New Wake Plate System

[ragboy]

I am at the Castaic contest, a day early to help setup boats. I am not on the boat, Whitney and RJ are with Dennis H. But I got a good look at the new wake plate system on the new 2009 v237. Its a must see. Gotta be a way to do this after market, it is very cool. I will put one pic here, but check out the WW thread for more.

[empty_boat]

wake plates

They look like Bennett Trim Tabs, they can be installed on virtually anything, we were talking about trying them on a Tige but weren't sure what the adbantage would be. Would you drop the right one to make the left side "dig" in more? or do they give you ability to push the water down on the heavy side of the boat? I would love to know how they use them. I know when a boat is really heavy you might need to get some more running surface to make a wave form, I will be watching to see what people have to say.

[ragboy]

Exactly, I have thought about doing something like this, and others also. Now that sanger has it on, hoping to get an idea of how well it works. We were on the 237 without this, it had a stationary single plate, and did a nice wake. So seeing this, love to see what it does.

[talltigeguy]

That looks like a terrific idea. I think it would be very useful for surfing, but I am not sure it would be useful for anything else.

[zad0030]

Look at the rear tie downs..

[chpthril]

With the way those transom tie-downs are running across the tabs, i'll give them 1 season.

There was a surf thread on WW and a couple of posters commented that they got a better wakeboard wake on their I/O's by removing the trim tabs. What they gain for surfing may be a negative result for wakeboarding.

[ragboy]

Whether the new trim tabs work will be seen. Dennis seemed to think it didn't make much diff, but conditions were bad. However, here is the new swimstep on the surf series boat. There are 2 things to point out.

1. It is smaller/shallower and cut off at the corners, so it really stays out of the way. This is great.

2. It is SMOOTH on the bottom, so if it does touch, it will not make turbulents like the huge lip on the bottom of my tige step does.

I have been wanting to fabricate something on my boat over the winter, and had several ideas, but now I am inspired. I think the cut off corners, instead of just smooth and smaller is the way to go.

[zad0030]

So i guess we can say that Sanger reads this forum and takes our ideas....

[gman]

And look at the nice exhaust tips!

[Surfdad]

It was fun to ride behind those boats over the weekend. The swimdeck was close, but still needs a bit of work. That "ear" up close to the transom needs to be trimmed some more. I think if it were hacked on the red line in the picture, it wouldn't interfer with the wake at all. That ear still catches a bit and can cause a secondary lip issue.

The TT's seem to function, but I don't think as intended. The V237 can be set up with a significant, steep and lippy wake, but that isn't suitable for many folks. The steep wake is great for powerful surf style folks, but skimmers, kids, newbs and us old timers most likely prefer a more mellow transition.

If you set the Sanger up for the steep, tall, lippy wake, a touch of the button allows you to mellow out the transition and create that rounded lip up towards the spine and a ton of transition that the skimmers like. For folks like me that need a more forgiving wake, you can smooth it out, again with just a touch of a button...then when the next rider wants a taller steeper face, just touch the button again.

I don't think you can add much to the wake with this system - maybe a bit, but it allows you to sculpt the wake "down" to a more mellow transition and then with a touch of the button, bring it back.

[ragboy]

According to Dennis, sanger took feedback and is fixing several things, one of them right away is the tie down straps interferring with the tabs.

[Jason B]

Personally, the idea of a SMALLER deck is not good. My kids spend at least 90% of thier time playing on it. You didn't know it was also a diving board did you!? It becomes the activity center on the lake. I want it bigger, bigger, bigger! (no cracks from peanut gallery on that one) I understand the purpose of the smaller deck and definitely see the point, but how about a hydraulic lift or a system to raise it a foot while you're surfing. Maybe a quick release mechanism to remove it all together? As stupid as it sounds, a tiny deck would be a deal breaker for me. I'm probably in the minority though.

[dogbert]

Personally, the idea of a SMALLER deck is not good. My kids spend at least 90% of thier time playing on it. You didn't know it was also a diving board did you!? It becomes the activity center on the lake. I want it bigger, bigger, bigger! (no cracks from peanut gallery on that one) I understand the purpose of the smaller deck and definitely see the point, but how about a hydraulic lift or a system to raise it a foot while you're surfing. Maybe a quick release mechanism to remove it all together? As stupid as it sounds, a tiny deck would be a deal breaker for me. I'm probably in the minority though.

You bring up an interesting point, though. What if you could fold up the one corner that's getting in the way? With these fiberglass platforms, that should be much easier to do. Or at least make that section removable. I'd hate to remove the entire thing because if you had to pick up an injured rider, it would be very difficult to get them in the boat.

[ragboy]

I also don't want to remove the entire thing. I see the swim deck as a final protection from the underside of the boat. Now, I KNOW that it would be virtually impossible to crash into the prop, and in all the surfing we have done, no one has yet to even hit the deck. However, I wouldn't risk it. Also, I would think it would cause concern to authorities, and not be good for the sport. Folding up would be interesting, not sure how that would work though.

I also don't think folding the whole thing up, or lifting it out of the water would be good, it could be an entirely new safety issue.

One of the main issues on the Tige wake, especially on the goofy side, which is our primary side, is the existence of the secondary lip. I can knock it down with weight, but then my deck cuts in. So RJ and I are going to remove the swim deck, and go out and do some tests, being extra careful. If the tests go well, then we will embark on creating a new swim platform. The goal will be to first make it smaller, but also for it to be smooth on the bottom.

[zad0030]

Say you make like a wing on the sides that lifts up. Now you have an entireley different problem as you have some sort of actuator in the water, which is probably worse. And like ragboy said its a saftey issue as it could potentially smash toes and other limbs and then it could break down and get stuck in a position.