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Ghetto Gate v1.0


Nitrousbird

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I decided to try my hand at a manual "surfgate" build.

So far, I think I have $6 into it. Yes, $6. I had the plywood laying around and the tie down strap is leftover from when I upgraded to boat buckles on the trailer. I had to buy one package of screws and a 2x4. Mind you this is proof of concept and design; I'll tweak anything I need to then build a v2.0 once I'm happy with better materials. I'd also like to state my woodworking skills suck. Compound Miter saw really helped with a couple of the angle cuts I made.

Testing: took the boat out last evening after the rain. Only had the wife and 2 year old with me and forgot the GoPro, so no pics/videos on the water (hopefully today). It is illegal to do watersports here without a spotter, though that doesn't stop me as long as the Ranger isn't on the water. Sadly, he was (even when there was almost no one out...my tax money hard at work).

Had both locker 750's full. 500 in the ski locker and accidentally had about 200 under the port seat. Nothing in the bow, though I sat right up on it and didn't notice much of a change in the wake. I am having some front bag filling issues that I'm resolving this week so I didn't get to test it with that full. Didn't try the floating wedge either.

HUGE improvement in the look of the wake. Surfing area looks longer and is much cleaner. There is spray over the top of the gate, but that spray only hits the non-surf side of the wake, so it is a 100% non factor. Because of being more evenly weighted the swim platform doesn't cut into the water as bad on the corner, eliminating some of the spray I used to get from it.

Steering. At speed, fine. At low speed/idle, it turns very well to the right and about as wide as your typical I/O to the left, so it is still acceptable. I bet if the fin was any longer it would have started really cutting into it. It is currently 18" long.

If the weather holds, I'll be able to do some real testing today. I'm pumped - it looks like it really works!

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  • Like 2
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I forgot to add it only takes a couple seconds to install and there is nothing to attach to the boat or swim platform either; slide it on, hook and cinch down the tie strap - done.

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I read the gate didn't need to be longer than 22" but I thought that might be a bit long for my application. It needed to conform with the hull and go all the way to the bottom of the hull. Also needed to be around 22 degrees in angle. I modified the mount design from something someone did on a Centurion if I remember correctly.

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awesome!

can you flip the bolt over?

Nope. I do need to install a shorter bolt. Not all that worried about it at this stage...again, proof of concept / this year's toy. I'll spend some real time over the winter making one out of composite and more water resistant materials. Edited by Nitrousbird
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Any concerns about the additional pressure on your swim platform and the bolts or fiberglass?

I've seen many fat people that have caused me more concern on the swim deck than the GhettoGate could produce! :whistle:

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Any concerns about the additional pressure on your swim platform and the bolts or fiberglass?

Nope. The flat gate part is setup to not put much pressure on the hull. The bracket's part that puts pressure on the hull was angle cut (15 degrees works perfectly) plus heavily padded, so the load is spread out evenly. Most of the pressure is on the swim platform and that's not going anywhere...it takes a lot more abuse than this gate can put out.

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Took her out today. I made the mistake of not checking my battery before going on my first (and best set), so my best footage wasn't recorded. I swapped batteries out for my 2nd set and got some in. My other mistake was using my transom mount instead of my tower mount, so the perspective isn't all that great. I'll have some footage up in the next day or so.

Things I learned:

- Speed...or needing less of it. I normally ride @ 11MPH. That speed = low wake and no push; it sucked. Kept bumping it down and found 10.3MPH is the sweet spot. 10 MPH starts losing push. Simply put, it is very speed sensitive now...no way this device would work without Perfect Pass.

- Still likes weight to port. I ended up filling both my 750's, 500 under the port seat and 500 in the ski locker + floating wedge down. Wake is a bit steeper with the port seat filled and reduces spray on the starboard side. As usual, no exposed bags anywhere.

- Wake is really clean. Much cleaner than what I normally ride. The pocket is also longer but I need to get more practice on it and play with the weighting some more.

Overall the device is a total success. Installs quickly and works well. Just like any other surf setup it takes some tweaking which I'll have figured out over the next couple of weeks.

I am getting some water splashing on the fuel vent starboard side I'm not a fan of. It isn't submerged, just splashing. Hopefully no water is getting up in it.

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i like this. i was thinking of doing something like this for mine only making it so it will switch from side to side.

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Good review so far. I just put tape over the fuel vent when surfing, just in case. I had an issue with water getting in on my first boat and I didn't even surf once in that boat. Just big rollers going up the side of the boat.

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Here are a couple of videos. Mind you the perspective is pretty poor...and please ignore my white chicken legs. :) I must have changed something at the end of the day as the wake was a bit better earlier and I was more comfortable at the end of my first outing of the day. I'm 6'3" for height perspective, 10.3MPH, 2600 RPM on an Acme 1939:

Edited by Nitrousbird
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formulaben
My concern would be the force on the side of the platform.

They aren't made to take force on the side.

Exactly. Lateral loads versus vertical loads.

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it is clean, and rideable, which is no small feat for 21' hulls of your vintage.

It's really "flat" like a skim wave with no lip. and it's pretty small.

I'd surf it!

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i would not worry about the side loading of the platform. they fit pretty snug to the hull and before it will flex too much it will bind on the hull and absorb the load across the rear of the boat.

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it is clean, and rideable, which is no small feat for 21' hulls of your vintage.

It's really "flat" like a skim wave with no lip. and it's pretty small.

I'd surf it!

I agree. Mind you it was a little taller earlier on the day, but no steeper. It was unrideable at 11MPH. My guess is some water came out from the overflow vents over time from hitting rollers side-to-side as I never refilled them throughout the day and we anchored out for a while.

The non-Ghetto Gate wave is taller for sure, but the pocket isn't nearly as long (mind you, the camera makes it look like I'm a lot closer to the boat than I am). Also, the push near the boat is much greater with the Ghetto Gate...I had to get on the brakes hard to not hit the back of the boat when I first started riding it.

I have an order into Wakemakers to get everything to fix my front bag setup (I designed a piggy-back system for my ski locker and under seat front bag that didn't work as planned). I'd like to see what some front weight does, though I'm guessing it will have a negative impact. I could always swap my 750's out (which fill completely) to 1100lb bags which will fill to ~1000lbs. I have a 350lb friend coming on vacation with me and my daughter next week (6'5" Italian looking guy that is actually Cuban), so I'll have him sit on the engine hatch and see what difference that makes, as that will be semi-close to having bigger sacks in the back. I might also play with the port weighting some more, since I added that in prior to slowing the boat down and never pulled it back out. My hope is I won't need 1100lb sacks from a cost perspective and I like storing vests on top of my full ballast bags (anyone who says the rear locker doesn't hold a 750lb bag full with room to spare has no idea what they are talking about).

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I agree. Mind you it was a little taller earlier on the day, but no steeper. It was unrideable at 11MPH. My guess is some water came out from the overflow vents over time from hitting rollers side-to-side as I never refilled them throughout the day and we anchored out for a while.

The non-Ghetto Gate wave is taller for sure, but the pocket isn't nearly as long (mind you, the camera makes it look like I'm a lot closer to the boat than I am). Also, the push near the boat is much greater with the Ghetto Gate...I had to get on the brakes hard to not hit the back of the boat when I first started riding it.

I have an order into Wakemakers to get everything to fix my front bag setup (I designed a piggy-back system for my ski locker and under seat front bag that didn't work as planned). I'd like to see what some front weight does, though I'm guessing it will have a negative impact. I could always swap my 750's out (which fill completely) to 1100lb bags which will fill to ~1000lbs. I have a 350lb friend coming on vacation with me and my daughter next week (6'5" Italian looking guy that is actually Cuban), so I'll have him sit on the engine hatch and see what difference that makes, as that will be semi-close to having bigger sacks in the back. I might also play with the port weighting some more, since I added that in prior to slowing the boat down and never pulled it back out. My hope is I won't need 1100lb sacks from a cost perspective and I like storing vests on top of my full ballast bags (anyone who says the rear locker doesn't hold a 750lb bag full with room to spare has no idea what they are talking about).

I have a feeling you've gotten the most out of the experiment right now. The returns will deminish with further investment....

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I have a feeling you've gotten the most out of the experiment right now. The returns will deminish with further investment....

The front bag fix investment is a must at this point, as it's not really filling and it is needed for the wakeboarding wake anyway.

Rear bags, funny thing is if I end up liking the old way better, I'll still need an 1100lb bag in the back, as the wave does improve more with more weight in/over the rear locker. I had actually hoped this device would keep me from needing that upgrade.

In the end, I may end up playing with it both ways. I think there is still potential with this device. I also need to play with fin length and angle a bit as well, but want to get the weighting right first.

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I have the solution.

Wait for it....

You need to become a goofy footer. There, problem solved. :biggrin: (Sorry, had to.)

Have you looked at slurpee's version? He's got the same boat & his wave looks pretty different, & his comment was to the effect that he could run less weight to get the same or better wave vs. traditional leaning.

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The front bag fix investment is a must at this point, as it's not really filling and it is needed for the wakeboarding wake anyway.

Rear bags, funny thing is if I end up liking the old way better, I'll still need an 1100lb bag in the back, as the wave does improve more with more weight in/over the rear locker. I had actually hoped this device would keep me from needing that upgrade.

In the end, I may end up playing with it both ways. I think there is still potential with this device. I also need to play with fin length and angle a bit as well, but want to get the weighting right first.

Nitrous - Not sure what you are doing on your front bag, but I put in a central ski locker bag and bow underseat bag this year. I didn't piggyback. Instead, I used a T to fill/drain both bags at the same time from one pump. Works well.

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Bow bag is a must with or without gate I'd imagine. Our wake without it stinks. Really short.

And you're right about more weight in the back corner. I go a bit over 250 lbs. There's an appreciable difference in the wake if I move from the observer seat to the back corner or the sunpad.

Have you sealed your rub rail? We get a bit of water through ours when we're loaded heavily like we were this past weekend. Not much, but enough that I have the boat sitting uncovered under the canopy with the storage lockers open to air out.

It's pretty crazy the wake you can get out of the old '01s though. I rode out my first surf 360 this weekend behind ours. :)

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