'86 Ski Nautique 2001 Surf Gate

skutsch wrote: .... up on the surfboard with big smiles on their face. So Thaddeus keep on innovating, I am an avid barefooter and slalom skier, but because I like to use my boat weekends and I only have access to public water littered with crazy's, surfing is a good activity for me AND way better then tubing. Anything that makes it easier, more consistent and can reduce the ridiculous amount of ballast I have to load into the boat is a GOOD thing.

Was just going back through this thread, I believe this might have been my last post before my accident (a little freaky...). I am no longer a barefooter or a slalom skier, hoping that in a year or two, I can at least surf. So if you figure this out, I will probably replicate your design. It is simple, removable and looks good. Can't wait to see the video of it in action. Keep at it!

motorheadskier wrote: Police patrol the small lake we go to all the time... have even said hello a few times...   They have seen me out there at least 3 times up close and haven't said anything...   Let ya know if that changes.

Here is the requisite old fart post. I tend to be a bit of a safety Nazi out on the water. I've seen too many accidents, close calls injuries and even a death not to be. Sadly, I don't think most safety patrols know what to look for. We have a new one on our lake. All he is concerned with is registration stickers and generating literally NO WAKE in the no wake zone. He stopped my son and about 20 other people his first or second day on the job for creating a wake. My son was literally idling. Meanwhile they ignore overloaded boats, clearly insufficient numbers of life jackets, idiot tube drivers corkscrewing around the lake watching the tuber and not where they are going, people riding on back decks.....

Some rules are just rules and can be a pain, others are not only rules but actually a good idea. The other day I was on pulling a friend. There was another guy out pulling a wake boarder with no observer. The rider fell, but the driver never noticed. I kept pointing back to where the rider should have been but the driver would just wave and smile and kept driving along. He finally caught on.

Obviously a boat that weighted down is at risk of swamping. Seems like a pretty big risk just to surf ("If surfing were any harder, they'd call it tubing")








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all that being said.....enjoy, if you aren't hurting anyone and you are having fun, go for it, and 2 - I do applaud the creativity and ingenuity you guys are showing.

Luv the 1st and 3rd pic Larry!

I would think that the Ultimate Surf Boat would be a 36ft or + cabin cruiser. You could prepare a lovely dinner, surf and have a potty all from the same vessel.

I have been riding on a surf board with very little ballast (400lbs),    No way I can let go of the rope so it ain't surfing.

Not sure what to call it, but my body doesn't hurt afterwards.

I'll try making a gate to see if it helps.

If you guys find a way to surf it with less than 2,000lbs PLEASE share your set up!

My gate shapes the wake great even with no weight... but without the weight the wake is just mush and not surfable (for adults anyways... I bet kids could jam on it )

If you look at the 2001's hull at the transom, you see our these boats have a built-in wedge (circled in red below) design. At slower speeds, usually 18-24mph, this creates a real nice wake. At slalom speeds, the wake flattens out to produce the nice table we all love. This is why the 2001's are a pretty good multi-purpose boat.

So unless you are out surfing with linebackers, you can usually add some ballast (400lbs seems about perfect) to help deepen the pocket but still stay well within the safe load weight.

Jeff's a 100% spot on - a longer board will definitely help. With a longer board you're placing a larger surface in the pocket - basically distributing more surface tension over a larger area.

I bet someone (handier then me ) could easily fab up a pulley operated hydraulic surfgate using a small pump running off the engine. Getting the overall shape right would probably require a little trial and error, but that's half the fun.       

She looks like she's listing quite a bit... Where's the water in relation to the rub rail when you're underway???

get some video up!

I didn't, because it is just a google pic, so I checked back and ding ding ding, we have a winner.

http://www.newstimes.com/policereports/article/18-year-old-pulled-from-Candlewood-Lake-581827.php

xarmypilot wrote: Judging from the angle of the wake from the transom, it appears to be that the boat was in a left hand turn then turned right. These would be normal conditions where you'd see a bit of a list.

Spot On! I missed that.

friends edit

one of my friends shot this a couple weeks ago... you can see how far away you can get

Its a 4' I don't know what that breaks down to in cm?   48 inches its pretty short my buddy can't ride it I think he is too heavy.   but I love it.   I am about 170 lbs and I have a couple other friends that ride behind the boat that love it and weigh anywhere from 150 to 180.   

I havent had much of desire to surf behind my boats but i[ve been following this thread a bit because alot of my friends talk about it. I'm surprised noone here has mentioned or tried the low pro style trim tabs. seems like they would do the same as the newer nautique gates are. (the slid out style)
but its would be a complete bolt on system, low profile and from what i can gather it would accomplish the same thing as this design would.


I installed these on a 37 Duffy with my captain a couple years ago and it made a world of difference and they are a nice piece.
We are usually loaded up with 3000# of ice another 600# of bait 500 gals of #2 under the deck and with a 100Gal fuel bladder on the back deck for lack of anyplace else to put it. I could have just said we were heavy but now you get the idea of how heavy. On our steam out she would sit real low in the back and as soon as we installed these tabs (2 per side) we would run them on the way out and the bow would sit lower and we went from 20-21 gallons an hour steam down to 19. point is they work amazing and don't need as much purchase on the hull as a lot of the designs ive seen.
We've run these for 3-4 seasons now and we run them fully extended at 19 knts for 8-10 hours at a time. I wouldBe inclined to mount these to my nautique before i went building some big offensive gate that i had to lug around.(no offense to those who have)

here is a short version of them(ours are the 18" ones)


http://www.volvopenta.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Penta/Parts%20brochures/QL%20-%20Boat%20Trim%20System%20-%20Eng.pdf
The only thing that is extrememly important when mounting these things is they have to be mounted on a FLAT suface. We glassed in a piece of FRP bolted to some angle iron to keep the surface flat while the epoxy set.
Would like to see someone try a set of these. I bet they work.

WaveControl - should double the value of your boat.

finally got some footage of it in action,,, about 1800 lbs including ballast and people, definitely over marked capacity but still felt stable and safe,'89 ski nautique 2001 homebrew surfgate

Pretty impressive wake for a 2001! Nice work on the design.

I hate to be the guy mentioning safety stuff, but I'd like to see that edge and corner of the aluminum plate covered with something. Maybe cut a slot in some PVC pipe and push it onto the edge. It might seem unlikely but if anyone hit that corner there would be a lot of stitches involved.