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Ballast for V-ride


Parks

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Ok so I have a new 2008 V-ride and I want to put more ballast in the lockers but still have room for storage. I could do double tanks but that will take all my storage space. I also have 2 250 pound fat sacs i can put in there but my dealer said it would make the engine wall cave in. So how can I keep this from happeneing or does anyone have any other suggestions. My last resort will be bags of sand but I really want to be able to drain my ballast and not carry that load everywhere I go.

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This has been covered quite a bit. I can't find my post on it though. First thing to do is remove the hard tanks from the lockers. Then plumb in some 750's back there. I did it within a month of owning my boat and I would never go back. 40 to 50% more room when the bags aren't full and there is still quite a bit of room when they are.

Best thing I did to my boat. I also purchased a 1200 pound bow bag since you can always use more bow weight. I just put it on top of the seats though since the only time I use it is when I don't have enough people on board to balance it out.

Edited by Helinut
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You could just reinforce the plastic motor wall w/ an aluminum frame. Then just use the bags you already have. Hiring someone to weld it up after you make it would probably be cheaper than new 750's. Just an idea.

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For surfing, we put a 750 in there all the time. We just start filling up the hard tank and then start filling up the sac at the same time. You just have to watch it as it starts to get close to filling up and sometimes burp it a bit. (A quick way to do that is just pinch the hose -fold it over- disconnect and let some of the air out -- then reconnect and resume filling). If you don't keep an eye on it will fill too much and the plastic engine wall will pop out. BOOM!!! Scared the beshizters out of me, but was able to burp it a bit and get the plastic wall back in place really easy (after we'd drained the bag back a bit.)

I often fill the 750 about 3/4ish then add another 200# Fly High on top of it. Doesn't quite fill up - probably less than 1/3... but we fill it until we can barely close the locker.

I've only had the engine wall pop on me that one time... just because I wasn't watching the fill up. Not due to just having the sacs back there. Shouldn't happen unless they've changed the engine wall in some way and it is weaker than on the 06/07s...

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Never had an issue with the wall. It puts minimal stress on it. I've even forgot about about them and left the switch on. You could just about bounce a quarter off the bag! No issues with the engine wall at all.

No matter what you do with the wall, I would take those hard tanks out of there in a heartbeat. I was a little reluctant at first because hey! It's a brand new boat! But once I did it, I'll never look back. Sooooo much more storage area now.

BTW... lets see some pics of this new ride!

Edited by Helinut
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I use a 400lb bag in each of the lockers in my vride. No strain on the wall. I lose about 60% of the storage space in each respective locker when full, and 0% when empty.

I also have a 750lb horse shoe shaped bag in the bow. It fits under the seats in the storage area. Works like a charm...

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I use a 400lb bag in each of the lockers in my vride. No strain on the wall. I lose about 60% of the storage space in each respective locker when full, and 0% when empty.

I also have a 750lb horse shoe shaped bag in the bow. It fits under the seats in the storage area. Works like a charm...

Where did you get the bag that you put in the bow. I wouldn't use it a lot, but it would be nice for surfing. I don't really use the storage in the bow area anyway, except for my anchor (easily re-located).

BTW - could I use the overflow from my mid-ship tank and re-direct it to fill the bow bag when the mid-ship tank was full? Draining would be accomplished by gravity back into the mid-ship.

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guess I am gona take the hard tanks out and put in 400 pd. sacs in each locker. If yall say the wall wont be messed up then I believe but my dealer is the one who warned me about the wall.

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Hey Parks, if I were you I would sign up to become a supporter of this site and then get in on the group buy for the Fly High ProX fat sacs. The discount you get will more than offset the cost to become a crew supporter. Then there will be other group buys and standing discounts we get with vendors that make it well worth it. I've saved tons $$. Well not really, because it just makes me spend more now that it doesn't cost as much...

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I use a 400lb bag in each of the lockers in my vride. No strain on the wall. I lose about 60% of the storage space in each respective locker when full, and 0% when empty.

I also have a 750lb horse shoe shaped bag in the bow. It fits under the seats in the storage area. Works like a charm...

Where did you get the bag that you put in the bow. I wouldn't use it a lot, but it would be nice for surfing. I don't really use the storage in the bow area anyway, except for my anchor (easily re-located).

BTW - could I use the overflow from my mid-ship tank and re-direct it to fill the bow bag when the mid-ship tank was full? Draining would be accomplished by gravity back into the mid-ship.

The bow bag is a Fly High integrated bow sack. As for filling. I did as you suggest. The MLS mid ballast overflow line fills the bow sack, and the bow sack has a vent that serves both the bow and mid tanks. To drain, I just turn on the MLS mid drain, and as it empties, the bow sack just pours into the mid tank and is emptied too. I have a manual shutoff valve in between the MLS Mid, and bow bag, that way I can decide not to fill the bow, or if the bow is full I can close the valve, and drain the mid ballast.

Takes 8 minutes or so to fill the mid and the bow both, its not too long... Best part was I didn't have to drill any new holes in the hull or wire up more pumps.

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OK I am taking my hard tanks out but I think I am going to go with the 400pound sacs so I still have storage room and if i need more weight I have some lead bars I can put in the back. Or just use my wedge too. Do you think I will need A bow bag for just wakeboarding. I dont really surf that much and when I do its behind the VLX not my V-ride.

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If you're only going with the 400's you may not need the bow ballast. I know when I fill the 750's the bow ballast is a MUST. These boats almost always need nose weight though.

It also depends on what you like from the wake. The wedge gives you a little peak on the wake. With only ballast you get a nice ramp type of wake. I personally don't like the peak yet, but I'm going to try it more this year.

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If you're only going with the 400's you may not need the bow ballast. I know when I fill the 750's the bow ballast is a MUST. These boats almost always need nose weight though.

It also depends on what you like from the wake. The wedge gives you a little peak on the wake. With only ballast you get a nice ramp type of wake. I personally don't like the peak yet, but I'm going to try it more this year.

I like peak that is for sure! I have 2 100 pound lead bars I am putting in the lockers with the bags but I think I am only gonna use the front ballast when its just me and say 2 other people on the boat. That way I still have a good wake. I am also gonna try to surf more this year so the extra weight up front might help. If you have any other suggestions let me know.

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The bow bag is a Fly High integrated bow sack. As for filling. I did as you suggest. The MLS mid ballast overflow line fills the bow sack, and the bow sack has a vent that serves both the bow and mid tanks. To drain, I just turn on the MLS mid drain, and as it empties, the bow sack just pours into the mid tank and is emptied too. I have a manual shutoff valve in between the MLS Mid, and bow bag, that way I can decide not to fill the bow, or if the bow is full I can close the valve, and drain the mid ballast.

Takes 8 minutes or so to fill the mid and the bow both, its not too long... Best part was I didn't have to drill any new holes in the hull or wire up more pumps.

About how full will that integrated sac get? That would be a nice set up - I will ponder it.

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With the 400#'ers in each side in the back you may want that lead up front.

if you are going to surf - you'll want to put the lead in the back corner (and maybe a little more)

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With the bow sack under the seats you're looking at about 300-350 pounds. You can come even close to filling it. The weight figures are from someone who filled it then emptied it in to some 5 gallon buckets. I put the sack on top of the seats to fill it all the way. The only time I'm needing it is when I don't have enough people to fill the boat, or people don't want to sit up front because it's cold. It wasn't worth the effort to plump it in to the mid tank for me.

My buddy did try to plumb it through that way though. I know he had some issues with it no filling the front sack and just going out the overflow. I think he resolved those problems though.

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About how full will that integrated sac get? That would be a nice set up - I will ponder it.

I'd say it fills to ~4-500 lbs or so. Haven't measured it out. It is certainly not full. It does make quite a nice difference though. In fact the boat just performs better all around with the bow sack full, it offsets the weight of the rear sacks and restores proper balance to the boat.

Without the bow sack the boat is a little stern heavy with the two 400's full in the rear. Add the wedge and the bow rides quite high. As such I prefer to have the bow tank full when we are running fully laden....

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Bow sac is too big for a v-ride. I am putting 2 lead bars and a sand bag in the front. The total comes to about 325 pounds. This should do the trick. Thanks for all your help

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  • 2 weeks later...

Works fine on my v-ride, like I said, I certainly don't get 700lbs in there but it fills 4-500lbs. As for fit, it is the proper dimensions length/width wise, but just too thick for the space available. The consequence of being too thick is that if you try to get >4-500lbs of water in there it makes the seat cushions pop up.

I have always preferred water ballast to lead. When you have full boat (10 people) you don't want that lead in the bow for safety reasons.

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