Chine Walking and how to correct it...

[-Steve-]

I understand this topic was posted last june but it needs to be brought up again as there is alot of newcomers and new first time boaters out here and the season is about to break wide open and this is a bit of a safty issue for the new guys and gals. Here's an artical and a video to help and to refresh some of us that have had the boats pu up for the winter. Best of luck to all and happy fishing 

Turn up volume for video...Steve

Artical:
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPage?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&&mode=article&objectID=29986&catID=&subcatID=0

Video:
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/bigharry_2006/vids/?action=view&current=fullvideo1testversiondelete2.flv&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

[tsmith35]

Wow, that's a great article at Bass Pro! Thanks for the link.

[-Steve-]

Not a problem tSmith, my pleasure. I'd rather see someone make it back to weigh-in a little late than not at all. Besides, a capsized boat in the middle of the chanal is a heck of an obstile to avoid. They sit lower in the water and are harder to see. Not to mention where's the folks that were in the boat? Did they stay close to it where they're easier to locate? or, Did they try to swim to shore? And that brings up another topic in itself, What do you do if your thrown from the boat or it capsizes? I know what I would do is stay close to the boat as to try and not get ran over. Any other ideas? There's not always somebody around that saw the accident happen so you need a plan of attack (god forbid it ever happens).

[SWMIBASSER]

I'll make a post that addresses the boat side of things....Reiterating a thing or two from that article.

First the steering. Dual cable and hydraulic both eliminate any slack in the steering system. That was the point of dual cable systems back in the day.
A hydraulic system, if not bled properly can be down right dangerous at speed and not be that noticeable at low speed......Or in the shop where it's being installed (at home-professionals darn sure should know better)

Two hands on the wheel.....Always.

That means a relocated trim. There are a few options. The floor mounted trim from TH Marine. Available from BPS among others.


There is also a hand operated switch that can be mounted directly to the steering wheel spokes. Like this.


There is also a turn signal type stalk that mounts behind the steering wheel. I don't have pics of those but you get the idea.....I really like the foot operated trim switches.....If the boat has a hydraulic jack plate I recommend both the foot operated trim switch and the turn signal type stalk for the jackplate.

A boat needs a Hot Foot or similar to enable two hand operation.




Many faster boats will have a pulling torque on the steering wheel induced by the prop wheel. There are torque tabs than can be riveted, welded or epoxied on that eleviate this. If your boat has a pulling torque look into this. You don't want the boat pulling one way, and have to fight it to keep going the other way...

Solid engine mounts.....They are available from the racer shops for most engines. They sometimes will produce more vibration, but make for a much stable engine....Slop in mounts that need to be replaced, or deflection in new rubber mounts allow the same type of engine shimmy back and forth that a sloppy steering system allows.

[-Steve-]

Good add-on swmibasser, The turn-signal style trim is called "Pro-Trim" and is developed by TeleFlex Marine. I had mine installed for around $100 or so. Here's a pic.



I've got the single one.

[denis]

Seems the article is saying improper rigging is the reason for chinewalk.  That is 10000000000000% wrong

[OutdoorFrontiers]

In some cases, chine walk is from improper rigging, but that's not the case all the time, that's for certain.  Some high performance boats are more susceptible to chine walk than others.

Steve

[tat2dbasshunter]

Great article, especially for me being a non-boater and looking to buy i boat soon. Thanks for sharing Steve

Don

[denis]

In some cases, chine walk is from improper rigging, but that's not the case all the time, that's for certain.  Some high performance boats are more susceptible to chine walk than others.

Steve

every boat walks at speed, once they get up on the last pad the prop torque will try to knock them off. SOme boats you can drive with one finger at 80+ but the fact of the matter is you arent getting away from chine.  You'll never see chine in the High Performance boats until 75+   To be honest most boats arent driven well enough to get there.

I havent gotten triple digits yet, but I have had one finger on the wheel at 85+   Point you can't say rigging is the reason an Alli walks a bit yet runs 90+ stable as a rock.
The ONLY part rigging can play is someone putting a bad prop on a boat or a transducer mounted off the transom interfering with the pad. 
There is NO other way you can blame rigging for chine.   I dont consider jackplate height to be part of rigging and even then it just makes it harder to drive and has zero to do with Chine. Meaning you arent going to take away chine with a jackplate height change unless you are in a mid performance under 75mph boat.   At that point if you had the power and hull you would walk once you got the extra speed.
Chine walk is called chine because of the chines on the hull of the boat. The torque from the prop pulls the chines down and which every side hits bounces back then the other side hits and thats where you get walk.
The solution is relax feel the boat in your butt and you'll correct w/o thinking.  you will correct it and then you'll get a wave or wind or the torque will pull a side down again. Its an easy correction.  But again rigging isnt a reason for it.

[-Steve-]

Time of the year to get this back on subject at the top again, let's not forget safety 1st everyone...Steve

[E5Zero]

Steve I agree, I purchased both a Hotfoot and the blinker style trim for my boat.  Trim may get installed this week, Hotfoot I am going to have Bass Pro take care of that for me.  After driving my Z-7 with a 175 on the back for a few months it is a necessity to have both of these installed.

And don't forget the kill switch folks!!

[-Steve-]

Most if not ALL new boats come with a kill switch, just have to remember to conect the lanyard to your body which a lot of folks don't do in the ski/fun boats. Went out with a friend on his boat and mentioned it to him and he got mad at me so I asked him to bring me back to the dock and I got off his boat...Steve