Universal GoPro Wakeboard Rope Mou

[leatherneck33]

I have been emailing with this guy since the winter and he has finally started a kick start for the gopro mount. Might be worth a shot.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zenxteninc/gopro-watersports-mount-gopro-rope-mount

Has anyone else made their own mount? If so, please share.

 

[Volffas]

It looks really cool. I just don't know if I would get $60 worth of enjoyment out of it. But I'm a cheapskate, and my wife is constantly telling me that I am still living in the 90's when I go grocery shopping with her and complain about the price of EVERYTHING.

 

[itsdgm]

I have been emailing with this guy since the winter and he has finally started a kick start for the gopro mount. Might be worth a shot.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zenxteninc/gopro-watersports-mount-gopro-rope-mount

Has anyone else made their own mount? If so, please share.

I have been calling that guy too for the past year. The prototype on his website looks awesome. This kickstarter one looks a bit different, but the footage is incredible.

I've been working on a rope mount too. Mine is about as "Ghetto" as you can get. PVC pipe and fittings. I'm on my second "edition" and I'll post pics and instructions if this one works out.

 

[Ronnie]

I contacted the inventor three times already. Happy the kickstarter program has been started on this but the prices are a lot different than originally stated. Moreover with delivery dates in November 2015 I won't be getting any use of this before the 2016 boating season. That stated, if you guys come up with a near term alternative I'd rather buy or build a similar one than order and wait for this.

I'm thinking of just putting some pvc pipe between knots on the tow rope, mounting a go pro on the top of the pipe and adding a counter weight (maybe bolt a steel pipe) to the bottom of the same.

 

[Trevor Shipman]

I contacted the inventor three times already. Happy the kickstarter program has been started on this but the prices are a lot different than originally stated. Moreover with delivery dates in November 2015 I won't be getting any use of this before the 2016 boating season. That stated, if you guys come up with a near term alternative I'd rather buy or build a similar one than order and wait for this.

I'm thinking of just putting some pvc pipe between knots on the tow rope, mounting a go pro on the top of the pipe and adding a counter weight (maybe bolt a steel pipe) to the bottom of the same.

I tried to do what you're thinking but the camera flips around the rope vigorously. I thin you need some sort of counter weight on the bottom.

 

[Julian]

@Ronnie I was thinking of something similar....knot the rope and slide on a small diameter pvc pipe, then 3 sections of larger diameter pipe with some big nylon washers between the sections and use a counter weight. Not sure what the arms on the above device help with....

 

[Julian]

I was envisioning something like this...utilizing a simple handle bar mount....couldn't get the mount into the diagram easily, but you should get my drift. Not even sure the pipe in the right on the outside would even be needed....might actually add unwanted friction. But a funnel over the front might be interesting to reduce drag and splash?

 

[Julian]

Perhaps something more like this?

 

[Ronnie]

I was thinking something more basic like just the three parts in the center of your drawings. To hell with the drag and the splash, the water should pass right through the tube mounted on the rope.

I'm thinking two weighted pwc tubes on the bottom should be enough counter weight but am not sure how to connect them securely as I wouldn't want a weight to come loose during use and hit a tuber.

 

[Trevor Shipman]

Perhaps something more like this?

View attachment 24553

Like the mock but I think you'd need some sort of dangling counter weight not one that is attached. Like I said before I briefly toyed with a similar idea and all it did was spin around. Not just a little bit, more like it was a propellor! Ha. Fail.

 

[Julian]

I was figuring that big black part was a hunk of heavy metal....but that might weigh the rope down too much.....

 

[Ronnie]

This can't be that hard. I have decided that, "This will not beat me!" So I started by buying this (inspired by @Julian ). I will either limit movement on the rope by tying knots in it or by gluing / taping parts of a pool noodle to the rope. Add a floating door to the case and all I need is to figure out how to weight the thing. Any suggestions?

 

[itsdgm]

Here's a few pics of my attempts at this.

First attempt that I used last year is this one. It does have counter weight in the bottom to help keep it upright. But it does tend to spin quite a bit as @Trevor Shipman stated.


It became obvious that the counterweight needs to be closer to the height of the rope and spread out to the sides. So I still use the upper half and spread out little side pods. After trying a few different lengths, this width came out perfectly balanced (just a bit bottom heavy) without adding any weight and it self rights. I also filled any length of PVC with pool noodle for added buoyancy.



I wasn't sure if the angle of the rope would affect how the bottom legs react in the wind. So I used bolts to secure the legs and I can adjust the angle on the fly.



I used some 5 minute epoxy to hold the go pro mount into the PVC.


I realized on my "first edition" that I needed a way for the camera to able to swivel on the rope and not slide down towards the rider. I secure it to the line by tying a knot in the rope above and below the mount (you could use wire ties to do this too). These end caps can be slid off the camera mount by simply bending the rope down and sliding the cap out of the mount. A tiny piece of pool noodle inside the end caps help to hold the line in place too.




Anyway. I have no idea how this will work until after July 4th. So I'll keep you posted. But feel free to copy and improve on this. All I ask is that you post up the results so that I can copy yours.

 

[Ronnie]

Looks great . Let me know if you want to sell it.

 

[Julian]

@itsdgm aren't you worried that the rope/line will cause the mount itself to rotate? I was trying to copy the kickstarter design that has an inner and outer shell that rotate around each other to compensate for line rotation. My thought was just run a smaller diameter PVC through the part you mounted your camera to....looks like that wouldn't be hard for you to try. I think it would provide better self centering.

 

[itsdgm]

@itsdgm aren't you worried that the rope/line will cause the mount itself to rotate? I was trying to copy the kickstarter design that has an inner and outer shell that rotate around each other to compensate for line rotation. My thought was just run a smaller diameter PVC through the part you mounted your camera to....looks like that wouldn't be hard for you to try. I think it would provide better self centering.

With my first attempt it seemed that it would "propeller" the easier the mount could rotate. It never had any issue self centering. But since there was counterweight directly below the camera, it would get swinging pretty badly once the rope would start bouncing. My second attempt, while testing it out of the water, seems to not be affected by rope bounce. However, I can't test what it will do at speed until I get out on the water. I have no idea what 20 MPH of wind will do . But @Julian, give your idea a try.

FWIW, I'm still planning on buying one of those mounts from ZenXTen if they get one produced before I stumble on a design that works. I just figured that it was worth trying to make my own again this year since theirs won't be available to me until the 2016 season like @Ronnie stated.

 

[Ronnie]

Here is what I came up with. It took about an hour including time to buy the parts. There are two mounting locations on it, one for a thin rope and one for a thick one. The cross bars are filled with lead from my rc hobby days. I hope it works and will find out either way tomorrow.

 

[subysti]

You know Yamaha already makes a mount that accepts many different brands. I have a contour and a Polaroid mounted at the same time on mine.

 

[Ronnie]

That looks cool but I'd have to use if not buy another video camera since gopros have a fixed field of view / no ability to zoom in.

Why gopro doesn't already make a rope mount is beyond me. I will screw around with this throughout the rest of this season and will buy the kickstarter version if I can't get this to work well enough for me.

Incidentally, I've got less than $40 into this with the bulk of the money being in the gopro part of the mount (gopros roll bar mount). I'd bet there is an imitation available for around $10 or less so anyone that can operate a drill and a saw, manual or electric, can make their own in about an hour at a cost of $20.

 

[itsdgm]

Keep us posted @Ronnie.