DIY surf gate v1.0

[Blenderhead]

Yup that's how I imagined it would be if mounted on the side of the hull. I didn't anticipate my friends wedge was going to be effective so good to know you've tried it. You would need a big piece of material to sit way low in order for it to be in any decent amount of water but then I'd feel the suction cup would be under great stress and likely fail unless you added another I suction cup to sit beneath somewhere. I've seen the plastic ones snap at the handle.

I know when we list @Bill D 's boat with 2k+ lbs his swim platform is ankle deep on the surf side and the non surf side is a little higher out of the water than the boat would be without ballast. This is why I think the only hope we have for any effect on a jet boat is getting it as close to he transom and below as possible so that the top of the surf wedge is just at the non surf listed water line.

If I was brave I would just try retrofitting the Moomba Flow gates as they look perfect for our boats but the small surface area compared to other surf devices baffles me he a little. I love the simplistic design. Pull a spring loaded pin, set the desired amount you want and off you go.

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I tell you what @haknslash - those could fit nicely on the transom to the left and right of the jets and combined with a jet wash deflector potentially provide a ton of value... the only fear I would have would be the constant water pressure trying to separate that device from the boat leaving a gaping hole if it comes off. However if attached correctly as it is on a Moomba it might work awesome!! The Theory checks out at least...

 

[haknslash]

Had a little free time to get back on this thing. Gotta get it knocked out before our meetup next weekend! Here's some preliminary cuts to the King Starboard. Please excuse the gross rough cuts of the mighty rotozip as I will sand everything smooth with the grinder once I have the shape. You can see how I made a cutout to allow the surf wedge board to get up close tucked in behind the transom.

 

[Blenderhead]

Lookin good!!

 

[2kwik4u]

A cheap option that will most likely pay dividends........a small tether to make sure if it comes off it doesn't sink to the bottom . Got a nice spot for it right there with the tie down point!

 

[Minh Nguyen]

Curious to see your results @haknslash. I tried various different suckgates last year on the 240 but none worked. It actually cleaned the opposite side instead lol.

 

[haknslash]

It will for sure be tethered. It would sink like a brick lol

 

[Chillypilot]

@Minh Nguyen you may have had more success than you think. The suck gate is supposed to clean up the opposite side wake.

 

[haknslash]

Yes the way they work (delayed convergence) is you put it on the opposite side you surf and it cleans up and helps shape the surf side.

 

[haknslash]

Trying to wrap this up before leaving the house for our weekend gathering. Didn't have time to mount the turnbuckle as I need another L bracket but this should do for proof of concept to see if it does anything. I cut aluminum tubing at different lengths for my spacers so that it will angle the surf wedge. Hopefully I'll report back with some success but if not I can say I tried a version of getting it below the water line and off the back of the transom!

 

[haknslash]

First test with no water ballast and 4 adults. It is definitely doing something! Gonna try water ballast later today.

 

[Brad Dunn]

Hope is works, Thanks for testing.

 

[SCP1]

Has anyone contacted one of the actual makers to see if they have any interest in making one that would work for our Yamaha jet boats? The sales from this site alone would be impressive.

 

[Brad Dunn]

Any updates on results?

 

[GoVols01]

Has anyone contacted one of the actual makers to see if they have any interest in making one that would work for our Yamaha jet boats? The sales from this site alone would be impressive.

Inland Curl Wake Shapers is located near one of the lakes I frequent and they've been working on a wake shaper for the Yamaha boats. I've volunteered to do some testing with him, but we haven't been able to connect at the lake yet. He told me there's a 2013 23' boat he's been doing some testing on, but it's very preliminary.

 

[haknslash]

Any updates on results?

Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to throw a bunch of ballast on the boat, it was only human ballast. I left early yesterday and didn't know they planned to do some surfing otherwise I would have hung around and used @Bill D extra ballast to test it some more. I will probably meet up with him again at least one more time before the season ends for me. We played around with moving bodies and when I had Bill move up front the wave completely flattened out. The pic doesn't really show much but if you look at the way the water is sloping up you can see there is some influence. It just takes ballast to get the back end down in the water to get enough displacement. Hoping to trying 1500 lbs and see how it looks with and without the surf wedge next time we meet up.

The wedge had a lot of influence on pulling the boat to the surf wedge side, so that tells me I'm getting a lot of water and force. I had to make a lot of steering correction to straighten the boat! I think there is potential for a single engine just not sure on a twin but we will throw it on Bill's ballasted and Wake wedged 242 as well.

 

[swatski]

Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to throw a bunch of ballast on the boat, it was only human ballast. I left early yesterday and didn't know they planned to do some surfing otherwise I would have hung around and used @Bill D extra ballast to test it some more. I will probably meet up with him again at least one more time before the season ends for me. We played around with moving bodies and when I had Bill move up front the wave completely flattened out. The pic doesn't really show much but if you look at the way the water is sloping up you can see there is some influence. It just takes ballast to get the back end down in the water to get enough displacement. Hoping to trying 1500 lbs and see how it looks with and without the surf wedge next time we meet up.

The wedge had a lot of influence on pulling the boat to the surf wedge side, so that tells me I'm getting a lot of water and force. I had to make a lot of steering correction to straighten the boat! I think there is potential for a single engine just not sure on a twin but we will throw it on Bill's ballasted and Wake wedged 242 as well.

So help me understand, in the pic above the surf wedge (your device, right?) is attached on which side?


Either way, here is what I think is interesting.
Steering correction in the scenario above is a problem, as it will require the jets to be pointed into (towards) the wake... to compensate for the pull to the surf-gate side). In other words - that is not good.

I think that maybe this whole concept could actually work if flipped on its head. Maybe - forget about delayed convergence (as an elusive goal given Yamaha JB hull shape etc.) and use the device (your surf-gate) ON THE (BALLASTED) SURF SIDE.

That way you would force a counter-steer pointing the jets away from the wake (away from the surf side) - and that could:

1. clean up the wake surface
2. actually induce delayed convergence

I know this sounds crazy but nothing is what it seems with those boats of ours...

--

 

[haknslash]

@swatski Yup it's mounted on opposite surf side underneath the swim platform. I'm trying to get the pics @DBamaC took with his phone of it mounted in the water. And yup you are also correct it takes a balance act now to prevent the jet from shooting over but it's not impossible. I can also flip the board to see how the other side will do but it causes it to flatten out and the wedge throws it's own spray to mess up the face so there's those issues it would add. You can see it spraying up in ththe pic. I have some video I will post as soon as I get it compiled. Yea these boats are a different breed lol.

 

[haknslash]

Here's a little diagram of what I think is going on with the wave for now. The issue I see with putting the surf wedge on the surf side is its going to add a lot of disturbance in the face of the wave and it won't be clean at all. The wakes is also flatter and not as steep as it sort of "knocks down" the water as it passes by. But anything is worth a shot to see the result at this point but first thing I want to do is get around 1500 lbs in the boat and have the surf wedge on the opposite of the surf side. I'll know real quick then if this would be a wasted effort by the time you add in the counter steering with all the extra ballast but we'll see how it goes.

 

[haknslash]

 

[haknslash]