Surf Tabs :)

[moombadaze]

Oh come on now! You can't just throw that out there without some more details and pics or vid!!!

that's what I was thinking too

[86century]

This one is with 900 in the center locker 185# driver 175# person in observer seat and 115# person on the rear deck.
http://youtu.be/u3mbNuZELQA
I have a crappy video taken from the board on my camera and some pictures I will get put up later.

[bergermaister]

And no rear ballast?
No list/lean? Hard to tell.

I'm intrigued to say the least. Our hulls are so rounded and shallow in the back that not many of the surf enhancement "add-ons" have seemed like it would be worth the hassle due to the fit and limited mounting issues.

[86century]

No lean at all setting still.
As you start to move however the effect of the gate lifts one side.
http://s916.photobucket.com/user/the...12dc3.jpg.html
http://s916.photobucket.com/user/the...456c8.jpg.html
http://s916.photobucket.com/user/the...6573e.jpg.html

[trayson]

Um, not anything new here. It looks like the many surf gate retrofits that tons of people have done.

Basically any of the surf systems that delay convergence make it nice for an evenly weighted boat.

I went with a NSS style system because my flat hull lent itself to that.for me it's a benefot to have a blade vs a gate.

[86century]

Nope not a new idea at all just adapted to my hull.

Makes for a surf able wave with no ballast of course the wake gets much better as you ad weight to a point.
The main difference in mine is no new holes in the boat.

I tested a blade style for nothing other than how they tuck away when not in use.
Couldn't make it do what I wanted.
This is a crappy video of the gate in action with no rear ballast.
The gate is as low as I can mount it witch is a bit to low as you can see by all the water coming over it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Ar...ature=youtu.be

[86century]

One thing I forgot about that I am most intrigued by is centered around the the more leveled ride with even ballast distribution.

So if I'm putting ~1000 in the rear surf corner to lean now, what kind of wave could I get by having ~1000 in each rear locker to totally bury it, plus my locker/nose weight, plus a gate or tab... A North Shore monster?

I know you can supposedly surf with less weight and a gate, but what about maxing it out? Or is there a point of diminishing returns.

As we continue testing it is possible to get to much weight depending on how the gate is mounted. If you are at the point where the top of the gate is under water at speed its basically pointless. However if you can move the gate up to match then you get a huge wake with a pocket big enough for a semi.

The ability to have the boat set level and still have a good wake is why I started to doing this.
hopefully I will have better videos in the next week or so.

[trayson]

^^^^ yeap. Different people have different goals and priorities. Mine is a permenent install, so holes in my hull didnt'tbother me.

Mine is a direct drive, so surfing with no ballast wouldn't happen no matter what I did. But with a vdrive, I can see no ballast surfing being realistic. I have a friend that Has a Tige 21' vdrive that I can surf with no ballast and 1 passenger on the surf side (even with driver on the nonsurf side). Certainly makes me long for a vdrive. But with a surf system, I can get vdrive quality wake on a DD.

Plus the ability to swap from regular to goofy in under 10 seconds is awesome. At some point I could add $200 in Lenco trim tab actuators and be able to swap sides instantly and open up the world of transfer tricks... but that's not a priority now.

However, the ability to weight level is a game changer and has elevated our utility and enjoyment of the boat sooooo much I would never go back to "slammed and listed". Level and less slammed is fantastic.

[bergermaister]

How are you mounting the hinged side of the gate to the hull or platform? Can't quite tell from the pics.

[Beejwest]

^ what Berg said. Is it just attached to the swim platform brackets somehow? I wonder if those are strong enough over time to handle that kind of load/force. Water at 10mph is extremely powerful. I'd be worred about stress cracks in the gel, and/or hull damage.