Plate Adjustment

[saltare inverts]

I want my wake to have more ramp to it. Will adjusting the plate at the rear accomplish this? I came from a Correct Craft 2001 and it had a more rampy feel. My wife enjoyed wakboarding with that more. Has anyone attempted this on a Saltare or something similar?

[wotan2525]

Too many factors here... plenty of things you can do to adjust the feel of the wake, but IMHO a different hull is going to mean a different wake. The 2001 is lauded as the "best" vintage wakeboard boat and I think it's going to be an unrealistic expectation for a completely different hull to make the same wake. Play with the plate, weighting, speeds, rope length, and passenger configuration to see what you can and can't change.

Good luck!

[Salty87]

i lifted my plate up all the way when i got the boat a long time ago. never really played with it. someone on wakeworld says they took it off completely and the wake was bigger, don't know if it was rampy....that was with a rider i think.

[Okie Boarder]

I'm in the process of messing with mine. I was told the more you lift it, the bigger and a little more rampy the wake will get. I've been told to move it just a little bit at a time and find a spot where the wake is at its best but the front end isn't porpoising.

[saltare inverts]

I am not exprcting the wake to be the same as my 2001 but just want it to be more rampy. Not much though. I love the wake. It is so big and meaty, even with no weight. When I have had the bought loaded with ten people then did a back roll I rotated one and a half times out into the flats. I was not expecting the pop I got. My 38 year old knees were yelling at me. But I cant stop hitting it hard. I will have pics as soon as my interior is done and I get on the water.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

In general, putting the wake plate UP makes the wake steeper which is more like a SN2001. Putting the plate down some makes the wake rampier. Even further down and the wake dissappears.

Most people say that a SN2001 wake is much steeper than most boats, and that the Supra wake tends to be rampier (at least on my SunSport). So I think maybe you have your descriptive terms mixed up. If you put the plate down just a little teeny bit it does make the wakes steeper, then any further down and the wake flattens out.

IMHO I personally first put the plate all the way up, to be sure it really is as far up as it can go. Then I put is down just a tad to make the wakes steeper.

Putting the plate down more than 10% (an inch or so) makes the wake flatter, makes the boat drive with the nose much lower, makes waves less intense when cruising slow because the deep v cuts the waves, makes the nose of the boat not rise at all when accellerating. This is not recommended for driving at higher speed as the bow can ride too low and porpoise (dive).

When I re-read your last post, you say you got too much air and want something a little less intense. In this case it would work to put the wake plate down maybe just a little bit more than I described above. Maybe 15% down or about 2" down.

If you removed the wake plate, I would expect the wake to get bigger and steeper.

Maybe I can get a couple pics of my wake plate and the position I use sometime soon.

[csuggs]

Mikey, what are the limits of the plate? I'm not sure that mine will move two inches in any direction.:confused:

[saltare inverts]

I like the wake were it is but my wife wants it to be steeper. I am not sure my plate will move much either. That is why I wanted to get feedback here. I dont want my wake smaller just a tad steeper. She will just have to deal with the large waksize, and so will my knees (actually I love the boot it gives). So I am reading right, removing the plate alltogether will make it bigger and steeper. What about plane time. Has anyone retrofitted adjustable plates onto an older Supra?

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Removing the plate should make it a little steeper. Putting it down just a tad also makes it a bit steeper.

I think that since mine is a hydroplic plate is has a much larger range of motion. Mine can go down about six inches. If you put it down more than half of that, the wake is basically gone and the nose of the boat is very low to the water.

Honestly I can't say exactly how far down yours can go, but I put mine down 1/2" - 1". I would certainly give it a shot.

If you put the plate down it does help a LOT with the time-to-plane. However, you can't drive with it this far down and the wake is basically gone.

Mine is aftermarket hydro plate. Maybe you want to look into Bennett trim tab and convert yours to hydrolic too.

[Mr oppenheimer]

I think your going to get the results your looking for with placement of ballast weight. I am not sure if you weight your boat but my friends and I have always tweaked our wakes just the way we wanted them by the distribution of ballast weight in the boat. This has been the case in v-drive Tiges', super air correct crafts, x-stars and even in the newest malibu wakesetters with the power wedge. It usually is a small amount of weight placed in just the right spot. My 88 mariah hull might be similar to your and we used to add around 1000lbs to the rear and 500lbs in the bow plus 6 or 7 people. Sometimes I would just fill a 700lbs sack I had in the rear with no additional weight and that gave and nice average poppy wake with a crisp lip. Most of the time more weight in the rear makes the wake steeper with more lip and more weight towards the front lengthens the ramp with reduced lip

[mapleleaf]

Mikey,
I'll get some pic's this summer of the Conbrio at speed with the plate down.....You wanna talk about the bow low!!!!! It's border line submarine!!!!
Should not be attempted at home or in choppy water!!!!
And you're right, out back the wake looks like it was left by a kayak!

[csuggs]

The plate on my 86 doesn't have that much movement. I wonder what the rest of y'all have on yours? My manual calls it a cavitation plate and says "DO NOT lower the cavitation plate below the horizontal plane or raise it over 1/2".
What's up with that? It also says to raise the cav plate 1/2" above the horizontal plane for trick or barefoot skiing.

[Mr oppenheimer]

my 88 mariah and the 87 sunsport don't even have a hinge. they just flex. how far did they design that to go? not very far I think

[csuggs]

Yeah - mine's not hinged either, just a plate that is supposed to flex somehow. Maybe there's an updated version of the plate that is more useful that would replace the OEM plate?

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Yeah my OEM manual says that about the plate too "DO NOT lower the cavitation plate below the horizontal plane or raise it over 1/2". When I have mine as far up as it will go, it is pretty much horizontal. I don't think it goes past much. I will check. I wonder what that would do. Maybe could help.

[csuggs]

I suppose that if we knew what would make a better wake, we could remove the plate, bend it to the appropriate angle and re-install. My only concern then would be if the plate was bent down, would the mounting screws hold with all the extra drag?

[Mr oppenheimer]

mikey-dee's plate is alot like the taps set up on Tiges' that they started in 99 or 2000. my friend had a 21v and when you put the plate way down below the plane of the stern or transom it would lower the bow and the deep v of the hull would cut through rough water and you could go at a pretty good speed in some nasty water with a really really good ride. I have always wondered if it would work on our supras

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Yeah if it is a rough day and we are just cruising slow I put the plate way down and it helps smooth the ride out a LOT.

Sometimes when we are cruising fast and it's rough, the bow bounces up and down and slaps the water making a rough ride. Pretty much every boat does this sometimes. When you lower the plate a little it pushed more of the deep vee keel in the bow into the water and really splits the waves and stops the bouncing action. Interesting really.

As far as something that makes the wake bigger, though, the effect is not that great. I would think very minor adjustments up or down would have the biggest chance of making the wake bigger. I would say keep messing with it, because I think the old ones could find an optimal setting too.

[Dinoz]

Hey guys,

What I've learned about the plate on my '89 comp is that it's really meant for moving the "bump" around for short line skiing, and to "soften" up the wake. Keep in mind that when you move the plate up it does soften the wake, however it makes it look somewhat ugly, move it down and it reduces the bump, but also makes the wake harder. Now this is coming from a skiers point of view, not sure how it will really help the boarders. bottom line is that there isn't a lot of adjustment, boarding really wasn't in mind when they made these boats in the 80's. hope that helps.

DZ.

[Salty87]

...waiting for a volunteer to take theirs off...

not it

[csuggs]

Hmmmmmmmmm - now there's something to think about. If it keeps raining here and the river stays polluted with tree s**t I might end up bored start removing screws . . .

[87SunSportMikeyD]

I am also in a river. It's a dredged-out, dammed portion of the Mississippi River called the Seven Mile Recreational Pool. About 10-14 feet deep, couple thousand feet wide. It is north of Minneapolis meaning there is only one city of about 50,000 people between me and the source of the river.