Finally! Surfgate on my Enzo SV230

[duffymahoney 10]

Could you try filling just surfs side and run the gate still?

[tuneman 6]

Could you try filling just surfs side and run the gate still?

 

I was gonna try that tonight.

 

Sounds like I also need to get my butt in gear and make that goofy side gate!

[tuneman 6]

1st off, great job Tuneman and I think this is very cool. Just for clarity purposes, I believe the 1st part of the video does not show what an Enzo wave is with 2,400lbs on one side. It shows what an Enzo wave looks like with 1,000lbs sacs in each locker at 10.5mph.

 

Thanks, and you are correct. That's the wave I got with all the ballast full. Then I threw on the gate with no change to the ballast.

[RhuntIII 555]

Aw, come on, ya gotta cut me some slack! I was just warming up...it was significantly darker that what the camera shows...the moon was out of alignment with the stars. Just lost the fin after the spin. It's definitely a different wake.

Naw. I'm in to this thread I was impressed with the ride and the wave.

 

"Hey." It's all we can do "Ride it out."

[PayCheck 20]

that wave looks super legit we are defanatly makin a gate for our surf wave. only trouble is we cant use it till may

[DarksideR 1,679]

It's amazing how similar that wave looks to the malibu wave, as far as the wash/spray is concerned anyway.

It could just be the video, or maybe the conditions, but it looked like little waves were rippling through the wave. Anyone notice what I'm talking about?

Thanks for doing all of this testing for the rest of us!

[Audionly101 39]

It's amazing how similar that wave looks to the malibu wave, as far as the wash/spray is concerned anyway.

It could just be the video, or maybe the conditions, but it looked like little waves were rippling through the wave. Anyone notice what I'm talking about?

Thanks for doing all of this testing for the rest of us!

I do believe that is the chop making its way up onto the wave not the wave or from the boat itself.

[volzalum 280]

I would also be curious to see whether a deeper gate, i.e., one that extended down to prop depth would help steepen the wave or not.

[superdtf 68]

I would also be curious to see whether a deeper gate, i.e., one that extended down to prop depth would help steepen the wave or not.

I think that might introduce forces of entirely larger magnitudes. At present, the gate is merely accelerating/diverting water that is already displaced. If you extended the gate below the bottom of the outside chine, it would have the much more significant chore of displacing the water, in addition to diversion.

[volzalum 280]

Looking closer at pics of Malibu's surfgate, theirs is not flush with the side of the boat, nor follow the slope of the side of the boat. It is perpendicular to the water and appears to make it out to where the boat line is when extended.

[volzalum 280]

And if going with a deeper gate, it would have to be deployed on the surf side rather than the gate side to make a difference. I still wonder what a fin would do below the hull on the surf side in conjunction or even alone with a leaning boat.

Edited September 13, 2012 by volzalum

[tuneman 6]

Went out yesterday and did the classic bonehead move: forgot the video camera!! So, I'll just talk about my findings. One of the guys took pics, but waiting for him to send them to me.

 

We fully loaded up the boat again, but added a bit more weight to the starboard (driver) side to even the boat out even more. The kink in the wave was gone and the wave was big and super fun on the skim. I found myself still wanting more kick for the surf, however. The major downside is that the engine is really working hard. I have the lowest pitch prop you can buy for my boat (Acme 1579), and it was working hard. The fuel consumption was ridiculous. We were running low on fuel only after a few hours of riding.

 

So, thinking that I don't want to take out a second mortgage to buy fuel and wanting to give my engine some relief, I went back to the original setup: 1100 rear port, 650 ahead of that, 250 behind driver. Three guys in the boat and we tried with and without the gate. The slight kink in the wave came back (caused by he corner of the boat), but it's only noticible because the gate pushes the wash so far over to the darkside. That kink is there with or without the gate, but there's so much wash covering it when the gate is off.

 

With the gate on, the wave has the classic Centurion shape and push but is significantly cleaner. The top of the gate was pretty much even with the top of the lake. So there was a little rooster tail coming off of it, but it didn't cause any issues.

 

My take away is that I'll continue to use the gate with all the weight on the surf side. Less load on the engine than full ballast, the wave has the kick for surf and is cleaner throughout.

[Daylorb 3]

Went out yesterday and did the classic bonehead move: forgot the video camera!! So, I'll just talk about my findings. One of the guys took pics, but waiting for him to send them to me.

 

We fully loaded up the boat again, but added a bit more weight to the starboard (driver) side to even the boat out even more. The kink in the wave was gone and the wave was big and super fun on the skim. I found myself still wanting more kick for the surf, however. The major downside is that the engine is really working hard. I have the lowest pitch prop you can buy for my boat (Acme 1579), and it was working hard. The fuel consumption was ridiculous. We were running low on fuel only after a few hours of riding.

 

So, thinking that I don't want to take out a second mortgage to buy fuel and wanting to give my engine some relief, I went back to the original setup: 1100 rear port, 650 ahead of that, 250 behind driver. Three guys in the boat and we tried with and without the gate. The slight kink in the wave came back (caused by he corner of the boat), but it's only noticible because the gate pushes the wash so far over to the darkside. That kink is there with or without the gate, but there's so much wash covering it when the gate is off.

 

With the gate on, the wave has the classic Centurion shape and push but is significantly cleaner. The top of the gate was pretty much even with the top of the lake. So there was a little rooster tail coming off of it, but it didn't cause any issues.

 

My take away is that I'll continue to use the gate with all the weight on the surf side. Less load on the engine than full ballast, the wave has the kick for surf and is cleaner throughout.

 

Nice summary! Were you ever able to rig it up to see what it does to the darkside wake?

[tuneman 6]

Not yet, and I'm running out of season. I'll try to make and test a darkside gate this fall, but for sure in the spring.

[duffymahoney 10]

How was steering at slow speeds?

[tuneman 6]

How was steering at slow speeds?

It was manageable, but the gate definitely affected steering. We've still got hard water up here in Minnesota, but will do more testing when the lakes turn liquid. I picked up an Arduino that will be controlling some Lenco accuators. A GPS module will retract the gates at slow, and fast, speeds.

[duffymahoney 10]

That is what I am trying to figure out. How to have the gates retract at low speed and engage at faster speeds. I read on the malibu forums how bad the steering was. Was the steering as bad a fully weighted surf boat?

[mjpcarbon 0]

So last year I got the bright idea to put a set of tabs on my Avy with the thought that I could use them to tailor a good surf wave. Waste of time and money that did crap.

Now from what I am seeing perhaps I will move them from the bottom to the sides to act as powered gates.

 

Thoughts ?

[duffymahoney 10]

So last year I got the bright idea to put a set of tabs on my Avy with the thought that I could use them to tailor a good surf wave. Waste of time and money that did crap.

Now from what I am seeing perhaps I will move them from the bottom to the sides to act as powered gates.

 

Thoughts ?

The avalanche could be a perfect boat for this! You should totally try it:)

[mjpcarbon 0]

I think before i go thru all the trouble of moving the tabs to the side I will make a wood one like the threadstarter to get an idea of how it will work.

Question the gate should be put on the opposite side of the wake you want to create.

Also do you once in the neutral position will it affect normal wake boarding wave?

Anyone think the NSS style is better than a gate style ?

It would be very easy to make a NSS type setup.

Maybe even a mechanical one for starters would be rather easy to make.

 

Going to uncover the boat this weekend and get to work on this