Is the HDPE strong enough for the force of the water or will it break off, the OEM use Aluminun For a reason I assume.
Great write up and mod BTW..
Is the HDPE strong enough for the force of the water or will it break off, the OEM use Aluminun For a reason I assume.
Great write up and mod BTW..
Looks like you've got a good design started. I have similar concerns with the hull strength, material and 1/4" hardware. I really don't know how much force these see... I guess the wakeplate or trim tabs don't take a whole lot of support. I'm tuned in, good luck!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Then it's probably work well.Quote:
Originally Posted by motosno963
We'll find out. In a lot of ways, the baseplates are actually going to function to strengthen the hull. adding reinforcement in my opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by sandm
I guess there's only 1 way to find out. The other guy that did it on his malibu is having it work just fine and he didn't even through bolt his...Quote:
Originally Posted by Cigars n scotch
The guy on the Malibu forums is using 3/8" HDPE for his blades and it's working just fine. I'm using 1/2" so mine is thicker. At least 2 of my bolts are on the swim platform backing plate. 2 are where there's extra hull material for the swim platform and the rest are near the corners where things would naturally be stronger.Quote:
Originally Posted by jmvotto
We shall see...
Someone has to be the innovator and risk taker. I'm sure you all feel better knowing I'm doing it to my boat while you know yours are all safe and unmodified. Bottom line is that I am willing to push the envelope and I feel pretty optimistic about how it's going to pan out...Quote:
Originally Posted by uniwarking
So, as Washington tends to do in the spring, it rained tonight off and on. And there were times where it was coming down heavy so I had to figure out something to allow me to work on my boat. So I moved my offset patio umbrella and it worked PERFECT.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S...612_170532.jpg
Picking up where I left off last night, I took the blade that had the holes cut into it and made the lines for the channels. (the top actually needed another channel, but I fixed that later).
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3...612_175250.jpg
So I mounted everything up and sealed it all with 3m 4200 fast cure. That stuff is sticky but after my experience with the 5200 on my transom lights, I learned to be careful with it. Here's a pic of the inside of my hull. I made 10 new holes. some of them have the bolts going from the outside in, and some of them are going from the inside out.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-r...612_205752.jpg
So, I've got the Port side mostly done. I wanted to "learn" on that side since the goofy wake isn't that important to me. I have to trim down my hardware as they stick out about 1/2" past the nylock nuts. I guess better too long than too short. I used 1.5" fender washers on the bolts that form the posts for the channels of the blade. As you can see, I cut the top channel longer so it has more support.
Here is a pic of the blade retracted.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-l...612_205540.jpg
Retracted side view. I am not liking those bolts sticking out. But it's late and my neighbors would HATE me if I fired up the compressor and busted out the air grinder!!!
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c...612_205635.jpg
Deployed. As you can see, the blade is sliding on the hardware, not directly on the baseplate. I'll add the knob later.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1...612_205554.jpg
Fully deployed from the front. Also, keep in mind that I designed it for 3" of full lateral excursion. I don't HAVE to use that much, it's fully adjustable. The excursion on the bottom is around 3/4".
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-P...612_205619.jpg
So, I moved on to the Starboard side. I have the lower baseplate cut out, and also the upper baseplate. I've got the back side of the blade cut out (where it goes around the swim platform bracket). I'll start drilling holes for the starboard side tomorrow...
Stay tuned...
Excited to see the progress. Thanks for the updates and looking forward to more!
Cleaned up the port side today. I took some length off the bolt that were sticking out and installed the knob. I also trimmed a little off the bottom of the blade and baseplates because they were sticking beneath the hull even with the blade retracted. It was because of the angle of the stern transom. easily remedied. I also added marks to easily tell each inch of lateral excursion on the blade.
Here's a revised Port side blade with the inch measurements:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W...614_191530.jpg
I continued on the Starboard side and it certainly came out nicer. As planned, I learned from doing the one side and was able to make the more important side better. I relocated the channels a bit and just generally improved on all my mounting points.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x...4_120321-1.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J...614_120337.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-G...614_120350.jpg
Here is a pic that shows that the blade extends about 3/4" to 1" below the bottom of the hull. this was modeled after the NSS that does the same thing.
(this pic is before we cleaned up the edges and smoothed everything out)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3...614_120406.jpg
Also, I added lines to the Starboard side too. This one extends 3" out laterally. In this pic, the edges were cleaned up nicely and it's in it's finished configuration. Next step is to water test.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p...614_191513.jpg
i hope you do some water testing tomorrow
I had hoped to get out on the water Sunday for Father's Day, but it rained. And again it's raining today. Stupid Pacific NW.Quote:
Originally Posted by motosno963
Hopefully I'll get out on the water on Wed or Thurs.