TAPS 21 v2.0

[UNSTUCK]

I haven't updated this in a while. We just keep getting happier and happier with the wave. Swap to GSA and don't look back!

We have played and played with different settings and it is paying off. We actually are surfing now with numbers quite a bit different than what we started off with. We are working on dialing back The TAPS tab more which is really helping clean up the wave face. The surf tab is still pretty much at a 2 or 3. I'm trying to figure out why that is the case. It's keeping me at my roll angles of around 5 degrees. I really don't want to dump off side water to get more lean and then raise the surf tab up. I need to try it and see what happens though. We have sped the boat up to 11.8 now and we are all really happy with that. Maybe I'll get brave and try going as fast as Zack recommends one of these days.

So the Reunion at Mead was really interesting. Half of our party ended up not being able to make it so we ran with just my small family of 5 and only water weight. We ran one kid in the bow, the driver and then my wife and one other kid in the rear corner. We ran the front ballast full and the rears set to 90%. The wave was probably the longest we have had it, but what really stood out to me was how hard it was. I could really push down hard on the board with my legs from the top of the wave to the bottom to generate speed. It felt like snowboarding and pumping on hard pack to generate speed. The wave just felt rock hard. I've been dying to get air now and feel like I'm right there, but it's not happening. As I watch this video (never mind my awesome dance moves at the beginning) it looks like I have enough speed and wave to just fly off the top, but I don't. Hopefully it's just my technique that needs improvement. Anyways, we are loving it.

[Zackdogg]

First off, the wave and dance moves are looking pretty damn nice!!

I’m doing the GSA swap. You, Cole, and D&P have me plenty sold!

It was funny, we went out today, I basically borrowed my boat from the dealer to get a day in, since they’ve had it since Labor Day, and I have been needing some lake time. I took no lead, because I was only getting out for like 5 hours and it wasn’t worth the hassle.. I was the biggest human on the boat by probably close to 100#, although we had 14 on there, there were only 3 guys, maybe 1500-1800# in humans, with a boat full of chicks and kids. And we got a halfway decent wave surprisingly, luckily everyone that rode was goofy, so I think that was the biggest factor, as our goofy wave is twice our regular. I did slow down, though, but only to 11.6, at one point someone must have turned taps off, and it went back to the 10.8 default and I couldn’t figure out what had happened to the wave, as it was half wash, before I realized it was the speed, back to 11.6 and it cleaned right up.. I think it had more push than it normally does at 12, too. I think 12 is a longer wave, which is more fun if I want to work harder, but I think 11.6 might be the spot..


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[UNSTUCK]

Our port side actuator failed on us a couple weeks ago in the middle of the day. Our goofy wave was shot. We switched over to the regular side just to goof around. I haven't had so much fun surfing in a long time. It was like learning to surf all over again. We all surfed both heel side to the wave, and switch. It was a blast. Anyways, that wave on the regular side of the boat was far more impressive than our goofy wave. I was really surprised. It was cleaner, longer, and much stronger. I really wish I could duplicate that on the goofy side.
Anyways, we will continue running at faster speeds and will keep playing with weight and settings, as normal. The sad thing is that I'm afraid our season is over. Trying to get to Sand Hollow is two weeks though.....fingers crossed.

[NICKYPOO]

^^^ What you should be concerned about is throwing the rope back in the boat. One fall over the wake and you’re seriously looking at getting caught in that rope. I’d be willing to bet you don’t use a safety release so all the more reason to throw it back in the boat.

[bsreid]

I wouldn’t worry about the rope on the other side. Hundreds of hours like that from many many people without a single problem. Might be the case on an older smaller wave but this bigger boats you really gotta try to get over there. Us Canadians call leaving the rope on the side the Canadian way.

[UNSTUCK]

We pull the rope in most of the time. At least I do when I’m in the boat. But to be honest it’s just to clean up video we may take as I hate seeing the role bounce around. I’ve never thought about being able to get caught up in it if we somehow got to the other side. I have tried a few times to intentionally do a transfer and have yet to get to the other side. My daughter actually got huge air one time in an attempt to do a 360 and belly flopped on top of the wave. She had no chance of getting to the other side. We used to just throw the rope into the boat, but doing that really messed up my daughters as they were learning. It was just easier for them to throw it across the wake and has become habit.
Either way, if the rope gets pulled into the boat there becomes zero chance for a tangle up so it is good advice.

[NICKYPOO]

I wouldn’t worry about the rope on the other side. Hundreds of hours like that from many many people without a single problem. Might be the case on an older smaller wave but this bigger boats you really gotta try to get over there. Us Canadians call leaving the rope on the side the Canadian way.

I call it the lazy, irresponsible way. Seriously bro, how hard is it to throw it back in the boat? You’re argument is the same as people who surf behind outdrives. “It hasn’t happened to me yet so it never will.” The only reason you don’t hear about it is the fact that people rarely admit to being stupid. You know I respect you and I love my Canadian but c’mon man, throw that thing back in the boat.

[NICKYPOO]

Either way, if the rope gets pulled into the boat there becomes zero chance for a tangle up so it is good advice.

Exactamundo.

[Captainkurk72]

Very nice wave. I made to mead for thr first time this year but not at the right time and didn’t have my boat. I was amazed at how low the water is.

On the topic of the rope. I throw the rope in the boat every time. If I have a new surfer they drop and somone pulls it it.
A few years ago I threw the rope and fell in the process (maybe too much lake beverage but it happens sometime). I had the rope coiled up in my forward hand. I hit the water and felt the rope first on the back of my neck. I quickly tucked my chin and put my hand over my chin and neck. The rope got real tight real fast around my neck and hand and after little bit of dragging it amazingly slid off. I got pulled by the head and had a very nasty rope burn. I was very shaken and felt lucky things didn’t turn out worse. I know it was a fluke and probably couldn’t happen again if I tried. The lesson I learned is that bad accidents can’t happen if you eliminate the potential for the worst that could happen.




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[NICKYPOO]

Very nice wave. I made to mead for thr first time this year but not at the right time and didn’t have my boat. I was amazed at how low the water is.

On the topic of the rope. I throw the rope in the boat every time. If I have a new surfer they drop and somone pulls it it.
A few years ago I threw the rope and fell in the process (maybe too much lake beverage but it happens sometime). I had the rope coiled up in my forward hand. I hit the water and felt the rope first on the back of my neck. I quickly tucked my chin and put my hand over my chin and neck. The rope got real tight real fast around my neck and hand and after little bit of dragging it amazingly slid off. I got pulled by the head and had a very nasty rope burn. I was very shaken and felt lucky things didn’t turn out worse. I know it was a fluke and probably couldn’t happen again if I tried. The lesson I learned is that bad accidents can’t happen if you eliminate the potential for the worst that could happen.




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It’s no joke. Ropes and water kill people. Your situation is why I use one of these, https://www.skyski.com/product-p/65-0800.htm I’ve never had to use it in an emergency but I know it’s there in case I ever do. Should it not release for whatever reason, I always have a line down from the manual release so that I or any of the crew can easily grab it and release the rope. People get caught in ropes all the time. So do kids.

[UNSTUCK]

I received this question in a PM today and thought I would post it up here as well as way of concluding this build.

Reading everything you did.... was it really worth it after all the time and work you put into it?

Yes, and no. Building them myself saved a ton of money. I then sold my TAPS 3 tabs for more than I spent so I made money on the conversion. So in this respect it was a no brainer to do the conversion. Polishing was a lot of work, and was way harder/longer than it needed to be. It will be easy next time based on what I learned. Other than that building them was "work" I enjoy doing so I can't count that as work.

Now if I had to purchase the full kit at around $5k, or even just the tabs at $1500 I probably would have been disappointed. My local lake is shallow and choppy. Either of those will greatly diminish a "great" wave to just a "descent" wave. Both together makes it even worse. I did see improvement in the wave with shallow and choppy, but not a significant amount. For what I had into the project I was satisfied. Then the few times I had the boat on deep, glass water, the wave was amazingly better. Smoother, longer, taller, and far better push. If Lake Mead or Powell was my local lake I'd be in heaven. What's more, with 6-900 pounds of added lead it's even better.

So you need to look at your situation and decide if it makes sense for you. Endless money to play with? If yes, then go for it. Nice deep lake to make the most of the system? If yes, then go for it. Wave snob like me? If yes, then go for it. Are you sure you have already maxed out your current surf system? If not, try that first. Is your wave fine, but your technique the real issue? I know I have this problem to some extent.

Hope this helps.
Josh.

[Zackdogg]

Figured I’d give this thread a little revival, since it seems to have the most back and forth about GSA on it. I bought the set of plates that Tunafoot was selling, so now I have me a wintertime project. I’m sure there have been a bunch of people that have done this in the last year. If anyone has any more current pics or advice, I’m all eyes and ears.

Bummed our summer is hitting the end, but stoked to finally be doing this swap.


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[UNSTUCK]

Don't give up on summer! Surftember is in full swing and Boatober is just around the corner. Best two months of boat season.

If I was you, I would scrap the hinge that came with the tabs and built your own. One side of the hinge to match the bolt holes on the tab and the other side of the hing to match the screw holes already in your boat. That's easier and cheaper than filling in the stock holes and drilling new holes.

Or drag that pig out here and I can help you do it all and then hit the lake for a test run.

[Zackdogg]

Don't give up on summer! Surftember is in full swing and Boatober is just around the corner. Best two months of boat season.

If I was you, I would scrap the hinge that came with the tabs and built your own. One side of the hinge to match the bolt holes on the tab and the other side of the hing to match the screw holes already in your boat. That's easier and cheaper than filling in the stock holes and drilling new holes.

Or drag that pig out here and I can help you do it all and then hit the lake for a test run.

Weddings and hunt trips screw those months for me, but I will be sneaking in what I can. Our home lake is getting pretty damn low, on our side, as well. I’ll get a few more days in, but we’re definitely done in October, either way.

I keep going back and forth on that, and I still have that in the back of my mind, as an option. I have some repairs that need to be made, on the gel anyways, so my first thought is, if I can get the color, I’ll probably just fix the gel myself, and use the GSA hinges. I have a buddy, who’s a wizard of a fab guy, which I’ll have him make me a hinge that lines up with the old holes, otherwise. He’s shipping the GSA plates to me, today, so I’ll be able to make a little better determination, after I get my hands on them. I’ll probably wait to make that call, until after I pull the TAPs hardware off, also.

Anyone have actuator fail on a GSA yet? Trying to decide if I should order the HD actuators, or not. Also I talked to a rep from GSA the other day, who was a super cool guy, and he recommended their actuator mounts over the Tige actuator mount, if anyone has an opinion on that.

I’d love to do a Utah trip, be it before these are on, or after. We planned on hitting a bunch of Utah, down to Moab and St. George, on the way back from sturgis, got to Denver, and the fires turned us back around to Laramie.


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[NICKYPOO]

Umm, I’ll be happy to review your wave for you.

Right now the weather is amazing for boating. However, the smoke is killing any chance of riding.