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Allright, here it goes. I purchased an aftermarket NSS from max 1.6 and started the install this weekend. Thanks to the other forum members nautique Fan, krt, @Anson for the tips.
Thought I would share my experience:
Removed my aftermarket Wakemakers bags
Removed engine divider panels
Removed carpet over hard tanks
Loosened hard talks with a ratchet. Loosen the bolt which is otherwise hard to see but is in the engine side of the divider panel remaining at the back of the boat, at the bottom. It screws into the tank. After that is loose, you can slide the tank about 12" forward without removing it.
Remove swim platform - three pins, some WD40 on the dovetails, and two guys shaking and lifting.
Then, the fun part. Hold the surf system base plate against the transom so that the metal frame is about 1/8 in from the edge of the boat. You don't want it to obstruct water flow. Have a friend tape it into place.
After the taping. Then, the horrible part
Drill the holes through the taped plate so the alignment is perfect. Start running the drill bit in reverse for a few seconds to go through the clearcoat, and then switch to forward. It's frightening how fast you will drill right through the fiberglass transom. It's a horrible feeling.
here's the boat after the holes are done, with the plate removed. The two holes on the far left both needed to be lag bolts on mine. Originally I expected the top left one to be through, but it was still below the engine mount fiberglass, so we ended up re-filling it with epoxy, and then drilling it smaller for a lag bolt.
The next step, I used a box cutter and removed the carpet from the inside wall of the transom so I had access to the fiberglass where the holes were, so I could goop them up good with 3M 4200 (white stuff in below photo). Not all new bolts are visible in the photo. The other three (?) older boats are the swim platform. Note that this means that one of the 4 bolts on the outside of the swim platform bracket is just decorative for some reason..
Insert the 4200 into the holes, and put the bolts through. On the inside, I gooped up the inside of the washers good, put them on the bolts, then the locking nut. Tightened them up from the outside. I make them snug but not super tight - not sure what the right tightness is/was - I was afraid of cracking the fiberglass over tightening. Don't forget to use the spacers to allow the flat plate to conform to the hull shape. The 4200 pressed out from around the washer and bolt on the inside after they were tight. We then let the 4200 harden overnight.
Next step was to modify the swim platform - it needed a spacer to clear the new surf tabs.
Spacer was a 1x2 block of aluminum tube. To get the old bracket off, I needed WD40 and an impact driver. The, I lined up the holes and drilled the bracket, and inserted the longer screws. Note the screws weren't coming out of the platform with my power screwdriver, it looked like I was going to just strip the heads, but the impact driver worked wonders, they all came right out. Note my message down at the bottom where I found out later that I actually needed to add an extra 1/4" of spacing also.
We then put the swim platform back, positioned the sliding plate, and the actuator, to check clearance and figure out where to drill the hole for the wire. Turns out, my swim platform in this photo was not down all the way, and it actually touches the plate about 1/8". I could add some washers, but I might just leave it and grind the fiberglass on the corner to make it fit. Not done yet.....
We decided to run the wire up over the swim platform bracket and in around the other side. More to come on that.
We also started to figure out the wiring. I put the control box up under the dash, and it was easy to run the actuator wires back along the channel where the throttle cable goes. They come out by the trash bin and then back along the hard tanks to the actuators. You could run them a few different ways.
Since my radio remote was dead anyway, and we just use bluetooth, my son used his 3D printer to print a cool new insert for the surf tab controls to replace the radio remote.
<< not done yet - more to come as the job is finished >>
Thought I would share my experience:
Removed my aftermarket Wakemakers bags
Removed engine divider panels
Removed carpet over hard tanks
Loosened hard talks with a ratchet. Loosen the bolt which is otherwise hard to see but is in the engine side of the divider panel remaining at the back of the boat, at the bottom. It screws into the tank. After that is loose, you can slide the tank about 12" forward without removing it.
Remove swim platform - three pins, some WD40 on the dovetails, and two guys shaking and lifting.
Then, the fun part. Hold the surf system base plate against the transom so that the metal frame is about 1/8 in from the edge of the boat. You don't want it to obstruct water flow. Have a friend tape it into place.
After the taping. Then, the horrible part
Drill the holes through the taped plate so the alignment is perfect. Start running the drill bit in reverse for a few seconds to go through the clearcoat, and then switch to forward. It's frightening how fast you will drill right through the fiberglass transom. It's a horrible feeling.
here's the boat after the holes are done, with the plate removed. The two holes on the far left both needed to be lag bolts on mine. Originally I expected the top left one to be through, but it was still below the engine mount fiberglass, so we ended up re-filling it with epoxy, and then drilling it smaller for a lag bolt.
The next step, I used a box cutter and removed the carpet from the inside wall of the transom so I had access to the fiberglass where the holes were, so I could goop them up good with 3M 4200 (white stuff in below photo). Not all new bolts are visible in the photo. The other three (?) older boats are the swim platform. Note that this means that one of the 4 bolts on the outside of the swim platform bracket is just decorative for some reason..
Insert the 4200 into the holes, and put the bolts through. On the inside, I gooped up the inside of the washers good, put them on the bolts, then the locking nut. Tightened them up from the outside. I make them snug but not super tight - not sure what the right tightness is/was - I was afraid of cracking the fiberglass over tightening. Don't forget to use the spacers to allow the flat plate to conform to the hull shape. The 4200 pressed out from around the washer and bolt on the inside after they were tight. We then let the 4200 harden overnight.
Next step was to modify the swim platform - it needed a spacer to clear the new surf tabs.
Spacer was a 1x2 block of aluminum tube. To get the old bracket off, I needed WD40 and an impact driver. The, I lined up the holes and drilled the bracket, and inserted the longer screws. Note the screws weren't coming out of the platform with my power screwdriver, it looked like I was going to just strip the heads, but the impact driver worked wonders, they all came right out. Note my message down at the bottom where I found out later that I actually needed to add an extra 1/4" of spacing also.
We then put the swim platform back, positioned the sliding plate, and the actuator, to check clearance and figure out where to drill the hole for the wire. Turns out, my swim platform in this photo was not down all the way, and it actually touches the plate about 1/8". I could add some washers, but I might just leave it and grind the fiberglass on the corner to make it fit. Not done yet.....
We decided to run the wire up over the swim platform bracket and in around the other side. More to come on that.
We also started to figure out the wiring. I put the control box up under the dash, and it was easy to run the actuator wires back along the channel where the throttle cable goes. They come out by the trash bin and then back along the hard tanks to the actuators. You could run them a few different ways.
Since my radio remote was dead anyway, and we just use bluetooth, my son used his 3D printer to print a cool new insert for the surf tab controls to replace the radio remote.
<< not done yet - more to come as the job is finished >>
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