Teakgate

[Levi900RR]

If I understand correctly, you cant build one and sell it. Nothing says you cant build your own. You just cant profit from the design.

[Bawshogg]

Wouldn't that all be in how you named the device? if it's just a speed based control system for actuators, what would you be infringing upon?

I could see how the controller could be used for vertical tabs also on certain boats.

[shawndoggy]

Wouldn't that all be in how you named the device? if it's just a speed based control system for actuators, what would you be infringing upon?

I could see how the controller could be used for vertical tabs also on certain boats.

I know, right? The "tobacco" shop across the street from my work sells lots of water pipes for taking big rips of prince albert in the can. I've heard that people don't use those pipes as the manufacturer intends, tho.

[Bawshogg]

Legalize it bro ! Lol. They don't have to pretend in these parts anymore.

Ya know,....... I have yet to get baked since they made it legal here. What's wrong with me?

[brad72]

You have those pipes also that say "for Tobacco use only". What, do they think the stoners walk into the shop and say to themselves "oh mann, this will only work for tobacco, what are we going to use for smoking weed now", slapping his mate who accidentally broke his favorite bong.

[Levi900RR]

I love the ATV rear boxes that have seats built into them that say "This is not a seat" on the SEAT!

[Ndawg12]

Sorta like the 75lb max weight placard in the trunks of our bu's!!

[racer808]

Can anyone offer some options for a manual deployment arm to attach to the hull / gate? I am ready to fabricate the gate but I can't think of an effective piece of hardware to work as the actuator but manual?

[FastFreddy]

Looks good! That hinge looks like a solid one. Any idea where you sourced it from? One thing I wish I did with mine was use a hinge that you could "pull the pin" and remove the gate. i think it would be fun to make a few different gate designs and be able to change them easily on the water to see what shapes and sizes do to the wake. Are you controlling the Lenco's directly with a rocker?

I can totally sympathize with the noise issues you are seeing. Like you found, routing power and signal cables away form each other is paramount. With the controller I'm developing, I was forced to go to shielded cable for anything that interfaces with the board at the logic level. It's good to see the light at the end of the tunnel after dealing with noise issues. It can certainly be hard to kill!

I'm pretty sure the Large hinge is just trim tabs turned sideways. That is my plan this winter. Take a set of trimtabs, mount them as surfgates and bolt on a different plate instead of the trim tab. Seems the simplest to me.

Specially when the PO of my boat bolted on some MasterCraft "surf tabs". The wiring, actuators, etc is already all there.

Edited October 1, 2013 by FastFreddy

[Ndawg12]

Can anyone offer some options for a manual deployment arm to attach to the hull / gate? I am ready to fabricate the gate but I can't think of an effective piece of hardware to work as the actuator but manual?

I've kicked around the idea of a stainless turnbuckle, which would also provide some adjustability.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-BBT-Brand-3-16-Heavy-Duty-Stainless-Steel-Closed-Body-Jaw-Jaw-Turnbuckle-/290949096061?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&hash=item43bdeae27d&vxp=mtr.

[racer808]

I've kicked around the idea of a stainless turnbuckle, which would also provide some adjustability.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-BBT-Brand-3-16-Heavy-Duty-Stainless-Steel-Closed-Body-Jaw-Jaw-Turnbuckle-/290949096061?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&hash=item43bdeae27d&vxp=mtr.

I thought about one of those as well. I was hoping to find a snap type of arm. I saw a supra thread, not sure how to find it, but he had some sort of arm that snapped out then snapped back in. Although this would allow for a lot more adjustment of the angle of the plate

[martinarcher]

I'm pretty sure the Large hinge is just trim tabs turned sideways. That is my plan this winter. Take a set of trimtabs, mount them as surfgates and bolt on a different plate instead of the trim tab. Seems the simplest to me.

Specially when the PO of my boat bolted on some MasterCraft "surf tabs". The wiring, actuators, etc is already all there.

Dude....please add a manual gate to that boat. I have been so curious what a set of those tabs along with a gate would do! That is killer for a gate conversion like you said!

[cowwboy]

What affects to the wake do those trim tabs do on your hull?

[mbilenki]

You really did an awesome job!!! Are you thinking about trying to make these for others? I have a 2000 23LSV that I would love to try it on. I would be pretty sweet if it didn't need to list to make a good wave.

Matt

[FastFreddy]

What affects to the wake do those trim tabs do on your hull?

I'm able to put more weight on the non-surf side and still list the boat quite a bit to get a nice surf wake. I'm turning these 90 degrees to make surfgates though.

[malibudog]

For a manual actuator, I really like starting with a turnbuckle, because it lets you fine tune the wake. McMaster Carr has all sorts of manual turnbuckles if you can't find what you need locally.

Here is one of the early manual detachable actuators I saw being used on prototypes:

Once I figured out the actuator length, I just ordered a fixed length aluminum rod for my set up. However, my whole fin detaches with one pin through the hinges, so that may not work for what you are contemplating. Here is mine:

Manual actuator works great - takes me less than 30 seconds to switch sides. Only downside is that when the surfer drops, it is more difficult to steer the boat at slow speeds going back to pick them up. Not overly difficult, but difficult enough that I am following Martinarchers progress very closely.

Edited October 10, 2013 by malibudog

[Levi900RR]

My Snowboard gate was awesome. The kid who bought my Skier still uses it!

[martinarcher]

Just a little update.....I finally got my first batch of prototype boards from the fab house. I found a place that wouldn't totally kill me for a small batch so I got 3 boards. I'm so pumped.....they turned out awesome. I also spent some time messing with the CNC and made up a pretty cool logo that I'm happy with for the lid. I did get a fab board made up and took it out on the river this past weekend. It worked well...couple small changes needed on the board, but very minor things. I had to rig up a set of cables to test with since I'm still waiting on my cable vendor to get me the new cables I ordered. He promised them sometime next week. I can't wait to get them. Hopefully soon I'll have these 3 prototypes to some of the crew peeps that already have their actuators mounted. I hope they are willing to do some fall wet suit prototype testing as I'm running out of warm water in a hurry. I know I'll be rocking the wet/dry suit until the ice comes this year!

[Malibuzer]

Thats awesome! Nice work.

[Levi900RR]

[WakeGirl]

Beautiful work M. As I progress through my degree work, I get more & more of an idea for what you've done & just how difficult it is.

Does your job involve a lot of digital logic? I was talking with my uncle a few weeks ago & his does.....a lot of crossover between EE & CS, & it seems like it takes someone that has a really good understanding of both to pull off something like this. That appears to be a rare gift.

[skyskier]

Access to the warm side of Lake Anna in Va can be made available for testing.

[brad72]

Beautiful work Martinarcher. Love the black silk screen and the Wake Logic logo. I would be happy to test the proto over a warm Aussie summer except I have no surf gates, actuators or ballast fitted. Maybe one day.

If only I could run this stuff via PLC and HMI it would be easy since I use them every day. One day I'll work out code writing. Still young so plenty of time.

[martinarcher]

Beautiful work M. As I progress through my degree work, I get more & more of an idea for what you've done & just how difficult it is.

Does your job involve a lot of digital logic? I was talking with my uncle a few weeks ago & his does.....a lot of crossover between EE & CS, & it seems like it takes someone that has a really good understanding of both to pull off something like this. That appears to be a rare gift.

Thanks! Yeah, our dept does deal with a lot of it. I'm in the "Control and Automation" dept so it is not only software, but a lot of electrical as well. It's kind of cool having a pretty good grasp on the mechanical stuff too. Knowing that a 10 ton cutter arm doesn't react like a fly swatter sure helps you to write the software to automate it's control and tune the electrical system that controls the hydraulics. Most of our guys are EE's that have been forced to write software.....most have figured our it's good for you, but some are still resisting. I'm a CS that had a EE father and kind of learned the best of both worlds growing up. It helps when you are taught how to solder at age 6. Not sure if you've seen "the knack" Dilbert video, but you would love it too.

Beautiful work Martinarcher. Love the black silk screen and the Wake Logic logo. I would be happy to test the proto over a warm Aussie summer except I have no surf gates, actuators or ballast fitted. Maybe one day.

If only I could run this stuff via PLC and HMI it would be easy since I use them every day. One day I'll work out code writing. Still young so plenty of time.

Thanks man! Heck yeah....get those gates on there and I'll ship you off a box this winter. We do HMI design as well, but we do our own custom controller that communicates with it. The PLC stuff is neat, but once you get into a full blown embedded controller you'll never go back! It's a slippery slope!

[WakeGirl]

Yes, that Dilbert short is definitely it, in a nutshell. I really think that this stuff is in the blood. It's obvious with you, & I have a couple of uncles that are EE (as I said one crosses over to CS like you do) as well as a great uncle that has his PHD in physics (he really is a rocket scientist, lol). Myself, I have a really hard time with the EE part, but give me some code to write & I'm a happy camper. So yeah, I do think it's part of the genetic makeup for sure. Funny, the uncle that crosses over was part of a team that did some of the original work behind automated motion control back in the 80's.

So Wake Logic huh? Makes sense.