Will this invention make fat sacs obsolete?

We do a lot of welding and making of strange stuff around our place, so we've been thinking about wake control plates that would mount across the transom ski pull hooks to let us tilt and move the stern up and down without having to deal with a bunch of people or fat sacs in the boat. Started poking around the net and low and behold, someone has patented just such a thing! Its such a simple concept can't imagine how the wakeboard/surf boat manufacuturers could pass up on it. I wonder how soon till this makes it to the market. Here's the description and link to the full patent app.

Wake control mechanism

The present invention is a wake control mechanism for watercrafts comprising flat or upwardly curved wake control plate(s) which is/are connected to the stern in a variety of ways, either fixed or adjustable, such that the water passing beneath and/or beside the transom is scooped upward by the plate(s) and the watercraft is therefore pushed deeper into the water causing a larger wake. Additionally the plate(s) may have walls so that the scooped water is held above water level thus adding weight and further increasing wake size. Adjustments to the plate(s) position may be used to control the shape as well as the size of the wake.

http://www.freshpatents.com/Wake-control-mechanism-dt20050616ptan20050126466.php?type=description

That would be a Malibu Wedge or a Switchblade. ??


You've never heard of these?

which BTW are destructive to wakesurfing wakes. they are designed for an optimum wake 70-80 ft behind the boat not 5-10 ft.

getting rid of the Wedge was the single best thing we've done to my sister's 04VLX wake.

Sean - I would agree. I rode a new v230 Enzo a few weeks ago with a switchblade on it and it made an OK WS wake. Maybe it's the curved edges but it was big with just that and stock ballast. That said I've seen better with no wedge or switchblade and just ballast.

Wow, shows you how out of the loop we are on this. Seems like the amount of downward force these things could generate would be beyond belief, but there you go... once again, no such thing as a free lunch!

Where are you putting the wedge? 1/2 down does make a BIG difference.

I'm not arguing that the Wedge doesn't make the wake bigger, I know it does. I'm saying that with the proper weighting the wake is MUCH MUCH CLEANER with a lot more surfable transition without it. Trust me, when we got rid of the Wedge my airs went from the 6-12" range to the 12-24" range instantly and I no longer have to worry about nose diving like I did when we were using the Wedge.

No wedge but still needing more weight


(Message edited by CAskimmer on September 07, 2006)

I have a switchblade on my SV230. For wakeboarding the thing rocks! I can get a great wake with perfect shape. For surfing, I am still experimenting with and without. I can get a killer wake both ways. I will say it is almost impossible to get a goofy wake with the blade installed on a regular spinning boat.

It has been installed on the boardstock boats for the last 2 events.

I obviously didn't ride it but from the videos the boardstock wake doesn't look too impressive.

From the riders at BoardStock, I heard very different things from different riders concerning the wake... was odd to hear a lack of consistency in the wake