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2011 hard tanks


windy1

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I know some of you guys have removed your hard tanks in 05-08 wakesetters but has anyone done it to the newer boats. I have 900's + stock in my 2011 witch is way to much for anything but surfing and even then they wont fill all the way without raising the hatch. I think full 900's would be the ticket without hard tanks and do away with the gravity thing and just have a single bag in each rear. I would only do this if could do it without damaging the tanks so I could put them back if I sell. I realize I would have to do some floor fab. not afraid of that. if this wont work I will probably look at smaller bags for the piggy back system.

current set up for wakeboarding is all stock full + additional 650 bow sack + 900 in each rear about 3/4 full but still playing with the new boat.

Not totally unhappy with current set up but I stuck it in fast and plan on re routing some lines over the winter to help it drain better.

Also, if the tanks are removed would the dash readout just show nothing in the rear or could it freak out the system.

Edited by windy1
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  • 4 weeks later...

I haven't actually pulled mine out, just up and forward some. In the process of removing the elevated pump cover walls and dropping tools between the tanks and the hull for other projects I have explored extensively. On the starboard side (R) you will have to remove the divider behind the "pos" cooler and the inner divider that partitions the VD. Removing those will allow you to pull forward and rotate and lift up and out the one piece floor back there. Everything is held together with SS screws and I used a scribe to poke to find them all. The cooler divider section has one in the outside wall run in parallel to the deck and 2 top down through the seat support ledge and back 2 into the deck through the aluminum "L" bracket in plain site. The VD has 2 screws top down like the cooler divider and an "L" bracket as well. I don't recall an outside screw like the cooler piece had. The port side will probably require you to remove the seat because it is so tall you probably pay hell trying to get it out otherwise. You may have to pull the forward pump cover access plates on the floors near the trans /VD juncture also to help them turn a little. Good luck, Bill.

Edited by wdr
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As far as the read outs on the Malivue are concerned the in tank ballast sensors are what provide the signals for full/ empty and when to auto shut off. If the tank/sensors are removed the Malivue should continue to work like normal, you would just have to manually shut the pumps off with the MUX or the MV. Not a problem unless you want everything to work like OEM which would be a major undertaking. Otherwise all you would have to do is plumb in the aerator drain pumps with some sort of mount and then into the bag. WM sells the mounts or make you own. Run the 3/4 hose from the fill pumps to the bags with appropriate fittings. Lastly you will want to have a dedicated vent line per bag so when it is full it will puke over the side to let you know when to shut them off. The upside is the Malivue should work like it was designed, it just won't know when to shut itself off. The downside is draining, you are obviously going to have to pay attention or run the risk of frying a pump and the bags are going to have a fair amount of water left in them unless the drain pump is lower than the bag which is potentially going to be a problem if you pull the hard tanks. If you are going to keep the boat for a while I would consider 2 stand alone reversible pumps. They are faster than the aerators and will suck a bag bone dry regardless of the relation of the pump to the bag. That is the set up I have for my 1100 and 750 with vents and they work flawlessly. I use the vent line with a one way check valve as a visible sign when the bags are full so I don't blow a bag or pop out my divider again!

Edited by wdr
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at minimum I am looking at removing part or all of the raised pump cover so the sacks wont have to drain up and over. This should  at least help sacks drain more completely right?. I am working through my other winter boat projects and collecting max info on ballast before I start cutting things on an expensive boat. I already have a reversible I am installing out of my 2004 for the extra 650 bow sack.  

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Windy I was looking at your avatar and seeing a 2001 SS, but you typed 2011 in your write up. We are talking "2011" correct. 

Those pump cover walls were the first thing I removed. The top cover just has the 2 screws, the walls are actually wire nailed togetherne onto the deck. After I removed the top cover I used a flat piece of wood as a working platform so as not to mar the lower plastic deck and pried the walls up and off. The easiest way I found to remove the staples from the deck was with a set of wire cutters. Still using the wood platform, I grabbed one end of a staple and rolled and pulled up on the pliers to pull out the staples. Major PITA, but really the only way to ensure no staples were left in the deck to cut a bag. I can't imagine you having to cut anything to do a direct box to bag swap other than maybe a hose. It seems like the OEM drain pumps were glued onto the stock tanks. IIWM, when I removed the hoses from the drain pump on the tank, I would cut length wise on the hose where it is connected on the pump so I wouldn't break a plastic tank fitting trying to pull a hose off the pump. The tank would be toast if that happened and a hose is a cheap fix. I would then unscrew the stock pump and leave the elbow fittings alone. Once again a scary thing to mess with from what I have witnessed.

Edited by wdr
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wdr, thanks for all the good info. I need to change my avatar, my sunsetter DD was 2 Malibu's ago when I first joined this site. My current boat is in fact a 2011 wakesetter that I purchased in late October and only put about 12 hours on before shoulder surgery forced early winterization. my 2004 wakesetter (Malibu #2 and a great boat) just went to a new owner in Indiana.

I took a hard look at removing the pump covers including the walls but only removed the covers in the interest of getting ballast in fast without tearing up anything I would regret later. I now have time to research and get ready to dial it in next season. Thanks

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