SURFGATE 2.0

[stoked 1,039]

So I just finished a permanent surf gate setup for my 2007 Avy, and thought I'd share the process. First, so you can determine if you want to keep reading or not, the end result:

 

http://youtu.be/0OX1JrX3PLo

(Of course you'd never have them both out, just demonstrating the movement)

 

For those that want to continue, the materials:

 

2 12" x 24" - 3/4" sheets of clear plexiglas: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IVWEYEM/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2 Lenco 102 Actuators: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YMWHMS/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2 Lenco Upper Mounts: (the above don't come with them): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LN6D7K/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2 Lenco Lower Mounts: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YN0LS4/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lenco extension cables: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F0O0FK/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

3M 5200: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001R0GUZG/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2x Waterproof Dpdt Momentary-off-momentary On/off/on Toggle Switches: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F74A1LM/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

4 Zinc/Stainless Steel Hinges: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-1-2-in-Zinc-Plated-Broad-Utility-Hinge-15155/202033848

2 Surf Gate Mockups: http://www.centurioncrew.com/index.php/topic/8674-diy-surfgate/

 

So I stretched this project out over a two weeks, I did not want to rush it at all, making sure I measured everything 10 times.

 

The first step is to use the mockups to mark the size of the tabs (I left the paper on the plexiglas for the entire fabrication process to protect it)

 

I researched a lot about cutting this stuff. The consensus was 80-tooth+ saw blade and WD40. Basically spray the blade down so that blade cuts cleanly and doesn't crack the plexi.

 

The blade worked like a champ, it cut through the plexi like hot butter. I took this one step further. I wasn't happy with the square edges, so I decided to round them with my router.

 

So next was the hinges, I wasn't happy with the silver color against my black boat, so I spray painted them with some rustoleum, I was very very happy with how they came out. I lined the freshly painted (and dried) hinges up on the plexiglas and drilled some holes.

I wanted a clean tab, no hardware whatsoever on the outside faces, so I used some blocks to keep me from drilling all of the way through

 

Now to screw the screws in. If you heat the screws up till they're red hot, you can screw them into the plexiglas without cracking it, and when they cool the plexiglas forms around the screw giving you threaded holes. I used my trusty Bernzomatic torch. it's blurry, but you can see the screw glowing red

 

I screwed the red hot screws into the holes

 

 

I repainted the screws and took everything to the boat. First step was to mark where the hinges should go. I pulled out my trusty mockups and marked the inside and outside edges with painter's tape on the boat

 

 

I lined the tab up on the inside piece of tape, with the bottom being flush with the bottom of the hull. I then marked the holes and drilled them

 

And I attached them filling the holes and lining the hinge with the 3M 5200

 

In order to line up the actuators, I needed to know exactly where 20 degrees out from the boat was. I built this little wood contraption that I could clamp to the swim platform at 20 degrees. I used 1 screw so that the block on the end could be rotated up to allow the tab to swing all the way out and out of my way. I clamped this in place where my protractor showed I was at 20 degrees

 

I then took an old curtain rod and cut it down so that at it's shortest it was at 15" and at it's longest 19". This is the length of the actuators all the way in and all the way out. (The black line is the 19" mark)

 

I then put this contraption on the tab and the boat and moved it around to a spot where I could get the tab to be 1/2" from the platform when retracted and at 20 degrees when extended. The sucky part is that the swim platform is dead center of the tab, so I had to put the actuator under the platform toward the bottom (I'm very happy I bought 3/4" plexiglas). I marked the spot on the tab

 

I then attached the lower lenco mount (the one without the hole for the wire)

 

I then attached the actuator and connected it to the spot I marked on the boat where extended we're at 20 degrees and retracted 1/2" from the platform

Protip: Since you have two actuators, extend one all the way out and leave the other completely retracted, then you can quickly swap back and forth without continually extending and retracting one

 

Drill the 3 holes for the bracket and one for the wire (make sure that this hole will be high enough to be in the locker). Attach the actuator, run the wire through and give it a test

http://youtu.be/HszGF5G7BNo

 

Now remove the paper, you're done with this side (this is my port side)

 

None of the screws penetrate the outside face. I purposefully bought screws that wouldn't be long enough to pop through.

 

For the starboard side, I had a small issue, the transom walkthrough floor isn't as low as the port locker's floor. So drilling a hole for the wire would have to be higher than the actuator, I'm not happy about this, but there was really no other way without drilling another hole in the floor and trying to fish it up through, this is how it came out (I covered it in 3M 5200)

 

I wired both of these to some momentary toggle switches. I wasn't a fan of the lenco rockers, they were stupidly expensive and they would be complicated to tell others how to work. My orginal plan was to have one toggle switch that when pushed left, it would open the starboard tab and retract the port tab, then vice versa the other way. Then have one other one to retract them both. So this can't be done without some fancy circuit boarding. The problem is that there are two wires, voltage one way and it opens, reverse the voltage and contract. You would short circuit the system the way I wanted since on one switch the + from one actuator would be with the - of the other, but on the other switch the +s would be together as well as the -s. If there was three wires, 1 ground, 1 for out, 1 for in, this would be possible, but unfortunately it's not. I even tried some diodes, but they prevent the circuit from completing. So I wired two separate toggle switches, one per actuator, and mounted them side by side so that they could be operated easily with one hand. Push them both left and the starboard tab extends and the port contracts, push them the other way and the port extends and the starboard contracts. Push them both to the middle and they both contract (See the first video). I feel this will work well and be very easy to tell others to operate "Move both switches to the side I'm on", "Push both switches together".

 

So I didn't get a chance to do any water trials today, I was racing an incoming storm to finish up, but I hope to get some good videos this weekend! I'll post those here. If they work half as well as my mockups did in shallow water, I'll be absolutely stoked!!

 

One concern I have is the gap at the hinges. I don't know if they will cause spray or not, if they do I'll seal them off with some rubber

 

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[RhuntIII 555]

Wow that's an impressive build and write up. Now put her in the water and tell us how she does. Thanks for posting up.

[Troy 234]

WOW what a project. Great job, can't wait to see the outcome.

[Kevin Baugh 78]

Very cool lets see what it does on the water

[duramat 462]

Subscribed!! Awesome!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Luis 0]

That looks awesome great job

[TheWaterSportsFarm 5]

Very Cool. I would love to hear how it surfs!

[stoked 1,039]

I got some good data from deep water testing this past weekend. Once I get everything off the GoPro and compiled I'll post the videos. The short of it is that it worked out really really well. It really cleaned up the face of the wave giving an extra "play" area directly behind the boat. It took us a day to dial in the weight (there are still more configurations I want to try) but what was best for regular foot was:

 

800-1000lbs Starboard

250lbs Center

1500lbs Port

Surf Tab extended on the Starboard side

 

We tried a 150lb brick on the back, but that roughed up the wave, we also tried 400lbs in the bow and that actually shrunk the wave.

 

It's a 07 Avy, so the darkside has always been an issue. I'm goofy by birth, but taught myself to ride regular. This definitely makes it so that I can ride goofy again, however I had no desire in doing so looking at the port side wave.

 

I'm convinced that this is going to be the perfect solution for shallow water, 75% of our summer is spent in <10 feet of water. The way it cleans up the wave will be huge for us in the shallow Chesapeake.

[stoked 1,039]

Here are a couple of photos of Mrs Stoked on the wave. Things to note:

 

1) This was before we dialed in, all of these photos have the brick on the swim platform. You can see the "chewed up" part toward the center of the wave. This spot was actually surfable once we lost the brick

2) All of the photos but the first one were taken with a GoPro fastened to the handle at the top of the swim platform, so they're not at the most wave flattering angle

3) First photo was taken about 3 feet above the engine compartment

4) I'd say she's probably riding about 10-15 feet back in a lot of these photos. The pocket was from about 1ft to 15ft back

5) She's 5'9", most of the photos show the wave at her waist, none of the photos show her in the trough though, we were certainly pushing way more than a 3ft wave

6) I think we can do a little more to really clean things up, but as the videos will show, this is a significant improvement over no Surf Tab.

 

 

[RhuntIII 555]

Nice! THX.

[Kevin Baugh 78]

what he said^

[stoked 1,039]

Here's the video of deploying the Surf Gate. The cool part is if you watch the trees in the background, the wave covers them up as the Surf Gate deploys. The wash definitely cleans up, and the middle play area extends. In this video there is no brick, 1500 port, about 1200 starboard, and 400 in the bow (which we later decided actually made the wave smaller and stopped using). I'm kind of kicking myself that I didn't do a little more testing with the weight (we were too excited to surf). I'm wondering how much better the wave would be had we backed off the starboard weight and maybe even pushed more of it to the port side. .

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n1sBckAPGM&feature=youtu.be

[DarksideR 1,679]

Looking very good. Although, that's a lot of spray coming from the deployed side!

[stoked 1,039]

Looking very good. Although, that's a lot of spray coming from the deployed side!

 

Thanks! That's the water coming over top of the Gate. It doesn't affect the rider at all though. From my original set up above, I covered the hinges (and the gap between them) with neoprene because I was getting a little spray from an undeployed Gate. Now the rider is spray free!

[bluesman280 99]

Great looking build.

[NW Boat Sports 232]

Very well done! Wish you lived closer Lots of Bu's have that spray, the 22 and 24 MXZ's had it going back across to the side you were riding on, no bueno. I think they fixed it for 2014..

[Nightx 0]

Looks great, would love to see some HD video of both sides with a rider! I have an 03 and have been waiting for someone much smarter than me to figure this out!

[stoked 1,039]

I'll throw another video together, but here is a picture of my wife on the wave today with the gate deployed. I'm the only one in the boat.

[stoked 1,039]

Very well done! Wish you lived closer Lots of Bu's have that spray, the 22 and 24 MXZ's had it going back across to the side you were riding on, no bueno. I think they fixed it for 2014..

Thanks! We get the spray, but it doesn't touch the rider at all.

[stoked 1,039]

Looks great, would love to see some HD video of both sides with a rider! I have an 03 and have been waiting for someone much smarter than me to figure this out!

 

Here is another one, I'l compile more and get some video together once the weekend is over. We're throwing a pretty massive wave and it cleans up very nice. My wife is 5'9" for reference.