hard ballast tanks, built into boat, or plastic holding tanks

[dan144k]

Thinking of building automated ballast system this summer.
Has anybody used or built hard solid tanks into their boat?
Was thinking maybe the far rear corners of the 24' boats next to the exhaust water box's.
Problem I would see with buying tanks would be putting them into position thru existing holes.

Found some posts online of guys doing fiberglass work to make ballast systems.
Some people have used marine board and epoxy with success too.
One guy built down low below engines and keeps the center of gravity low.

 

[txav8r]

I looked at some very expensive wake boats at the Dallas Boat Show a week or so back. The Super nautique used to use hard tanks but they went back to bladders because the fiberglass flexes, and leaks develop sometimes they said, and fixing them is easier and faster for the customer if it is a bladder. Nothing says you can't glass in an area to hold the bladders however!

 

[KXCam22]

The advantage of bladders is that they conform to uneven spaces so you can fit more ballast weight in a smaller area than if the tanks were hard and constrained. Cam.

 

[justason]

The advantage of bladders is that they conform to uneven spaces so you can fit more ballast weight in a smaller area than if the tanks were hard and constrained. Cam.

Agreed..... Add to that it's pretty convenient to roll the bags up and out of the way for extra storage.

that said ...on this forum is a thread of someone that installed a shower system using the hard plastic boxes, pump, plumbing, parts list, all inclusive. should you prefer to go that route it could be a good starting point.
I haven't mastered the search feature here too well so that's all I got to offer there.

 

[RightStuff]

The main benefit to the hard tanks built into most of the wake boats is their placement. They utilize a very low/unused spot in the hull to place the tanks, and with that you get a few benefits:
1) they don't take up storage space within the boat
2) you lower the boats center of gravity
3) the tanks are generally pretty large (think 1000-1500 lbs or weight when full)

I the other guys hit on the points pretty well above with regards to putting one of those hard-sided tanks in a storage spot, I agree with them to you are better off sticking to the bladder style ballast for our boats.

Now if you are looking to pull up the gas tank and get to the bottom of the hull to get a tank in more power to you, and please post the pictures. I would love to see that project!

 

[OrangeTJ]

My boat has a huge built in hard tank. Don't yours? You just remove the tank access port plug at the bottom of the transom and let it fill until you get your desired weight. Kind of a pain to get to that plug. Works a treat, though.


Kidding.