Stripped Down Simplistic Wakeboard Boat

[Canuker]

I’ve been tossing around this idea in my head for a while now, and I thought I would ask the experts.

Wakeboard boats are often a huge expense. They also seem to often be fitted out with lots of little luxurious/superfluous items.

What would it take to build a quick and dirty, no BS, just the bare essentials, wakeboard boat? Specifically just for wake surfing?

I don’t need chrome everything, nice seats and fittings, Bose speakers etc.

I would just want something that could set a good wake/wave for surfing. Nothing else. Just the bare essentials.

Would it be feasible to build something like this from wood/epoxy? Would it bring down the price from often blinged out wakeboard boats that are commercially available? Or am I just another dreamer without a clue ?

Thoughts?

Cheers!

 

[kapnD]

Wake boats are very specifically designed hulls.
Any ski type boat will pull a pretty good wake with plenty of power and some strategically placed weights, but if you’re looking for competition quality wake, you can’t beat a specifically designed wake boat.
The bling is what sells them, and I seriously doubt you’ll be able to buy a bare hull from manufacturer.

 

[bajansailor]

Welcome to the Forum Canuker.

I would agree with the thoughts expressed by Kapn D above - and you would probably find that the cost of building a wake boat as per your specifications is still more than the cost of an existing 'blinged out' wake boat that is a few years old.
I am sure that depreciation affects this type of boat in a similar fashion to most other types of power leisure boats.

 

[SamSam]

Do a google search for 'diy wakeboat'. It couldn't be too hard to add some contraption to a regular boat to create a wake.

Wake Garage - DIY projects, upgrades and modifications to make all wake boats better for wake surfing, wake boarding, water skiing and stereo upgrades https://www.wakegarage.com/

 

[kapnD]

Good link, Sam Sam!
I tried the google search, there are plans available, but, as mentioned above, it would be throwing money away!
The same applies to all boats, you just can’t build a one off for less than they can be manufactured.
I’d be watching Craigslist very closely for a used boat, also looking at insurance auctions.

 

[SamSam]

Looking around, there seems to be a lot of water ballast systems, removable flaps that can be suction cupped to the side of your boat and a reverse hydro-plane/hydro-foil type wedge (Malibou Power Wedge) attached to the back of the boat that pulls the stern down. Probably those things plus enough horsepower to overcome the drag you induce would make a decent wake.

This guy has a video where someone asked if they could turn their F18 open bow Bayliner into a wake boat and his reply was "you do not want to surf with any boat that has the prop in the back of the boat. If it's under the boat you can. The more you weigh it down, the better the chance are", so apparently inboards are popular.

 

[Ike]

Back in the day when "wakeboad boats" first appeared they were simply ski boats with water ballast tanks added to sink the stern and cause a bigger wake. A that point no one had yet gotten around to redesigning the hull to throw a large wake. Ski boats are designed to throw a flat wake so eventually someone said lets redesign the aft part of the hull. Anyway. If you don't want all the bling you could find an older ski-boat and fit it with ballast tanks like the original wake board boats.