2008 SANTE 210 Factory Hard Tank Removal and Extra Ballast Install w/ Pics

[swatguy]

After reading some of the old threads about the tank removal and what a PITA it would be I settled on the piggy back idea. The threads I found said you had to jam it through the rear/chaise lounge. I really didn't want to work that hard. I started to get the boat apart a bit and take a real close look at the tanks. Looked like there was plenty of space to get them out. So gave it the ol' college try. I used the way I had to get the Centurion tanks out and they came out it a snap.......... way easier than I read so figured I would share. Remove the dividers as well as all the extra material to cover the tanks. You basically rotate the tank 45 degrees to the outside of the boat while you pull it up and Viola. My apologies if this has been shown, but I couldn't find it.

I went with Brostock 900LB sacs for the rear
Fly High Tube Sac for the locker

I personally think the 900's are way too much even with the rear tanks removed. The 750's would be perfect. I can't fill the 900 to the max to surf goofy as it curls just a bit at the top. However the bag fits the compartment perfectly. It's just overkill if you ask me. I was surfing at 10.4

With the sacs about half full and the piggy back in the locker the wakeboard wake was money. It had everything I needed for my intermediate abilities of 5 inverts, all the 180's, and a 3. I still need some extra up front so kept about 300 in pop bags to shift around.

[swatguy]

port side

[swatguy]

The water was pretty beat up with ripping winds , but here are some of the surf wake which this project was actually more geared for

[swatguy]

2008 SANTE 210 Factory Hard Tank Removal and Extra Ballast Install w/ Pics

If I was to suggest someone to do this ..............I would opt them to go 750's as the 900's can never be filled and get performance. I may even swap someone for for 750's at the end of the season.

Sorry for the little pics at the beginning, but I am posting pics for the first time.

[scottb7]

I struggled to get my hard tanks out....I wonder if i was too stupid to even think about taking the dividers out. Too long ago for me to remember.

[jonsquatch]

When I pulled mine I started on the Stbd side and I found I had to tweak them just right to get it out and pulling the bolts from the bottom of the front divider support let that flex enough to get it out. I have a battery charger on the port side but pulling the brass fittings off the tank let them come out without too much trouble. I have the 750's right now and I was toying with getting a 1100 for the port locker since the regular surf wake needs me to take just a bit out of the stbd bag or otherwise move weight to get the ballast just right, but it looks like the 900 is perfect. With the NSS I can add weight to both sides so it feels like I can take more weight that I could with just the lean.

If you haven't done it yet re-enforce the dividers. Even with the 750s they started to bow pretty good right away. I used some sticks of 1" x 1" 1/8" wall aluminum square tube mounted 1/3 the way up run from the front of the engine bay to the back. Its just mounted on the inside of the engine bay and the slide in dividers press against it. I used a 3/4" hole saw to run a few holes on the inside of the tube so you can get a lock nut inside the tube so it doesn't stick out or crush the tube causing it be loose. I used stainless steel button head bolts so they wouldn't catch the bags with washers to keep them from pulling through. Easy to do and keeps the dividers from flexing much and I can still work around them during maintenance.

[swatguy]

I am pretty confident with the NSS that you probably can run the 900's because the boat will be even or just slightly listed. We run 750's in my buddy's 14 with NSS all day on top of his factory and it cleans up nicely. Sure a small tweak in the hull vs the 13, but I can only imagine being even helps a ton.

[swatguy]

Update. 1100’s are the way to go I’ve replaced the 900’s with the 1100’s .......if you plan on surfing at all they fill the compartment fully.

[zoltan mclovin]

What brand/dimensions did you buy for the 1100’s?

[swatguy]

Fly high 1100

50 x24x24

[ScottM46]

How do you run your setup for wakeboarding? With those 1100's in the rear, what do you run up front and prop?
Torn between going with 1100's and 750 piggyback - which seems like a pretty common debate on here.
Thanks!

[swatguy]

I’ve experimented with both the piggy back and the 1100’s. I prefer the 1100’s.

For wakeboarding I run the rear 1100’s about 3/4 full. For me that’s 2 full ballast fill cycles and about 30 seconds of a 3rd. I have the piggy back sac attached to me center tank and 320lbs of pop bags stuffed as far forward in the nose as I can. The stock Team prop “1579 “was not optima for that. So I upped to the Acme 1617 , If I didn’t still slalom I would upgrade to an even more aggressive option . The pop bags are really the key. Getting that weight as far toward as possible is the key. I tried substituting a 600lb sac in the walkway instead. Wake was poop ,

For surfing I run ballast almost identical. I just fill the surf side bag all the way and leave non surf side at 3/4 . Even with NSS the boat likes a little list to surf side. I prefer the bags because of the extra storage when empty. Make towing with all the boards wnd crap way easier. 4 adult wakeboards and 3 surfboards store with ease. That’s not happening with tanks in , people argue about losing ballast gauges. Well I just monitor mine by cycles . If I had tanks they’d either be completely full or completely empty. So gauge is useless to me.

[TES-SANTE210]

Great information, thank you! I’ve removed the hard tanks from my ‘12 SANTE210, yet before I install the 1,100’s is anyone using anything particular to protect the bags from snagging on these lower divider brackets that the tanks bolted to - they seem awfully sharp?