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Pulled hard tanks, upgraded ballast.....Highly recommended


JohnnyDefacto

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I posted this on the Axis Forum, but I thought I should share me experience with you guys too. My 2011 A22 starboard hard tank cracked, leaking water into my boat causing the bilge to come on every time the bow would rise when pulling up a rider. So I tried to fix it with a plastic tank repair kit, but the location was terrible and thankfully it did not work.... ballast upgrade here I come!!

Pulled the hard tanks and ditched my Fly High 750's with the 3/4" ports. I got Sumo 900's with 1" ID ports, replaced my 800 pirhanna fill pumps with 3/4" ID discharges with 1100 pirhanna fill pumps with 1" ID discharges, these were direct swaps as both pumps have 3/4" intakes, very simple. Replaced my 800 pirhanna drain pumps with Tsunami 1200 drain pumps with 1" ID discharge and intakes. Kept the vent line as a 3/4" line. Replaced all fill and drain lines (stock 3/4" ) with new 1" ID hoses, ditched the U-shape vented loop anti-siphon and used in-line one way valves (which shortens the fill line length by at least half).

Old fill time with the hard tank overflowing into the 750 bag was approx 15 minutes. New fill time of Sumo 900 is 6:36.

Old drain time of 750 bag gravity draining into hard tank then pumped out approx 20 minutes. New drain time is 8 minutes.

Best part is this set up is estimated at 200+ more weight in the rear. Hard tank measured by another Axis owner was measured to weight approx 180 lbs (not the 200 as advertised). Fly High 750 that when completely full is 720-730 lbs (according to the wakeworld thread that measured a bunch of popular sacks) but can only fill to approx 650 lbs according to my test I did 2 years ago when I put one sumo 600 sack on one side and one Fly high 750 on the other (wake was same, no listing, even weight). Wakeworld test has the sumo 600 at about 650 when completely full and that same sumo 600 fills completely in the axis locker on top of the hard tank.

So hard tank 180, fly high 650 = 830 lbs approx. per locker

Sumo 900 when filled fully is 1000 (according to the test on that wakeworld thread) = 1000. The sumo 900 can fill completely, barely puts any pressure on the engine divider, so even if it only fills to 930, that is still 100 lbs more on each side.

The wake is noticeably bigger, just a little bit steeper than before. I wish I would have done this sooner. It cost me around $600 for all the parts, pumps, sacks (minus whatever I can get for my old sacks and pumps), and took me a day to do it. Totally worth it. It really opens up those lockers now, I can even store wake boards in those lockers now (which was a gripe from most Axis owners)

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In my vtx I have 1100 fat sacs in my lockers over my hard tanks. I can't fill them all the way of coarse and I don't have any aftermarket pumps plumed in so I have to throw my tsunami 1200 over board and fill one at a time which sucks. After reading this I think I may take mine apart and see how hard it would be to take my hard tanks out and just run the 1100s on the factory 800 piranha pumps. I know the factory pumps aren't great but would still be way better than having to deal with a pump overboard. Has anyone tried this on a 07 vtx? And big thanks for the idea

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Wakemakers Malibu piggyback kit is $109 per side and a 30 min install. Had on my last two boats. Best cheap fix on the market. "New" sumo bags and kits have double drains. Cuts the drain time in half. Very pleased. Also installed s by pass valve to fill the lower tank only when not surfing. Pretty slick setup.

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Wakemakers Malibu piggyback kit is $109 per side and a 30 min install. Had on my last two boats. Best cheap fix on the market. "New" sumo bags and kits have double drains. Cuts the drain time in half. Very pleased. Also installed s by pass valve to fill the lower tank only when not surfing. Pretty slick setup.

I thought about doing the piggyback system but decided against it since I have single drain 1100 fat sacs

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  • 2 weeks later...

Did your boat have the hard tanks under the floor or in the locker?

The hard tanks on Axis boats are under a thick plastic subfloor. The plastic floors are easily removed with a few screws and some flexing of the plastic. I do not know how it is with malibu's, if you have to cut the floor out to get to the hard tank, but having a single big sack that fills all the way is so much better than having a smaller sack that is slowly filled as the hard tank overflows. I can not stress it enough... I should have done this years ago.

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Did you take pictures of the install?

I took a couple and posted them in the axis forum. Install was easy. the piranha 1100's are the same as the 800's in every way except for the 1" discharge. It is a 5 minute swap including wiring. The hardest part was the hour I spent trying to remove the hard tank without cutting it. One guy over at axis forum was able to do it right after I finished my install. I was not. I had to cut it. The second hard tank came out in 15 minutes because I knew what to do.

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