WAKE REDUCTION WITH LIFTING WING pics

[Dacon62]

Winter always has the brain swirling with ideas. Finally decided to turn an idea into reality.

Will be a few weeks till we hit the water and test it out.

One thing for sure is I will know more then, then I do now.

Hope to reduce the wake size. It may do that but I suspect there will be some other gremlins to deal with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bishop8950]

Video!!! I will be curious for wake and handing feedback.

[RichardDoane]

needs to have adjustability, like any spoiler

[oldjeep]

Looks interesting, but aren't those 4 screw wedges known to snap off? Might consider welding the arms to the wedge.

[Wayne]

I remember a hydrofoil project on this site from about 2 years ago. If my memory is correct, too much lift in the rear will cause some really funky handling while turning. If you do anything at speed, please have a functioning safety kill switch and attach the lanyard.

 

The wedge arms were designed to be in tension. Since they are a fairly thin profile, with enough upward force and some side loading they could bend easily. If you fabricate a cross strap or an "X" in the open box of the arms it will prevent the possibility for failure.

 

Granted, failure may be a goal here, so just take video! :)

[skialex]

Hi, @Dacon62 off season is the best time to put ideas to the test!

Those wings look nice, if they act as hydrofoils you would probably need longer prop axel and steering. Then tracking might become an issue too.

But at the end you will have the first no wake 196!

Good luck, post video!

[jackski]

I did that several years back but not to that extreme. I played with different sizes, lengths and depths. I wasn't looking to get much lift, just a little. With deep ones I got too much turbulence. Ended up with a 1'-0" long strip on back with about a 5 degree down angle.

Was perfect. Now that I took out about 350 lbs out of the boat with aluminum I have no need for it.

[foxriverat]

A 2001 Malibu Response? And your trying to get the wake smaller? Unless theres something wrong with your boat. I dont see how it could get any better. We ski a 2003 Response LXI 2016 Prostar and 2002 Response LX The 2002 LX has the smallest wake.

[Dacon62]

Good suggestions all, thanks. Will definitely take precautions with safety gear. Start with slower speeds and work up as well.

@jackski any pics or drawings of what you settled on that worked perfectly for you?

@foxriverat it can always be smaller...

 

 

[DaveD]

As @horton always says "video please".

[DW]

@Dacon62 : The shape itself will provide lift even at a zero angle of attack, not sure what yours will be. Don't forget that water forces will be roughly 25 times that of similar shapes being pushed through air due to density and non compressive effects. With velocity a squared function for forces, as you increase speed above what the "wedge" was designed for, wake speeds, the forces will increase significantly. Nice machining & the cars hiding behind the boat appear to be pretty nice also.

 

@foxriverat : It can, pull a few hundred pounds out of the LX and the wake does get smaller, particularly if you focus towards the transom.

[foxriverat]

@DW True. We ski with the back seat out. Tank quarter full and 3 people

[EricKelley]

My prediction is that you will have too much lift and drag with that set up. A much easier way to add transom lift is to add some hook to the trailing edge of the bottom at the transom. You can easily experiment with how much by adding strips of tape. It doesn't take much to accomplish this goal. I like experiments though, good luck. That's a sweet looking wing.

[eleeski]

I did a similar experiment a few years back on my MC. I was trying to soften the wake - especially at slower speeds. It worked well until the boat sped up. At 34 and more so at 36 the wake turned into a hard wall of froth. Unskiable. Nobody could make a pass at full speed. Magic at 30 though.

 

I speculate that the prop wash at the faster speeds was thrown all the way back to the skier. Slower speeds gave the desired lift and wake enhancement.

 

Mine was adjustable. Reversing it helped the trick wake a bit but not as much as weighting the boat.

 

I'm not using it anymore.

 

Eric

[bigskieridaho]

Hmmm a wedge and bracket at 34 & 36MPH...... Doesn't sound smart to me. Better make sure you have jackets when that thing gets ripped off. Just my .02

[Dacon62]

I am guessing that there are a few of us out there that have forgotten to pull the wedge up after something other than slaloming and accidentally left it down when moving to slaloming and run up to 34 or so mph before realizing it. Did the wedge/bracket fail?...Realizing that there are compression not tension forces at play in my situation.

I have calculated approximately 350 pounds of lift with the current size and angle of attack.

[GregHind]

Couldn't you get just as much lift with a plate at surface level, like a trim tab in the centre?

[Horton]

Get video

[ToddL]

Very interesting concept. With the ability to raise the wedge out of the way, it can be applied for speeds 30 MPH and slower then retracted for speeds 32+.

 

@Beastmode played around with adding a lip to the bottom of his 94 MC PS. It made 28 off and shorter better, but the 22 off bump is a little more stout.

 

That's the thing about a lip vs. this wedge concept. The lip is present at all speeds. The wedge can be lifted out of the way when it no longer makes a net positive impact.

[MISkier]

@Dacon62, I left the wedge down on my Malibu after my ski partner's son wakeboarded. On the later Malibus, the wedge does not lock down, as was the case on mine. We took off and I ran a 28 off pass and didn't notice the wedge was down until we put it on the trailer. Without the lock down situation, there is no strain on the boat or wedge hardware as the speed increased. Nobody even felt anything different in handling, ride, etc.

 

Perhaps investigating how the wedge works without being locked down or some sort of release mechanism to unlock it when the forces reach a certain threshold might be helpful.

[Wayne]

On my 2002 sunsetter we left the wedge down (the locking version Dacon62 shows in his pictures) by accident and ran almost 40 MPH. The bow porpoised fairly aggressively but no adverse affect on the boat. Never left it down by accident again though.

 

We also tried unlocking it to see if it would change the downward force it generates. The water drag just makes it go towards the surface and it doesn't do anything other than make a lot of spray behind the platform.

 

If you compare the newer version of the wedge that does not lock in the down position the foil shape and angle is different. I believe the angle helps force the newer version to stay forward and generate the downward force to increase hull displacement. The older version wouldn't stay down while the boat was moving unless the locking pins were engaged.

[Waternut]

So I've debated this same thing on my 2000 Response but have always come to the conclusion that it would make a rooster tail somewhere else that's undesirable.

 

I do have some experience with lifting the back though on my older Dixier Super Skier 299 before. I made the wake smaller by installing a hydraulic wakeplate. Worked well but I will say that it required adjustment for different speeds and line lengths. Totally worth it if your normal wake is unbearable but a real pain and a total guesswork if you ski the course and are changing things constantly. Generally I put it most of the way down for slalom skiing but shorter than 32off, it needed to be raised to roughly halfway or you'd get into some crazy lips on the 1st and 2nd wakes despite the middle looking nice. The other issue with lifting the back of the boat is steering. The steering is super touchy and the boat doesn't track very well. Not a huge deal on open water but it'd be a nightmare in a slalom course. The boat also wouldn't turn as well at high speeds so I always had to make sure I was making LH turns with a RH prop or back the speed off quite a bit.

[Jody_Seal]

Been there and done that...20 years ago. Trying to make a wetted surface ski better wake wise can not be obtained with these types of devices. Propellers that create a bit of transom lift are better solution's. Adding hook can some times create a better wake. Overall making the boat lighter is the best combination. Figure out a way to pull 200-300 pounds out of the boat would make a world of difference.

[ALPJr]

@ToddL and @Beastmode from my memory there should be zero bump behind a well set up 94 MC PS 190.

[bishop8950]

On my 2000 Malibu if you left the wedge down the boat would start to porpoise in the low 30s and was not drivable above about 32mph.

[teammalibu]

Make you have a backup boat to pick up the pieces!