Wanted to introduce myself first my name is Chad Kerls and my wife Ashley and I have a 2012 242 Limited S that we absolutely love. Right after we bought it I tried wake surfing and it was all downhill from there. The first winter I decided to plumb 3 pumps to fill 3 different bags for wake boarding and surfing 400lbs on each side of motor and 600lbs in ski locker. Well that wasn't enough for surfing as we all know so started buying more bags and placing them on the seats and swim platform. Added another 400lbs in the port side locker along with a 400lbs on seat and 400lbs on swim platform. With that we found the right amount of weight so now to get rid of most of the bags on the seats I decided to have a custom bag made for port side which will be right at 1200 so no more bags inside. Plus we usually have 300-1000lbs of people ballast I can move around boat! All depends on what friends we have with us!! Then adding the wake wedge really helped out in cleaning up the wake. The only thing I didn't like was having to take it off when not using it or manually adjusting it up when not in use.
So with having my own Home and Marine Electronic business I started designing a way to control the wedge while inside the boat especially since we leave our boat at the lake on a lift. First thing I had to figure out is what to use to control it up and down which was pretty obvious. I needed an actuator so found a few and got them in. Then the next and hardest thing was finding a connecter at the back of the boat that would disconnect but also be waterproof and be able to be underwater. Need this since the wedge uses the trailer tie down and if we ever towed the boat we would need to take the wedge off. After several months of talking with all of my suppliers we finally found one.
So last spring I had everything I needed and got it installed on the boat. Last year was a test year with trying different actuators to see which one would work the best and make sure no problems came up. So I tried a couple of them out and came up with one that works great and it has been working flawlessly since then (about 5 months of usage every Saturday and Sunday plus a weeklong trip at table rock lake and Lake Norfolk last year). With this system it allows you to raise the wedge all the way up so you can run the boat at full speed and not have to worry, then you can lower it when you are ready to surf, and if you just want to swim you can lower it all the way and it allows you to pull your swim ladder down all from a switch on the dash. You can even leave the wedge off and just put a cap on the connector on boat which makes it waterproof so you can run boat without the wedge on.
So I decided to put a system together for anyone that already has a wake wedge or are looking to purchase one. The system comes with everything you will need to install except the wedge and wire as each person and boat will be different. All depends on how you run wire and where you put switch at. With the kit you will receive the quick connects for the boat and wire on actuator including cap when actuator isn't attached, actuator, new brackets for wedge, Carling Contura rocker switch, and instructions on how to wire actuator to switch. The complete kit runs $425.00 with free shipping. I have to order the brackets in sets of 5 so I will get them started once I know I have 3 people interested in them. If you want a system please let me know so I can order more brackets if I have more than 5 people wanting this. If you have any questions please let me know and I will be glad to help you.
Here is a video of the wedge in operation
The pictures are of the connectors for the boat and for the wire on Actuator.
To order you can PM here or email me at
ckerls@cakelectronics.com
I am hoping to have this on our website at
www.cakelectronics.com within the next few weeks.