Surf wave brainstorm

[csuggs]

Has anyone looked into the new innovation from Malibu called the Surf Gate?

http://www.malibuboats.com/news/surf-gate/

I know I'll probably get some flack from some of the "old school" surfers here . . . but this is just a brainstorm so here goes. I pretty much have no room for ballast on my Sunsport unless I take up valuable floor space or storage space. We get a pretty good surf wave using MBU's (mobil ballast units = people), but we don't always have the crowd for that and I get embarrased asking my friends to come along for the ride because I need weight!

So here's the question . . . if the Malibu Surf Gate really works, then what about modifying the swim platform on my Supra with side fins to mimick the surf gate? Would this be too much stress on my swim platform mounts? What do you guys think?

Here's a pretty cool video on the subject. A little long, but good especially if you dig the Dave Matthews Band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AYgP...eature=related

At one point in the video you can actually see the boat sort of "crabbing" along, not tracking straight. So I guess the wave is achieved by puching the boat sideways a bit, displacing much more water than when tracking straight.

[chrisk]

I think you would still have to weight your boat, and the idea behind the surf gate is that you don't have to weight it side to side. So if you put ballast in the ski locker and under rear seat and some up underneath the bow seats, then the idea would be a properly functioning "surf gate" would allow you to shift back and forth between waves. The gate doesn't create a bigger wave, it just changes the shape of it.

If you decide to pursue this, and successfully pull this off, I would love to look into it as well.

[csuggs]

Yeah - you're probably right. All this new technology makes me want to replace my Supra with a newer model.

[chrisk]

Yeah.. but where's the fun in not having any obstacles to overcome?!

[86 century]

I would still like to try adding a wedge like that to our boat.

Not sure how much beefing up the transom would need to hold.

Now that the weather has gone to hell its time to start looking at some winter projects.

[Supra-in-steamboat]

I think the platform mounts would be a bit stressed. I am sure anything (wedge, fin, etc) properly reinforced can be added to any Supras transom...it then comes down to the boat operator, and operating conditions. I am sure a modified set up would drive differently. I think a modified "surf gate"set up could also stress the rudder and maybe center fins on older boats as well. No doubt it would work though. Great read. Super cool idea. Tabman, any ideas?

[wotan2525]

I saw the new Malibu system this week and the paddles are WAAY bigger than I thought they were. HUGE!

[chrisk]

CSuggs, IF you decided to go this route and IF you decided you would need to beef up the transom platform supports then since you'll be getting behind there anyway you could go to the trouble of installing a wedge for down pressure like all the Malibu's have. THEN, feasibly, you wouldn't have to fill up as many sacs inside the boat taking up room and storage. You'd get "ballast" from the center wedge, and surf-wave-shape from the side flaps?

[CornRickey]

The reason there so big is you need the added surface area due to the slow speed. I'm wondering if the wedge does much either at slow speed.

[86 century]

The amount of down force the wedge has would all depend on the angle and surface area.

Do we have a hydrodynamics expert on here that could tell use the what angle and surface area we would need at a given speed to reproduce the effectsof a given amount of ballast.

Not trying to be sarcastic I don't have the knowlage to make this work properly on my hull.