2007 196 SN - hydro gate plate

[jmvana1]

Our 2007 196 SN has a significant bump at -22. Folks have suggested our hydro gate plate was not installed properly. Anyone have any advise on this topic? Any suggestion on who we can get a new plate from? Thx!

[dbutcher]

Is it crooked, i.e. one side higher than the other? Does it go all the way down? You probably don't need a new plate unless it is bent.

[jmvana1]

The advice we have received is the plate needs to come down lower in slalom position. Unfortunately we tried to drill new holes with a drill press without laser precision, thus we need a new plate.

[dbutcher]

You have probably already tried, but can the cable/linkage be adjusted to make it come all the way down? Has the gate never come all the way down, or did it just start? If you don't need the trick mode, you could permanently fasten the gate in the down position. 196's that came from the factory without hydrogate have their plates permanently fixed in the down position.

[jmvana1]

Thx Don. The plate comes all the way down, but not far enough.

[dbutcher]

I guess I'm not following you. If it comes all the way down but that is not far enough, then it's not all the way down. Find the reason it won't come down far enough, or a new plate might not solve your problem.

[LeonL]

Did the drilling render the plate unusable? Don't the screws just go Into the transom? Worst case scenario is fill the original holes in the transom and drill new ones for the inaccurately drilled ones in the plate.

[thager]

If you just slalom, remove it and fill the holes with gel coat or the appropriate color epoxy.

 

[skiinxs]

@thager You would only want to remove it if you only tricked and jumped in jump mode. Slalom mode is with the plate down.

[dbutcher]

@jmvana1 No one including me has tried to answer your original question "where to get a new hydro gate plate". Try nautiqueparts.com and/or skidim.com. Also I'd bet that a Nautique dealer would be able to help you.

[dbutcher]

@jmvana1 Please let us know how you finally resolve this.

[thager]

@skiinxs I looked at a hydro gate tonight. If you remove it you essentially have an 02 TSC2 hull with no gate. Wake would be butter. When the hydro gate is in slalom mode the gate apparatus is up against the transom offering no effect to the wake other than 1/8-3/8 inch of metal back plate that protrudes slightly under the hull in the channel acting as hull hook. When in trick mode the gate is back in a 45 degree or so angle from the transom and essentially acts as a water scoop redirecting water flow upward to reshape the trick table

[jmvana1]

Thx all! We will keep you posted if we make any changes.

[liquid d]

@thager ...the gate is down in slalom mode. It sticks about 1/2+ of inch below the bottom of boat to force the nose of boat down when boat's at speed. This action makes the wake smaller. If the gate is up (having no effect on back of boat), the rear of boat sits lower in water, making the wakes a bit bigger.

[DanE]

@thager It is when the hydrogate is it's lowest position you basically have a TSC2 hull, the hook was changed for TSC3 to make a trick wake. You restore the slalom wake with the hydrogate.

[skiinxs]

@thager Saying what @DanE said a different way, before the hydrogate, there was fiberglass hook that came down to the same location as the hydrogate when in slalom mode. When the hydrogate was introduced, the fiberglass hook was removed. If the option was not purchased, a plate was screwed to the back in exactly the same position as the hydrogate in slalom mode to replace the fiberglass hook that was removed. The net result was the same as the fiberglass hook. The improvement came to the trick wake with the gate up, which reduced the turbulance a lot since the gate doesn't touch the water when up. The "45 degree angle" is merely mechanism to raise the gate, there is no contact or "shaping" of the water.