I know this is a taboo topic....but.... I have watched a lot of boat performance tricks at the Minocqua shows, and it is clear that some drivers know what they are doing, while others don't, because the success of the "Dyne-Walks" varies quite a bit with the same boat and different drivers. I don't make a practice of walking my own Dyne - and it is harder because I don't have the weight of two engines back there. However, while low on fuel, and before I put my bow balast weight in the front, I sometimes put my boat straight up in the air -while other times I couldn't get it to go up very high at all. Obviously, there is some technique involved and it is more complicated than simply using trim and throttle. Sometimes I would get lucky - other times not. I'm curious - you expert drivers out there - what is the secret to a consistent result? I've seen big differences in outcome with different drivers. MarkBano
I've heard that at least one of the Minocqua drivers uses the jam the throttle down with lots of trim procedure. While effective, this method seems pretty risky to me. I've always used the method of gradually applying power with an appropriate amount of trim. Much smoother, and to me, it seems safer. I can say that I have never sunk a dyne while walking. Only while skiing atb behind it.
The key seems to be what "appropriate" amount of trim is. Too much and all you get is a rooster tail. Too little and all you get is a bow-high take-off. Also, with the throttle - applying it too slowly gets the boat moving forward too quickly, which makes it impossible to get the stern to dig in. Do you have any luck getting your 18 to stand up? I have to think a twin rig would be much better for this, as you've got two props and a lot of extra weight. I have only really stood my boat up a couple of times and I'm not even sure what I did to make it happen. It may not do it anymore with the weight I put up in the bow. However, I think my technique is probably not correct either. I trim down during the manuever and watching the videos of the guys at Minocqua I almost get the sense that they are trimming up during the manuever. As you will see when I get my Dyne-walk videos from the Minocqua show posted, that boat will walk all the way through the show course at a 90 degree angle from the water. It is unbelievable. Yet, the boat does not seem stern heavy sitting in the water with its two Evinrude 150s.
I have done it a few times. much easier with some bonus ballast in the rear. takes a bit of playing to get the right combination of trim/throttle.
I think there are many factors that play into how good the tail walk is. Bow weight Number of motors Fuel level Prop(s) Trim level In the past most drivers would place 4x4 blocks in the midsection to keep the motors trimmed up beyond the normal trim range. I would be the Bats dyne does not have much weight in the front and they probably do not need it since they do not pull alot of big stuff. There is a fine line between being able to walk the boat with enough trim to keep the bow up and breaking the props loose, especially on a twin. On a triple there does not seem to be much trouble at all. Mark, as RiverRat said, if you want to stand it up, keep the fuel level low and have your spotter go back and hold onto the pylon. You may also need a lower pitch prop. I know quite a few twin rigs have broken stringers loose this way if you do not set the boat down gently.
Hey Must-Ski Interesting stuff. Thanks. I made a decision to put more weight up front to improve all around performance (I get about 5MPH more on top end with the weight up there and I like to go fast) so I took myself out of the tail walking game. I did it some last year and had sketchy success. When I did get it to go up a couple times with low fuel, I scared myself so badly (thought I was going to go over backwards) that I got spooked off of doing it. I would think that the Minocqua guys would have broken their Dyna-Ski by now. They beat that boat to no end. It does great tail walks. I have a good bit of video to prove it. I'm going to send some of it to Daniel, as I hope to make a disk tonight. I'm always interested in hearing from ski team drivers about this stuff. I know there has to be some technique involved because some drivers clearly stand the boat up better than others. Depending on what clips Daniel uses, you'll see that in the videos I took. I do think the bow of the Minocqua Dyna is light. With the 150's on there, they don't really need any balast. I hear that they are buying a new boat for next year and plan to go with bigger motors. Thanks! Mark
Mark, I saw their show on Wed Aug 13 and yes, the pound the snot out of it. With no weight up front and half a tank of fuel or less it is easy to do what they do with any pair of V6's on the back. John really does a great job of building these boats. I looked theirs over on the lift and it does not have any cracks that I could see. He reinforces the rear outside corners in a way that distributes the stress further forward and helps dissipate it, it was pretty interesting when I saw our club boat without the deck on.
I have always meant to go down there and take a closer look at the boat but never have - usually because I've got kids in tow who need to get to the bathroom, etc. That boat takes a serious beating. If it doesn't have cracks in it, then it has to be a reasonably solid boat. Of course, it has light engines, relatively speaking, when you consider that the same boat can be configured to be triple rigged. I wonder how much they want for the boat. Of course, I don't like the red...
And I know a couple motors that have sucked in water and breathed their last breath from a poor walk.
