switchblade with trim tab

tested out the trim tab up with the switchblade,the theory was wrong, it doesnt do much,my wave is the best with the stock plate but longer,when you adjust it up,it has a hugh roaster,this is the best wave im going to make with my boat.

Here's what I think happened.

A thin sheet of water keeps following the surface of the hull of the boat to the TT. If you point the TT up the water goes up. That’s your rooster. This is caused by the "Coanda Effect".

If you set a trim tab down the water at the trailing edge of the TT is under higher pressure and exit fast. Instead of going up it goes long.

Thanks for sharing.

yeah you can make the wave longer but it wont have the motorcycle jump, and it wont be as big,the switchblade it self puts alot of pressure on the boat and the water coming through,if you want a long wave alls you have to do is use a switchblade and less weight,and if you want a big wave you need a longer trim tab with the switchblade and alot of weight,so dont spend your money on getting a electric trim tab with the switchblade its not worth it.

Are you still recommending using the longer fixed trim tab that you had made I think about 10" away from the hull or are you back to using the short factory one?

By the way really liked the photos from the Lagoon.

Thanks yeah my wife took the photos yeah I'm using a 11inch plate now.

Does your old fixed plate have turnbuckles? I am currently installing a hydraulic wakeplate on my avalanche and it's a super easy, it should be done tomorrow. I was going to go for 12x12, but the centurion engineer talked me down to stock 12x9 inch.

are you putting a switchblade on.

The stock plate is 12x9. Only 7 inches of that extends past the transom.

I am planning on adding a switchblade, but at a later time. I would like to see how big my wave is with custom avalanche enzo type sacs. I installed my lenco rams on the far sides of the plate, so the switchblade can be added. Show is correct the stock plate isn't very long and the lenco 12x9 is actually 9 inches long. The only thing that sucks about the install, is the stupid 3m marine glue-silicone stuff. Nothing gets it off my hands! I guess thats a good thing for underwater, but its a pain to work with.

mine is 12 by 13 to use all the weight.

What kind of boat are you driving?

You said your plate is 12 by 13 does that mean 11 inches of plate extend out from the transom and 2 inches is what is bolted to the bottom of the boat?
Thanks

no 13 inchs out i tried 9 , 11 ,but with alot of weight it doesent work right,and when you useing the switchblade I stiil had to use the same ammount of weight that I used without it.

cylone.

centurion cyclone

So if I am understanding correctly your best plate the total measurement of the plate is 12x15? which works out to about 13" out from the transom? Thanks for your insight.

yeah no problem and that is to use alot of weight.

I am hopefully installing a manual switchblade with a hydraulic 12x9 wakeplate, I will let everyone know how the plate does.

Clarify this, all the above testing was done with a fixed wake plate and not a actuator type trim tab?

one that my friend made which you could pull up by hand and I tried all diffirent measurements to see what it would do.thats going to be to small if you want a wave like mine 12 by 9.weve been testing the switchblade theory for 7 months ive tryed all kinds of ways and thats going three days a week.

Is the plate hinged like a actuator type trim tab or it a fixed wake plate being adjusted/bent manually?

its like a actuator.

duffy when are you getting it put on.

Can you post a picture of your current larger size wake plate installed? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks

James: are you swapping fixed plates each time, or did you drill the stock fixed plate and bolt on the bigger plate?

first time bolted it on to see what size works, now ive had three diffirent plates drilled in and the only one thaT SEEMED TO work was the biggest one to make the wave clean,and it also seems to work for the kind of wave I want.

Is the plate hinged or is it fixed and being bent?

hinged.let me tell you ,you see that wave on top thats the best wave my boat has ever made and that was with the switchblade and a stock plate that was longer,over the last three months ive been playing with other ideas and the actuator one gives you alot of roaster,I dont think they work good together,already you get a roaster if you dont put a custom plate on there.when you use the switchblade.

I shouldn't make a difference if it fixed or actuated. They use the exact same principle.

well the idea I had was maybe if you pull up the trim tab a little while your droping the switchblade it would be bigger but that theory does not work,I dont think you understand what I was trying to do duffy.it is a waste of time to add the hydrollic trim tab with the switchblade,and money, the only thing it would be good for is if you didnt want to use your switchblade some time and had that to offer your boat to make a good wave.

I think the questioning is not specific to making the wave bigger/taller/better for the regular side but how the Cyclones wave making performance is altered using a trim tab + SB on both sides of the boat.

For our Centurion, the trim tab is used differently when creating a wave on the port and starboard sides.

I believe you are the only one that has tested this combination and with the Centurion line falling short of replicating it's "regular" wave size/shape on the goofy side (std tranny); I think many are curious if the same results can be achieved with the SB + TT on the goofy side as the regular tranny equipped boat delivers with a TT alone, when making a goofy wave.

In short:

(Regular Tranny)
Boat w/SB, Port Wave = Good
Boat w/Trim Port Wave = Good
Boat w/SB Star Wave = Unknown (Rarely Discussed)
Boat w/Trim Star Wave = Good

(Reverse Tranny)
Boat w/SB, Star Wave = Good
Boat w/Trim Star Wave = Good
Boat w/SB Port Wave = Unknown (Rarely Discussed)
Boat w/Trim Port Wave = Good

So two questions:

#1) Do you have any pictures of your boat surfing goofy pre-SB install with a trim tab installed?

#2) If so, can you replicate a "good/decent" wave on the opposite side of your boats design with the SB + trim, as you could with trim tab only.

I know you are trying to make a wave that goes straight up and looks great in pictures, but this was/is an excellent opportunity for all manufacturers involved, Centurion specifically, to prove that when used in application xyz (with these hull & transmission limitations) the following results can be had.

I think this would have been a great test:

Cyclone w/ TT Regular (Test & Capture ideal degree/percentage)
Cyclone w/ TT Goofy (Test & Capture ideal degree/percentage)
Cyclone w/ SB Regular
Cyclone w/ SB Goofy
Cyclone w/SB + TT Regular (Matching TT Degree)
Cyclone w/SB + TT Goofy (Matching TT Degree)

Also, I glanced up and realized you don't have a trim tab at all and we're discussing a plate, substitute my TT reference for a plate then. I was confused by the thread title. This introduces another set of variables, plates and their sizes and of course the factory option BTT.

This IS what is missing: a true A vs B comparison of wake shaping/sizing accessories and the complimenting attachments combined with an assessment of the results and recommendations.

OR, last question:

#3) Are you just trying to create the biggest/best wave that your transmission and hull can produce with whatever accessories are available on the market today?

If so, I'd recommend revisiting this as you have a great opportunity to help a lot of wakesurfers and manufacturers as well.

james z ill be in sc tomorrow. maybee we can hook up and surf. chase said its been good.

yes im trying to make the best wave i can for wake surfing for what I would like, and a wave that you can surf fast on.The only one that has seemed to figure it out about setting up the plates and switchblade right was my friend jim at ace marine,and thanks to switchblade for getting me the blade ,but everything is so new to the sport that the plate they told me to use didnt work on my boat,so we had to try tons of diffirent ideas to make it work and centurion told me I could never put a switchblade on my boat,so if it wasnt for me jim I wounld have never had this wave.Also all the testing and time and money put into it, I went out there alot of times and tryed it with diffirent ideas and it wouldnt do what i wanted.so thanks to jim and switchblade,for making this happen.

hey johnny what up, its going to be 40 miles an hour winds today on the coast,we will have to go wakesurf soon .Im going dirt biking today, good like on the surf,you guys should go to where I told chase to go the other day thats the only place that is protected from the wind.

loc your best bet for a plate is to test diffirent sizes my boat is 20feet 8 inchs so you need to think about that, and if you want to use alot of weight you need to make sure you have a big plate.as far as the goofy, on my side it doesnt work,so I cant tell you about that one.I will tell you one thing it just takes time to figure it out like I said switchblade and centurion were no help on telling me the size plate to use so I wouldnt listen to them.and it also depends on what kind of wave you want,for me I want big mama.

If the weather ever breaks, I hope to add more to this thread. Here's a pic from a surf comp and my Avy pulling goofy with switchblade on '2' setting. Standard tiny fixed plate. A few weeks and I'll have the whale tail fixed plate to test with. Probably not as much ballast as James, but we'll see what the Avy hull can do.

wave looks fun.

why are you blacked out in the pictured.

Loc, I like how you organize operating configurations and tests.

I assumed that James installed a BTT on his SB equipped boat, did I get that wrong? Did James just set a manual trim tab in the up position? My experience with setting the MTT up is a bad one. That makes the wake on both sides worse. Riders get spray in their face.

What I thought Duffy wanted to do was install a BTT with a SB. I’m not sure I understand the end goal of the BTT+SB combo. My guess of the objective was to attempt to improve the goofy wake with SB installed.

Loc sets his BTT down for goofy surf. In this configuration the water pressure at the trailing edge of the BTT increases. So the water is under higher pressure and shoot out faster, and further. The water goes long rather than short (and upward). I think this might be a key factor keeping the spray out of the goofy riders face.

So James’ longer fixed trim tab with the makes a tall steep wake but with a shorter pocket, is that right? somewhat shorter, With the normal short fixed TT with the SB the surf wake pocket is longer, but not as tall and steep?

All boats have some dead rise. When we’re surfing the dead rise is significant, right? If the bow is up then the stern is down. The greater the bow rise the deeper the TT is in the water. A longer TT will be deeper than a shorter TT. Like Loc’s TT which is down for goofy surfing, the longer TT is deeper in the water and so water at the end of the TT is under greater pressure.

Boats rigged for surfing dog track, a little. The TT also dog tracks. I’m not sure that that means for improving the goofy wake – or not. I think I’m going to play with TT length.

James, thanks for sharing your ideas and stoke!

Short TT not deep in the water


Long TT deeper in the water


Not sure how a longer TT impacts dog tracking

Since I live on open water (a bay) I want my boat to throw a solid stomach high wave. Preferably on the starboard side seeing that I ride goofy. My buddies that surf like my wake but it's not surfing. It's fun don't get me wrong. But it's not surfing. James wave is the closest thing I've seen to what we want to produce. We are looking for a big deep v hull inboard boat that we can play with. I wonder if someone fabricated a switchblade type of device to put onto a 34 foot inboard fishing boat in addition to water ballast what the outcome would be?

Dual prop 34 footer, the Switch Blade guys would love you.

Joe, is that a picture of Jeff Walker surfing just before a hair cut?

I think the best wave ever would be to double my boat size and the engine,then make a switchblade double the size and double the prop,and you would have a six foot wave but then they would ban wakesurfing for sure,but its a good dream.

LOL!

Joe, is that a picture of Jeff Walker surfing just before a hair cut?


and apparently a shave!

Hey JoeB how big of a plate are you going to try? I measured on a SV230 with switchblade today and it has 14 1/2" max from the transom to the bolt that holds the switchblade on. The bottom of the switchblade itself is up 3 1/4 " from the cavatation plate or fixed plate.
Are you making a 12 x 14 plate which would leave 2" of bite on the bottom?

Here is a picture of my newly installed lenco wakeplate. It's 12x9, but it has a ton of movement. I installed the two rams 3 or so inches apart, so that I could install a manual switchblade at a later date. The travel is more than I expected.

dude james, chase and i surfed the hook yesderday and got it soooooo good. ratboy was out with a bunch of the local guys. were in texas now but ill hit you up when were comin back.

The hook man your stoked thats one of my favorite waves.hit me up.

hey on monday you should meet us and we will surf. cody is meeting us there, and i think we want to go north and surf north sc

im going to be in clear lake wakesurfing and riding dirtbikes I wish, I would love to surf anueo.

I too measured just over a fraction of an inch over 14" total lenght for clearance of the SB. I'll probably go 13.5". Gotta talk to a metal fab company later this week.

Show: Pics of Jeff...no. The pic is of my boat and a woman surfing at a comp, so no faceshots.

Hmmmm. My uncle <3 hrs away on Lake Erie has a 34ft Baja Sportfisher that is the deepest 'V' I've seen with dual 454 mag inboards. I wonder what way they spin and how many ballast bags I can stack to tilt the thing. Obviously has 2 trim tabs. Road trip???

The props on your uncle’s boat most likely rotate in opposite directions countering each other.

yea man waves per pin today. next swell im goin back to stay with chase. we should all hit up anueo, or your spot.

yeh theres a good south coming.it was 100 degrees today at the lake

i know! sc was like 90 it was scorching! the delta was near 100 im sure. how was the lake got any shots?

yeah, got some sic shots,almost pulled a big spin.

Big spin on your stretch board ??that'd be quite the maneuver !

no way thats sick i was wanting to go out and try those i think i would work sick but you would have to ride out switch.

yeah, just got back johnny ,almost broke my toe ,my foot and my knee doing a frontside huge rotation,I aired 180 coming in nose bone about three feet of the wave but five feet out and landed full force in the flats on my board and I thought for sure I broke something,I cant walk today and problem wont be doing much for a couple of weeks pretty scary.got it on video the air was narly,ive been working on rotations for five months been starting to land 180 and ride backwards.ive pulled of about ten of them,after that deal it showed me how hurt you can get.when your going that big.but im not going to give up ,just going to heal my self and get back out there. Im bummed because theres a sic south swell tomorrow and im going to miss it.

this was pretty much like the one I went for and landed in the flats on my board.

whattt that sucks! im goin up to surf sc friday and me and chase wanted to meet up with you and surf anueo

I know ,Im bummed,its going to be good on this swell ,for sure when I feel better we can go surf and I might be coming your way to the lake soon.How was the trip to texas.I figured out how to make the barrel behind the boat narlly,ashley knows how to drive to make the thing just open up.

Any chance of getting a picture of your current wakeplate attached to the transom?

What type of metal did you use and have you noticed any flexing?
Thanks

No flexing been playing around with it, finding the best setting.I will try and get a photo up soon.this is the wave ive come up with that I like the best.

new wave...

this is with a giant trim tab and the switchblade.