Need Help Building A Rail
 

I'm going to build a rail that we can pick up and move in and out of the water similar to what you see in the video below. However, instead of the pipe at the top, I'd like to do a flat rail with an upslope on at least one end to make it easier for beginners. We'll also be putting this in pretty shallow water, probably 4-5 deep, so it will be shorter (and hopefully more sturdy and easy to move) than the one in the video.

Any tips or suggestions? What kind of angle should I do on the upslope? Is Trex still the best bang for your buck as far as the top surface goes?

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rail build
 

this is my simple setup from last summer that i built. there is a thread somewhere with other pics and info that i posted.

found the tube for free from some kitchen plumbing supply place because it was scrap or whatever.. works really well for all abilities.

Frame floats so we weighted it down with sand bags and works well.

I use it mainly off shores of beaches and with the angle or slope of the beach the round tube has a straight and flat approach.. versus trying to put trex or whatever on top you would have to play with angles to keep the rail flat.

I have two supports that vary in height to either make it flat or make it an incline

I think that the surface at OWC is HDPE. Here's a link I found online. They will cut it. Looks like you could get 1/2" x 8" x 24' for $120 + $15 for the cuts + s&h.

http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/HDP...AT0-500SR24X96

Wow, that price is not bad at all! I might have to make a trip down the hill and strap it to the top of my Yukon!! Thanks!

If I want the total length to be 24 feet and the rail will only be a foot or so out of the water, how long should I make the down ramp? What angle should it be at?

Here is one I built over winter break. Kinda sounds like what you want to build. Was a nice rail before someone stole it from the island behind my house... We added galvanized bolts where the 2x6's connect to the 4x4's because we ride in salt and didnt want the screws rusting out.
http://i.imgur.com/liujKbHl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ta7BVhml.jpg

Yes, that looks similar to what is in my head. How wide is the top and how long is it? Did you use bolts or screws? I notice there is no bracing along the length of it. Did you have any problems with it flexing? Thanks for posting!

Another idea...do it in two sections of 12 feet that you can easily bolt together once you carry it out to the water. Make one section six inches taller than the other and you get a step in the middle and make the whole thing easier to carry. Just brainstorming! :)

I would think a 30 degree angle would be an easy ramp. If the height was 1' then the ramp would be 2'. But you would probably want it to be about 6" under water, so the height would be 1.5'. So 3' would be the length of the ramp. I would also notch the ends so the boards overlap in a way that the next board in the line couldn't rise up and snag the wakeboard if it gets loose.

What's the formula you use to figure out the length of the up ramp if you know the height of the rail and the angles (30, 60, 90) of the triangle? Pathagoren is all I got and that's not working for this one. :(

Don't use 30 degrees as the angle. I would use 15 degrees max. Do you have any rails at your disposal you can measure? 30 is quite steep and will be hard to handle for beginners...

30 degrees is over a 50 percent slope. 18 degrees is a 33% slope. I'd aim for 20% - so if your rail is 1 foot high, it takes 5' of run to get up it, think about it - 1' ollie in 5' at 20+mph is moving pretty fast on a wakeboard, you might want it even less than 1 on 5, maybe like 1 on 8. 1 on 12 is a sidewalk curb ramp for wheelchairs at a crosswalk.

That one was only 12' long which we discovered was pretty short, the top was 12". We mainly used screws. Bolts were placed where the 4x4s meet the 2x6s at the top. It didn't flex at the start probably because it was short and bolted and screwed together. We ended up cutting in half and bolting it together with the decking on the top overlapping the other section. Would not exactly suggest doing it the way I did because it did end up flexing when we did that and we had to jump on the center to bend it in so we didnt have one of the top boards sticking up.

This is how we cut the middle with the bottom section being a 2x6 and the top the deck board. It flexed there a lot so we ended up sinking the middle into the sand as much as we could to press it together.

length = height/sin(angle).

Hey David,

I have a custom built slider and custom travel trailer for sale... If your interested?

how much are you asking for that?:confused:

It cost us $15,000 to build, but I am open to offers.

Each barrel is individually plumbed so you can float the slider at your desired height. We are including the pump as well

hate to break it to you d_h_wake, but you put way too much thought and money into the slider lol

absolutely no way that cost 15,000 to build

That thing is a work of art! Just beautiful! However, I doubt I could afford the gas to get it to San Diego much less the cost of the slider itself! :(

Ok, here's my plan and my list of materials. Sorry for the bad drawing.

The full size will be 32 feet, but it will be a two-piece unit that we will bolt together in the middle (probably at different levels to give it a step in the middle). That's why it says "X2" on the bottom drawing. The plywood along the sides (not pictured in the bottom drawing) will be optional depending on the weight (we need to carry it in and out of the water) or whether or not it is needed to reduce flex. It will sit about 2 feet out of the water with a 15-degree upslope, which means the upslope needs to be about 8 feet long.

Let me know what you think or if I'm missing anything.

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David, a small suggestion would be to modify where the two flat sections connect, extend the 2X10 by 1-1.5' on section 1 and extend the hdpe the same distance on section 2 so it overlaps like a bricklayer would lay bricks, it will add strength to the weakest part of the rail...if you pre drill the holes in the hdpe, it takes less than 10 minutes to clamp the two sections together and run 4-6 screws in with a power drill to hold it

Great idea! If we keep the top level, we will definitely do this. I was thinking of avoiding the joint by making a six-inch step down, but maybe that can be our back up if the joint ever goes bad. I guess it would be nice to have it all flat to start with. That way I can squeeze in a four or five 360's!! Thanks!

no problem, just a little trick i figured out while building one of my past rail projects

sorry to ask on your thread but I didn't think a new thread was needed but what would you guys say is easier to hit: a big pvc/corrugated pipe rail like above or a flatbar trex rail? been wanting to make one for some time and think I just might within the next couple of weeks.

dwhouston, have you ever hit rails on a wakeboard or snowboard before? in no, then definitely a few trex planks wide flat rail or even better a wide box style feature would be the best place to start, if yes, then either are a blast, may take a few more falls with the pvc/corrugated but its all in good fun

I still recommend going mellower than 1:4 up slope. I'd do a 1:8 up slope, so that's 16' over 2' rise then 2 sections long to make 48 total...

So we spent about a day and a half building this beast. It took a lot more work than we thought it would and it's a lot bigger (and heavier) than we thought it would be, but it works great! Thanks for all the advice. Special thanks to Conor Bayuk, Andrew Kohl and Chris Resnick for working so hard even though they lost most of their enthusiasm about 80% through the project! :)

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