Testing the Waters ~ Custom Surf Platforms???
Just testing the waters to see what you guys think.
We have a full machine shop at our dealership and I am going to start building a custom, lifted, smooth on both sides platform for my V232. The platform will be made entirely out of aluminum, probably with 1.5" square tubing for the frame with aluminum sheet welded on both sides - this will keep the cost down and make them very lightweight (versus using sheet aluminum - there is a thread on one like this already). It will be made as small as possible givin the restraints of the current transom brackets, and probably raised 4" with 3x4 square tubing all integrated. I plan on using Hyrdroturf on the top for the mat. Just brain storming at the moment . . . . I'm know it will work great, but I was curious if anybody thought there would be a market for them - I won't know much this is going to cost until its done - but for serious surfers it would make a night and day different in the wave - take the platform off your boat and see! Anyway just seeing what the thoughts are out there |
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I dont know if its necessary to lift the deck.
I have a Malibu 23 LSV and when I made a custom teak deck its out of the water at surf speeds Ask wake 9 if he lifted his alum one? I dont remember. Here is the size difference between the fiberglass and the re-sized teak. I took what wake 9 did and marked the area on the fiberglass deck and that gave me the shape for the teak |
Nice! That's Awesome!
You would have to take it off to really see if the height affects the wave - also depends on the amount of weight you run. We, like a lot of people, are running the rubrail under or near the water. |
Bryan post pics of your wave! I always liked the 23 LSV.
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Here it is. This is with the 750 in the trunk. We just upgraded to the 1100 this winter an look for the trial run next week when the rain stops.
I think Dave has some better shots and a different angle. |
Even with that small teak platform you can still see it digging in and disrupting the wave quite a bit. I would love to see that with that platform about 4" higher, just to see the difference.
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Yeah it needs to be either cut down or moved up more. Shouldn't touch the wave at all.
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Thats the wave with the stock fiberglass deck. The teak deck does not touch the water at surf speed. I will need to dig up a side by side photo for comparison.
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@ TQ Not sure what you are looking at . The face of that wake looks clean from the spine back. The spine just has normal prop wash, but there is secondary lip caused by the swim platform.
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Call me crazy, but it sure looks like the platform is knocking the wave down thru here, which causes less power and size throughout???
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Ok....... I guess I can't see power loss in this picture
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Got anymore wave pics! Post them:)
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I agree with Bryan....When you cut the platform down almost 8 inches it will be above the hole at surf speeds. This is what I did with my platform and I like that it is still at the water line under normal conditions, ie, no ballast. Sure saves alot of sweat moving it up 4 inches (which may add some safety concerns), IMHO.
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There will be people that want to do it, but not enough to make it worth your time, IMO. |
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Lakesurfer! Cut down your deck:) I did it, works great
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Its going to be more like a hobby - I would just sell for for materials plus $100.00 or something. I think those who really weight their boats will appreciate the difference it makes. Duffy's wave is awesome, but I bet it would get better either without a platform or by raising his teak platform, but the idea is the same. Just having a smooth bottom makes a difference and every boat that I'm aware of (minus Sanger) has some sort of lip around the edge that disrupts the wave. |
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Just another example - look at our first V226 / then look at the new Surf Edition that James Walker has. The new Surf Series platform is completely smooth on the bottom, smaller, and about 6" higher then the first gen.
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Higher isn't necessarily better. We spent a lot of time testing on this with our Ve. The largest factor we found, was SMOOTH on the bottom, which is why we went with a slab of smooth aluminum. There is a point, if you raise the deck, you allow more prop wash out, and it may alter the wake, or throw a rooster in your face on one side or the other.
In our experience, you need it there to block prop wash, so there is a balance, but smoother the better. |
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I cut mine down and then did the wave flap. Works perfectly:) Might make a hydraulic wave flap. I hang this from my FAE brackets
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Duffy - Very innovative, lets see that attached to the boat. Is it 24" wide?
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Boat is tucked away in storage. It's wider then 24" The angles and size matches my transom on my avalanche. It's actually a dump truck mud flap with some weight zip tied to the bottom:) I think if it was hydraulic and stainless it could be the next best thing for wakesurfing. Results are below. Perfectly clean wave on both the goofy and regular side.
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I like tinkering as much as I like surfing:)
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Duffy, do you remember what diameter those pipes were as well as how long they were? Did you fill the pipes with shot?
Thanks. Bought the mud flap from Peterbuilt now just need to get the pipes. |
They are 3/4 and I filled them with random nuts and pieces of metal:) Pretty ghetto but it works. The zip ties are special high strength ones. Something stainless might work better. I honestly put this on the boat thinking it wouldn't work. When it did I just left it with the original ghetto hardware.
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Are you using the flap to keep the rooster down? Even without a platform on the boat I don't have really any rooster or spray at all/
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My swim deck is very short (the shortest I have ever seen) in length and I also get slight spray from the FAE. This just cleans up the wave. The slight wash or spray is just cosmetic. But I think it looks sweet with none:) When I run slower I don't get any real spray but when I get up to like 11.5-12.5 etc.. I start to get spray. Below is a picture of what I am talking about. Without the FAE I don't get any. But the FAE adds some spray.
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I could imagine an FAE giving a little rooster, we run about 14 without really any rooster. I can't wait to start this platform and for some warmer weather!!!
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I love love love the FAE! Can't imagine surfing without it.
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My boat motor would explode if I was running 14! lol.
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Compromise?
I have pondered this one as well. Raised platform on my last boat as I did not want to give up valuable real estate. Worked to a degree. I now have a SV240 and have started to make my current fiberglass platform electrically adjustable. This way when at rest I can use the entire platform, family space, then when surfing I can hit a button and raise the platform out of the wake. I am just fabbing new platform brackets out of stainless, welding a hinge at the 90 degree angle on the bracket and installing a set on lenco actuators instead of the gusset. I will wire with a quick disconnect plug on the transome and Voila. Problem solved and I still have all my real estate. Worth a try anyway. Worst case is I install my old brackets.
Sporty |
Duffy, can you post a pick with the mud flap attatched? with the boat out of the water? I would like to see exactly how you attatched this to the FAE. Thanks, and I think I will be cutting down my swimtep also (teak)
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Oh yea, how many inches did you cut off each side? looks like about 6'' off each
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Sorry my boat is still tucked away in dry storage. I will have it out sometime around april 1st. I just zip tied the flap directly to the square stainless tube that the Fae is attached too. I did it in the marina with googles on:)
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Cool, thanks Duffy! Yea april 1st is also my target date. I think I'll be able to figure it out. So it pretty much just hangs down behind the FAE ?
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Yep it hangs down to the bottom of the transom. So that's how long mine is. It also has the same angles as the transom. I plan on making a stainless steel version with some turn buckles before summer or even a lenco ram.
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Duffy, if you could post pics I would appreciate it. Trying to get a mental image but it is just not happening for me
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Well we finally got it done (about 6 hours before we left for the Supreme Open at Camp Far West) - its works just as I had thought AWESOME! 3K lbs plus people and it just barely touched the water - now I gotta play with weight again to get it even more dialed!
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That's pretty cool, would have loved to have seen it.
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I like the one ragboy ^ had on his old Tige. I think that is the best solution I have seen yet. Looks nice, super clean, and effective. Make it smaller maybe, and itd be perfect.
Dont see why you couldnt just offer it to costumers, if they want one, make them one. |
We thought about it, and even went to a company that could do it. The thing is, to build one offs, it was very expensive, and I don't think anyone would have paid for it, or just a few, making it not worth it. And to get the price down we had to make like 7 or so at a time, and then we also had to decide which models to make them for, and to measure all of them, etc. In the end, we decided we did not want to be a product company. We have been focusing on ways to make grass roots wake surf events even better, and provide a way to get them paid for. That is why we have been working so hard on the ship to shore and internet broadcast. Now that we have that just about perfected to the point where it works well for grass roots events, we are planning to help deliver that for other wakesurf events, starting with the NorthWest Open.
Anyway, if someone thinks they can sell those, and wants to take a look at ours, I would be happy to share. We want to focus on our site, and the media, and the broadcast. |
take a look at this thread one of the crew has come up with a power swim deck that can be raised while underway so you can keep the large swim deck cant wait to see how it turns out http://www.centurioncrew.com/index.p...ble-swim-grid/
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I made new mounts for my swim platform last year after our July wakesurf camp. We went out one evening after the day session without the platform on and the wake was twice the size. I always suspect the wake would be better but it was rediculously better. I spent the following week designing mounts and raised my deck 8".
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Here is my new teak deck for my Tige 24v. I cut off a ton of the old teak! Hope she works;)
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That looks good Duffy - its just like what I did, but saved a lot of money - I would have done the same if it had a stock teak platform.
Mine raised the platform up 1.5" (keep the family in the boat happy) and as you can tell by one of the photos cut the edge way down. I actually had people asking about it at the Open, but my cost on materials with the custom mat, powdercoating, and the cost of aluminum was very expensive - too much $$$ for most. Plus I already had the square tubing for the framework and all of the welding was done for me by a friend - most charge $100 per hour to weld aluminum as well as he does. Just the traction mat and powdercoating was $430.00. It cost a lot, but worth the $$ for the difference it made! |
Nice Duffy,
Hope it works well... I have a Tige 20v and I originally thought about making a deck similar to the shape you have here. Once I took a longer look I realized that I couldn't get my deck much smaller. So I decided that raising it would be my best option. It is a little tougher for the wife and kids to get in the boat with the extra height but they all agree that the improved wave scores more points. |
Thanks, I tried to match the new RZ2 platform shape. This is as small as it can get and still keep the stock brackets
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y, the new RZ2 shape works well, I haven't felt any need to alter.
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Do you have a picture of the flap installed under there? Looks like a cool idea.
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Here is the mud flap installed on my old boat.
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wheres the chrome girls?
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Frank,this is serious bizness!
Awesome work guys. |
check this out now I want one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvxV4...layer_embedded |
That's pretty cool, would love to see how that effects the wake.
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yea thats a pretty slick deal for sure!
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That is sick....damn....another project to add to the list.
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check out centurioncrew.com there is a thread with an adjustable sv23 enzo that now has a swin deck that tilts up to surf. cool vid of it too
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Thats nuts plus did you check out his ballast filling set up for the enzo sac?
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So the boat with the hydraulics had the mud flap also, those things really clean things up huh?
I am putting a FAE on my 06 X2 this weekend, wondering if I need to do the custom flap as well. |
i am curious if the 2 motor/arms that move the platform up and down will get into the wave. just like the fae does when in the water, those 2 motors/bennit arms may dig in when sac'd. i do think its really cool and want to see the results.
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If you get spray from the fae then the flap helps. Just calms the spray.
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