last couple times I have taken the boat out, it seems to fish tail a little bit while on pad. scares me. Anyone know what may be causing this?

Have you played with the trim? Lowered it some?

Prop look ok?

Could be a steering issue... ive seen it once before. You need to get it checked out asap before the boat snaps around and ejects you.

Also check your motor mount bolts.

Hydraulic steering might have air in, motor bolts could be loose. My last boat did it once and it was air the steering system. Easy fix

Chine walking I believe is what you describe definitely check transom bolts and possibly trim down a touch should help

Your boat is a little faster in the cooler air and water....probably just a little chine walk.

Whatever it is- make sure you got your seat belt on.

I just turn the radio up that happens.

I had a Stratos boat one time that chine walked so bad that when trimmed up you couldn't steer it period. If it's not the boat then I think it's steering related.

what about a seat belt gig?

my boat fish tailed on my Saturday. Its a steering issue, not sure what it is yet. Its at charlies outboards in Alvarado right now.

What boat & motor is it? I would bet it is chine-walking. The guys above are correct when they say your boat will run faster in the cooler air and colder water. When the hull gets "freed up" from the water, you are basically balancing the boat on the pad. The torque from the propeller is trying to knock you off the balancing point.

You definitely want to make sure you have no slack in the steering system and that your motor mounts are intact. Even the newer hydraulic steering can develop slop if you have air bubbles in the system. With the boat on the trailer, turn the wheel slightly from side to side. The motor should respond to the movements. If it does not, you have some air in the system or you have some loose bolts in the steering column. This can lead to Disaster if left unchecked.

Watch this to see what can happen if the steering fails. The boat can do a 180 degree turn at high speed and eject you & your passengers. It was discovered that the lock nut on the steering arm from the steering system to the motor tiller arm had vibrated loose and came off causing this accident. These two young men were definitely very fortunate. The Good Lord had His hand over them that day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AkgjPkCQXc

The hull will begin to oscillate side to side in what is called chine-walking and is common with lighter high performance hulls like Bullets & Allisons. Older Tritons are also known to do this as will some BassCats. This is completely normal at high trim angles. You can trim down to lessen the effect as one guy suggested.

The trade-off is, more wetted hull surface, more drag, less top speed. Very small corrections can be made to the steering wheel to offset this oscillation but it takes lots of seat time & practice. The best thing to do is simply trim the motor down a bit to minimize the chine walk.

Mine did that if I trimmed it up too high. Knock the bow down a little.

Depends if it is sliding sideways or chine walking. Sliding is a problem. Walking, learn to drive it. If he has had the boat more than a year. I assume he has drove it in cool weather before. He said this just started