2012 SS 201 handling at low speed/idle.

jegraham

I had the new boat out for the first time today and at low speed / idle it does not track straight. You have to constantly corrtect the track which seam to make it worse. Any ideas or tips for a new boater?

Ernest_T

If you have an outboard this might help. Mine did this initially, and it was also harder to steer to port than to starboard when up to planing speed. If yours in an outboard there is a small anode that acts as a steering adjustment on the motor that you can adjust to help eliminate the problem. Its trial and error. By moving this tab, I almost completely eliminated the problem of the boat being harder to steer in the port direction, but it would still zig zag some at idle. I later put a set of Smart Tabs on my boat, but not for the zig zag problem. I was trying to reduce bow rise, and planing speed, and the tabs worked great for that. One of the additional benefits of the tabs was that they eliminated the zig zag at idle. Several other Hurricane owners have confirmed that the Smart Tabs eliminated this problem on their boats as well, so if adjusting the anode on the outboard does not eliminate the problem, I can highly recommend the Smart Tab system.

jegraham

I have the 4.3 MPI IO. I have been reading on line that this is a know problems with IO. Is that correct?

MarkG

If I'm getting what you are talking about all boats will track from side to side at idle speed. Think of a leaf hanging by it's stem and oscillating from side to side in the breeze. Your boat is doing the same thing only at a much lower frequency. This is more pronounced on some hull designs than others. It will be more noticeable on a V-hull like yours than it is on a tri-hull like the Fundecks have.  The trade off is your boat has a better ride at speed in rough water than the tri-hull does. Keep your corrections to a minimum and let the hull have it's way. 

jegraham

Thanks for the information. We will have it out again the weekend and I am sure it is just something that we will just have to get the hang of. 

FlyingV5

I have the same issue with my FD196OB. It wants to pivot around the bow while trying to go straight ahead, and at idle or very low speeds it needs constant steering corrections. I think it is a result of the tri-hull design having the center of drag very far forward. Every time I try to put it on the trailer I notice this (darn, bent the guide post again!). But the design works SO GOOD at speed that I don't care. Without those sponsons on either side it would skip sideways instead of turning like a sportscar.

PIRANA JOE

Follow Ernest t's hint.  There is an adjustment on the lower unit, a fin shaped anode device which is rotatable.  Lossen the bolt holding it in place (have to remove the plastic cap on top to access the bolt), then rotate clockwise when viewed from above to correct vessel from a starbord (right) turning tendency. Opposite adjustment for port turning tendency.  It only requires a small degree of turn of the fin.