Surf Tabs - Trim Tabs to enhance Surf Wake

[toyotafreak]

Stock teak this weekend with 1800 or so and now an LF Fish. No fun for me. Just no push. Kids rode behind friend's 03 Centurion Avalanche with tiny stock ballast and four adults. Way mo betta than ours ballasted. His teak is 6" higher and the hull is deeper with much more vee. Honestly was pretty bummed. Big peak and could go much farther down the line. I was never on the boat when they were riding. Still want to try ours without swimstep for a reality check. Also talked to dude with new Bu. He explained some of the differences between it and Axis - seemed mostly in automation.

[JIMBO]

my prototype is all welded up and bolted to the back of my epic but i haven't had time to test it yet

stay tuned

[toyotafreak]

Pics!!!

[JIMBO]

i removed the swim deck mounts that are bolted on with 6 stainless bolts right through to the floor of the trunk. i used a putty knife to unstick and peel back the carpet to access the nuts. Using the swim deck brackets as a templates i drilled 1/4" steel plate in the same pattern that is slightly wider and longer.I bought longer stainless bolts so i can sandwich the new plate in between the boat and the swim deck bracket. the angles are all random in every direction so attaching the second piece i tack welded one corner as close as i could using 2 angle finders as references then bent it perfect and welded it solid. the vertical plate doesn't touch the boat. for the gate i welded 2 hinges to the  vertical piece and bolted them to 5/8 tinted plexie glass.

i need to weld on a gusset for strenth and attach a turn buckle from gusset to gate so i can adjust the gates angle as desired

as the gate is only about 6.25" high as that is all that would fit and malibu uses a 10-12 inch high gate I'm planning on making another piece of poleaxe that will clip on once the gate is deployed so i can test both sizes

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/s3d2g5p57674qpx/AADE6F661oiBpUNvqLI2cbF2a?dl=0

[toyotafreak]

Jim, what up? Patiently waiting for report and pics...

[JIMBO]

sorry guys i live away from my boat and am not headed back to it for another 2 weeks !

[blindside]

Wow those are some big surf gates! Can't wait to see how it does! Does the platform mount back to the same location?

[toyotafreak]

Couple comments from this weekend. First, looked down at the swim step while doing 30. I'm pretty sure the stock platform brackets are actually in contact with the water even at that speed. Just a reminder of how little vertical space we have back there.

Second, drove, boarded and surfed an MC X45. Holy cow that feels bigger than a 24'. Stock ballast (1K I believe) and lower speed like 19, and the wake was just so much bigger than I'm used to. Both son and I agreed we had to go about as big as we can go just to make the other side. Didn't make it across toeside 

Surfing, without gates, with stock ballast and trim tabs banked to one side...had so much more push than I've had behind our boat. Still want to remove the platform on ours one day to see how good it could be before we contemplate raising and or trimming our teak.

Also, to wakejunky's point, with the 5.7, the boat struggled to get on plane with trim taps up. Huge spacious interior and amazing metalwork and controls/automation, but our S22 felt like a rocketship after driving that beast. Funny that our friend said he was really dissapointed with it at first, having upgraded from a 2003 Centurion Avalanche. Our friend has had one as well and it's a really nice ride and lightly ballasted wake. Anyhoo, after a number of times out he's falling for the new one, just missed the familiarity of having the old one for 10 years.

[wakehead]

I had a local fabricator to make me a pair of surf tabs similar to tabs from gosurfassist.com. 14x22 inch without the turnbuckle stuff, Lenco XD 2.25" stroke actuators and their standard controller
750 in both lockers, 400 in the back locker, 200 lbs in front. High altitude AcME prop. About 4 people. This is the max weight our engine can handle.
Result? I am happy with it. Not the world class, but very surfable, and will likely save me 60k+
Able to switch side in 3 seconds with evenly weighed.
Go look at Gosurfassist.com, and fabricate something similar.

[wakehead]

This is with 16 ft rope from the transom. Much more room to play with. Some of gosurfassist device with MB boats r testing with 25 ft rope, and getting crazy waves, but have over 3500 lbs of weight, which our 4.0L can't handle.
With around 2000lbs and a few people, we can get decent wave now.

[toyotafreak]

Did you modify the teak or its mounts? Also, would love to see pics of the rear and controls if you could!

[bunkythegreat]

I have been experimenting with creating a new platform with removable surf tabs and have had success in cleaning up the wake but am failing to generate any kind of push.  For those of you that have had success with this I have a few questions on angles.  If anyone can help me with the questions on the attachment I would be forever in your debt. 

[blindside]

I love this topic BTW.

Hoping to see some EPIC surf waves in the near future. For me the best surf wake still comes from loads of ballast and I would love to stop using bags

BTW with the right prop you can surf with 3000+ lbs but what a PITA to do that.

I've been happy with just 800 lbs. 400 in the engine storage (drivers side) and 400 on the floor in front of the vdrive.

[wakehead]

I purchased swim platform male brackets from captain Rick, and install them 4 inches inward( used backing brackets for support). I had a fabricator to raise the original female brackets by 4 inches. I have been playing with fin angles, and I am not sure of the best angle yet. See Gosurfassist tabs
As wake junky said, tabs require more weight than leaning. But much longer  surf-able area, easier  to switch sides, easier to drive. I am able to hide all the ballasts in lockers.

[JIMBO]

SOOOOOO i made some adjustments to the poor mans gate welded on a gusset, installed a turnbuckle for adjustment and doubled the height of the gate with a second flip up section to bring the final dimensions to 22" long by 12" high (similar to surfgate)

i usually surf with
-900# (plumbed in) passenger side all the way back (v drive to trunk patrician removed)
-450# floor passenger side back
-750#front middle floor

test 1
-750# passenger side all the way back (v drive locker / trunk)
-750# drivers side all the way back (v drive locker / trunk)
-450# front middle

Great wave looked like it was the same height as usual and was longer and a bit further back from the boat (everything i wanted)
but it had no push and sucked to surf. the boats bow was much higher then usual from more weight in the rear and less in the front

test 2
Added 2x 350# sacks filled 80% ish on the bow seats to bring the bow down and gain more push. The wave looked better but still sucked to ride (i much prefer my regular wave)

thoughts
-lack of time and living in a different city a 2 hour ferry ride away from the boat meant i only made 1 gate. I'm sure a second one would change the location of where the wakes converge BUT i don't think it will add push?

-played with all different gate angles around the 22* mark as i was able to lean over the back and turn the turnbuckle by hand while underway. 22* ish was my minimum as the flip up gate section i added was going to hit the hull at any less of an angle. trimming the top section and trying less angle would change the wave a bit BUT again i don't think it will add the ton of push i require

-thinking back to my original non gated surf attempts i remember someone on here recommending more weight in the middle of the boat and adding the 450# on the floor made a big difference for push and i wish i had put more weight there on my gated trials.

conclusion
i have removed the poor mans gate as i am now at our lakehouse for 2 weeks with friends and family and would rather enjoy the boat as is then screw around with more testing i don't think will work

my next plan is to mount a static piece in the notch of the transom that doesn't move. then mount a 1 piece gate to that. this will put the gates further back and more inline with what everyone else is doing. all the water coming down the sides of the boat will held out much longer before converging behind the boat and even more so on the side with the deployed gate but the water coming off the bottom of the boat will come up quicker as the static pieces will create a pocket under the trunk. any thoughts ?

pics to follow

with the poor mans gate removed i changed my setup to
-900# (plumbed in) passenger side all the way back (v drive to trunk patrician removed)
-450# floor passenger side back
-350#front middle floor
-350#back seat middle

BEST wave ever more push then ever ! i can surf 3 or 4 feet further back and I'm loving it. got the idea after surfing with my neighbour in his 2014 wake setter that rides with the bow much higher in the air so i just moved weight from the bow to the middle.

my initial surfing attempts a few years ago didn't work at all until i put weight on the floor in the middle