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Adding Fat sacs to factory ballast 2007 VLX


LakeBillyBU

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I want to plumb a 400lb sac on each side in the rear compartments on top of the factory tanks. I would like it to be plumbed into the factory pumps and lines. Anyone done this?

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The simplest way to do it would be to take the overflow off of the thru hull & attach that to the bottom of the bag. Then take another section of hose, attach one end to one of the ports on the top of the bag & the other end to the thru hull that you took the overflow line off of. It won't be fast & you may end up needing to put a ball valve on to keep the water in the bag, but it will be easy. Of course with only 400 lb bags, it may be done filling by the time the center is full.

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How do you keep water from sloshing out of bag through thru hull and how do you drain? Also what drains first?

Gravity. It shouldn't shlosh out. Its basically the same set up as the stock one. On the stock system all there is is a line coming out of the top of the tank (overflow line) to the through hull. Now you will have a line coming out of the bag to the through hull.

When you go to drain gravity will force the water out of the bag back into the ballast tank.

I put the same set up in my boat this winter. Haven't had a chance to test it. This is a real basic mod.

Good luck

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How do you keep water from sloshing out of bag through thru hull and how do you drain? Also what drains first?

Gravity. It shouldn't shlosh out. Its basically the same set up as the stock one. On the stock system all there is is a line coming out of the top of the tank (overflow line) to the through hull. Now you will have a line coming out of the bag to the through hull.

When you go to drain gravity will force the water out of the bag back into the ballast tank.

I put the same set up in my boat this winter. Haven't had a chance to test it. This is a real basic mod.

Good luck

Exactly. It's about the simplest way to add bags to these boats, but like I said it's going to be relatively slow because the stock tank has to fill first. Then the bag will fill from pressure, but it would slow down as the pressure increases since you're filling from the bottom. There's probably a way around that, but I haven't put a ton of thought into that one.

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got how to do it, but one more question. How about on the draining, the tanks drain first, so does the weight of the ballast in the bags pose a threat to damage the tanks? Also, what size tubing to buy and where does a check valve come into play?

Thanks

Matt

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Well, if you think about it the tanks would drain, but as they're draining the other water from the bag would replace it on the fly. It's not like you'd completely empty the tank, then all of the water in the bag would empty into the tank. It would be a continual process as you had the pump on & water left the tank, right? I'm just going on theory since I didn't take this approach with my boat, but I have to imagine that it would work this way. One other thing that I just thought of....it's going to require a little help as the bag gets close to the bottom since as the bag gets less full, the pressure to push the water down into the tank will lower. So as it gets toward the bottom, the bag may need some help.

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How do you keep water from sloshing out of bag through thru hull and how do you drain? Also what drains first?

Gravity. It shouldn't shlosh out. Its basically the same set up as the stock one. On the stock system all there is is a line coming out of the top of the tank (overflow line) to the through hull. Now you will have a line coming out of the bag to the through hull.

When you go to drain gravity will force the water out of the bag back into the ballast tank.

I put the same set up in my boat this winter. Haven't had a chance to test it. This is a real basic mod.

Good luck

Exactly. It's about the simplest way to add bags to these boats, but like I said it's going to be relatively slow because the stock tank has to fill first. Then the bag will fill from pressure, but it would slow down as the pressure increases since you're filling from the bottom. There's probably a way around that, but I haven't put a ton of thought into that one.

Could you fill from the top of the bag and have the bag fill the tank as it fills. You have a hose attached from the bottom of the bag to the old overflow on top of the tank any way so it should fill the tank as the bag fills up.

Here is a crude drawing. I'm not sure if the water would be pushed out the tank vent line while it was filling but if it looped high under the gunnel would it not vent higher than the water level in the bag? The pump wouldn't pressure the tank until the bag was full. The pressure would come from the weight of water in the bag.

Somebody else take a look at this and see if it would help the problem Wakegirl is referring to. I don't have the floor tanks so I can't test it out.

post-5-1204910930_thumb.jpg

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Ronnie, I like your idea. I think you're correct that the hardtank ventline would not fill past the top level of the fat sac, as pressure is governed by column length of the water, not volume. (however I still cautious!)

My question is, I also have a 2007 VLX, however I am not very hands on and my boat is in storage right now. Is it possible to access the factory tubing, tank in the 07 VLX without permanently destroying anything? I'd rather not cut carpet, since I am not a hands on type of person. (My plan is to add my two fly High 750 on top of the hard ballast tanks, and have them with quick connects [some days I want extra extra weight, some days it doesn't matter depending on who is coming out and storage is at a premium)

Thanks

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You can access what you need without too many problems. The fill & vent lines connect into the tank on the top of the tank & the fittings are easily accessible without pulling the floor up, at least they are on my '06.

hmmm I guess I'll have to check the boat out...but your post did get me thinking...really those are the only things I need to access. I am looking forward to this project!!!!! I hated filling the bags manually, especially with more than 4 ppl in the boat and switching surf sides. It took forever, awkward, and was usually messy!

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I have an '07

I bought the Make-A-Wake system

I use the drain plug hole under the engine to feed the system and tie into the existing overflow and vent lines.......using backflow valves

the valves allow the water to only move in 1 direction....... so water doesn't go from the bags back into the tanks

works great

also have the quick connects on the bags

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Noodleski, how much did you have to pay for the Make-a-wake system and where did you get it? I'm wondering the price difference vs making your own system. I've thought about doing this same thing to my 07 lsv - however, I did notice a "warning" in the back storage compartments that you're not supposed to put more than like 75 lbs on top of the ballast tanks. Also, if you add weight to the back, shouldn't you add weight to the front? Any thoughts on this warning?

Edited by FreeRider
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Freerider

I don't remember exactly what I paid

here is a link

http://www.make-a-wake.com/

I went with the already made system primarily based on time constraints.......design, shopping....etc

it has everything that you need

wiring harness, switches...etc...

Tony, Frank and the boys over at WaterSki America said that using bags in the trunks will be fine as long as you fill the hard tanks first and empty the bags first

I used the system all of last summer and never had a problem

also

the way the system is designed, you can empty one bag into another

I assume that you have the bow tanks

if you want to add more weight......we use the pop bags

I put 4 to 6 of them in the pockets in the bow....out of the way

if it gets to heavy, just move them to the back!

I cant find the link to pop-products sorry

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  • 2 months later...

Which way works better? Wakegirl's method or Ronnie's method.

I'm going to install 400lb v-drive bags this weekend on top of existing hard tanks in a 2007 VLX and prefer not to do alot of testing/re-plumbing.

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