Surfgate style tabs on my 24v or not. Thoughts?!

[Ruger761]

I did start the boat on the fake a lake, so at least got to hear it run. Moved it out the shop to the lean too and buried the trailer in the process. Little tractor wouldn't cut it anymore finally had to get the truck out

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[cpropes2005]

I tried this out on my 22V this weekend. I was working through some other issues and my ballast was self draining for some reason but I did get a chance to surf it briefly and I was really happy with it. The hinge in the middle of the plate was just a test to see if it would flip up on its own. It did so my final design will probably be something similar that retracts under the platform.

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[duffymahoney]

Sweet! Any pictures of the wave?

[NICKYPOO]

Interesting idea on the folding flap. Did it "auto deploy" when you took off?

[cpropes2005]

Yes it did auto deploy. That was the main thing I wanted to test just to see if it would be feasible to have something that completely retracts under the platform. I cut the leading edge of the top part at an angle and since the tab was made out of wood it floated to 90 degrees when I installed it out on the lake and then water pressure did the rest once the boat started moving.

No wave pictures but will get some next time out. Hopefully in the next couple of days.

[NICKYPOO]

Sweet!

[FacePlant]

Sub.

[cpropes2005]

Had the boat out last night. It definitely still needs to be dialed in but I think it has potential. I think the main issue for me so far are that there is still a lot of water coming over the top of the plate and it looks like my platform is cutting into the wave on the surf side. I will make the plate taller for round two and I am still on the fence about cutting my platform down.

I ran out of fittings and still havent gotten around to adding check valves on my bow ballast so the setup for the pictures was full 750's in the rear lockers and probably around 300 lbs in the bow plus me, my wife and our 2 year old in the boat. I think this was around 10.5 or 11 mph.

wave 2.jpgwave 1 .jpg

[duffymahoney]

Do you think the taller surfgate could be making it worse? My swim deck is cut down so it doesn't touch the wave.

[NICKYPOO]

Just curious as to what taps setting you were at there.

[cpropes2005]

Yeah I suppose it could be making it worse but it seems like there is still a lot of water coming over the top of the gate which intuitively seems like it would be a bad thing. I will see if I can do a comparison with and without the extra folding portion to see if it really makes a difference. If your platform is already cut down I think that would make it perform better on your boat.

Slightly off topic but what should I be looking for in a good wave as I am making adjustments? I am a novice surfer coming from a Supra DD so I don’t have a good reference point yet. The one time I have been able to surf with my new boat and the gate I was able to ride a lot further back and it felt like a lot more push than my Supra but that really isn’t saying much.

[duffymahoney]

Wave has a slight wash, but the size and shape is nice!I put the taps down till it just cleans the wave.

[NICKYPOO]

I was thinking more bow ballast and up on the plate. Looking at those two pics, the thing I would be working on is increasing the height and getting rid of the curl. Increasing the bow weight would give the boat a more natural attitude, decreasing the curl and easing off on the plate (raising it) will let the transom sink a bit farther, thereby increasing the height.

I find it hard to go against duffy's suggestions considering what his boat produces but, I call 'em how I see 'em.

I would think a taller gate would be better. It looks like a lot of water coming over that thing.

[duffymahoney]

I bet there is a reason the gate and nss aren't very tall and don't go very high and that is to keep spray down.

[cpropes2005]

I think I definitely could use more bow weight since my front ballast was only about half full. I just bought the fittings so I should have the kinks worked out of my ballast system before the next test. I may also throw a few extra pop bags up front and see what happens. I will try to get a test with both the shorter and taller version of the gate and see which one works best.

Last night my wife asked "so how long until we dont have to mess with clamping this thing on everytime?" I interpreted that as a green light to purchase the lenco actuators. :P