88 Martinique B/R balance problem

Hollywood wrote: it's at his house and he spent yesterday cleaning it.

Well, at least he made himself useful for a change!!

Quit hijacking the thread.

I think everyone is just goofing around until we see smaller versions of the pictures. It's hard to see what's going on with the big ones. The ridicule is not directed at you.

Sorry for the hijack. It seems Hollywood has always "leaned" a certain way, and has formed a new "partnership". That and his newfound Martinique ownership makes him the most qualified to comment in this thread.

By chance are you a big guy? That would be one obvious reason why the boat is listing while underway (with just the driver aboard). I suspect thats probably not the case, but didnt want to ignore the obvious.

Your running gear looks fine and I dont think its a contributor to what youre experiencing... at least based on what I can see in the pictures.

Also, After analyzing the situation more closely while taking these pictures, I don't think the new prop helped the problem at all. Everything just runs smoother and better.

So, I am thinking of removing the guide fin closet to the bow and remounting it with the leading edge angled a few degrees towards the starboard side. This, in my feeble mind, would help to correct the arcing turn I experience with the wheel straight, consequently removing the need to turn right to go straight. Any thoughts on doing something so drastic?

Are the guide fins mounted into a reenforced part of the boat or is it just the same hull thickness throughout, because I would have to move it 1/2" to 1" to make new holes.

Need the engineers to pipe in: It it possible that the rudder could have "lift" the way an airplane wing does? In this case, the lift pushing the bottom of the boat to the left making it tip to the right?

Your fins are straight, do not mess with them. I had a significantly bent fin and it did not affect the steering to the point where it was noticeable. Trust me, you do not want to be filling holes in the hull and drilling new ones.

The "straightness" of the steering wheel is unimportant. That is simply a function of the wheel position when the steering cable was inserted into the helm. It has no bearing on when your boat should track straight.

Based on your pictures, I do not believe that you are countersteering to go straight. I believe you should be looking beyond the steering system for your listing issue. It would take more than a subtle bend of the rudder or other running gear in order to introduce that sort of thing... and I dont think thats whats happening here.

I would take a straight edge to the hull to see if there is more hook in one side than the other to rule that out... but I would suspect that weight is the culprit here.

Bri892001 wrote: Need the engineers to pipe in: It it possible that the rudder could have "lift" the way an airplane wing does? In this case, the lift pushing the bottom of the boat to the left making it tip to the right?

Well I am not an engineer but I do fly airplanes and can appreciate your point. I am not sure of the answer, but I think the rudder would be hard pressed to do such a thing as actually lift the boat on port side, if that is what you mean. As long as it is on a vertical plane, the lift created should be on the horizontal plane and creating a lift action horizontally. I do agree that "principal of lift" does play a part in the directional control forces applied to the rear of the boat, and is what Hollywood was getting at when he talked about "lightly filing the starboard side down to reverse the load."

But I am wondering if lightly filing the rudder would have enough of an impact?

bryanandmissy wrote: Great points Tim. I will look into the hull. Are you saying Correct Craft may have sold this boat with a curve in the hull and it has been this way it's whole life?

Yes, that is what Im saying.

With very few exceptions, Correct Craft put "hook" into their fiberglass hulls to dial in their attitude at speed. Starting with the 2001 hull, Ski Nautiques were not "hooked" evenly side to side- this allowed them to run closer to level, taking into account the prop rotation and weight of the driver. Im not sure how your Martinique is supposed to be set up, but its worth inspecting to see if something is out of the ordinary.

Buffalo took some good pictures of his '88 Barefoot Nautique that shows how much hook his hull has:

If it is a weight issue, would this be due to my weight. I thought someone said in an earlier post that the driver was included in the design. Is there foam down in the hull and is it possible to have waterlogged foam on the starboard side only?

Bryan, it sounds like you already compensated for your own weight by putting an equal (or even greater) crew weight on the port side. I think they are more talking about the weight of potentially water logged foam.

My point on the rudder was that it could be causing a side to side "lift" not a vertical, actual lift. The later, tunuable rudders, had a gizmo that let you tune the trailing edge of the rudder to put a little load on the steering wheel. If someone has mussed with the leading edge of middle, who knows what that would do?

I agree with checking the hook though. That sounds like the first place to start.

Bri892001 wrote: My point on the rudder was that it could be causing a side to side "lift" not a vertical, actual lift. The later, tunuable rudders, had a gizmo that let you tune the trailing edge of the rudder to put a little load on the steering wheel. If someone has mussed with the leading edge of middle, who knows what that would do?

Putting a little bit of load on the rudder so that the steering pulls in one direction (instead of being neutral) is one thing. Suggesting that you can tweak the rudder enough to list the boat over 10 degrees is another. He'd be wrestling with that steering wheel quite a bit trying to keep the hull tracking straight, dont you think?

Bryan, you can get rudders at Skidim, Nautiqueparts, MyCorrectCraftParts probably.

It's a very expensive part to "throw at" the problem though. And unlike the propeller, there wouldn't be any side benefit (like speed, acceleration, smoothness) if it doesn't fix your problem.

Bri892001 wrote: Bryan, you can get rudders at Skidim, Nautiqueparts, MyCorrectCraftParts probably. It's a very expensive part to "throw at" the problem though. And unlike the propeller, there wouldn't be any side benefit (like speed, acceleration, smoothness) if it doesn't fix your problem.

Well I will look into it but if it is that expensive I probably will look for another solution. Sounds like the other option of waterlogged foam would be expensive and time consuming also. I just don't see how the foam on one side could hold that much more water than the other and if that was the culprit wouldn't I experience some imbalance while sitting still, which I don't.

I don't have a yellow level.