Big thanks to everyone at the wake garage, after seeing all the completed surfgate projects I figured it was time to upgrade my system this year.
Last year I had made a suck gate that worked pretty good for the first couple times out, but then it decided to quit sucking. It would work for a run or two then fall off.
I first taped off the boat and lined up the outside edges. The transom isn’t flat, but there is about 8” tall area that fit the hinges
I used the fast Lenco actuators and HDPE I had picked up from a local plastic supplier. It was $20 for two 1’x2’ sheets of 3/4”. If I had to do it again I’d use 1/2”. The 3/4” made a nice substantial gate, but it caused me to make the gap between the hinges and boat wider then I would have liked. I ended up using a router to round over the edge so it wouldn’t get hung up.
I don’t have the room for a table saw, so to make a nice straight cut I use a straight edge clamped to the board as a guide. I also used a router on all the edges after I got to the final shape I wanted.
To line up the actuator, I used a 90 degree angle to find the centerline of the hinges.
I used a scrap piece of HDPE to raise the swim platform ¾”.
I’m still a week or two out from automating the gates with an Arduino controller, but for now I’ve set it up with manual switches.
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