Trayson's Ghetto Gate

[trayson]

So, on my last boat, I made a DIY surf system that was a manual version of the NSS. The hull on my XLV just doesn't lend itself to that.

So far I've run the XLV listed for surfing. I've done the following configurations:

• 650 in the front/basement locker, 1100 surfside
• 650 in the front/basement locker, 1100 surfside, 400 on surfside seat
• 1180 gravity bag in the front/basement locker, 1100 surfside.

The wave is okay, but nothing to get super excited about. I do have a custom surf platform because I hate how the OEM platforms have that lip on the bottom that digs into the wave.

I got the materials last year to make a ghetto gate and last night finally got the motivation to make it a reality. I ordered up two large HDPE 1/2" thick cutting boards in blue to match my hull. Also got a box of stainless screws and a couple of eye bolts.

I started up by cutting one of the cutting board pieces in half lengthwise. then I messed around a little bit and found that a pair of 1/2" HDPE scraps would work best to space the two pieces apart for my swim platform thickness (it's 3/4" plus the thickness of the hydroturf).

Since my swim platform has grab handles on the side, I made the stopper/spacer piece custom to accommodate the angle.


originally I had planned to put the blue foam piece you see pictured above as a spacer to pad where the HDPE would meet my hull. But I didn't have to have foam there (more on that later).

As far as the surfgate itself, there is an inverse relationship between the length of the gate and the angle that it extends out from the hull. For the NSS, it's at a 90 degree angle to the hull and therefore has to only extend 3". Boonejeepin made a ghetto gate that is parallel with the hull and accordingly his gate needs to be quite long. I made my gate extend at an angle of 22.5 degrees. From what I remember Malibu uses 22 degrees on their surfgate and my chopsaw had a nice lock at 22.5 degrees, so that's what I used.

I cut a scrap piece at 22.5 degrees and used that as my "angle finder" and mocked up my other big piece of HDPE and drew a line at the spot where it seemed like the gate would be meeting up pretty nicely with the lower corner of my transom.

After hacking off the ends of my horizontal gate support, I realized that the pieces I just cut off would make a perfect spacer for the far end of the two horizontal supports that attach the gate to the platform. I would get 2" of mounting surface for the vertical gate to mate up with the horizontal supports.

You will also notice a black piece of HDPE that forms a gusset on the bottom of the gate. I just happened to have a scrap piece of 3/4" HDPE that was already cut as a right triangle and just happened to be the same length as the distance from the horizontal gate support to the bottom of the blade. so I figured why not and threw it on there. It was pointed out to me that my gusseting would have been stronger with the long end horizontal, but oh well--some gusset is better than no gusset.

Here is how it stands so far:


I was able to secure the eye bolts through both horizontal pieces AND through the spacers, so they're bolted through a solid 2" of material with SS washers and a lock washer.


Even with both ratchet straps, I didn't like how the gate didn't feel all that secure and how the rear inner corner (against the hull on the inside of the platform) wanted to pull away from the hull. That's when I came up with the idea of adding a pin. I grabbed a spare 5/8" hitch pin and drilled a hole through both horizontal supports and through the HDPE swim platform. After popping in the hitch pin and cinching up with ratchet straps, the gate is SOLID and doesn't need a pad between the horizontal supports and the hull as it'll never touch.


As far as the foam that goes between the gate and the hull, for the time being I'm using a blue dollar store pool noodle! LOL! We'll see if I come up with something better. But that edge is cut pretty well to mirror the crazy hull contour (I mocked it up with cardboard and then used my jigsaw to cut out the design on the HDPE).

[trayson]

Here is a close up of the attachment to the hull. Ultimately I wanted something quick and easy to install and remove from the platform when we're out on the water. Lots of people have used turnbuckle screw thingies for the attachement of the near eye to the rear tiedown eye on the hull. I didn't like additional hardware I'd have to "screw" around with (and pay for) so I opted for two ratchet straps and I think it'll work fine.


Now the blade looks ginormous and it most certainly IS. I don't know how much I'll ultimately cut it down. But as you all know, it's easier to cut it than to add material!

I had found a 1:1 scale template of the actual surfgate blade from a 2014 Axis A22. I printed it out and you can see how it might overlay with my blade that I made. If you look closely, you can see the shadow of my material behind the paper to give you a perspective of how the blades compare.


Again, I figure I should at least water test it once before I start hacking off material.

Oh, and as far as why even use a gate vs just adding more listed weight? Well, given that I really don't want any bags on top of the seats, that means that my option for adding surf side weight would be adding a surf side underseat bag that goes from just forward of the spot where my underseat cooler cutout is and would extend up to where my batteries are located. so basically under the surfside seats midship. I could put a bag there and add one more "auxiliary" pump for that bag. I figured before I did that, it'd make sense to play with a surfgate. With a surfgate, I will be able to delay convergence of my wakes. Everyone should know that by now. In my case however, It would allow me to evenly weight the boat--not before we get into a listed vs evenly weighted thing, the one serious benefit I see aside from the convenience of being evenly weighted is that I would have the ability to fill BOTH of my rear bags and have DUAL 1100 bags. That's increasing my weight by roughly 50% over having just the surfside and the front/basement bags. So that's most certainly something worth exploring. Especially somewhere around $40 in materials IIRC.

Constructive feedback is always welcome.

[jmvotto]

Gate looks good, let me know how the angle works.

We did 1100 port, 11800 center 200 off side, 650 on the nose and another 750, on the port side floor , wave was really good. Hoping my ghetto gate can get the 750 off the floor and , I will plumb 520 under the seats in the nose.

[trayson]

Gate looks good, let me know how the angle works.

We did 1100 port, 11800 center 200 off side, 650 on the nose and another 750, on the port side floor , wave was really good. Hoping my ghetto gate can get the 750 off the floor and , I will plumb 520 under the seats in the nose.

I have a friend of mine that has installed a handful of lenco actuated gates on various boats. he's up to 4 or 5 installs now. I talked to him a bit and he seemed to think that the precision of the angle really isn't all that important as he's seen angles end up between 20 and 25 degrees on retrofitted surfgates. Varying the angle on a power actuated gate doesn't seem to have a big impact either. I've watched this in action on his MB.

obviously as mentioned above the length of gate needed will vary with the angle from the hull with 90 degrees like the NSS being the shortest (3") and zero degrees (parallel to the hull) like Boonejeepin' will necessitate a longer gate. Unfortunately there really isn't a way to EASILY play with length vs. angle. (I had actually toyed with the idea of putting my blade on a hinge so that I COULD play with the angle, but then I'd have to have some method of extending/retracting the blade on the hinge and I just wasn't feeling the additional complexity, especially with as curvy as my hull is.

I guess that's why I just chose to use about what Malibu does and skip the complexity.

[bergermaister]

Looking good. One suggestion:

I'd be very curious if you could get away with a single ratchet strap going from one gate loop, through the transom tie down, and back to the other gate loop. It would be a shorty but would sure clean up the appearance and ease of setup.

???

[parrothd]

And if you move the pin, you could add addition holes to change the angel?

[moombadaze]

How about adding a second pin and go with one strap

[trayson]

Yeah, I guess I could figure out a different routing and go with one strap. Of course, I've already cut my ratchet straps. Not that straps are all that expensive.

I'm honestly more concerned with the size and shape of the blade portion of the gate...

[trayson]

Added another gusset to the gate.


Ratchet straps and hitch pin store on the gate so I don't loose parts.

[sivs1]

After seeing and reading your Supra Gate you built I knew it was only a matter of time before you tackled this on the XLV. I am stealing you pictures to try and mock up my own but will just use 3/4 plywood I have laying around until I hone it all in and then buy the HDPE.

What size is your gate currently, before cutting it down any? are you making a gate for goofy side as well?