Do you use your swim plat form...
 

I see alot of pros actually take there plat form off because it effects the wake when really loaded down...

When I load up my X2 the platform is about 3-4 inches under water... is that enough to effect the wake when on plane?

I am wondering the same thing.

Alright...

with stuff becoming more and more mechanical and/or electrical...

Boat manufactures, you listening...?

make a mechanized swim step that can be lifted while running and lowered when stopped

...or is this silly?

Colbalt already has such a thing just to be more accessible like an inboard. When the boat is up on plane it shouldn't come into play at all. Completely different store though if you are a big surfer. It makes a HUGE difference then.

if your platform is underwater WHILE youre riding then take it off. my guess it isnt so leave it on.

Get on plane, have someone walk to the back of your boat, and look at the platform. If its catching a lot of water, maybe take it off. If its not (and I'm guessing it isnt, you would have noticed a lot of spray by now), dont worry about it.

In all the videos I have seen with pros in loaded down boats I have really never seen one that was missing the swim platform. I could not imagine removing the platform, it is one of the things I love most about my VLX.

I dont think Cobalt had the wake in mind when designing their platform.. it is more of an extended step into the water as to make it easier to get on the platform.

that's what i was thinking that it was just a alternative to a step ladder. but i think it would be simple to make a platform that lifted/slid/folded up, even if it was just hand operated.

a FOLDING one would probably actually be in best interest as it would also be beneficial for storage and parking the boat. fold up the platform to fit in a garage better without taking so much space and fold it up while parked in a parking lot to be sure no one is gona clip it.

They need to manke it manual though, all these mechanical add ons in a maritime enviroment are not good. They will break far too easy.

Swim steps don't affect wake. On our X-star we prefer the fiberglass step because of how heavy it is compared to the wood one. It actually makes the wake noticeably better having all that weight that far back.

When the boat is on plane the step is out of the water completely. Next time you're riding, take a look. If it's dragging in the water, then you have a boat with a design flaw. Eventually it'd probably rip the platform off if it were dragging. That would create an enormous amount of drag.

If you're a pro and have taken your step off for this reason, then please chime in, but I've never met anyone or ridden with anyone that did this.

I've only heard platform issues with surfing, not wakeboarding.

That, I could see.

with no swip deck how do you get back in the boat??????

Gary....thats why X-stars have a bow ladder ;)

And Thanks Evan... and everyone else... I have never seen my platform under water while moving...

Gary, I used to ride with a guy that lost his platform....ut's not to hard to pull yourself up over the back. He had an 06 21V.

No. It's fine.

mastercraft will now have motorized towers and swim platforms, for 133k.

haha your platform should not be touching the water when your at wakeboarding speed. It can and does effect surfing on heavily weighted boats and this is because they are leaning and moving slower...

The swim platform should never be in the water when you are on plane no matter how much it is sunk when you are putting on your bindings. I think it is Tige's that the pros take off their platforms when they weight their boat down, or it could be supra...I'm pretty sure it was an Amber Wing interview that had it but I could be wrong. I know i've seen one brand that this is the case. When we had our 01 x-star back in the day, the platform broke and we had to take it off for a few weeks until the new one came in. It was awful not having that thing on the back of the boat. Getting into the water was fine, but getting back in the boat was the biggest pain in the arse ever. If I bought a new boat and had to take the platform off in order to weight it properly, I would be trading it in very quickly.

I wish I would have had the good fortune to ride in a boat that was slammed to the point the platform was dragging at 24MPH. So far no such luck and I have been in a couple of really slammed boats.

No.
 

Whatever you saw was an anomaly. Pros don't take their platforms off.There's not a single boat who's platform affects the fluid dynamics of the wake at wakeboarding speed. Not one.

What was said about the weight of one platform vs another on the same boat - seems like a stretch but I will have to take their word on that. It doesn't make a lot of sense though. Aren't you CIE guys completely slamming that X-Star? I would think whatever difference in weight you're talking about back there is trivial compared to what you're putting in the boat. Like, not even "difference in fuel levels" noticeability, maybe closer to "all vs some of our equipment is with us" levels.

I did see somewhere that Ben Greenwood took his platform off his Supra. Not because it was messing up the wake, but because he left the boat floating in the lake all the time. The constant wave action would wear out the swim platform brackets. Said he would climb in over the bow.

Likely the same boat Kyle referenced above, as Amber and Ben ride together.