Anyone DIY hard tanks?

ShawnK posted pics of his 04' X-2 at www.wakesiderides.com/rides/index.php?page=out&id=533

I really like how using two tanks in a space allows you to utilize ALL the space available there. Yes, hard tanks take up valuable space whether empty or full, but OTOH, they would probably be easier on the surrounding bulkheads than a comparable sack and you'd pretty much never even have to open the hatch to check on them.

Anyhoo, has anyone here ever had a custom nylon tank made by one of them tank makers, or know what kind of setup costs are involved with that?

Is there any reason why fiberglass wouldn't work? So long as they're not totally free-standing, they wouldn't have to be super thick/heavy, right?

Any thoughts?

i had stainless steel tanks made. cost me 350 but i had a hook up at local shop. check out monster tower diy site. i wrote a long article and posted pics. totally pumpless ballast system that anyone can do as long as you keep the tanks above the water line.

I have seen the same thing done in a VLX too... extra set of hard tanks plumbed in. I would not want to eliminate the storage for normal riding or for road trips when you load the boat. I have opted for lead instead.

Search the old archives to find links to companies that make tanks. I think I remember most of them being auxiliary tanks to be used on RV's and you can get them in different sizes.

I am sure you could get them from a dealer too... $$!

If you made one big tank that had to be installed… not sure you would be using up all of the available space... and getting it in would sure be a b***h.

Just a guess... but the cost and time for a fiberglass tank probably pushes most people back to the bag option.

Check e-bay… I know a few people have sold hard tanks there in the past.

Also,to keep in mind......Everytime you work on your boat,changing oil,etc....those babies got to come out.

Between no storage regardless if full or not and having to take them out for the most simple service......no thanks.

I was just thinking that two-piece tanks are cool because you can fill odd-shaped voids better.

Yes, you could run with just the side tanks, the full monte or even some sub-sized inner tanks to preserve some storage if needed.

Yeah, lead's better!

I did the dual hard tank set up and it worked pretty good but it you had to do work on motor or batteries they were a pain in the ass. Sold them and got custom sacks from Boarders Paradise and they work great and you still have the storage when needed. Watertanks.com is who I used for the hard tanks they make them to any specs and the price isnt outrageous

I used RV fresh water tanks and built a seat to go over them, mine are 40 gallons apiece and I put them in as I redid the entire interior. Got the tanks off of ebay for less than 50 bucks a piece with all of the threaded inlets and outlets in place.

In my mind, the biggest advantage of the hard tanks is the ability to have a level gauge. If you're using two tanks though, you lose that.

In that case, why not just use some bags? A Pro X Series Fat Sac will give you all the capacity of those hard tanks, won't put stress on the surrounding fiberglass and leaves you with all of your storage when drained.

Hard tanks make perfect sense to me if they're built into the construction of the boat, otherwise I just don't understand the appeal.

derek it really just comes down to space you need. i dont ride with alot of people usually 3 or us at most. i just dont care to ride with a bunch of people if i dont have to. that being said space/storage isnt an issue and i have a ps 190 with virtually no storage. i have a direct drive and had to change the hinges so i chould just remove the engine cover instead of removing it. working on the engine isnt a problem. they were for me the single best thing ive done. no more sucking on tubes screwing with pumps or anything else i highly recommend it.

Nice point about the gauges and the size of the crew. If the tanks were plumbed together, the level gauge would still work, as fluid finds it's own level. I hadn't thought of gauges at all.

Crew size...summertime for us is all about Havasu, and that's mainly family time. I wouldn't expect to leave the tanks in then. although we do ride a lot at Havasu, it's pretty low-key and we'll usually have more weight in the boat anyway. For the winter, someday I'd like to get to where we're riding every couple weeks and the hard tanks would be perfect for that type of riding.

As far as soft bags, I've measured the spaces up and could very easily get bags made to fit really nice. To say that soft bags wouldn't stress the surrounding bulkheads is just wrong - think about it. To keep stress off the bulkheads, you'd have to use a bag that when stretched all the way out isn't resting on the walls. Fat Buddies are a good example, but they're like 300 pounds for the pair. To really fill the voids, you've got to run a bag that basically makes your compartment waterproof - the bulkheads are taking all of the side loads from two feet of standing water. My Bump in the trunk lays up against the bulkhead between trunk and engine, and one of these days I'm gonna push carpet into a serpentine belt or bust off my Mobil1 oil filter. No esta bien.

A relatively minor issue is making sure bags that tall can fill without wrinkling and then stressing the bag. It's not like a bag that's round and lays flat - not much movement between full and empty (just expands or flattens). It'd almost be cool to have like some bungee that holds all for top corners up when it's empty/filling/emptying. If they were just strong enough to hold up an empty bag, they'd be perfect. Problem with that would be getting little loops or eyelets welded onto the sacks.

We did some on our boat kinda like the drawings above. One on each side and one in the middle. They were not plumbded together so we could balance left to right. We made them out of fiberglass. It is relatively cheap, can be made to conform to any shape, and a terrible, stinking, pain in the ass.

Derek,
You can fit two Flyhigh sacs end to end in your Toyota trunk. Plumb them up and forget about it! You don't want to run too much weight back there as the front will need a lot. As you know, the Toyota trunk extends out past the transom, so weight placed back there is "heavier" than weight in the boat. Full size Flyhigh in the walk through works for me, but I am thinking about replacing that with one of their open bow sacks. You need a lot of weight up front to get the perfect peak.

I can make you a control panel with stack LED level indicators that will work with sacks. It's not as accurate as with a physical level gauge, but it is accurate enough. I haven't built one yet but I am getting ready to when I complete my boat preamp.

Give me a ring if you're interested;)