Remove Center Ballast Tank from 2002 SANTE. No gas tank removal necessary

[ToddC]

When you removed tank was there extra room in front of the tank not being used?

[t.franscioni]

I have some info that relates to this thread I can share since it's relevant here. I removed my center ballast on an 02 SAN. Measured the space in the belly and had this bag custom made by wakemakers.com. It takes full advantage of the empty space in the bow that the stock hard tank did not fill. I have not installed this bag yet as my boat is still under going a lot of additional work. If anyone is interested here are the dimensions for a custom belly bag for an 02 SAN. It's designed to use all the factory fill and drain and vent hoses but does have an additional vent on top that will need to tee into the small vent hole on the back to prevent any air pockets forming during fil. Calculated weight is 480 lbs so a bit of increase over the stock 380 lb hard tank. With the real benefit being I now have storage in the belly when ballast is not full.

[t.franscioni]

Correction 495 lbs calculated fill weight

[simplysanj]

Since the center tank seems to drain if you don't leave the pump running, wouldn't it be a good idea to put in a check valve after the fill pump? There's no room with a hard tank.

[t.franscioni]

Yes it is if you don't want to have to close the ball valve at each fill port pickup. I'm also installing check valves at all the vent hoses as well to keep the bag air tight while draining so they fully collapse and drain completely when emptying.