1990 Sunsport New Swim Platform

[yjwrangler95]

I've had the boat for a couple of years but quickly realized it has to be on of the hardest boats I've ever gotten into from the water. The platform is not very large however the transom angle make it that much worse. You loose roughly 6" of the already small platform. So on to my quest for a bigger platform.

I looked at differnt types, building a new glass deck vs wood vs using one of those rope ladders for a PWC. I decided to build a wooden deck. I've always loved the look of wooden/Teak platforms. I started taking measurements and getting prices on Teak. WOW, stuff is super expensive. I searched the forums, both here and wakeworld and found a guy who was using African Mahogany. Its a little soft but thought what the heck, its 1/3 the cost of Teak or IPE.

Here are some pictures of the platform so far. Its turning out pretty good. I'll get some more when its finished up and on the boat.

Its 27.5" in depth vs the 19 of the old platform and makes a big different in surface area. Not sure if it is going to affect the wake at all but we shall see.

[yjwrangler95]

Here are some more pictures. I need to rip some traction lines and oil it as well as lengthen the brackets.

[trayson]

I went with these dimensions for mine:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Lx6MWKplpmQ/UkSBHJN-ThI/AAAAAAAAPDI/TyhK_7FWf3c/s800/Platform%2520Dimensions.jpg

But my goal was to not have it adversely affect my surf wave...

[yjwrangler95]

I read through your thread on your platform, looks great. Here is a better picture ofwhat it looks like as far as shape. Hopefully I can get this done this weekend and try it out.

[trayson]

Well, if it ends up disrupting any of your wake, then it'd be pretty easy to trim off some of the corner area and make it more trapazoid. but if you're not heavy into surfing, it probably will be fine.

[2500HD]

what do you use your boat for primarily?

[yjwrangler95]

We ski, skate, wakeboard and surf a little.

[bens250ex]

Where did you find the African mahogany? Just a local lumber yard ?

[yjwrangler95]

I ordered mine online from Home Depot. There are quite a few exotic wood "outlets" online but I just ordered it from HD. They shipped it directly to my home UPS, took about 4 days. Its nice looking wood but a little soft. I'm happy with how it turned out.

First coat of oil.

[bens250ex]

What size did you order and how much did you end up needing for the platform?

[yjwrangler95]

I ordered 7 EA pieces that were 6LF each. so Roughly 42LF. they are .75" thick and 5.5" wide. Sold as 1x6. I ripped two boards down to 2.75" each and made the frame for the bottom. The top is 5 pieces glued end to end for a total of 27.5" in depth. I traced the shape of the original platform onto a piece of cardboard and just continued the angle of the sides where it met 27.5" on the bardboard. I cut it out and used the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket to get the radius on the two endges. It was pretty easy. I used Titebond III glue and 1" stainless #8 screws counter sunk to screw it all together.

I had roughly 3 feet of a ripped down board left, as well as a few small blocks from trimming the angles on the sides of the platform.

[yjwrangler95]

so far so good, it did not affect the wakeboard wake at all. It was night and day getting in and out of the boat. Being in the water actually darkened up the finish a bit. I'll post up next time we surf. 14263

[trayson]

so far so good, it did not affect the wakeboard wake at all. It was night and day getting in and out of the boat. Being in the water actually darkened up the finish a bit. I'll post up next time we surf. 14263

yeah, at wakeboard speeds with evenly balanced ballast there should be NO chance it's affect the wakeboard wake at all. And it might not even affect the surf wake as the bottom is smooth and hopefully won't cut int your wake at all. Surf is the only possible area where it could be negatively affected.

[ktimmons]

That is very nice. I just bought an 89 comp, and I agree the factory platform is difficult to get on.