answer the rest. The tank has three fittings, a fill, vent and drain fitting. I am installing two new above the water line thru-hulls next to the existing ones for the center tank for drain and vent. I am using the empty fill hole near the fill pump for the center tank. The anti-siphon will be plumbed under the dash right next to the one for the center tank. The wiring of the 2006 is already in the area of the fill pump and under the dash for the drain pump. The 2008s use different electronics, so maybe someone else can help on that.

[liljohn]

I'm ordering parts right now. But my dealer gave me a pretty incomplete list, which he says he got from Malibu. I'll just get the rest from Bakes, but I did have a couple of questions that weren't explained above.

Does the factory hard tank have a separate vent fitting? If so, is the through hull shared with the center tank or do I need to install two through hulls in the side of the boat - drain and vent. Where does the anti-siphon go - between the fill pump and the tank - and I assume above the level of the tank? My dealer didn't offer me any wiring. Is the hook up between the pumps, sending unit and existing wiring harness all custom made?

Greg

Greg please go back and look at my original post. all of the wires are there and I described right were to find them and how to hook them up. color codes and all. I also detailed the pump line and the drain and vent lines.

I tried to make this upgrade easy with pictures a descriptions so people could simply print it and go to work. it should only take about 6 hrs to do the complete project.

[GEH]

kb3 - thanks, you answered all my questions except the one that liljohn addressed.

liljohn - In your pictures I thought you were saying the hook ups to the wiring harness were already there. I guess you are saying the complete wires are there. If so, this should be easier than I thought. Thanks guys,

Greg

[0jt7]

How does the anti-siphon fit into the whole system? I am looking to do this project and want to figure out all the components before hand. Any chance that someone who has done this could put up a hand sketch of the hoses and wires how they interconnect. It can be very basic. Anything will help. How easy is it to run the hoses to the thru hulls (above and below the water line)? Thanks!