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Summer water ramp

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AKilness
Posts: 364 - Karma: 246

yes i know there are plenty of summer skiing threads and plenty of wat to use and what not. but i still havent found the info i need.
heres wat i want to do. i have a very steep backyard that goes into the lake. the length of the bank is about 75 feet. wat i want to know is wat i should use for a top material to ski on. im kinda worried about indoor outdoor carpet cause it would seem like i would ruin my skis and i wouldnt go fast enough to hit a decent jump. and that stuff they use for the real water ramps is hella expensive. so basically im just looking for some shit that works well with high speeds and isnt too expensive.
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Apr 27 2008 5:39PM
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.SteezusChrist.
Posts: 2296 - Karma: 276
hate to break it to you dude, but you are going to want the stuff they use on real water ramps. your issue will be that you cannot get enough speed, which will therefore not shoot you very high and not give you the kick that you will get on a real jump. also, be prepared for some hard landings, unless you can put a massive bubbler in your backyard
Apr 27 2008 5:41PM
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AKilness
Posts: 364 - Karma: 246
also wetting down the stuff wont be a problem if it needs constant watering cause i can just use a water pump and get it from the lake.
Apr 27 2008 5:41PM
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AKilness
Posts: 364 - Karma: 246
yea ive already thought about that, i figured i could fasion somthing together to pump some air into the water where i land. and if i dont, i can handle it. airtime's more important than landing
Apr 27 2008 5:44PM
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Inbred_Redneck
Posts: 2776 - Karma: 28
Astroturf will not ruin your skis.  Ever.  I imagine 75 feet will give you some decent speed.  But that may be your only cheap option.
Apr 27 2008 6:24PM
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Alkyy
Posts: 2839 - Karma: 149
what you could do is make 2 channels that are a little bit bigger than your ski and put box top in it and run water down all the time if you have a decent amount of money, thats basically what the summer ski jumps use, the last little bit you could either use astroturf or buy a few sheets of the real thing.
Apr 27 2008 7:38PM
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Bepo
Posts: 8195 - Karma: 17
I think astro turf could work if the slope is very steep like you say.  If it's like a 40+ degree slope i think it could easily work.  Try to get a 20 ft strip and just test out a bit of the hill (maybe just a foot wide, should be really cheap).  If it seems like you  gain speed really fast, and you're still gaining after 20 feet, it would probably work.  If you accelerate slow tho, your top speed wont be much more than what it is at 20 feet.  Based on that you can probably decide if it would work.
Apr 27 2008 10:07PM
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WIllW
Posts: 4578 - Karma: 2,512
astro turf is too slow. Like someone said above, make 2 channels for your skis and then I would use super cheap pvc pipe under them like you see on a drop in. This would get you up to speed quickly and cheaply, but the last 40 or so feet of your ramp would have to be real water ramp material if you want to do any types of spins for control purposes.
Apr 27 2008 10:26PM
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.SteezusChrist.
Posts: 2296 - Karma: 276
even with ramp material i find it near impossible to carve the lip to spin
Apr 27 2008 10:28PM
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WIllW
Posts: 4578 - Karma: 2,512
The PVC would be perpendicular to down hill and spaced apart a foot or so to reduce friction. I guess I would just make the channels out of wood since its probably cheapest. Sorry if I don't make sense. I've also been wanting to build a cheap water ramp for years.
Apr 27 2008 10:30PM
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WIllW
Posts: 4578 - Karma: 2,512
yeh real carving isnt gonna happen, but real water ramp material does allow for some edge to be applied to set tricks.
Apr 27 2008 10:32PM
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skientrepreneur
Posts: 358 - Karma: 19
This is a post from a few years ago.  The picture link doesn't work anymore but if you scroll through the posts you'll see some pics and get answers to what we used. 

https://www.newschoolers.com/web/forums/readthread/thread_id/246815/

Click for larger image
Click for larger image
Apr 27 2008 11:38PM
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sirskizalot
Posts: 4370 - Karma: 161
man that is soo sik
Apr 28 2008 12:16AM
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