Hydro Gate Discussion

[MUSHEZ]

Hi all,

Well I own a 2006 Super Air Nautique 220. I have also had the joy of putting 30 hours on a 2006 Ski Nautique 196 (Team Edition)

I find many have said a lot on the Hydrogate, but not from people who own a Nautiue or have put over 50 hours on the Nautique they own.

I would appreciate feedback from people who have Super Air Nautiques who have actualy done a few hours and tested out the Hydro Gate to see if what I have found to be true and to test out a few ideas that I see people put forward.

My conclusion with the Hydro Gate is that it works differently in a ski nautique to a our Super Air.

In the Ski Nautique, with factory ballast, it affects the wake a lot between the two extreeme settings.

In our Super Air, it doesn't alter the wake size bugger all, ballast or not, but more assists in cleaning up the wake depending on where weight is within the boat and you simply adjust it to fine tune the wake and is never one day to the next, at the same setting and needs adjusting on a day to day basis.

Is this what others have found?

[Chad52]

RE: Hydro Gate Discussion

I have an 08 SANTE 210 with ~ 55 hours on it. I have noticed several things about the gate. If the water is not just glassy smooth, I ride with the gate lever all the way forward (gate down). This prevents the boat from porposing. When running wide open, i.e. going from point a to point b, the electronic guage tells me that I get the best mileage (Greatest Hours Left) with it in the middle position, although only marginal. When I am fully loaded pulling a boarder, I usually start with the gate down (lever forward) until the boat gets on plain, then pull it back to raise the gate. Basically, with the lever forward, the water pressure on the gate is keeping the nose down, but with the lever back and the gate up, you will get the maximum benefit of all the weight in the rear which is the biggest wake. When on plain at 24 MPH, there is a noticeable shift in the boats attitude when shifting the gate up and down. And yes, the raising the gate does seem to clean up the wake, probably due to putting more of the boats' stern end down into the water.

Hope that my observations helped.

Chad

[brad_s]

RE: Hydro Gate Discussion

I also own a 2006 220. In my opinion, with the gate lever all the way down I get a very noticeable pop with minimal weight. Usually, when it's just my wife, the dogs and I on the boat, we'll fill the center ballast and place the lever all the way back and I still easily clear the wake getting 4ft plus height at 70ft off. We started setting it this way out of necessity b/c the starboard ballast was not filling, but now I don't even notice not having the extra weight relative to how we used to setup the boat with all the ballast weight and have the lever all the way forward.

[MUSHEZ]

Re: RE: Hydro Gate Discussion

I have an 08 SANTE 210 with ~ 55 hours on it. I have noticed several things about the gate. If the water is not just glassy smooth, I ride with the gate lever all the way forward (gate down). This prevents the boat from porposing. When running wide open, i.e. going from point a to point b, the electronic guage tells me that I get the best mileage (Greatest Hours Left) with it in the middle position, although only marginal. When I am fully loaded pulling a boarder, I usually start with the gate down (lever forward) until the boat gets on plain, then pull it back to raise the gate. Basically, with the lever forward, the water pressure on the gate is keeping the nose down, but with the lever back and the gate up, you will get the maximum benefit of all the weight in the rear which is the biggest wake. When on plain at 24 MPH, there is a noticeable shift in the boats attitude when shifting the gate up and down. And yes, the raising the gate does seem to clean up the wake, probably due to putting more of the boats' stern end down into the water.

Hope that my observations helped.

Chad

I find the same driving accross the lake with the gate knob forward in rougher conditions. At 24 mph, I would agree the changes are not that noticable with the hydrogate unless you load up another 2,000lbs on top of a full gas tank, and ballast. Drop back to 21.5 or 22mph which is where we like to run, and you may notice as we do.