Be honest--do I have what it takes to be a ballast engineer?

[chpthril]

Ok, not to derail this guys thread even more but what about the floor in my 07 rz2? Can I pull up the rear sections to get to the foam without tearing up too much of the boat?

WA's is an 09. 08 and older is what the debate is over, which includes your 07 RZ2.

[retox1]

WA's is an 09. 08 and older is what the debate is over, which includes your 07 RZ2.

Ya I thought they were talking about the V and Ve boats and was hoping the RZ series was different. I might try this over the winter, so I guess I may find out then.

[chpthril]

They are virtually the same boat.

[dakota4ce]

GOOD GRAVY guys, how did I miss all of this banter! I am so sorry chpthril and WAB --I totally missed all of this discussion somehow. I need to set an alert when a forum I am in gets replies....can I do that?

Anyway, I went out and measured what the depth would be if I became very hyper ambitious and removed the floor OR attempted to remove the floor (against the advice of chpthril). The space by conservative estimates would be 6" deep (deeper at front, more shallow at aft as hull banana curves) 24" wide and about 36" long--maybe longer, hard to tell where the carnage would end. Doing that math would give an amount of weight to gain of 240# per my approximate calculations. One could argue that a large friend could make up for this, or a fat brick on the platform and a small friend. Either way, if the analysis reveals anything, perhaps even the experiment is not worth it. Chpthril is hinting strongly that it isn't really possible (in a practical sense), anyway.

WAB--perhaps with the advent of the infloor tanks option they made the locker space more shallow in '09? My lockers are about 24" deep on port and 22" deep starboard (again an average of a non-level space) to the factory carpeted floor.

[dakota4ce]

Can you elaborate on what Harvey has stated about what below the floor on the 06-08 Ve, which was never designed for a below floor hard tank, as the 09 model year was. This was a discussion around here back in 08 when the 09 was releasing. It was deemed that there was not a foam-filled cavity below the floor as there is on an 09 if it was ordered without ballast.

Harvey said there is a floor that is glassed to the engine stringer inboard and glassed to the outer hull wall outboard. He said there are no additional stringers underneath, but that the cavity is filled with very resilient expansion foam material that is a bit structural in itself. He indicated that making that into a void would be a super messy and massive undertaking.

[IDBoating]

My lockers are about 24" deep on port and 22" deep starboard (again an average of a non-level space) to the factory carpeted floor.

IIRC my lockers were deeper than two feet measured from the underside of the door. This photo:

...shows the front of the starboard locker before the floor was removed, and if you judge from the engine divider channels up past the fuel hose and then up to the fiberglass and then up to the door itself, that distance is more than 24 inches.

Note how my floor is raised with respect to the underseat storage forward of this locker. That is undoubtedly to accommodate the optional underfloor tank. Once it was removed, though, it looked like this:

...and the step goes DOWN, giving a rough idea of how tall the optional tanks would have been.

[dakota4ce]

So if I interpret all of this correctly, it appears that my locker floors are roughly 2" lower than yours were. I do not have a step down heading into the underseat storage area. Although I am somewhat confused still to this point....

[chpthril]

So if I interpret all of this correctly, it appears that my locker floors are roughly 2" lower than yours were. I do not have a step down heading into the underseat storage area. Although I am somewhat confused still to this point....

Thats one of the difference between yours and the 09's that had in-floor tanks. The 09 needed a raised false floor, in order to get a little more ballast capacity.

[dakota4ce]

I need now to concentrate on finding a good location for the batteries and the charging block, and maybe the TAPs motor--to get the largest sacs possible in there. We have beaten the possibility of moving the floor to deat--and its off the table. I will be ordering very soon chpthril. Thank you!

[IDBoating]

We have beaten the possibility of moving the floor to deat--and its off the table.

That will certainly simplify the project. And if you're only talking a couple hundred pounds difference anyway, worst case pick up an extra fat sac and toss it on the seat when you only have a few people. The original Fly High sac is 400 pounds IIRC and costs just over $100.

[retox1]

I need now to concentrate on finding a good location for the batteries and the charging block, and maybe the TAPs motor--to get the largest sacs possible in there. We have beaten the possibility of moving the floor to deat--and its off the table. I will be ordering very soon chpthril. Thank you!

Not sure how much room there is in a 24Ve but i moved the batteries and Taps in my RZ2 to the space between the engine and transom. I had lots of room and it completely opened up my lockers.

[IDBoating]

Not sure how much room there is in a 24Ve but i moved the batteries and Taps in my RZ2 to the space between the engine and transom. I had lots of room and it completely opened up my lockers.

That's exactly what I did, but he states that his engine has far more exhaust piping and so forth in that space than does my boat. What kind of exhaust system does yours have? In my case I have a single exhaust port with a surprisingly small yet effective muffler, which left that space between the engine and transom nice and open for retrofitting.

[chpthril]

That's exactly what I did, but he states that his engine has far more exhaust piping and so forth in that space than does my boat. What kind of exhaust system does yours have? In my case I have a single exhaust port with a surprisingly small yet effective muffler, which left that space between the engine and transom nice and open for retrofitting.

In 06, the MP exhaust goes aft. On your 09 PCM, the exhaust goes forward, before turning down then aft.

[retox1]

My exhaust comes forward straight off the risers then down into a muffler and out to the rear. I'm assuming it would be the same setup as an 06 since we both have Marine Power engines. There may be more room in my RZ2 because of the transom shape but I dont know. I'll try and get a pic later, it might help.