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05 VLX rear tank removal??


Ndawg12

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A buddy of mine wants to add a couple hundred lbs to the rears of his 05 vlx. Rather than messing with the add-a-bag/piggy back systems we'd rather just pull the tanks and put bigger bags back in there. Anyone done it? What are the approximate dimensions of the space? What bags would work best? We're going to measure it up tonight but I want to see if it's even feasible ahead of time.

TIA,

Nate

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A buddy of mine wants to add a couple hundred lbs to the rears of his 05 vlx. Rather than messing with the add-a-bag/piggy back systems we'd rather just pull the tanks and put bigger bags back in there. Anyone done it? What are the approximate dimensions of the space? What bags would work best? We're going to measure it up tonight but I want to see if it's even feasible ahead of time.

TIA,

Nate

Nate,

2005 was the first year that Malibu moved the tanks under the floor so it might be possible but it will be a pain. I am stoked to see what you guys think when you check it out. I am guessing with the tank gone you can easily fill the 1100 lb. Fly High Jumbo Surf Sac in there. I do have a photo of the hard tank of the 2005 VLX with the floor taken out. I will try to dig it up.

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Nate,

2005 was the first year that Malibu moved the tanks under the floor so it might be possible but it will be a pain. I am stoked to see what you guys think when you check it out. I am guessing with the tank gone you can easily fill the 1100 lb. Fly High Jumbo Surf Sac in there. I do have a photo of the hard tank of the 2005 VLX with the floor taken out. I will try to dig it up.

Thanks, I know they're under the floor, but that's about all I know. I'm hoping just to put a bigger bag in there, one that will yield 400 lbs or so, and put the floor back on. I guess I'm hoping there is some extra room in front, behind, and/or the sides of the factory tank.

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I can't find the picture that I took with the floor removed. From what I remember the tank is about the width of the compartment. I am not sure you would be able to get anymore under the floor. Once that floor is removed you will not like the sight. The floor stretches from the back of the compartment and up under the seat. Take some pictures tonight.

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Nate,

2005 was the first year that Malibu moved the tanks under the floor so it might be possible but it will be a pain. I am stoked to see what you guys think when you check it out. I am guessing with the tank gone you can easily fill the 1100 lb. Fly High Jumbo Surf Sac in there. I do have a photo of the hard tank of the 2005 VLX with the floor taken out. I will try to dig it up.

You can fit a 1100 lbs bag in there on top of your factory ballast tank all ready? It might not fill 100% but it fits.

Thanks, I know they're under the floor, but that's about all I know. I'm hoping just to put a bigger bag in there, one that will yield 400 lbs or so, and put the floor back on. I guess I'm hoping there is some extra room in front, behind, and/or the sides of the factory tank.

The hard tank under the floor is exactly the same size of the compartment so there is no room to grow.

I hate to be a fun killer but unless you plan on putting lead under the floor where the hard tank was, your not going to gain much of anything for a lot of work.

-Paul

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I hate to be a fun killer but unless you plan on putting lead under the floor where the hard tank was, your not going to gain much of anything for a lot of work.

-Paul

Thanks Paul. Have you ever seen anyone successfully remove the hard tank in the 2005+ Malibu's?

Yeah I figured the tank was the same size. Probably the best solution would be to add an independent ballast system on top of the hard tank.

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Thanks Dalt, that's exactly what we saw :biggrin: Last night we got the floors and tanks removed. Yes the tank does indeed fill the cavity completely. However, there is room to raise the entire floor up about 8-9 inches. Stay tuned........

Edited by Ndawg12
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Basically, we're going to raise the floor 9 inches so it is flush with the storage compartment and seat. :innocent: It's for the wife. Then we're going to build a frame or series of supports to hold the floor up. Malibu used the lip on the side wall and beam of the engine compartment to support the floor where it was. Then, we'll place the biggest possible bag under the floor. :rockon: The dimensions near the engine wall are 66X25X16 so we'll see. The 05 VLX loses 4 inches in width as you move up and 4 inches in height as you move away from the engine to the side wall.

Problems: :crazy:

1. Removing the floor once it's raised because the current wiggle room will be gone or hindered by the supports/frame. Our solution is to cut the floor into 2 parts just before the seat compartment. We'll need to do this to access the engine easily compared to when the floor is in place. Although with the floor raised, it won't be impossible to access the engine.

We took some pictures, but they look like Dalts. Thanks to the crew for helping with the floor screw locations. :clap:

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Basically, we're going to raise the floor 9 inches so it is flush with the storage compartment and seat. :innocent: It's for the wife. Then we're going to build a frame or series of supports to hold the floor up. Malibu used the lip on the side wall and beam of the engine compartment to support the floor where it was. Then, we'll place the biggest possible bag under the floor. :rockon: The dimensions near the engine wall are 66X25X16 so we'll see. The 05 VLX loses 4 inches in width as you move up and 4 inches in height as you move away from the engine to the side wall.

Problems: :crazy:

1. Removing the floor once it's raised because the current wiggle room will be gone or hindered by the supports/frame. Our solution is to cut the floor into 2 parts just before the seat compartment. We'll need to do this to access the engine easily compared to when the floor is in place. Although with the floor raised, it won't be impossible to access the engine.

We took some pictures, but they look like Dalts. Thanks to the crew for helping with the floor screw locations. :clap:

Just trying to follow, but are you saying that you're basically raising the floor in the lockers to fit more space (bag) under the new floor? Is this making the locker smaller or did you find some unused room under the floor?

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Yeah, we'll lose some storage by making the locker smaller since we're raising the floor. We'll gain ballast by removing the tank and adding a bag.

There's too much storage back there. I gave my wife one year to fill that space and she failed. Now, she'll feel the pain of my half attempt soon to be unfinished project. :rofl:

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Have you guys considered just throwing 200lbs of lead in each compartment and calling it a day? Just seems to me like you're doing a lot of work and some serious customization for a very minimal increase in ballast. And while I haven't been in an '05, I know raising the floor 8" on my VLX would make an oil change impossible.

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Did you review the bag link Nate provided? Do you have 1120 LBs of lead lying around? If so, please mail it to me. :biggrin:

Just kidding. Yeah, we considered it and it's just not enough. :rockon:

If Nate's 2X2 support idea works, this won't be hard.

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Have you guys considered just throwing 200lbs of lead in each compartment and calling it a day? Just seems to me like you're doing a lot of work and some serious customization for a very minimal increase in ballast. And while I haven't been in an '05, I know raising the floor 8" on my VLX would make an oil change impossible.

Actually after removing the tanks and floor, by raising the foor up even just 5-6 inches I think he could add about 300 lbs per side (580lb bag). That's pretty significant, replacing my 200lb hard tanks with just 400lb bags made a world of difference. And what do you do with lead when it's not needed?

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We're working on this with a few customers right now, so I'm especially interested in seeing the results. I'll post pics of the boat we're working on right now, we're removing the tank also, but will be going to a much bigger bag as the owner is especially interested in surfing.

The largest bag that will fit in that generation VLX is a 750, sure you can put an 1,100 Jumbo V Sac in, but unless you remove the tank under the floor it's not going to fill any more than a 750, so you just wasted $40.

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Tanks are out of the bu, just placed a GP order :yahoo: for 2 fly high sacs at 560LBs each, although Bakes says they are 650LBs each. Ah, who to believe? The dimensions are all over the place for this sac too?

We've moved from 2X2 supports to 2 inch diameter PVC pipe that should serve as a column/support. Much better.

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Have you guys considered just throwing 200lbs of lead in each compartment and calling it a day? Just seems to me like you're doing a lot of work and some serious customization for a very minimal increase in ballast. And while I haven't been in an '05, I know raising the floor 8" on my VLX would make an oil change impossible.

Plus1.gif I don't get it either.

We're working on this with a few customers right now, so I'm especially interested in seeing the results. I'll post pics of the boat we're working on right now, we're removing the tank also, but will be going to a much bigger bag as the owner is especially interested in surfing.

The largest bag that will fit in that generation VLX is a 750, sure you can put an 1,100 Jumbo V Sac in, but unless you remove the tank under the floor it's not going to fill any more than a 750, so you just wasted $40.

Wasted $40? or Wasted 40 Hours + Materials & Parts modifying the boat so you could gain 330 lbs of weight under the floor, making your engine harder to access and work on?

I have a customer with a plumbed in 1,100 and i would say it fills up at least 90% full, the only thing that restricts it is the slant back front panel under the ski pylon brace.

Tanks are out of the bu, just placed a GP order :yahoo: for 2 fly high sacs at 560LBs each, although Bakes says they are 650LBs each. Ah, who to believe? The dimensions are all over the place for this sac too?

We've moved from 2X2 supports to 2 inch diameter PVC pipe that should serve as a column/support. Much better.

I just verified and we entered the wrong weight so I got that adjusted, sorry about that.

-Paul

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2 Stock Hard Tanks = 400 LBs

400LBs of Lead, which is useless when you're not wakeboarding. :lol:

=800LBs

Or

2 560LBs bags = 1120LBs, :rockon: that aren't useless when not wakeboarding. This is 320 LBs more than the lead all the time idea.

Maybe I didn't explain this part. I should be hearing support, and only support. :thumbup:

The math on this thread had to be cleared up.

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Skicrave, what are you using to support the floor?

Most of our customers don't replace the floor, they just load gear on top of the bag. Compared to leaving the hard tank in you can run a 750 in the rear, and still have some storage space on top of the bag when surfing. When you don't have any extra ballast you get even more storage space.

When we do need to build a false floor we make it out of HDPE wrapped in factory carpet and support it with stainless channel and square tube.

Wasted $40? or Wasted 40 Hours + Materials & Parts modifying the boat so you could gain 330 lbs of weight under the floor, making your engine harder to access and work on?

I think we're maybe getting our signals crossed. :) We've measured the weight in a Jumbo V and it's almost exactly the same as a Fat Sac when filled in an '05'-08 VLX (it's actually worse in a the '09+ because even a Fat Sac won't completely fill). Because of that, there's no reason to spend the extra $40 on the bigger bag, unless you're hedging your bets that you'll get a bigger boat in the future, in which case it may make sense. That's completely independent of removing tanks or modifying the locker, if you do that then obviously you can fill a bigger bag.

2 Stock Hard Tanks = 400 LBs

400LBs of Lead, which is useless when you're not wakeboarding. :lol:

=800LBs

Or

2 560LBs bags = 1120LBs, :rockon: that aren't useless when not wakeboarding. This is 320 LBs more than the lead all the time idea.

Maybe I didn't explain this part. I should be hearing support, and only support. :thumbup:

The math on this thread had to be cleared up.

Your math makes sense to some of us! :rockon:

My only concern is if you're using the boat for surfing at all, in which case you're going to want more weight, so you're kind of back to square one. Just something to think about...

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2 Stock Hard Tanks = 400 LBs

400LBs of Lead, which is useless when you're not wakeboarding. :lol:

=800LBs

Or

2 560LBs bags = 1120LBs, :rockon: that aren't useless when not wakeboarding. This is 320 LBs more than the lead all the time idea.

Maybe I didn't explain this part. I should be hearing support, and only support. :thumbup:

The math on this thread had to be cleared up.

Ok that makes more sense to me, my bad Biggrin.gif

-Paul

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