DIY Suction Cup Wake Shaper
 

After reading quite a bit about the ramps. gates, and suction cup water deflectors i decided to make my own.

Materials:
1 12" x 24" x 1/2" seaboard $19 on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1 suction cup glass holder $15 on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2 1/4-20 x 4" stainless carriage bolts $4 at OSH
2 1/4-20 stainless nylok nuts $0.50 at OSH
4 #10 x 1.5" stainless screws at OSH $1.50

1. Cut the seaboard as shown using a jigsaw with a coarse metal blade (cuts like butter)
2. Drill and screw it together
3. Stick it to the boat as low and far back as possible
4. Load up the boat evenly with plenty of weight
5. Go enjoy an awesome wakesurf wake

Wake pix are before and after my Nautique SV211 with full ballast, no passengers, a 500# bag in the center, another 500# in the walkthrough.

Awesome template! It would be sweet if you did a version we could print out to use as a template..... Anyone capable of this?

Clean build. Just don't try to start selling them like the dozens of other profiteers, unless you really want a nastigram from malibu's legal staff and potentially a full complaint. bahahahaha.

Nice very good job. Thanks for the breakdown and assembly instructions

I think this template is correct
 

I put your photo in photoshop and skewed it so it would fit a 12X24 and I think it looks right, what do you think?? it got scaled a little bit posting it, but just blow it up to 12" wide and it will be the correct proportions as far as I can tell....

This thread interests me. I'm picking up a 04 tige Saturday that I'd like to make something like this for it. Does it work on both sides? Does it float? Can you take it off and on in the water or does it not stay after it's wet?

Yes, these work on both sides. Some of them do float. Mine does, but it's made of wood and the suction cups are plastic. I always install it in the water.

I have a question for guys who are using these. Is the wave better if the boat is evenly loaded or listed in addition to using the shaper? I know evenly loaded means you can switch sides easily but I have a DD and a minimal wave to I am looking for maximum push and have not had a chance to experiment much.

I've gotten a lot of different results boat to boat. My 210 we will list a little bit when low weight, when its slammed with people on top of the 2k pound ballast, we keep it pretty even. I find that my suction cup plate can still be pretty finicky, but that can be said for the old 210 wake in any setting. The skateboard ramp with velcro was still hands down the best surf wake I've ever gotten, regardless of weight, but I cannot go back to velcro on the side of the boat again.

Mine works well goofy, but for regular it needs a little listing, usually one addition person on that side of the boat.

One big (pun intended) advantage of these suck-gates is that you can get a bigger wake, because listing is just leaving water out of some of your ballast. With the gate, you can fill them all, the boat makes a larger hole in the water and a bigger wake is created.

Do these mark up the side of your boat at all?

I have not noticed anything.

What's the difference between seaboard and HDPE? https://www.amazon.com/Polyethylene-...plastic+sheets

one is called seaboard and costs 2x as much as the other

After making a few of these over the summer I finally broke down and bought one after I borrow and broke a buddies Mission Delta, I went with the NautiCurl wake Shaper. www.nauticurl.com, it was only $195.00 and looks so clean I jumped on it. I attached a pic of one version I made versus the clean NautiCurl one. I love building things but I finally decided that I didn't want to strap a suck gate or a Frankin-Gate on my boat. I mean we have a nice boat, great surf boards, then I whip out this modified handle on demand, with some shelf brackets and cut-to-shape cutting board and attached it to help shape the wake. Just didn't make sense. They shipped fast and for $195, I felt it was totally worth the price.

Check them out at www.NautiCurl.com

Here's the Pics.

Andy,

Does the Nauticurl let you turn to the port side if it's deployed to the starboard side, or vice versa? My friend made one off the swim step and this was the downside, he couldn't turn against it when idling to u turn to get the rider.

Wondering your experiences with that and the mission delta for maneuverability at idle. We ride the delta so it's skinny and that kind of stuff matters.

Thanks

Scott, in my experience there is little to know noticeable drag created from having the NautiCurl attached and turning around in idle. Man, I bet that is crazy frustrating having to only turn around one way. I wonder if that happens with Malibu's Surf Gate?

The Mission Delta was the same as far as turning around goes. The only issue I had with the Delta was that it broke twice, the first time I forgot it was on a took off to head home, well it popped of and I broke the lanyard, the second time the plate it's self broke, I have no Idea how that happened but it did shut us down for the weekend as far as surfing was concerned.

Overall I am very pleased with the NautiCurl, great buy if you ask me for the price, it has a larger plate/gate than the delta and that really helps clean up my surf wake for that the Delta did.

I ordered mine directly from their site, at www.NautiCurl.com, showed up in 2 days.

Thanks Guys, I had no idea there was an issue with make turns while it is on, good to know. I just checked out a video of on and it looks pretty awesome, and it looks like its the cheapest on the market right now. Not that, that really matters. Since santa didn't read my list, i will have to order one.

Scott, I sent them some video of my 2000 X-Star last fall, here is a video they sent me last night of the change it made on my Goofy foot wake. The boat was totally unsurfable due to the rotation of my prop before I got the NautiCurl. Even when we would make the boat list like crazy it was not that good to surf the goofy wake, now is crazy big and super fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SwSjsCW-us

Andy, the Nauticurl looks about 60 dgrs, Mikeskis looks 55 dgrs and the one you made looks like 90 dgrs from the boat, Does it matter what the degrees are? And how much does the fact that the one you made does not go all the way to the back of the boat matter?

Not being an engineer I am not 100% positive what works best. I can tell you that the one I made would pop off occasionally due to the fact the plate was at 90 degrees but I modeled it after the Mission Delta that my buddy had (he sold it and bought a NautiCurl after I got mine). The one that I made helped but was not overly amazing. The fact that you could not put it all the way to the back was an issue with it I think and that the plate was before the suction cups made it fall off. I experienced the same thing with the Mission Delta when I tried it on my boat (2000 Mastercraft X-Star), it didn't seem to matter if the delta was all the way back or forward facing it worked but wasn't amazing and I didnt think it was worth the money. I also tried the Swell product with similar results to the Delta and my homemade version, the main difference was that the Delta and the Swell did not fall off. The Swell product was basically a Handle on Demand with a fancy plat on it.

The whole goal is change point at which the water converges behind the boat. When I finally decided to jump and buy one, I went with the NautiCurl, based on Price point and overall look of the Wake Shaper. It has out preformed everything else I have tried. The main difference is that it made the pocket longer, and I had more push than any other one that I have tried out. Not that this matters to performance but it was the only shaper I used that actually created a Curl on the Wake so the name is doing what it says it will do. I attribute the Curl to the fact that it is displacing more water and creating a bigger faster pocket. The plate is also larger than the plate on the delta.

It really made me stop being jealous of the wake that some of my friends new Malibu's and Mastercraft are making. Here is a video they made of my boat with and without the NautiCurl on the Goofy Foot side. On my boat the goofy wake was basically not surfable due to the hull shape and the rotation of the screw. Even heavily listed it was not surfable. Evenly weighted boat with the NautiCurl Wake Shaper on and my wake was crazy, I had a ton of fun surfing it on my heelside.

Just my Two Cents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SwSjsCW-us

This is true. You can't turn well with the surf gate style gates unless you automate it, or at least power them with actuators. I've had powered versions, the automated on my last boat, and now a manual gate again until I build the new automated ones. Here are your basic surf device options: http://www.wakegarage.com/forums/top...s-by-category/

I'll update some pics with powered/automated system too but there's not comparison to having it close for control and safety.

I've never had any issues turning around with the NautiCurl Shaper I have been using.

Dumb Question and I apologize if it has been previously answered:

Has anyone tried to add a "suc-gate" to a boat with an existing surf system with any amount of success? I have a 2016 Moomba Mojo with autoflow 2.0 and am always looking for ways to get the best surf wave.

Will the nauticurl or any suck gate work with an old school SAN? The back angles in towards the platform so would sticking it to the side thats flat(perpendicular to the back of the boat) still work?

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/k...ps598fftee.jpg

This is an application where a DIY gate might be best, custom made for this hull.

I have an 94 ski nautique that angles the same. I've got mine to work. Evenly balanced (or slight list) for goofy riders with mostly back weight. For regular, need to list quite a bit more, but still works better than without one at all.

On my 06 I have a DIY suckgate with a 90 degree angle and I place it on that back angle all the way to the rear of that angle portion about 2" under the water.

Would you say having it as far back as possible is the most ideal?

I would say so. Look up the big suck gate thread on planetnautique and someone posted their design for SANTEs with measurements, and I made an exact replica. The top edge of the face of the suckgate is what is about 1-2" under the water.

If you are going for best possible performance and don't care about appearance, the skateboard ramp on amazon and velcro was the biggest wave and most push I have ever gotten, but the suckgate is so much cleaner looking and no velcro. Still a long enough pocket and push for 360s and pop shuvs but the edge is not as abrupt as I'd like. Suckgate we ride at 9.5-9.8 depending on the board we use, the ramp or ronix solution gives you more wiggle room for speed I notice too.

In keeping with the low-cost spirit of the suck gate, I added this which improved the surf wake even more:

http://www.themalibucrew.com/index.p...comment-936360

Thanks, MikeSki...built your Wake Shaper and had good results on my 99 Sport Nautique. It really lengthened the pocket of the wave and allowed me to ride further back.

Here is mine. I was going to buy the Nauticurl but because of the advice above I decided to make my own. I made it a 90* angle so it fits the back angle of my OG SAN. It is the aluminum handle but I painted it red to match the boat.


http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/k...ps8woskgss.jpg

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/k...psp2svxncg.jpg

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/k...pszzc0r6rl.jpg

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/k...ps8uxaomsf.jpg

Killer garage Ben! Surf wall art, bar area with wood floors and a beautiful centerpiece to the space!
Love it!

Thanks! I appreciate it! What you don't see is the pool table and golf simulator :)

Guys, we also created one of these last year and just released a new model that floats, and is made in the USA!, www.swellwake.com, check out the videos on our website and youtube or PM me if you have any questions. Use the coupon code exclusive for members WW15% for 15% off your Wakesurf Creator for a limited time . . .

As always, PM me or comment here if you have any questions


http://www.swellwake.com/uploads/8/8...e-usa_orig.png

What angle did you go with for your plate? I've seen on other forums people shoot for 100-110 degrees.

Spacer?
 

Mikeski-

Did you use some sort of spacer between the suction handle and the sides of the shaper?

Thanks,
KC

Middle piece?
 

What is the long skinny piece in the middle that runs diagonal between the two side pieces on your drawing?

Is that a piece that you cut and then use as a Spacer?

these suck gates are amazing. I get that people like to fork out money but some of us rather save money to spend on new boards or other things. Just do it yourself, I made my first one with a cutting board, and two shelving brackets. It works great, then this year I got creative two weeks ago, I wanted to make an adjustable one. So I bought the same suction cup from harbor freight, 7 bucks, then old piece of shelving I had, wood, and made an adjustable unit. Probably cost me total of 20 bucks. I can adjust it in angel from 90 degrees to 160. It works amazing! It was just a template since we are going to try it out of plastic, but this worked awesome. A guy we know has the mission delta, and we tried it no different, These things are over 200$ right now just like the yeti cups were. Who ever is first will get the high dollar, but now that everyone is learning to make them you can probably get someone to make you one for 100 bucks or 75 or heck do it yourself. I didn't want to pay 130$ for a ballast pump for my extra bags, so I bought a live well pump, and had some hose from plumbing, then decided the biggest problem was a lot of the ballast pumps cant reach that far from the power, so I added an extra 15 ft cord and clamps so it goes straight to batter. I can fill any bag on any boat now, probably total cost was around 75 bucks. It fits perfect on fat sac brand. Just try it yourself. I tried to upload a picture of both but not going ill try later.

mikeski,

Nice looking build... Any chance you could dimension your pieces? I am going to build one this week, spending the weekend with my folks camping at the lake, and guessing due to crowds and central KS wind we might spend some time surfing.

I just ordered the handle off amazon, I already have the hdpe sheet left over from rebuilding boat seat bases and have stainless screws also.

This will be for my 1989 Supra Sunsport. Any advice or any changes you would suggest? A bigger plate, smaller? How about the angle, would you go more, or less? How is your handle holding up? Suction cups still good?

This is one of the better looking DIY ones I've seen. I am hoping this works really well on my boat, the hull is very flat back there.

Thanks for sharing,
-dy

hey, each boat is different. I have made three now. One smaller one bigger, then one adjustable one. The adjustable one is wood, big mistake it split HA still works though. I did it quickly to demo so I can do the same design for plastic. The best thing about making a cheap one is you can always trim the plastic. My adjustable one can go 90 degrees all the way to 160. It can also flip it so you can put further back on the boat.

Just try them out, I use the handles from Harbor freight, 7 bucks WOOHOO. Best advice is screw it through the handle not the suction part. Suction part is hard to get to.

Yeah great advice Nathan, I guess I can always start on the bigger side and then trim down if needed.
I suppose I could to the same thing with the angle plates on this design too.

Hoping this just works out of the box as the OP designed it. I don't surf enough and don't care about it enough to make a bunch of design iterations....

So the suction cups work well under water?

yes, cups work good underwater BUT....you gotta make sure you press hard to get all the air n water our of the suction before you "lock" them down. Once you do it a few times, you will feel it grab when you do it right. Once secured, test by hand...if it moves, its not on right. Should not be easily moved by hand or it will pop off as soon as you give the boat power

wake
 

I was going to buy the nauticurl, but I got the swell because it could be shipped by Amazon in two days, just tried it today. I have a 2005 VLX, and the Swell did nothing for the regular side wake, but make it worse. I have a yellow loogie Inland surfer which is usually a pretty fast board and the swell made the wake slower, where I had to almost hang five the whole time to keep up with the wave. Took the swell off and was surfing like normal again. Set the swell up for goofy riding and it cleaned the wake up on the goofy side pretty good so I could surf like normal on that side, so I will keep it on the boat so that if anyone is a goofy surfer, the set up could be completed in about one minute. I am in the Orlando area, so if anyone wants to test the swell on their boat before buying one send me a pm to test it out.

Dustin,

Hey under water it works fine, but remember, the whole thing should not be under the water. if it is then it means you have it way to far back. The board should be out of water to be really effective. I am amazed that the swell didn't do anything. I know the design I made like the swell did great for both side of the wave for my 2004 vlx. Shocked it didn't help you on the 05 vlx.

Yeah I think too many people sink the rears of the boats too far with the suckgates/shapers. In my experience most of these boats with them require a little less weight or a little lean/list to get the gate closer to the surface.

Hey Wakeworld, wanted to offer up a discount code for the Wakeworld family. Use code WWORLD20 for $20 off.

Soonerbilly - You're right on, the shaper needs to be at the waterline, can be achieved by moving the shaper forward, moving it up on the hull if possible, taking weight out of the stern or what I do now, stack 2 shapers for maximum ballast giving size, shape and push!

NautiCurl.com

Double NautiCurl shot!

John,

what year supra? We have a 05 24 launch we ride behind with suckgate, but never that amazing!

That's one of the NautiCurl boats! Jon has a 2007 Supra Launch 22 SSV. The wake we are building behind that boat is amazing. The Picture is with just one NautiCurl you can get 20 feet deep no problem.

that blows my mind. I cant wait to try one on my vlx.....older vlx. have you all tried that yet?

I a Nauticurl on a 06 supra 24V with both 1100's filled in the back and center 1100 at about half full. Plus 600 lbs of lead and I would say it looks close to that. It's not the tallest wake but it is so long. I'll try and find a pic.

Lime green vest is last year with just my wife driving and one 1100 filled and 1100 center filled with all the lead on the surf side. It was ride able but not much.

Orange vest is how I explained it above. Basically my wakeboard setup minus a little center ballast.

not the best pics but that's all I have.

TNwakeboarder86 - I was trying to find a photo of an older VLX, but unfortunately couldn't find one.

If anybody is interested in seeing more on compatibility, suggest checking out our Instagram site, many followers posting vids and photos of their waves and results with the NautiCurl.
NautiCurlWaveInstagram

We also have a Video page on our website, admittedly it's not totally up to date with recent photos and videos, but still helpful ....it's been a wild and crazy Summer!
NautiCurlVideos

Thanks for all the support, Cheers!

Don't forget to use code: WWORLD20 for $20 off at NautiCurl.com

Ill be trying it out this weekend I am sure at our surf fest. If I remember I will try and get some pics for you.

Nathan, I havnet personally tried out our NautiCurl on a older VLX, but we do have a pile of customers with older VLX's running our Wake Shaper and reporting outstanding results!

Nathan, we will have to try and "double stack" the Nauticurl's (mine and the demo that Nauticurl gave us for the surf fest....thank you Nauticurl!) on my boat this weekend.
Thinking a 7k lb boat with another 5k lbs of ballast with a double stack could be interesting. Doesn't get much better than having the 1 Nauticurl on my boat, but maybe we can top it with 2! We just need to get some good pics and video this weekend. Good times

What is the ballast setup in that 22'?

I just bought a Nauticurl for my 2007 MasterCraft X15 and will have some feedback for those that have my model boat in a week or so. Glad to see that it floats and Thank you for the discount code.

Zacharoo

Hi Jonny Longboard - 1750 in each rear locker and 1000 center with double stacked Nauti's
NautiCurl.com

Zacharoo- Thanks for your purchase, looking forward to your feedback!
Cheers!

Been toying with a couple gates, put more surface area on the last one. results keep improving.

D where's the pics of stacked gates and slammed boat wave???

The Swell
 

The second time I went out it worked much better for me maybe because I moved it forward on the boat, with the 2005 VLX, it has to be completely in the water or completely out of the water, because it is not a flat surface. Maybe I should have bought a nauticurl, because it seems to angles up more and cover the ridge on the side of the boat. Anyone in Orlando trying these out? I ride on lake Butler.

In my seaboard the straight section between the sides is the spacer. The spacer is 1/2"X1/2".

Been out several times now and only use the Swell to surf now on the Butler Chain of lakes in Orlando instead of filling up the 750 lb fat seat. The first time I used it, the board was very slow. The last time I went last Thursday, I was putting on the breaks the whole time while riding an inland surfer. Maybe I am getting use to the wake with the swell. If your in Orlando, and want to try the swell out on your boat, pm me and I wouldn't mind bringing it out to your lake. Or, if you have the nauticurl and want to try it out on my 2005VLX send me a PM

I got a 2003 centurion typhoon, been trying to get a Nauticurl to work on goofy side but just can't get it low enough IMO with the side of hull having channels. The water shoots up into boat and goofy side wave isn't that great and I'm a beginner not looking for much. I'm thinking about modifying it. Any ideas?

Might be best with our SLIM unit to get it low enough. Pm me and I can send you some more info and give you our Black Friday pricing.

Thanks macpres.

Wow,

This thread is still alive after a couple years when I have not been watching! I am still using mine even though it developed a crack. I also picked up a genuine Swell from folks who upgraded to boats with factory wake surf plates. I have learned there are so many different ways to accomplish the goal of a longer cleaner surfable wake if you just find a way to divert one side of the wake skewing the conversion of the water. I encourage all DIYers to try different things and don't sweat the details. The pattern created by enlarging the photo of mine is pretty darn close, as close as anything I could picture and publish here.

I also applaud those entrepreneurial spirits who have built a small business out of garage building these and selling them on ebay. Competition drives down costs allowing everybody to spend more of their hard earned cash on fuel for more riding.

Recently I have started to focus more on wake foiling than surfing. The wake size is not as important but a clean long face surely helps a beginning foiler by providing me with a larger margin for error.

Keep it up!
Mike