I've been pretty happy with the surf wave on my 98 comp, and people that I've brought on the boat have been very impressed with the wave. I currently use my ballast system that I plumbed in, and one bag on the side we surf on. If I don't have enough people in the boat, I'll fill up another bag behind the motor. Works great, I wouldn't change a single thing about the wave. The only downside is to switch from a Goofy footed rider to a Regular footed rider takes too long. It's also quite uncomfortable for people in the boat, having to squish on one side, with the bag on that side of the boat.

I looked into the Malibu Surfgate builds. I build one that clamped onto the teak. Good thing I put no holes in the boat or the teak, because it just didn't work with my boat.

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The reason I felt that it just didn't work with the boat is my hull is stepped. At the port and starboard side of the hull, there is a chine that is there to reduce spray. I read on the Malibu forum that a guy with a DD Ski Nautique had problems getting his "surf gate" to work too. He also has a stepped hull.

The other issue is the surf gate is just downright bulky. Because of how low my boat sits in the water, it just wouldn't work right. When weighted the platform is at least 1-2" under water...

I decided to fabricate something like the Nautiques use on heir newer boats. Before we get into how much force is generated, there really isn't that much. According to Airguide:

1.5 psi = 10 mph
2 psi = 12 mph (Typical pressure produced by a set of young health lungs.)
6 psi = 20 mph
13 psi = 30 mph
23 psi = 40 mph
52 psi = 60 mph
Converting the square inches of the NSS plate deployed, the plate roughly sees about 40-60 lbs of pressure at the very most...




Here's the bracket. The two plates clamp onto the teak, the larger one clamping to the wood, the smaller one clamping to the bracket. The two bolts allow wooden plates to be swapped out easily on the water. The white paper is a tracing of the hull.



Here's the bracket clamped into place, with a wooden plate bolted in place.



To find the best plate, I cut out several of them so I can swap them out on the water. When I find the best one, I can fine tune it...