Well after two years of testing my 5 degree wedge, i'm back to the drawing board and i'm looking for some help. To some up the last 9 pages of this discussion... I have a 78 18' which I redid from top to bottem completely composite with an 06 Mercury 225 optimax. The boat is used strictly for show skiing. The transom is poured which is where my problem has begun. When we redid the transom, we accidently added a positive angle to it which is why I added the 5 degree wedge to take it back to normal. Well with show skiing it has handled like every other 18 I have ever seen which I am happy with. Recently our show ski team hosted a barefoot clinic where I used my barefoot boom more than I ever had. I pulled my first big guy weighting around 225 and well I couldnt. I boat veered to the left and no matter what I did I couldnt correct it. I tried the normal steering away and using extra axceleration and nothing helped. I couldnt exceed more than 25 before it veered too bad and I was forced to power down. I checked the placement and legnth of my boom to two other 18's on the team and that has nothing to do with it. The other two boats don't have a problem. I'm looking to add more than my 5 degree wedge by atleast double and i'm not sure how to do it. Should I double the current 5 degree wedge or is there something else out their either homemade or machined. Thanks in advance for your help and Merry Christmas everyone!!!
The total angle should be about 17 degrees measured to the bottom. I don't pull with a boom, but I start trimming up at 20 to 25. jim
I have a single 5° wedge on my 18'er, and have a hard time with larger people on the boom. Depending on what you are doing, there are usually other options to get it to work for that person. My main problem is with doing shortline deeps. Technique is the best place to start here. Get that a$$ out of the water. An extension can also help. Bigger people usually are a bit taller, so their feet would be further up the line, and higher out of the water, making it so they need to try extra hard to get their hips out of the water. This also makes their head go further into the water at the start. You can also recomend the swing out if they are working on shortline. And there is always the step off (start with the boom, then go to a really short line, etc...). They will most likely need this skill for show skiing anyway. Have them start on two skis if necessary, and/or closer to the boat. Swinging out when they get to a handle. If you are having problems with them directly one the boom (with feet in front), you can try having them tumble up, or again, work on getting the hips up. As a last resort, you could even have them starting a bit closer to the boat to minimize the turning force they are exerting on the boat. I know none of this helps with making the boat capable, but you need to consider what's best for the most use of the boat.
Jim - I trim up normally too but you can't trim up when your boats taking a nose dive. How do you go about measuring the angle of the transom? RiverRat - I understand what your saying but we were working on back deeps that day. I dont want to limit my boat to certain acts. I want to be able to pull everything, so therefor I would like to fix the problem instead of beating around the bush. There has to be someone out there with a transom that's not straight that can shed some light on this.
I use a carpenter square and trigonometry calculations. There are angle finders with built in levels out there. Is your core sound? Is the floor bonded in? If the hull is flexing it will give you problems like that. Are other 18's able to cope? If so, what power are they using? jim
How far back is the boom on the boat? Or forward as the case may be? Boats with bow fuel tanks can be tricky to use with a BF boom depending on what you are doing. Does the problem get better at all with less fuel in the tank?
The boat was completely redone in 2008 with composite materials so theres no problem with things of that nature. The boom is forty something inchs behind the cockpit which is like less than a foot behind the drivers seat. I'm also now confused with the gas question because I thought more weight up front would help. It has an 18 gallon tank and was like 3/4 full. The other boats on the ski team are closer to the drivers seat but I thought being closer to the motor would be better..? Maybe not.
What power are the other boats using? What is the attitude of your boat when it starts to turn left? jim
There are two other 18's on our team but I built mine identical to one of them. It has the same motor and prop and everything. The only difference is that when this one was redone, they did it with wood which would make it heavier than mine. It just starts to turn to the left from the begining and the faster you go the worse it gets to the point where you have to power down.
I'm a little confused. It turns to the left no matter how much you turn the steering wheel to the right? Dwight
