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Surfgate kit?


FrancisAA

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Dear all,

Greetings from Switzerland.

I have bought a VLX just one year before the surfgate came out.

I have asked my dealer, unfortunately, no retro-fit.

I have seen that they are home made surf gates.

But I was wondering:

- are there some "surf gate" kits available on the market?

Thanks for your help.

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I forgot who, but someone on the crew was working on a retro fit to market to us. Not sure how that is coming, but the posts are here somewhere.

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My only concern would be structural stability when you add surf gates to a boat that does not have the hull reinforcements from the factory. i am sure you can fabricate your own surf gate setup but what will it do to the hull in the long-term? The new boats that have surf gate system have added reinforcement in that area to add structural stability.

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My only concern would be structural stability when you add surf gates to a boat that does not have the hull reinforcements from the factory. i am sure you can fabricate your own surf gate setup but what will it do to the hull in the long-term? The new boats that have surf gate system have added reinforcement in that area to add structural stability.

OK, Let the debate start again!!! Do you need a reinforced hull to handle surfgate????? and...............................go! :blowup:

  • Like 3
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I'd be happy with a simple manually deployed gate that has an arm I can reach under my swim platform, deploy it, surf, put it back. Been trying to find some sort of arm to do this myself but so far no luck

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Try calling a Supra dealer, you could add the Moomba manual gate real easy.

I really would love to be able to buy the Flow system from the moombas, I don't think they would sell it to me though...anyone know what they are charging for the upgrade on new boats?

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Try calling a Supra dealer, you could add the Moomba manual gate real easy.

That is actually brilliant, Malibu won't sell aftermarket delayed wake convergence devices, so go to a manufacturer that will. Nice.

I am using the Martinarcher controller and will build my own gates. I think this is the best and most cost effective way to add a delayed wake convergence device to our boats.

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Very seriously doubt they will allow dealers to sell this for a non-Moomba application, my dealer sells them so I can ask. I overhead them at the boat show say it was in $800 range to add and the owner signs a liability waiver. Only fits on the Mojo and Mondo if I understood correctly...

76C1B079-1AB3-46A7-91BF-E819476382F8_zps

Edited by thtrog
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I asked my dealer when I bought my supra how much it would be to add the swell system and he told me 3k. I might do it with my next bonus. I was happy that they will actually let you retro fit it at a later time.

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Hello FrancisAA,

It's a pleasure to see some swiss on this forum....

you can look at this topic: http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?/topic/41952-2011-wakesetter-vlx-surfgate/?hl=mica#entry608235

it's actually my boat and I did the modification for the surfgate...

So please feel free to contact me if you need some info.

From where in Switzerland are you?

Me I'm close to Lausanne.

Best regards

Mica

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My only concern would be structural stability when you add surf gates to a boat that does not have the hull reinforcements from the factory.

Since the surfgate boats don't have this reinforcement, I wouldn't be worried about it.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a prototype I'm hoping to take out this week and test. All it requires you to do to the stock swim step bracket is drill and tap a hole. It is a manual gate but I'm sure if everything works as planned, a lenko actuator could be added to it in the future. Right now it's mocked up for a 23' wakesetter. I love how it turned out, just hope it works as good as it looks.

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wish I had a pic of the manual gate I made... got the idea from someone on here. Couple of treated 2X4's, screws, ratchet strap and a large 3/8" thick cutting board. Took about 1 hour, cost about 40 bucks. Wish I had a pic of the surf wake it made with no ballast weight at all in the boat first time i tried it too! I was worried about the extra force on the swim step (it slides over the side of the step and exerts a side force on the step mounts) so i was conservative in the angle i made it at, but after running it the first time, underway, i could reach down and wiggle my swim step like there was next to no pressure being exerted on it from the gate.

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found some pics, but Im at work and restricted from a lot of things like photo bucket and FB... heres three links to my manual surfgate, dont even know if they work when you click on em cause facebook is blocked on my work server, lol.

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201611700477900&id=1340076742&set=a.2342932416314.244615.1340076742&source=43

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201611699797883&id=1340076742&set=a.2342932416314.244615.1340076742&source=43

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201611699037864&id=1340076742&set=a.2342932416314.244615.1340076742&source=43

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found some pics, but Im at work and restricted from a lot of things like photo bucket and FB... heres three links to my manual surfgate, dont even know if they work when you click on em cause facebook is blocked on my work server, lol.

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201611700477900&id=1340076742&set=a.2342932416314.244615.1340076742&source=43

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201611699797883&id=1340076742&set=a.2342932416314.244615.1340076742&source=43

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201611699037864&id=1340076742&set=a.2342932416314.244615.1340076742&source=43

Where can I get that material you used for the gate? Also, the hinges, are they screwed through the hull & bolted or just screwed into the fiberglass?

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Here's some better pics. No hinges, nothing is attached to the boat itself. The whole thing just slides onto the side of the swim step. Water pressure pushes it against the step, and the ratchet strap keeps it from being pushed off the back of the step.

IMG_2683_zpscf5a2823.jpg

IMG_2682_zps5bd16e0e.jpg

IMG_2681_zps1b36f364.jpg

IMG_2692_zps9a22853c.jpg

IMG_2684_zpsb82ded1c.jpg

Takes about a minute to install and remove. Pic of wave is without weight. When I weight it still a little more on the surf side and it makes a pretty decent wave.

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There was guy trying to sell those side mount gates made out of starboard for 500.00. Not sure he ever sold one, his Facebook only has 5 likes. I ordered some stainless ratcheting arms that should work great for manual deploy as soon as figure out what material for the gate I'm gonna use I'll start putting up my progress. My boss has a mxz with surf gate so I've Been copying dimensions from that hope it all works.

Does anyone know if the gates are different sizes for the smaller hulls? Wasn't sure if I should make mine as big as the mxz or go smaller since my boat is much smaller then his?.

Edited by racer808
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Wow... $500?! I could probably put some time into one, glass it and make it look good... but why, its a quick and dirty, cheap, manual surf gate that gets results. Think im gonna add another piece of poly to the bottom, see what that does, play with the angle a bit. Its interesting to see the shapes and angles that everyone is coming out with now. Makes you wonder what we will be makin waves with 10 years from now. Who knows, we might be riding 5 foot rollers by then.

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I went and measured gates on every boat at our local dealer. Seems all of them are 18" long and height varies between 10" on the smaller hulls and up to 14" on the larger hulls. They're all cut differently though and it seems to simply follow the contour of the hull, no other reason? As most of you know they have the platform cut in to accommodate the gate being tucked in further.

So my questions are , when making mine does it matter how the cut by hull is just follow the hull to make it look nice? Since my deck is not cut in like the new ones do I make the top flush with the deck or try to tuck it under? I just want to get it right before I cut and start poking holes in the boat. Doesn't seem to me there is a whole lot more then just get it close enough to how they make theirs. Doesn't seem the location and angle need to be precise, just enough to prevent the water from flowing around the hull? Is this a fair assessment?

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Might be kind of a hijack but this got me thinking, it'd be cool if Nautique did a manual NSS sort of like their hydro gate. Not really luxurious but it'd be cool to have a bunch of manual levers like driving an old 4x4 lol... Correct craft needs a budget brand now just so this can happen :rofl:

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