My 220 Nautique home/factory made NSS

After a lot of should I, should I not or could I be bothered's, I finally decided to commit to making my own NSS system. After all, I love fabricating these sorts of projects!

After talking to my dealer, I found out that at this stage the Nautique factory will not be doing a system for my boat. I think this is based around not having the Linc system.

With only seeing the promo videos and pictures, I have taken a punt on design. Seeing some internals on the real deal would have helped, but I have not been able to locate anything on the web.

With my drawings complete, I set about getting the laser cutting of the stainless done. Clearances around the swim platform are tight, and the large radius on the back of the boat corner means some infill material was required.

I then turned my attention to the control panel and fabricated this on our CNC engraver. I then bought the switches and set about wiring it up. I am yet to integrate it to the GPS to warn of over speed but that will come last and I have figured out how I am going to do this. I also bought the lenco actuators around this time. See the action here

I worked out that the swim platform is too close to the back of the boat on one side. It appears that when the boat was built, the platform was slightly on the pi$$. This meant that the gap between the platform and the boat was slightly bigger on one side then the other. I though, No worries, I will just undo the 16 or so screws that hold the platform to the brackets and slide it back 10mm. WRONG! nearly all the screws sheared off and were left stuck in the platform. The mild steel bolts had grown into the ally plates that were glassed into the platform.

I have ground the broken off studs that are stuck in the platform down and it then went to the fiberglassers to get repaired. I also reinstalled this using M8 bolts rather then screws into the aluminium. Whilst the brackets were off I sent them to the powder coaters to be painted as well.

With the platform remounted, I set about installing the backing plates and their packers. After this I could then scribe the infill's to the side of the boat and clean up.

Finally, had the backing plate installed after painting then connected everything up. I also created a new cool self branding logos for the fun of I t

Won't know the results for a couple of weeks but will let all know when its been tested.

PS. This was my original drawing that I created to work from

This is absolutely next level awesome.

Wow, reminds me of the Forest Gump quote "Now the rest, that's just showing off!"

Next level **** for sure!! Beauitiful!

that is incredible work....now the obvious question, how about wake pics?

i can't even describe how small and worthless I fell... It would be an honor for you to punch me in my stupid face.

wow. I will never be able to do a DIY project again ever. Thanks a lot.

Nice job. Very professional work. You should be working for a boat company!!

Wow!!! Very nice install!!

Very cool work. Hope it works on the first try!!!

Yes, I'm impressed. But come on now, obviously our friend here does some sort of fabrication work as more than just a hobby.

Can you post a pic of it actuated, sorry I'm struggling to see how it is going to work. Great design, fabrication and finish - looks top notch!

Amazing. In for pics/video of how it affects the surf wave.

So nice - great work. I would never have the patience to do soemthing like that.

Impressive

I guess I'll hold off posting pics of my second battery install for awhile . . . . Nice job man!!

So much better than my
Swim platform ->2x4 -> door hinge -> cutting board
idea.

you, my friend, are very talented. Hats off to you.

That is awesome work! Let me know when you start making these for 210s!

Also, somewhat unrelated... Where can I get trailer bunks like that? Is it a rubber cover for the board or do you buy the whole bunk? The look awesome as well...

Nice work, but I was wonder about the bunks as well. Never seen those before.

Originally Posted by iShredSAN

That is awesome work! Let me know when you start making these for 210s!

Also, somewhat unrelated... Where can I get trailer bunks like that? Is it a rubber cover for the board or do you buy the whole bunk? The look awesome as well...

A quick search on Google Images led me to pics and to the site of the bunk covers he is using:

http://snaptraxx.com/index.php?pr=Assembly_Instructions

I am totally digging that!!! (i am a nerdy engineer)

Cheers; awesome work. Makes me want to have a meat pie & a cascade.
Nice job on the switch panel and badge work as well most people would be happy with a small rocker switch

Best DIY I've ever seen! Really want to see how the wave looks.

Holy cow! Very nice!

Fantastic work..Looks better than factory! Kinda ruined it for all of us..SD was right

wave pics?

Thanks for the compliments and sorry for the late reply. I was sleeping here in AUS while you were all awake!

As metioned earlier, no wave pics yet. This is because I have to get some fibre glassing done in the back of the boat and don't want any water in the bilge until I have done so. Next weekend will be the first run. I can't wait either.

I cannot extend the tabs whilst the boat is on the trailer due to them hitting the bunks when deployed. I will be lifting the back of the boat with a crane tomorrow to test the movement and also seal the unit to the hull under the bunk location. Will get some pictures then.

I do have some concerns though that the actuator travel is not long enough. The lenco ones are longer in the body and the travel and I thought I would not get them to fit. Turns out that they probably would have, just. They extend three quarters of an inch further. Hope fully this is not the difference between success and failure. One plus is that my system mounts further out on the radius of the hull compared to that of the 210, but I am not sure how much the water wraps around the hull of the 210 to know how much of the blade is actually being used

All would not be lost, different slider plates could be installed with ease but the additional $500USD in actuators and freight to AUS would would hurt!

As you have worked out, they are snaptraxx on the trailer. Seem to be working so far.

As for what I do for a living, I am an electrician and we have a work shop too. At then end of the day, it is only a bit of drafting, lazer cutting (by contractor),welding and a bit of blending. Total cost $1000 in material and a bucket load of hours!

So here are the deployed photos as asked for

Excellent work. I am a little surprised you dove in head first without a wooden test; although I've seen a CC wave with a wood plate that did very well. As you and I suspect, the result should be fine. Ensure you have deep enough water for your test; testing in shallower water will kill the wave. How much ballast are you thinking of using on test day?

Stock ballast on test day with 4 to 5 people. Then I will put another 400lb into each back locker with a piggy back fly high kit that I am still to install.

I really dig the badge - that's really the icing on the cake - AWESOME work.

That is beautifully executed. Nice job

See thats legit right there. What was your total time and cost investment? I have a 92 SN and have wondered if something like this would make the wake surfable w/o a rope.

Best first post ever! You, my friend, do great work!

Seriously, that is one of the most beautiful personally engineered things I have seen. Holy crap. You had exceptional skill. I can't wait to see the videos, and I HOPE it works well.

Originally Posted by kmac1587

See thats legit right there. What was your total time and cost investment? I have a 92 SN and have wondered if something like this would make the wake surfable w/o a rope.

My overall cash expences were around $1000. This was 2 x rams, and supply and cut of the stainless steel, $40 worth of switchs and cable. There was aroung $80 worth of nuts, bolts, taps and drills. My brother in-law machined the runners which is only 8mm rod parted off every 6mm and drilled down centre. Also had some powdercoating done.

I also had the swim platform fiibreglass repaired from where I shifted it back slightly so that was about $200.

As for hours, probablly 50-60 hours by time you utilise two people to fit it up and the countless hours of designing templates and converting to cad and then fine tuning.

Originally Posted by kmac1587

See thats legit right there. What was your total time and cost investment? I have a 92 SN and have wondered if something like this would make the wake surfable w/o a rope.

There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to surf w/o a rope on your boat. It's all a matter of weighting it right. Sure, the NSS will help enhance the pocket, but if you weight it right, you can get a surfable wave. I have a 92 Supra Sunsport and I surf it just fine--just a matter of ballast. Of course, ideas like this are very interesting to me because I'm always down to improve what I've got.

If I had a 220 I would be sending you $$ for parts. Nice work!

Change of plan... We are heading out tomorrow for a surf session. Can't Wait!!!!

So cool! Can't wait to see footage!

WOW! Nice fabrication work! Absolutely awesome!

Video uploading now. I will post shortly but I am claiming a success on this. Could not wipe the smile off my face all morning! Finally no more moving people or ballast around for switching between naturals and goofy's.

Heaps of push and normally I need a bigger wave to ride my phase 5 board. This board was lovin our wave!

Here's a pic of the wife riding the bad side (starboard side is always better no matter what due to the prop rotation)

Here is the video from today. Hope you all approve!

Congrats. Looks like a great success man.

Did you still list the boat some for that port side wave. In the video it looked that way a little. Just curious.

That sir is the best copy and fabrication I've seen in a long time, very professional, Two thumbs up

A tad bit more weight (say 200lbs) on the port side will clean up that wave, goofy wave should still be good. At least that's how it works in my SG LSV.

Amazing workmanship, congrats!

so cool, thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by brycejb328

Congrats. Looks like a great success man.

Did you still list the boat some for that port side wave. In the video it looked that way a little. Just curious.

Yep, as long as the boat is not dead flat, it was all good. It only takes moving one person and have the boat listing a couple of degree to the side that is being surfed. I have been told that you need to do this with the real NSS on a 210 as well but not on the G23's

how much excursion do you have with the blades? (how far do they stick out?) also, did you try varrying levels or did you just do all the way in and all the way out?

38mm is full deployment and we either had all or nothing

Update:

I have ordered the new lenco actuators and waiting for them to ship from the US to AUS. I have had the new plates cut which will allow another 19mm extension to match the factory plates. These are now also 3mm thick rather them the previous ones being 2mm. Hopefully I will have it all together by next weekend pending the timely arrival of the actuators from FedEx.

Yesterday I also installed the gps over speed alarm as well which seems to work well. It sets an alarm off when the boat exceeds 15mph when the NSP system is on and will also sound an alarm if it the gps signal is lost.

Here's some photos from the last weekend as well as the new plates

extremely impressive work. I'd pay good money for a similar system for my '11 LSV...and I'm willing to bet I'm far from the only one...

You sir are awesome

Very impressive man. I wish you lived down the street from me and I could have you install this bad boy on my 2007 236. I was told by my local dealer that they can't put the NSS on any boat without the Linc system. Looks like you managed to dial it in despite that issue. Great work, enjoy the ride!

Originally Posted by fabs128

Very impressive man. I wish you lived down the street from me and I could have you install this bad boy on my 2007 236. I was told by my local dealer that they can't put the NSS on any boat without the Linc system. Looks like you managed to dial it in despite that issue. Great work, enjoy the ride!

Nautiques NSS does only work with the linc system from what CC says... this guys system is stand alone. Too bad Nautique didn't build their own stand alone systems for the different hulls, seems they could make some bucks!

Originally Posted by AndrewC

Update:

I have ordered the new lenco actuators and waiting for them to ship from the US to AUS. I have had the new plates cut which will allow another 19mm extension to match the factory plates. These are now also 3mm thick rather them the previous ones being 2mm. Hopefully I will have it all together by next weekend pending the timely arrival of the actuators from FedEx.

Yesterday I also installed the gps over speed alarm as well which seems to work well. It sets an alarm off when the boat exceeds 15mph when the NSP system is on and will also sound an alarm if it the gps signal is lost.

Here's some photos from the last weekend as well as the new plates

Attachment 32330

Thanks for the update. I was wondering if the 38mm that you had before would be "enough". How far will they deploy with the new plates that you made? What pursuaded you to spend the extra money to get the new actuators and make longer plates??? I mean, if it was "good enough" how you had it, why spend more money on a version 2? Something must have led you to believe that you needed more excursion from the plates... Please share your thoughts.

Also, I would be very interested to know where the water line is when you're surfing. I've been tempted to fashion something up on my Supra (albeit not nearly as fancy as yours).

My buddy sketched a rough idea of what he was thinking of.

However, I'm skeptical that it would be enough. My memory tells me that the water level when I'm sacked out surfing is pretty much about in line with the swim platform on the non surf side. Basically like continuing the black horizontal line from the boat and extending it parallel to the top of the platform. if that's the case, then my blade would be way too deep in the water and I'm skeptical that it would have the full effect as too much water would be flowing above it to make it as effective as it could be.

So as a result I'd LOVE to see pics/video of the back of your boat with the blade deployed while underway with surf weight. I'd imagine it wouldn't be TOOOO hard to put a surfer out there with a go-pro or the like. Any chance you could pull that off? If nothing else, a still shot of the non-surf side while underway taken from the boat might work...

The reason that I am going to the expense of Mk2 is that I am a perfectionist! Wondering if bigger is better has eaten me up inside and I just had to do it to know if I can get more out of it. The over all extension will now be 50mm.

I tried to get some images of the blade deployed whist running but the splashing and quantity of water meant that your really could not see much.

Not being familiar with you boat, I can't accurately comment, but I would think that it would appear that there would not be enough plate in the water to make a substantial difference. I may be wrong though. Do what I did and many others, take a chance and make something up, seeing it work is very rewarding!

All ready for this weekend to test mk2. Longer actuators have been installed and mounts modified to suit. Also picked up a new 1235 acme prop to complete the setup.

is the portion protruding down at the bottom necessary

Originally Posted by snork

is the portion protruding down at the bottom necessary

More surface area creating more drag, so I would say they are necessary.

It will be interesting if it affects the wave though.

Wicked Awesome man! That is one STELLAR wave..even with Version 1 most people would be more than happy!.. Looks fantastic!!!

Wow that is some amazing work!

Andrew C, Any news on the MkII trials weather bigger is better

The surf plate result was awesome and worth making the change. Wave still had heaps of push and the wave was longer.I am a bigger guy and I could get a fair way back on a smaller board. The face was also more open and resembled that of the goofy side wave. I would go as far as saying saying it was the better side now! There was less of a difference between the port and starboard wakes. So pretty stoked. No photos as the camera got forgotten

The new prop had mixed results

The pros:
Only lost 0.5mph off my top end
Engine revs were lower generally for getting out of the hole with stock ballast
Handled additional weight for surfing well and got us on the plane if required, Just! The old prop could not do it at all.

Cons:
Bigger diameter prop caused an issue with water droplets spitting In the air (about six in the air in any one time). This was really annoying and broke our concentration big time. At first we thought it might be due to the FAE, but thought it was odd as we have never had this problem until now. We removed the FAE and the droplet problem still existed. We then retracted the tabs and went back to the conventional method of ballasting for surfing. The problem was still there.

What the have determined is that the bigger diameter prop is putting out more prop wash which when combined with the water off the side of the hull, is causing a water collision and spitting water into the air about 1ft behind the plat form. We will go back to the smaller diameter prop next weekend to be 100% sure.

I made the mistake of changing too many things at once so now it is hard to pin point the problem.

These are just teething problems that we will sort out but at the end of the day, it was worth it and the surf wave is AWESOME!

I know the surf gate gets deployed on the non surf side, what about the NSS? do you deploy the surf side of non surf side?

Same as surfgate, same concept, just a different way to skin a cat

Hey, as far as your issue with the new prop, have you considered a "mud flap"? I know a lot of people will use a mud flap to clean up wash and whatnot.

Bigger diameter prop caused an issue with water droplets spitting In the air (about six in the air in any one time). This was really annoying and broke our concentration big time. At first we thought it might be due to the FAE, but thought it was odd as we have never had this problem until now. We removed the FAE and the droplet problem still existed. We then retracted the tabs and went back to the conventional method of ballasting for surfing. The problem was still there.

What the have determined is that the bigger diameter prop is putting out more prop wash which when combined with the water off the side of the hull, is causing a water collision and spitting water into the air about 1ft behind the plat form. We will go back to the smaller diameter prop next weekend to be 100% sure.

I noticed the same thing with a larger diameter propeller. The engine performance was better for the whole-shot and the RPM was less fully loaded. It also has a different sound since it seems to be throwing/churning more water under the platform. All of this caused by an extra 1/2" diameter.

Andrew
Fantastic job! I’m planning to do the same things on my 2008 SAN 230
Witch ref for new actuators?
I have no problems for the stainless steels but how exactly can I do for all the electric and gps system? Do you have a drawing with the entire component I need?
Thanks for your time
Regards from France

No drawings mate. Actuators are lenco 101XDS actuators. You can buy a stand alone gps system that will alert you if you go over speed eg 15mph. I got mine from here: http://hmbe.com.au/products/gps-speed-switch-2

Nice!!

Christian,

Let me know if you want to combine effort?
I'm in the NL and also want to upgrade our 230 with this system.
Where are you in France?

KR,
Tom

Hello
with pleasure!
we are located near Paris in the south (Draveil) and i'm planing to do the modification during the winter

Best DIY project I've seen yet. Wish I had 1/2 your skills!

hi, please contact me i am interested in buying your blue prints to build a system like yours!!!
debnofn@aim.com
thanks
greg

Originally Posted by nofodeb

hi, please contact me i am interested in buying your blue prints to build a system like yours!!!
debnofn@aim.com
thanks
greg

Look into your email. I've sent you something.

can u please send to me again, i've looked in all my spam/ trash and can't find a email from you... try debnofn@gmail.com

thanks alot
greg

Originally Posted by AndrewC

So here are the deployed photos as asked for

Attachment 32100

Attachment 32101

Attachment 32102

So looking at a lot of systems I see some plates actually angle toward the front of the bot making basically less than 90 degree angle going forward which I would assume would curl more water. Also new nss factory doesn’t extend down just out. My boat is an epic and has a huge black flat canvas to work with but I know when I mount my suck gate I mount it as low on the side as I can before it cuts back to the bottom of the hull and that can still come out of the water I wonder if my plates show out the top of the water if that will be an issue. Also if I extend to the bottom more than the vertical section will that cause more list?

Thanks in advance.