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-   -   Why don't wakesurf boat manufacturers offer adjustable-height swim platforms? (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=800826)

ReSession 01-08-2014 2:39 PM

Why don't wakesurf boat manufacturers offer adjustable-height swim platforms?
Seems like this could be another way to tweak your surf wave...simply add some rails on the left/right of the swim deck and let you change the height by lining up a few holes and lock in-place with a cotter pin? I know my 2011 V226 has the platform a few inches higher than the 2012+ models, so the manufacturers are definitely playing around with swim platform heights!

Centurion...if you're reading this, just take this idea off the cost of my next new boat ;)

FastR3DN3K 01-14-2014 8:45 AM

LOL, sounds great and all, until you get out there in the water and try to adjust your platform while floating...only to drop the entire platform to the bottom of the lake....

ReSession 01-15-2014 4:01 PM

Sure, you'd want to dummy-proof it so it can't come loose and sink to the bottom (or adjust while you're on the trailer/boat lift). Or make it automatically adjustable with a the flip of a switch. I've seen a video on one of these forums of someone who built their own custom one with a few Lenco rams and his kid's riding it up and down as he tests it out. I'm just surprised no manufacturers have experimented with them (yet).

timmyb 01-15-2014 4:24 PM

Maybe they have and it didn't make enough of a difference? You're assuming that it would have a positive effect and not a negative one and that may not be the case on every boat.

Cabledog 01-15-2014 4:53 PM

This sure would have stopped all the whining about the platform being to high on the new Supreme S21 thread a few days back.

polarbill 01-16-2014 5:49 PM

hydraulic adjust platform? Might as well. What is another grand when you are talking about 100k.

whiteflashwatersports1 01-17-2014 8:21 AM


boardjnky4 01-17-2014 8:55 AM

Hydraulic adjust probably isn't as easy as it looks. The Rams and track would have to be super heavy duty. Remember, the platform is subject to heavy forces. People stand, sit, jump, lean on them (sometimes 3 or 4 people at a time). They are often times dragged through the water with forces being put on them from many different angles as well. There is a lot more at play here than it seems. A manual adjust might seem straightforward, but the platforms are very heavy and it would too cumbersome to adjust unless the boat is out of the water.

From what I can see of what cobalt has done, this confirms that it's a complex system which more than likely bears a high cost and takes up a lot of space.


polarbill 01-17-2014 6:28 PM

I wonder if some of the reason that cobalt decided to do it that way is because they don't have a flat transom and the platform has to move rearward because of the outdrive?

duramat 01-17-2014 8:37 PM


phathom 01-27-2014 1:28 AM

There is a good reason for this. If you raise the platform too high, you run the risk of getting the tip of your board under the platform, which can be dangerous.
Obviously everyone is going to run a different weight setup, which will change the height of the platform and how high it can or should be raised, this would either lead to
1) The manufacturer making one in safe tolerances, that will probably not do a whole lot of good,
2) The manufacturer making one very adjustable, someone getting the bottom of the board stuck under the platform, face planting into the transom, getting hurt and suing.

Now what they SHOULD all be doing is make swim platforms that are shaped and sized to not interfere with the wake from the side of the boat AND making the bottom of them flat and smooth aka no lip on the bottom of the platform.

We have tackled this problem on the Supra with great results as shown in this thread,
