Dialing it In

[zad0030]

I don't think I want it higher, but I have thought of that, and may try it. Also, the CO issue made me think it needs to be that height. Plus the rear of the boat is designed for it at that height, it will look pretty dumb higher.

Thats why I suggested putting it at an angle. So that it will mount in the same spot but help get out of the wake on the outer edge. You will have enough ballast that it will be at or below water level.

Also something I noticed by going to ski tournaments is that all 3, Mastercraft, Malibu and Nautiques all have platforms that are above water level.

Ours is about 4-6 inches out

[RubberDucky]

I suggest to take some two by four or some wood and make a swim plate form to what you think you need (prototype) and do the adjustments with that, then once you dail that in make it out of a sheet of alumumin because that stuff is not cheap.

Or another idea is you could make a teak platform and then on the bottom towards the ends you could use a small piece of alumumin to make the bottom flat where it contacts the water. You could even bend it so it wraps around the bottom end to the side of the teak. So another words an L shape piece of metal.

You only need it smooth were it contacts the water so you don't really need all that expensive meatal directly behind your boat.

Just putting it out there. You can send it right back.

Ducky

[ragboy]

Yes, I plan on a wood prototype, probably cheap redwood or something. But I like the aluminum idea with gatorgrip on it. Sounds cool.

[RubberDucky]

How thick of aluminum are you going. heck while you are at it, you said you always remove your swim platform, you could make the platform so it folds down. It will be easier then trying to lift that big piece of aluminum. If you want it to look real nice find a machine shop that has a big enough machine center and have them cut out the top so the gator grip sits in the metal a little bit.

Ducky

[KoolAidKid]

I would recommend King Starboard for the swim platform. 1" would do fairly well and 1.5" should be perfect. You can get it smooth on both sides, it is easy to cut with typical wood working tools and is made to withstand the environment it will be used in. Also has very good screw retention. I would not recommend aluminum for the platform.

http://www.kingstarboard.com/

http://www.buckwoodcraft.com/king_starboard.htm

I do not think raising the platform would help with the wash. Most likely a platform the same length fore and aft but 6" narrower on each side tapered to the swim step bracket would be perfect. One good thing about using a sheet good like Starboard you would not have a lip on the bottom of the swim step.

[da.bell]

How thick of aluminum are you going. heck while you are at it, you said you always remove your swim platform, you could make the platform so it folds down. It will be easier then trying to lift that big piece of aluminum. If you want it to look real nice find a machine shop that has a big enough machine center and have them cut out the top so the gator grip sits in the metal a little bit.

Ducky

It would be a problem folding it down with the TAPS plate down there. It could rest against the plate but IMO, it is not recommended.

[ragboy]

Thanks for the tip.

@dabell, I don't plan on any folding at this point.

[empty_boat]

NO PLATFORM

Ragboy,

Thanks for posting that, you pretty much saved us a trip to the lake. We have been talking about doing the exact same test.

Now to figure out the perfect shape and size.

Aluminum would be cool and unique, also starboard would be easy to work with, but we were thinking of using plywood until we determined the max size and shape and then possibly making it with fiberglass, Probably using an original platform for the mold.
Time consuming, but it would have a factory look.

Thanks again

[MTtigekid]

hey j/w if you have any pictures of the surf wake with the platform on with the same weight? wanted to see the diff. our 24ve doesnt really have a problem with the platform dragging if we start with enough weight to put it underwater, but idk

[ragboy]

Well, I am going to keep posting to this thread, to document my progress. As I speak, my dad is creating my first prototype based on our measurements. I chose to just use smooth 3/4 " plywood for the prototype, to be quick and cheap. I will take some pictures when I get it on my boat. I am sure it will look fugly. The question will be how will it do with the wake.

[ragboy]

New Swim Deck Prototype.

This has turned out to be WAY more productive than I would have expected. This is also a lot of fun tweaking like this.

So lets start with the picture from last week, without the deck.



You can see from the above picture, that the corner of the boat from the left, is where that water is folding over and cuts across at about a 45 deg angle, which makes the UPPER lip on the wake/wave. The stock deck stock out past this line and cut into the wake. It also seems to have a more dramatic effect, because the bottom of the stock deck has a very harsh 1" lip under it, that would drag and catch water, causing heavy turbulence. So here is the issue, if I list the boat over, so the deck IS NOT a problem, I get something more like this:



There is a lower secondary lip, and even though you can't tell TOO bad on this image, above that lower lip/line, the wake/wave flattens out, it is not at the same steepness. So that when RJ goes to do some aerial, he really only launches from the bottom. Here is an image taken on a sanger, where you can really see it due to the angle. You can see how the wake is flat on the top, which is great for lip slides, but not so cool to launch from.



This doesn't really happen on the regular side on my Tige much, but def on the goofy side. So after experimenting, we found that if you list over more, the wake gets steeper, the LINE of the second lip will still be there, but the angle of steepness above the line matches up more with the steepness below the line as you list over. Now this is where the deck problem occurs. Here is an image with the deck cut in the wake.



This is a great image, cuz you can see how the wake is steepening above the line, but you can also see how the wake has that CUT in it, between the second lower lip line and the wash on the right, which should turn into the upper lip. This caught doesn't quite look TOO bad, but if you notice, the wake is STILL flat on the top. The reason the wake is NOT too bad, is because I noticed it, and backed off the list by adding weight to other side to make it less, or go away. So if you lose this CUT, the wake is flat on top, or you list over more to steepen the wake, and you get the cut that destroys the upper lip. Another pic.



So based on all of that, I figured I needed a deck smooth on the bottom that also cut into the area to the left of the RED line below as little as possible.

[ragboy]

So, the new deck

So my dad is a handyman, and I figured the quickest/cheapest way to test this was to just make something out of plywood and bolt it on to the swim deck brackets, and get out on the lake. So here is my prototype compared to the old deck. On my first try, I didn't want to make the deck much smaller. Just smooth on the bottom, in from the sides, a bit in from the back. I still want this thing to be fully functional when I am done.





You will also notice that we didn't CURVE the back of the new deck to the boat like the old. This is just to save time, we didn't fee like we needed to do this for the test. Now, here is a picture of the wake without the deck from last week.



Wake is big, steep, still see the line, but its steep above and below. The line is more just a change in texture, not an obstacle. Now with the new deck, we even listed the boat over a bit more by adding more weight. I had 14 pop bags and 300# of sack in the rear locker on goofy side (860#) and 200# more of pop under side seat on goofy side. I also had a 400# sac on goofy side of the rear seat, and 600# of people, for a total just over 2000#, all on goofy side, almost all in corner. Taps was at 6-6.5 and speed at 12. Taps at 8 was a little messy, 6-6.5 cleaned it up.

Here is picture of the sac in rear.



And here are some pictures of the swim deck WHILE we are in this configuration.







This was very cool, because the cuts we made in the deck seemed to be perfect the first time. The line from the corner of the boat, that I didn't want to go over, I was right on that edge. If I wanted to cut the deck any more, I would have to cut the brackets that support the deck, which I was trying not to do, and it seems I got the angle right. A lot of my guesses came from the SANGER surf deck and surfdad's comments, so I had a good idea where to start. Here is one more pic, and even though the deck is being dragged some under water, the smooth underside just let it flow clean.

[ragboy]

And Now the Wake

Now for the wake, its very clean and the launch lip is now in front of that curl and it is steep from bottom to top, RJ was stoked.





You will now notice the rubrail is now underwater, so that should make dogbert happy.

I have to throw this in, a family in a little fishing boat thought they would have fun hitting my wake. As they got closer, their eyes bugged out a bit. They did ok.



Normally, with the curl as pronounced, and the wave seemingly not as long, it hinders you from recovering or slows your speed down. But that was not the case, RJ was able to recover from farther back than I have ever seen, and he was very stoked about it.



Here he is pumping from the back of the wave.



Some more nice shots.







RJ def having fun on the new SMED.





This is a great pic of RJ, he was stoked about the wake.





It was taking RJ a while to get used to boosting more of the top of the wake, and not the bottom like he used to.

[ragboy]

a bit more

Here a real cool pic whit took, the way she framed it.



Last pic, RJ loves the fin setup we have gotten too, but on top of that, those translucent yellow fins look so cool.



My plan is now, to make a new deck out of aluminum, following the same shape as my prototype, and also curve along the back for looks and put decking on top. I also plan to put a 4 bag Rival system in my boat this winter with my own custom placed sacs based on all of my experimentation. This should allow me to go from killer wake on either side in minutes, although I will lose a lot of storage in sides and rear. But we put NO water in front, so I will be using front storage most. Can't wait. Maybe I can get one or 2 more rides in with the new deck. Not sure, the water is getting low at black butte now also, and the afterbay is not doable either. We need RAIN!

[MTtigekid]

awesum pics.. i understand what youre talking about with the "false" lip now.. our 24ve has a teak deck so i think thats why we dont have the same problem.. all in all very cool, and nice wake