DIY surf tab setup

[Vtxdave]

I want to start by saying I am brand new to the sight and hope I am doing this right. I have a 07 VTX and surfing is what my group loves to do. I have stock mls in rear and center. I added 1100 sacs to each corner and 1000 bow sac and also have a 750 that can be filled as needed. The reason I wanted to build a surf system was I surf goofy and most people surf regular. I got tired of having to throw the pump over and swaping from side to side and my boat is very picky about weight on opposite surf side and will wash out the wave easily. I wanted to get in the water fill up the bags and go side to side without time wasted. I did weeks of research before attempting I build this and compared all factory system along with a few aftermarket ones. This is only a prototype and not the final plate design. I did not spend high dollar on the plates the first time around due to not knowing if the plate design would be right ( long enough, wide enough.) please no hate I just want to share because I had a lot of PM's About the system

What I used to build my setup:

2 plates of steel (21" wide, 18" long)

2 lenco 102 xd actuators

2 lenco upper mounts

4 hinges home depot p/n 17903

2 momentary on/off/on switches acadmey sports p/n 51354

4 peices of hard plastic to mount hinges to hull. ( I had to curve them to get the hinges straight)

Miscellaneous bolts to bolt plates and actuators to hull

I made the wiring harness myself

Angle and plate to mount actuators and strengthen plates

I used the lenco 102xd actuator due to the extended stroke capability to be able to deploy the tabs further and pull them out of the water more to not interfere with the surf side wave.

I have only tested the system for about 3 hours and do NOT have it perfectly dialed in. I am very picky about my wave and want it perfect.

Normall surf setup

1100 filled in locker (dosent fill all the way my guess about 850lb)

Mls filled in surf corner

Center mls filled.

Bow sac filled about 400lb

If nobody in boat I add about 700 in surf side seat

What I tried with surf tabs

All mls full ( both corners and center)

About 500lb in each locker bag

The wave was just as good as listed setup only able to get way way further back and way more push off the top of the wave. Without the wegde deployed the wave was very very short but same length. I found out if I extended the surf tab to far the wave got smaller and hurt it. (Suprised me). I still want to play with weight options and tab position and wedge position to get it perfect ( time was limited). I was able to swap goofy to regular with the boat moving in about 2 seconds which made me happy. I don't have any videos of swapping side but I do have a couple of surfing if I can figure out how to load them and post the link I will. I would be more than happy if anybody wanted to attempt a setup like this to share all my research and info ( mounting position, tab angle, wiring help, actuator mounting). Please remember the tabs you see are only a prototype and not the final product. I made something to see if my guess on how big to make the tabs was correct. I will be getting a nice shinny pare made of stainless that will look pretty and match the power wedge

Hear are some pics

[Vtxdave]

[Vtxdave]

[Vtxdave]

[Vtxdave]

[Vtxdave]

[Vtxdave]

Not a great picture but it shows the wave a little

[martinarcher]

I so want to see tabs and gates on the same boat. I need a bigger transom!

[Vtxdave]

Haha yea I was nervous as could be drilling 11 holes in each side. I don't think I would have the courage for any more

[bunji169]

I so want to see tabs and gates on the same boat. I need a bigger transom!

That would be huge!! Maybe after dialing in the tabs you can make a simple swim deck mounted fixed position surfgate on one side just to see what it would do in conjunction with those tabs. Soooo many people would be interested in the results.

Those tabs look great. Very clean install.

Edited July 22, 2015 by bunji169

[Tims]

I so want to see tabs and gates on the same boat. I need a bigger transom!

Supra sort of already does this with the swell system. If you choose barrel setting the opposite tab deploys for delayed convergence and the same side deploys as a tab.

Regular delayed convergence wave (port side)

Barrel wave setting (port side) Notice tab on port side 100% deployed.

Most folks don't like the barrel setting as it take so much adjusting to get it just right as if feels like things are fighting against each other.

[jtryon]

very cool. it looks like the outer edge of the plates is below the hull even when stowed (seen in pic 2)--do you find that the tabs interfere with the wake at wakeboard or cruising speeds because of this?

[bunji169]

Not the same. True tabs along with true surfgate. Since they'd both deploy on same side for wave on opposite side, I don't think they'd fight eachother.

[Vtxdave]

Yea I ran it at wakeboard speed and no interference. The key I found was using the longer stroke actuators to be able to pull the tabs up enough so it didn't interfere with anything else. We don't wakeboard much but we do hydrofoil a little

What I noticed is when I surf behind the boat with a listed setup the opposite side hull is out of the water or almost all the way out and with this setup the boat dosent have lean or list at all but makes a bigger wave. I can't wait to get it back in the water and dial it in. I'm going to get the go pro out next time and get full video of: how far the tabs deploy, how quick the wave will swap, the length and height, and what it looks like behind the boat surfing, and watching them work. Any other ideas of what y'all wanna see it do let me know. I may get to go out tomorrow before work if it dosent rain.

[Vtxdave]

What did mess with me tho is the wegde needed to be deployed to make the wave huge. I figured with it deployed and a tabs deployed they would be fighting each other but it didn't seem to work that way

[TimbrSS]

When I surf my 247 listed, the wedge doesn't seem to change the height of the wave much.. 10-15%, but the push seems 50% better.

Have you tried using the tabs while listed? I'd be curious to see those results.

[Vtxdave]

Mine is super picky for some reason. When listed if I don't deploy the wedge the wave gets washed out a little. When surfing goofy side it has to be deployed all the way. When surfing regular it does way better two clicks up.

I haven tried using the tabs listed yet but it was something I wanted to try and see how it does. With only 2 people in the boat and one surfing goofy I use 1100 in locker ( which only fills to about 850), 750 fat sac behind driver seat completely filled, mls filled surf side, center mls filled, and about 400 in triangle bow sac and when surfing behind it I can see water coming over the back corner onto the deck pad. The wave is super awesome and chest high but hard to drive the boat if you don't have a experienced driver.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Vtxdave

[jtryon]

so the switches are dependent on the operator knowing when to turn them off and on correct, there's no automation built in? how much $ do you think you have in the actuators and switches to run them?

[Vtxdave]

I used 1 momentary on/off/on switch per tab and they were 7.00$ each. I found the actuators for 190 each but I already had one actuator at the house due to the fact that it is the same actuator the the power wedge uses and I replaced both of mine last year due to one quit working. There is no automation built in but all you have to do is hold the switch down for about 3 seconds and it deploys the tab fully. The way the actuators are built you will not hurt them if it is fully extended or retracted and you hold the switch down to keep them moving in that direction. Normally a really good friend of mine always goes with me when I go to the lake and he is a very experienced boater and boat owner ( he has a 12 moomba lsv) and we have hand signals for communication such as wedge up/ down, speed, and radio so I can tell him if I need the tab position adjusted. I found lenco makes a system and controller for each tab that allows you to know the position of each one independently but they wanted big money for it and for me it wasn't worth it. I only have about $300 in the complete setup for both sides

[jtryon]

that's certainly more affordable than some of the kits out there, though i would love to be able to afford martinarcher's controller! thanks for the info vtxdave.

[Vtxdave]

Not a problem! I also was able to remove the two factory accessory switches on the right side of the dash that I wasn't using and install them in there so I still have a semi-factory look.

[High Altitude]

Any updates?

[Vtxdave]

Taking it out tomorrow finally and gonna get a tone of video and photos. Plan on being on the water all day so I should get it dialed in perfect. I'll have it all posted tomorrow!! I'm ready to see how big I can make my little VTX wave!!!

[High Altitude]

Can't wait! Thanks for sharing. -Marc

[Vtxdave]

I've got some good footage of the wave and being able to swap side to side and got it pretty dialed in. I have a tone of adjustability with this system. I can make the wave super steep or long and it has a tone of push. I'm still trying to play with ballast options also. How can I get the videos uploaded. I'm trying to figure it out. I'm still a rookie to the site