Wakerometer

​

 I developed this device to measure wake shares behind small craft.

Instead of relying on data provided by an athlete riding behind the boat I wanted to find a way to get an accurate account of what was being influenced when we made changes to running surfaces.  Its known that the wake can feel different depending on temperature and wind by a skier.  This device records the elevation of the water (z axis) by a potentiometer attached to a ski.  The ski is attached to a trolley that is belt driven from one side to the other (y axis).  A cogged gear and micro-switch record the trolleys location on the gantry.  The gantry is a very light weight aluminum truss system attached to two adjustable vertical pylons.  The pylons can be adjusted to ensure the gantry is held perpendicular to  the waters surface.  The pylons are attached to floating platforms that have smooth flat bottoms that slide very steadily on the waters surface just outside the wake.  

The rig is pulled behind the boat from the skiing tow point and can be weighed to duplicate the drag of a skier with the use of scales.  The rig is pulled at different distances from the stern each pass to populate the data behind the boat (x axis).

The ski has a paddle wheel recording the speed to insure that all data recorded during a pass was within the specified test speed.  

All the information recorded from the sensors on the rig is passed to the boat through RJF45 to DB9F cords integrated into the tow lines.  The data is then recorded on a data acquisition device on the boat and stored on a hard-drive until returning to the office.