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Old     (travisz)      Join Date: Jun 2008       06-28-2010, 2:42 PM Reply   
So I am now the proud owner of a 2006 Vride, I bought it with 92 hours on it am alreadying strating new projects.

Project 1: LED overload all over the boats, pics will be up shortly
Project 2: New stereo tower and inside
Project 3: Plum in rear ballast tanks

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE, PICS ANYTHING TO HELP OUT WITH PUTTING IN AFTER MARKET TANKS IN THE REAR? ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT. THANK YOU
Old     (helinut)      Join Date: Apr 2007       06-28-2010, 3:36 PM Reply   
Does it already have the hard tanks installed? If so, just rip them out and put 750 bags in their place. It rocks! Trust me!
Old     (stephan)      Join Date: Nov 2002       06-28-2010, 3:37 PM Reply   
Most of the v-rides came with hard tanks in the back, if you want to go to super gangster level, take out the tanks and put 650+ soft sacs in there. With all that ass weight you are going to want to make sure that you put in some magic up front as well. That boat rides well with the standard 60/40 split back to front, but if you are thinking about using the wedge you are going to need to get close to a grand up front. Congrats, thats a great boat. Oh if I can suggest one thing, reverse your project order...
Old     (mcb611)      Join Date: Feb 2010       06-28-2010, 4:12 PM Reply   
put up some pics
Old     (travisz)      Join Date: Jun 2008       06-28-2010, 4:32 PM Reply   
Yea my VRide did not come with tanks is the rear only one in the front center.. That is why I need to order the hard 500lbs tanks and run the lines but i have no clue where to begin.. I am a long time WW follower but not that many postings.. how do I post pic? and actually all the projects are number 1 just the tanks have not got here yet but the speakers and LEDS have.
Old     (travisz)      Join Date: Jun 2008       06-29-2010, 9:44 AM Reply   
Anyone have any ideas?
Old     (stephan)      Join Date: Nov 2002       06-29-2010, 10:03 AM Reply   
Don't get the tanks, it will permanently diminish your storage capacity. The tanks just sit there and when not in use just take up space. Soft bags are much easier to work with, flatten out when not in use and get a whole lot more weight in them.

As for a custom ballast system, do a search on here (top right corner). There are plenty of threads of people installing bags and pumps to make their boat perfect. It is by far the best way to get your boat the way you want it. (& just to reiterate, forget the hard tanks!)
Old     (travisz)      Join Date: Jun 2008       06-29-2010, 10:49 AM Reply   
Thanks Big heavy I will do that. I appreciate it.
Old     (breakz77)      Join Date: Mar 2003       06-29-2010, 11:22 AM Reply   
Come on Travis... you didn't like the micro wake that day?!?!
Old     (travisz)      Join Date: Jun 2008       06-29-2010, 12:15 PM Reply   
Naaaa I wanna get it just a little bigger hahha
Old     (slipknot)      Join Date: Aug 2001       06-29-2010, 1:21 PM Reply   
I have some VLX hard tanks if you're interested to help with your project
Old     (breakz77)      Join Date: Mar 2003       06-29-2010, 2:01 PM Reply   
Travis I would definatly go with bags over the hard tanks as everyone has mentioned


Sorry slipknot, not trying to ruin your sale
Old     (sdub)      Join Date: Jan 2003       06-29-2010, 2:59 PM Reply   
sounds like you need to add one if not two thru hull pick ups to feed your new rear sacs. go by a dealer and look to see where the water pick ups are positioned on your model boat, bust out a drill and have at it. Or, have your dealer do it. either way, thats what needs to be done. I guess you could fill the hard tank up front and the rears through the one pick up but that sounds like it would take forever to fill all three.
Old     (bhyatt_ohp)      Join Date: Oct 2007       07-01-2010, 12:04 PM Reply   
First off, great choice in boat. Reverse your mod list for sure. I had an 06 vRide and had this same dilemma about rear weight. I had a friend with an 02 vlx that had factory tanks, which he removed and plumbed in the 750lb bags. The wake on his boat was nice. Issue I saw was that once he flipped the fill switch, he had to adjust the bags making sure they were straight, not folded, not filled with air. Once filled, they took up most of the compartment.

I got his factory tanks for free, inverted them, plumbed them into my existing rear tanks and they fit perfectly - so I had 4 rear tanks, 250lbs a piece. I had about 800lbs of lead plates and sand - 500lb in the bow, 300lb in the center storage areas, then had the 500lb center tank and rode with the wedge down with 2-8 people in the boat. The wake was substantial.

I would flip the fill switch and never have to open a rear hatch to worry about sacs getting twisted, folded, filling with air or getting a hole in them. It was nice to get a perfect fill every time, not having to worry about it. I still had room in the hatches for 2 CTI knee braces, ropes and several wake jackets on each side. CGA vests, anchor, fenders, sand, lead, etc. had plenty of room in the center and bow storage of the boat. Our local Malibu dealer has several sets of the factory tanks laying around the service area, so around here they can be had for very cheap, if not free and installed much cheaper than buying (2) 750lb sacks (usually). Don't understand the statement about compartment space - why would you not have your ballast filled the majority of the time anyway? Bottom line, extra tanks or sac swap is a must and your going to lose 80% of your storage back there either way. Enjoy your great purchase.
Old     (travisz)      Join Date: Jun 2008       07-06-2010, 10:58 AM Reply   
Bradon, I like your idea A LOT!! how hard was it to plum the whole system and roughly about how much did it cost?
Old     (bhyatt_ohp)      Join Date: Oct 2007       07-06-2010, 1:50 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by travisz View Post
Bradon, I like your idea A LOT!! how hard was it to plum the whole system and roughly about how much did it cost?
Travis, this is going to be lengthy so bear with me.

The hurdle you face is that your boat was not equipped from the factory with rear tanks. Mine was. My install was as simple as buying 3/4" plastic fittings (threaded caps, T's), from Home Depot, several feet of extra 3/4" ballast hose and some 3/4" hose clamps. I piggy backed the extra tank into the factory rear tank plumbing. Stock tank would fill, overflow into the additional tank which would fill and overflow out of the stock thru hull drain on the side of the boat. There are several fittings on the top and bottom of the tanks and draining was set up using the factory drain pump in a "T" type connection in between the bottom fittings on both tanks. Max cost for me was maybe $20-$40 in parts as my hard tanks were free and I had everything in place already.

Below is a pic of the stock tanks. Note that they are angled and one has to be flipped upside down to sit perfectly with the other one in the rear hatch. Each tank closest to the motor was only connected to the hoses and not bolted down, so I could remove it when it was time for oil change, winterization etc. You can see there are 3 fittings on each side of the tank.



Integrating a flip switch system in your boat is going to be somewhat costly and not near as cheap or easy as it was for me. There are several things you need to consider before you go any further with this.

1. As S Dub said - you need to find out if the factory thru hull water pickup will accommodate additional fill pumps. My guess is that Malibu made just one hull pickup and capped off provisions for rear pumps if they weren't an option on the build sheet, but I could be wrong.

2. You don't have the factory rear tanks, so you are without 2 fill/drain switches on the dash and wiring to the dash, you lack 2 fill pumps and wiring, you lack 2 drain pumps and wiring, you do not have thru hull drain ports installed on the sides of the hull and you are missing all the 3/4" plumbed hose and clamps that would normally be ran from factory.

3. You need to figure out if this is something you can tackle on your own, or do you need to get a shop to do it? Can you afford it? Do you want to be without your boat during the peak of the season while this stuff is being installed?

Depending on your answers, you may just want to shell under $300 and do a stand alone over the side plug in pump http://www.buywake.com/catalog/detail/ST_6NU8g and twin V-drive sac set http://www.buywake.com/catalog/detail/CNsdG to get you through the summer, then do your custom flip switch over the winter or something.

If your going to do this yourself, I would suggest checking out wake makers site: http://www.wakemakers.com/wakeboard-ballast-parts I would assume their guys on the phone would be able to answer questions you may have too. Call your local dealer for install prices if you don't feel comfortable doing it. Its going to be a decent amount of work involving drilling into the side of your boat.

If you can't find the stock Malibu rear tanks locally, I could probably get you 4 of them shipped from our dealer here in Nashville for a very reasonable price.

Best of luck,

Brandon

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