Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

Rear factory ballast question


VLX_Fixation

Recommended Posts

Looking for a quick answer...you guys that have swapped your two rear mls tanks for larger bags....first of all, is the floor as hard as it looks to remove? Do i need to take the seat supports out in front of the locker...and are you physically removing the hard tanks and replacing them with the bags? Or just re using the plumbing an leaving the bags on top of the floor and the tanks in the boat

Link to comment

What year is your boat?

If you have the hard tanks that are standing up inside the trunks against the outer wall, why would you want to pull the floor?

Unless you have a later boat with tanks under the floor but, again, why would you pull the floor?

Link to comment

It's a 2007 VLX with 3 tank mls. And the tank is under the floor on the bottom of the hull. My plan is to replace the tanks with a bag under the floor of the locker.

Link to comment

I think most peeps just add a bag on top of the floor and leave the orig. tank under the floor alone and continue to use it.

Why pull out the hard tank under the floor to replace with a bag?

Link to comment

why would you try to remove the tanks? why not just plumb in some bags over the floor for extra weight? I think your objective is trying to get more ballast without sacrificing storage, but you are not going to get to the tanks or more ballast in the same area. I think the PNP is an option on the new boats, you'd be a lot better off going that route.

Edit: Apparently Pete types faster than I do, (also my typing of a full sentence has slowed down with a fast 2 yr old running around the house)

Edited by wakebrdr94
Link to comment

Yep u guys are right. Did a little tinkering around with a buddy today. After about an hour and a half of trying to get the floor out i decided screw it. We're making a piggy back system (that will actually drain the bags) got the parts ordered today. Will update in a new thread as it comes along. :) thank you guys for the help

Link to comment
I think most peeps just add a bag on top of the floor and leave the orig. tank under the floor alone and continue to use it.

Why pull out the hard tank under the floor to replace with a bag?

Well i originally wanted to stay away from the piggy back on top of the hard tanks cuz ive heard all of the horror stories of bags not draining and all that jazz...so i was going to replace the 250's with 750's and call it good...so i was goin to set the 750's on top of the floor and leave the factory tanks intact and just re use the existing plumbing from the factory and re route it to the new bag...then i remember hearing in the past that we do not want to put ballast on top of the floor unless the factory tanks are full. So then i said screw it ill just do away with the factory...no thank not worth it. Lol. Ill spend a little extra money and attention and route all the hoses and just make sure she drains when and only when i want it to drain! Lol

  • Like 1
Link to comment
why would you try to remove the tanks? why not just plumb in some bags over the floor for extra weight? I think your objective is trying to get more ballast without sacrificing storage, but you are not going to get to the tanks or more ballast in the same area. I think the PNP is an option on the new boats, you'd be a lot better off going that route.

Edit: Apparently Pete types faster than I do, (also my typing of a full sentence has slowed down with a fast 2 yr old running around the house)

Lol thank you for the input. I realized really quickly once i got the floor up that that tank fits pretty damn snug in there and there actually isn't much physical space in there for additional weight no matter what and we also thought that the seat supports and everything else would work without the floor of the lockers being in there so i wasnt going to put the floors back in then i can get those 750's in there completely full with only one bag...we also noticed that too is false. Lol so im doing a 400lb piggy back.

Link to comment

You can fill 750s completely full in the 07 VLX. It helps to reinforce the side walls next to the engine. Even with mine reinforced they pop out of their tracks a lot.

Link to comment
1100 go big or go home LOL :rockon:

Lol oh boy...im always up for go big or go home. But the lake we ride in is 4' deep on occassion so 2700 lbs in the rear with the mls would put me right in the mud. Lol im goin to put the 400's in for regular basis but set it up so my 2 750's are pnp as well for when we hit the deeper lakes around here

Link to comment

It was about 4' average this last summer About 7' at the deepest part. A normal summer its about 6'-11' maybe...we still get a really good wake believe it or not. No wedge obviously...but i put about 2k ballast at 22.5-23 mph and ride at 90'. Cleanest and biggest wake I've ever had there for sure. My buddy has a toyota epic 22sx and we load that bad boy and get an amazing wake out of that too! Very smooth and very wide. It's still very possible to get a good wake in shallow water. But no it is nothing compared to a deep water wake...i have yet to have my VLX on a deep lake so im very excited for spring so i can see what she can do

Link to comment

Talk about two different worlds.

I set my depth finder shallow alarm at 15'. if I ping 15' I'm nervous.

Most lakes in CA probably average around 200'

Link to comment

Lol yea its a different lake for sure. Im in Cali too. Bakersfield. It's what I consider the most public private lake ever....lol jk. It's a public lake. Prob 2.5 miles of shore line. About 500 yards across at the widest part...and they still allow 200 boats on the weekends...crazy. Needless to say we're week days only riders. About 3-4 boats on the week days.

Edited by VLX_Fixation
Link to comment

So i am in the midst of making my own piggy back system for the rear lockers on my 07 VLX with the help of a buddy. I wanna get your guys opinion on something. Im putting the 400lbs sacs in each trunk and im still gonna use the lockers for lifejackets and misc...but i dont wanna have to take the jackets out and re arrange every time i go to fill those sacs seeing as how i wont be filling them every trip. So im thinking of building a false floor high enough that the bag will still fill completely but low enough that the trunk is still usable for the previously mentioned "junk" lol. Honestly what is making me think about this is i have some fairly inconsiderate riders on occassion and i can already picture them just throwing stuff into my lockers and breaking the fittings an stuff and ill get pissed at them and wanna kick them off in the middle of the lake with no life preservers and make them swim. Lol and i know they dont do it intentionally, they never mean harm but theyve never owned a boat so i try not to over exaggerate when they step on the vinyl with tennis shoes and stuff but i am very meticulous about my boat so i do tell them to take their crap off... so im trying to prevent it from the get go...im thinking of building an entire box for the sacs to sit in...what do you guys think??

Link to comment

Sounds like a pretty cool idea to me. Maybe instead of building a box for the sac you build a drop in box similar to the heater tray above the engine. That way if you dont fill the sacs you can lit the tray out and put stuff under it.

Link to comment

Back to the piggy back system, why dont you just add a seperate pump like a Jabsco or Johnson Impeller style then you wont have any issues that the piggy back system has?

Link to comment
Back to the piggy back system, why dont you just add a seperate pump like a Jabsco or Johnson Impeller style then you wont have any issues that the piggy back system has?

We have a pretty solid plan to eliminate all the issues of the pnp piggy back systems. Gonna try this route and its not like its gonna cost any more money if it doesn't work so but were pretty sure it is going to work really well.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...