Wakeplate

Can someone tell me what exactly the wake plate is meant to do. Also what is the most effective position to get a good wake using it.

thanks

A wake plate (i assume your talking about a hydraulic wakeplate) has 2 purposes 1)shapes the wake by letting the back of the boat sink deeper in the water when the plate is all the way up. Makes the wake more vertical. 2) prevents porposing when running high speeds put the plate in the down position to push the nose of the boat down.

I've played with mine in all different positions and found that when wakeboarding, all the way up is best. When getting from point A to B, about 25%-50% seems to ride well.

Just my .02

Thanks, I was just curious if there was anything you could do yo possibly make the wake better.

just to clarify... if it is best when all the way up... what good is it on a wake boat?

secondly, has anyone on here ever installed one on a boat where one did not exist???

It keeps the boat from porpoising(sp?). My 21V will porpoise above 25mph even w/out any ballast with the wake plate all the way up.

If a boat doesn't have one the primary benefit would be to stop porposing and maybe make the wake have more ramp for beginers. It will not make the wake larger.

"just to clarify... if it is best when all the way up... what good is it on a wake boat?"

My "wake boat" also has a heater.....doesn't really make me wakeboard any better, but I guess if it's cold it helps when just cruising along.

A wakeplate can help tune the wake. I usually run with mine around a quarter down and sometimes I run with it all the way up or just a tad down depending on weight in the boat. Another big advantage for me is using it to plane out when I'm sacked heavy which is most of the time. I put it all the way down, take off and start raising it as I approach my desired speed. It helps tremendously in getting on plane faster with 2200lbs of ballast. Then I use it to adjust the top of the wake slightly.

Kraig,, i understand that --and thanks for the reply.. but the question really was, how does it affect the wake when the tab/plate is all the way up, or does it?

The answer is a wakeplate/TAPS/Trim tab affects each boat differently. Since you said 'wakeplate' I assume you're talking about a Moomba or Supra, right?

Also, you have to clarify up or down. With the wakeplate in the 'down' position (gauge all the way to the right, bow in the water) the wake will have a rampier look and feel, similar to an MC wake.
With the wakeplate all the way up (gauge all the way to the left, bow out of the water) it will remove much of the transition and create a more vertical wake with a substantial peak at the top.

This is only if you're talking about a Supra or Moomba with the factory wakeplate. How it affects other mfgr's boats I can't comment on as I don't have as much experience with them.

i understand all that-- lets chage the scenario... i have a 94 mc 205. i also have a wake plate, but it is not installed, however i am contemplating installing it. however, what would be the use, b/c all i do is board and surf, so i would want the plate in the up position... so what good would it be. i understand it drives the bow down -- that is why they are installed on Yachts...to help plane out a little quicker. would i be wasting my time w/ this or would it benefit me in any way...

You would be wasting your time putting it on a '94 205. The hull is not designed to perform with a wakeplate. In fact, the boat/hull performs great without it...I had a '99 205.

Josh,
I see where you are going with your questions.

Yes if the wakeplate is all the way up it would be like not having one at all, or similar to the results of not having one. And I know you know this but it is the option of adjusting it whenever you want or need to . With mine If I have it all the way up I get a lippy steep wake. when I start to put it down the wake will ramp out more and the lip will not be as steep and abrupt.

Have the wakeplate is one of the main reasons I will stick with Supra/ Moomba in any boat I buy.

We use our boat for a wide variety of activities and Go to lake powell a lot. when the swells and the chop are 4 + feet you can put that wakeplate all the way up and go about 10 miles an hour and you get the nose way up so you wont take any swells and chop over the nose. Then when you need to cruise 40 miles up river you can put the plate down and the boat will glide through the water like a ski-oat. You kind of get the best of both worlds. And of course you can contol when your boat Porpoises with out slowing down unlike any other boat out there ( without a HYD. Wakeplate).

Hope that helps .

Josh, I added a wakeplate to my 98 Centurion Elite-V. It is standard on newer models but was a retrofit for mine. I got it primarily to eliminate porpoising at 30 mph and above (I still slalom some) It would only do this under certain weight/speed conditions, but not at all when I test drove it. The plate solved it completely.

Even when up, it is still providing some surface contact and helps with planing. When straight out or slightly down, it helps firm up the wake; on my boat it moves the sweet spot farther back.

I have no idea it it would benefit you. You may achieve the same thing with weight distribution.

what does the taps system do on tige

Tige claims it's a wake building device, as opposed to a wake shaping device.

Tige Anti Porpoising System

Key word here. "Tige Claims". A wakeplate/trim tab can give the illusion of building a larger wake, but in reality all it's doing is taking the normal wake and makign it smaller. And going from smaller back to normal gives that illusion. }

From my experience NAW and adam are both right and depending on your like or dislike for Tige is how you view TAPS. I like Tige, so in my view their hull design without a trim tab is made to displace as much water as possible to create as big a wake as possible for an unweighted boat. However at faster speeds (say for slalom) the boat will porpoise unless the trim tab is deployed to hold the bow down. Sure the marketing is exaggerated but what other boat gives you any control over the running attitude of the boat without just adding weight? Malibu does with the wedge to answer my own question but who else?

There is no substitute for more weight for bigger and bigger wakes but still having some control over the running attitude of a heavily weighted boat is not a bad thing (or is that just an illusion?). Key here is that Tige has made their hull to work with the trim tab not just stuck it on to hopefully improve an existing design.

"what other boat gives you any control over the running attitude of the boat without just adding weight? Malibu does with the wedge to answer my own question but who else?"

Supra/Moomba.

I like Tige's, my roomate has a new 06 22VE (I haven't ridden behind it yet) and am good friends with a dealer. This tpoic has been discussed a hundred times....I still believe it's alot of smoke. Trim Tabs work great but won't increase the size fo a wake. Tige gets very creative with their marketing IMO.

I'm not a Tige hater, in fact I kind of like their boats and have ridden behind the 24 with no weight except people and taps and the wake was good. Probably a product of the overall weight of the boat.

That being said, Supra and Moomba's plate do in fact adjust the running attitude of the boat considerably, preventing porpoising while shaping the wake....but, it's not marketed as a 'wake building' device. I'm sure it's just semantics at this point.

I will agree that Tige's hull design, specifically the lack of 'hook' at the transom are designed to integrate with the TAPS system.

Also, the wedge (Malibu) is marketed as a wake building device and is not meant to adjust the riding attitude of the boat.

The wedge does in fact pull the back of the boat down so the hull displaces more water, equalling an increase in wake size. Wether it's the equivalent of 1000lbs (as marketed) is a bit suspect, but an effective wake building device nonetheless.

Some of the 06 Nautiques have a wakeplate on them. My 05 Centurion has a hydraulic wakeplate, it was an option, standard equipment on all centurions is a manually adjusted wake plate.

Calabria also has a wake plate on their boats.

...for that matter, a few '06 MC's have a plate as well. I thought the Nautiques just used the 'gate'?

Dont forget though, those other boats are all maunally adjusted wakeplates. Not even comparable with the Hydrolic ones.

E Double U - they are not all manually adjsuted -I have seen Nautique, and Mastercraft with hydraulic, and I have owned a Moomba and currently have a Centurion with hydraulic wake plates.