Fishtailing

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

Alright, alright, that's enough of that. The way some people drive they need seat belts. I wasn't implying they should be required, I just wondered in that particular instance if seat belts would have kept both anglers from being ejected. Spearing a wave didn't kill them, getting ejected did.

Most likely chine walk and trimming down or slowing down will solve the issue.

When all else fails, read the US Navy's in flight missile mechanics hand book for further options

I see all of the time people trying new props or messing with motor height trying to get the most top end speed they can. The only time you will accomplish speed gains from motor height adjustment or a different prop is when you learn how to control the chine. All boats chine at a certain speed, some more than others. If you are slowing down or trimming down when your boat starts to chine then you will never go faster than that at which it started no matter what modifications you do. A friend of mine with a bass cat 200 merc complained his boat would only run around 63 / 65. He wanted me to drive the boat and see if I could figure out why it was slower than what others claimed they could run with the same set-up. I got it up to 72 .... he said was slowing down when it started to get out of control.

I have given boat driving lessons to probably 25 guys over the years.

Where do i sign up

Its not chine walking. Had the boat well over a year and know how to drive it. The rear end is sliding out to one side, not just rocking like chine walk does. I will check the hydraulic steering and see if it has any air. I checked all bolts last night and all are tight. Thanks for the input guys!

This discussion about steering issues may have very well saved your life. Please check everything on the steering system in your boat.

Send me five easy payments of 69.95 per month! Lol

Check and make sure your skeg isn't broken off.

Lol. Guess i will figure it out myself. Lol

Those guys there rock. Keith is great to work with and has always treated me great

Actually, this sounds more like gearcase crabbing, also known as prop walk.

Prop loses bite for just a second.

http://www.screamandfly.com/archive/index.php/t-37859.html

Probably need to lower your motor just a little.

My boat tries to "walk" a little, but not until it gets right around 75mph or so and then it seems to settle back down at around the 80-81mph mark after I bump the trim down a hair and bump the jack plate up a hair.

Each boat is different and they all have their own little nuances...

I have to agree that what you are describing is not chine walking at all. You describe the back end slipping out from under you. Kind of like a high speed drift but with rear wheel drive? Loosing traction at high speed? If I try turning to sharp at WOT with motor high I feel my back end beginning to slide out. Things can get crazy real fast if we try to push past this limit without adjusting something. My choices in this scenario are to A. Slow down a little. B. Trim down a little or C. Back of the sharpness of the turn. You know your own boat so if this is a brand new sensation/problem or you feel it at lower speeds obviously you have one of the aforementioned problems that others have posted. High speed only? Could be simply your boat telling you you have found “the edge” and are at the limits of your present set up. Good luck.

My boat starts walking a little at top end when I am low on gas, this is how I know it is time to fill up because my gas gauge sucks (shows half a tank one minute and then empty the next).

This is exaclty what I thought he was talking about. Does it feel like your running down a big river with a lot of current?