Scratch Built Aluminium Wakeboat

Thought I would post the build & results of our first attempt at a wake boat.

A mate & I thought it would be a good idea to get into the sport and decided to build our own boat. It's 6.4m long, 2.48m wide, weighs <2000kg on trailer and holds 700kg ballast in 3 internal tanks. It's powered by a 260hp carb Mercruiser with 1.5:1 reduction, FNR box and swinging a 4 blade ACME prop.

Wow!

Any finished pics of the interior? And why did you choose to go with a direct drive instead of a V-drive?

Neat idea and concept for sure, and looks like a boat load of work!

And for us non-metric types, the conversion is:
21' long
97.6" beam
4409 lbs
1543 lbs balast

That's awesome! +1 for some closeup pics of the finished product.

Excellent work. How long did it take to complete and how much was the build?

The interior is still work in progress as we were keen to get function before comfort. But it will be a bench seat across the back, a single seat on the back of the engine cover and two parallel seats up in the bow area with a seated capacity of 11.

We wanted a V-Drive but it would have blown our budget before we even started slapping the alley together. We scored a complete closed loop cooling engine & a nice velvet drive combo for $3.5k so that was what we had to work with. If we were to make a Mk2, I would diffidently make it a V-Drive.

We started the project in April 2010, got it in the water Feb this year and we are still chipping away at the interior and trinkets.

As you see it in the photos it has cost a bit over AU $30k Inc. Scratch built trailer, GPS/Paddle Perfect Pass, Elec-Mech trim tabs, custom automated pump in/out ballast system and a 50L (13Gal) fridge.

Holy Crap!!!!

(Walks away and gives up on all "projects")

OK, the biggest question..... how's the wake?

The dedication to make a project like this come to life is something to be admired.

Originally Posted by 501s

OK, the biggest question..... how's the wake?

The dedication to make a project like this come to life is something to be admired.

For me & my mate it is way too big for us, we can trim the wake with the tabs from a nice ramp to a massive wall but we just can't handle it with our current skills. We tend to ride with no ballast at the moment and it seems just right for beginners but every time we load it we look like tards trying to smash our faces in to the water from varying heights and end up cutting our sets short due to "face meets water from great height syndrome".

From my newbie prospective it is not the biggest wake out there but I like the variability of shape that we can trim it to with the combo of trim tabs and weight distribution. We are looking at making the back seat into another ballast tank that can hold an extra 500L/Kg (132Gal/1100Lbs) to assist the wake surf as it needs some extra displacement to give it that extra kick.

Here is a pic with zero ballast & 3 peeps in the boat.

saweeeeet!! PROPS

That is pretty damn awesome!

All I can say is DAMN!!!!!!!

I am so tired of gelcoat and fiberglass. A like the Aluminum look and durability.