Ever since I saw Tige come out with the AVX, I thought they would go down a path of making dual articulated Vx tabs. I was close with that estimation, but they did TAPS3 instead - which by all accounts looks terrific. I, however am not going to be in a place for a long time to buy a new boat. Mine is paid for and I really enjoy that fact. (besides my wife already accepted buying the boat, the supercharger for the truck and the boat port, so I'm really strangling on the end of my leash here).
So since Tige is not going to do it, I am going to try. My idea is to combine the advantages of the Vx with the advantages of the TAPS3.
So from the guy who brought you:
Lifting his garage with 4 $20 bottle jacks:
https://youtu.be/HdbV4Kqcjls
Building a rolling "boat" gate out of steel, wheels and wood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsG_wl4ndTM
and, towing your boat into the garage backwards:
.... I bring you my crazy idea for a TAPS3 VX combination for my 2013 Tige Z1.
And I apologize for this lengthy post up front.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all, as an engineer I always want to know how things work. As such, I sunk my brain in to determining why wake boats make surf waves and other boats don't. A wake is created because the boat moves through the water and creates a depression. As the boat moves past the depression, the water fills in the hole left by the boat. The bigger the hole, the faster water rushes in to fill it. However both sides fill at the same time. These waves then meet in the middle, combine (just like when electromagnetic waves combine) and makes a steep point. However this is only instantaneous as the waves continue to move in their respective directions and cancel each other out. That leaves this:
If you look from higher up, you can see two distinct waves. They meet right behind the boat, peak, and then fall all over themselves before moving on. So the wake behind your boat is just two waves colliding. You can see this with my red and orange wave lines... sorta.
Now in order to get a surf wave, you want to prevent that cancellation, or at least "delay" it. This is what everyone means by delayed convergence
I think AJWard put it best as "you delay the convergence of the waves from each side of the boat so that they don't cancel each other out". This is in essence what we do when we create a surf wave.
---
Okay, makes sense right? Well sort of. How the heck do you delay convergence? This is the part I had to think about for quite a while. In physics terms you can delay a wave in three different ways:
1) Slow down the speed that the wave is moving
2) Reduce its amplitude (which in water is the same as #1 due to decrease in mass causing less velocity)
3) Give it a longer distance to travel.
So how do we do that? Well wake boat manufacturers and others have used a combination of these things. The most obvious is:
1) List the boat.
This creates a deeper depression on the surf side and creates a larger mass of wave on the surf side. This means the surf side wave arrives first and is larger. The offside wave comes in late to the dance and because of its smaller mass, it is moving slower. All you get is that little curl on the back. Tada - surf wave.
2) Gates and Wedges
These devices increase the distance for the water to travel. This is somewhat similar to Bernoulli's principle. (I stress somewhat, but not exactly).
Since the water has further to go, it takes longer to get there. The wedge will also "crab walk" the boat a bit, changing its angle of incidence into the lake. (in other words, its course is different than its heading) This compounds the effect. And tada - surf wave.
Now I have a theory that you could also create a surf wave by making one side of the boat longer than the other, but that is for a different conversation.
---
So we've now established how a wave is created. So what exactly is TAPS3 and how does it work?
In my view, TAPS3 is actually a blend of both techniques. Since you apply lift on the off side of the boat, you induce a list. This creates your differing wave amplitudes. However TAPS3 also does something else:
Notice how the TAPS3 plates are angled in to the center. They are not perpendicular to the transom. Also notice how they have a hook at the end. I'm willing to bet that Tige experimented and determined that adding a list was not enough to allow the boat to be weighted level AND create a surf wave at speed. So they added the angles and the hook to induce some twist to the boat, just like a gate would do. Just enough to make the wave surf right.
--
So we've concluded that TAPS3 is awesome, and gates are awesome. So why not just do that Johnnie?
Well three reasons:
1) I have to be special
2) It burns more gas. You can imagine how much extra gas is burned by dragging one side of the boat through the lake. My boat gets around 3.5 GPH at surf speeds. I haven't seen numbers yet for TAPS3 boats, but I am willing to bet they are more. Gate boats are absurd.
3) The Vx advantage.
So what the heck does the Vx do?
Well I think we will let Rick Correll from Tige explain that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxmpSlBjA9w
Basically, it shapes the wave, and channels the prop wash up into the wave. Is it all hogwash?? Maybe.... but if you ask people who have used Vx and AVx boats, they generally want to keep it around. So let's just assume it does do that.
So the next question is Why can't I have both?
This is my quest.
However, there is more to this goofy little project than that. I shall explain:
There are three things I don't like about my 2013 Z1:
1. It is very tippy at speed
2. There is no way to adjust the wake once you are already in motion.
3. Walking around in a heavily listed boat, at rest, is uncomfortable.
I have no desire at this time to do side to side transfers. I also don't mind my 5 minute switch time. So that aspect really doesn't appeal to me.
Regarding the lack of adjustment, my father always said "anything that's not adjustable is crap". I tend to agree with that. Nothing is more frustrating than having everything ready to go and you just need another 2 degrees of list to perfect the wave..... or a person gets ups and moves to the wrong side.... or the wind comes up and washes over the wave. I need that adjustment, at my fingertips, to fix the issue.
Regarding walking in a listed boat - I don't like it. So what if I only had to list 4 or 5 degrees, and then my plate could get me the last 3 or 4? That would be awesome.
And lastly, if I build my plates without the lip in them, I can add some left or right TAPS and level the boat at speed. This is what trim plates were made for afterall!
--
So I'm not rushing in to this. Firstly, my warranty doesn't run out until October, so I won't be mangling the boat before that. Secondly, it will take a lot of experimentation to get this right.
First thing to do is build a suck gate. But my intention isn't to use it like everyone else, but rather to build an adjustable wedge that I can affix to the BOTTOM of the Vx itself. This way I am simulating my TAPS3 plate. I will make it adjustable such that I can try new angles and sizes to see what works best. Again - I'm only looking to add a little bit of list. The plate also needs to get out of the way when listing the other direction. Otherwise I will lose the benefit of the wake shaping nature of the Vx.
Once I get the ideal sizes worked out I will undertake fabricating my own tabs. They will attach to the Vx or the transom... not sure yet. I think they will be fairly large, with not a not of adjustment. They will mount something like this.
This will be a slow moving thread. This will take me in to next season to get results. So follow along, enjoy, and throw any good ideas my way. I read all the "suck gate" and "wedge" threads a lot to try and understand what works and why.
And who knows... this could all just suck and be entertainment value only
So since Tige is not going to do it, I am going to try. My idea is to combine the advantages of the Vx with the advantages of the TAPS3.
So from the guy who brought you:
Lifting his garage with 4 $20 bottle jacks:
https://youtu.be/HdbV4Kqcjls
Building a rolling "boat" gate out of steel, wheels and wood:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsG_wl4ndTM
and, towing your boat into the garage backwards:
.... I bring you my crazy idea for a TAPS3 VX combination for my 2013 Tige Z1.
And I apologize for this lengthy post up front.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all, as an engineer I always want to know how things work. As such, I sunk my brain in to determining why wake boats make surf waves and other boats don't. A wake is created because the boat moves through the water and creates a depression. As the boat moves past the depression, the water fills in the hole left by the boat. The bigger the hole, the faster water rushes in to fill it. However both sides fill at the same time. These waves then meet in the middle, combine (just like when electromagnetic waves combine) and makes a steep point. However this is only instantaneous as the waves continue to move in their respective directions and cancel each other out. That leaves this:
If you look from higher up, you can see two distinct waves. They meet right behind the boat, peak, and then fall all over themselves before moving on. So the wake behind your boat is just two waves colliding. You can see this with my red and orange wave lines... sorta.
Now in order to get a surf wave, you want to prevent that cancellation, or at least "delay" it. This is what everyone means by delayed convergence
I think AJWard put it best as "you delay the convergence of the waves from each side of the boat so that they don't cancel each other out". This is in essence what we do when we create a surf wave.
---
Okay, makes sense right? Well sort of. How the heck do you delay convergence? This is the part I had to think about for quite a while. In physics terms you can delay a wave in three different ways:
1) Slow down the speed that the wave is moving
2) Reduce its amplitude (which in water is the same as #1 due to decrease in mass causing less velocity)
3) Give it a longer distance to travel.
So how do we do that? Well wake boat manufacturers and others have used a combination of these things. The most obvious is:
1) List the boat.
This creates a deeper depression on the surf side and creates a larger mass of wave on the surf side. This means the surf side wave arrives first and is larger. The offside wave comes in late to the dance and because of its smaller mass, it is moving slower. All you get is that little curl on the back. Tada - surf wave.
2) Gates and Wedges
These devices increase the distance for the water to travel. This is somewhat similar to Bernoulli's principle. (I stress somewhat, but not exactly).
Since the water has further to go, it takes longer to get there. The wedge will also "crab walk" the boat a bit, changing its angle of incidence into the lake. (in other words, its course is different than its heading) This compounds the effect. And tada - surf wave.
Now I have a theory that you could also create a surf wave by making one side of the boat longer than the other, but that is for a different conversation.
---
So we've now established how a wave is created. So what exactly is TAPS3 and how does it work?
In my view, TAPS3 is actually a blend of both techniques. Since you apply lift on the off side of the boat, you induce a list. This creates your differing wave amplitudes. However TAPS3 also does something else:
Notice how the TAPS3 plates are angled in to the center. They are not perpendicular to the transom. Also notice how they have a hook at the end. I'm willing to bet that Tige experimented and determined that adding a list was not enough to allow the boat to be weighted level AND create a surf wave at speed. So they added the angles and the hook to induce some twist to the boat, just like a gate would do. Just enough to make the wave surf right.
--
So we've concluded that TAPS3 is awesome, and gates are awesome. So why not just do that Johnnie?
Well three reasons:
1) I have to be special
2) It burns more gas. You can imagine how much extra gas is burned by dragging one side of the boat through the lake. My boat gets around 3.5 GPH at surf speeds. I haven't seen numbers yet for TAPS3 boats, but I am willing to bet they are more. Gate boats are absurd.
3) The Vx advantage.
So what the heck does the Vx do?
Well I think we will let Rick Correll from Tige explain that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxmpSlBjA9w
Basically, it shapes the wave, and channels the prop wash up into the wave. Is it all hogwash?? Maybe.... but if you ask people who have used Vx and AVx boats, they generally want to keep it around. So let's just assume it does do that.
So the next question is Why can't I have both?
This is my quest.
However, there is more to this goofy little project than that. I shall explain:
There are three things I don't like about my 2013 Z1:
1. It is very tippy at speed
2. There is no way to adjust the wake once you are already in motion.
3. Walking around in a heavily listed boat, at rest, is uncomfortable.
I have no desire at this time to do side to side transfers. I also don't mind my 5 minute switch time. So that aspect really doesn't appeal to me.
Regarding the lack of adjustment, my father always said "anything that's not adjustable is crap". I tend to agree with that. Nothing is more frustrating than having everything ready to go and you just need another 2 degrees of list to perfect the wave..... or a person gets ups and moves to the wrong side.... or the wind comes up and washes over the wave. I need that adjustment, at my fingertips, to fix the issue.
Regarding walking in a listed boat - I don't like it. So what if I only had to list 4 or 5 degrees, and then my plate could get me the last 3 or 4? That would be awesome.
And lastly, if I build my plates without the lip in them, I can add some left or right TAPS and level the boat at speed. This is what trim plates were made for afterall!
--
So I'm not rushing in to this. Firstly, my warranty doesn't run out until October, so I won't be mangling the boat before that. Secondly, it will take a lot of experimentation to get this right.
First thing to do is build a suck gate. But my intention isn't to use it like everyone else, but rather to build an adjustable wedge that I can affix to the BOTTOM of the Vx itself. This way I am simulating my TAPS3 plate. I will make it adjustable such that I can try new angles and sizes to see what works best. Again - I'm only looking to add a little bit of list. The plate also needs to get out of the way when listing the other direction. Otherwise I will lose the benefit of the wake shaping nature of the Vx.
Once I get the ideal sizes worked out I will undertake fabricating my own tabs. They will attach to the Vx or the transom... not sure yet. I think they will be fairly large, with not a not of adjustment. They will mount something like this.
This will be a slow moving thread. This will take me in to next season to get results. So follow along, enjoy, and throw any good ideas my way. I read all the "suck gate" and "wedge" threads a lot to try and understand what works and why.
And who knows... this could all just suck and be entertainment value only
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