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Our new Ronix Eight.3 Wake Shaper CLONE with video


Nitrousbird

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So my buddy Mario wanted to try the Ronix Eight.3 Wake Surf Shaper:  https://www.wakemakers.com/eight3-wakesurf-shaper.html

At $600, no Bueno.  Instead, he found a guy that bought one and had a plastics company duplicate it (at least the shape...no handles or stickers on it).  Not as nice looking but a lot cheaper (and still too expensive for a hunk of plastic). 

The results...much better than I expected.  I built my own Ghetto Gate a few years ago but I had zero success with it.  I'm sure it would be a little better now as I'm running more weight and can dial the wake in better but I'm certain this is the better setup.  A nice amount of push...crazy push near the boat...I actually hit the boat with the board twice when I tried 360's later in the day - good thing I have the TMC transom saver.  The wake isn't as steep as it used to be, which I will need to adjust to.  I think it is probably as high as before, but harder to see as it isn't as steep (note that I'm 6'3" with long legs, so no wake looks tall when I'm on it).  I noticed I have more push in the flats than before.

Note that the pics below have it mounted forward of where we mounted it, due to the trailer guide post being in the way.  We used it mounted all the way back; haven't played with it further forward:

20160626_120047_zpse1fap5ih.jpg
20160626_120024_zpszbrcvjm2.jpg
20160626_115955_zpsxfufgd07.jpg
20160626_115932_zpsao78wv3g.jpg

And the video.  Mind you this is my first run with it, so I certainly don't have the full feel for it yet.  We had a major storm here recently with a lot of flash flooding = our water looks like chocolate milk.  It's always muddy but never to this extent...we were dodging debris all day.

I should note we aren't done yet.  We have finished building very custom machined swim platform brackets with V2.0 of the surf flap.  We should start testing that this week.  That will eliminate the splash off of the platform, which will also be another 3" higher.

 

 

Edited by Nitrousbird
  • Like 4
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19 hours ago, TimbrSS said:

Let's all agree to call this the Faux-nix wake shaper.

I can go with that.

 

18 hours ago, That Guy said:

Looks great! We still need to meet up sometime this summer. Is that O'Shaughnessy?

Yep, that's O'Shaughnessy.  The worst I've ever seen it, at least for height/water quality.  I've see it worse for debris (to where you can't go above idle anywhere...happens 1-2 times a year).  I kind of forgot about debris dodging this year as this is the first time I've seen anything in the water.  We are out pretty much every weekend at least one days.  I think we will be hitting the water Wednesday evening if the weather holds - you are welcome to come out.

Edited by Nitrousbird
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How is steering back to rider? Your wave results are similar to my mission gate test. Wave was more \ instead of (. Looks like you are getting pretty far back. I still like the $50 suck gate idea better, but Velcro aside, the results are good.

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Just now, TimbrSS said:

How is steering back to rider? Your wave results are similar to my mission gate test. Wave was more \ instead of (. Looks like you are getting pretty far back. I still like the $50 suck gate idea better, but Velcro aside, the results are good.

Steering is a lot more stiff underway.  Any movement of passengers side to side (mind you Mario is a big dude) is a major change in steering.  Back to the rider, we always turn right and that's fine...left can suck a bit but wasn't all that bad...better than my Ghetto Gate for sure.  I'd like to compare this to the Mission Gate.  I'd love to have an automated system...but at this point I have to think about resale and I've already got the boat maxed out in what I can do to it for resale...anything else will have very minimal returns.  If I wanted to keep the boat another 3+ years, I'd do it for sure.  Since I'm really trying to convince Janet that an upgrade (bigger, of course...I keep referencing your 247) for the 2018 season, I want to minimize the boat mods that have 4 digits in them.

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22 hours ago, NWBU said:

I bet you could sell a few sets of those if you wanted to.

I like "Ramp Stamp"

Looks extremely well made and a nice wave too!

What's your weight and setup for ballast?

 

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1 hour ago, 95echelon said:

What's your weight and setup for ballast?

 

All water ballast under seat/integrated:

- 300 bow
- 500 ski locker
- 300 under port seat
- 900 in each locker
- Floating wedge full down
- Custom surf flap
- 300lbs lead on back seat (could be hidden if I didn't want to move it around)
- 10.5MPH GPS PP
- Small wife, 5 year old daughter, my buddy Mario (6'5" big guy), light on fuel

I hate having exposed ballast.

 

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Just now, Nitrousbird said:

All water ballast under seat/integrated:

- 300 bow
- 500 ski locker
- 300 under port seat
- 900 in each locker
- Floating wedge full down
- Custom surf flap
- 300lbs lead on back seat (could be hidden if I didn't want to move it around)
- 10.5MPH GPS PP
- Small wife, 5 year old daughter, my buddy Mario (6'5" big guy), light on fuel

I hate having exposed ballast.

 

Also how much do you weigh and what kind of board? I always have an eye on the next board and you seem around my size (I am 6'2" 200)

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20 minutes ago, 95echelon said:

Also how much do you weigh and what kind of board? I always have an eye on the next board and you seem around my size (I am 6'2" 200)

He's about your size, and I'm in that ballpark too. He was a big fan of my Byerly Hazzard. It's a great intermediate all around board that has many fin configurations, so you can have it as loose or tight as you wish.

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36 minutes ago, 95echelon said:

Also how much do you weigh and what kind of board? I always have an eye on the next board and you seem around my size (I am 6'2" 200)

6'3".  205lbs.  That is a Triple X Nitro, which they don't make any longer (probably because they weren't profiting enough...they discontinued it after making it $100 more expensive than what I bought it for).  Great board.

 

11 minutes ago, TimbrSS said:

He's about your size, and I'm in that ballpark too. He was a big fan of my Byerly Hazzard. It's a great intermediate all around board that has many fin configurations, so you can have it as loose or tight as you wish.

Correct, I loved the Hazzard.  I could pretty much do everything I can on my Nitro (at least behind your boat's massive wave) and as well as some stuff I can't on the Nitro.  If you want to do any surface spins, the Nitro IS NOT for you.  I'm running one center fin but she doesn't spin.  You do get to face plant consistently when trying, though.  I put my Nitro back in the garage on the last half of 4 day trip to Tim's and just used his Hazzard. 

I will say I did not like the Phase 5 Danielo Diamond....either it sucks or more likely, I'm not good enough for it.  Tim, have you got to ride it yet?

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I won't get to ride the diamond until Sunday. I rented the carbon pro 2 years ago, right before I bought the hazard. I wasn't ready for it at the time, but I think I'll be able to handle it now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

As an update, we have been surfing with the Faux-nix ever since we got it.  I love this thing.  On my setup it works opposite of the instructions, where the wave is the longest all the way back and tallest (but slightly shorter) all the way forward.  I prefer it all the way forward.  We still lean her a bit with an extra 400-600 lbs on the port size depending on the crew.

It has all but made me abandon the customer swim platform, which is funny since it is nearly done.  I now want to experiment to see if the surf flap is necessary any longer (100% required for when we ran listed).  I have a feeling I still need the flap but can shrink it down a bit more.

I need to take another video, as our water isn't nasty like that any longer and the wave looks better now. 

Edited by Nitrousbird
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  • 5 weeks later...

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