SkiDoc

iTrader: (4)

There is no place for tabs. I do not believe that one on the center sponson would help. Probably would be bad. All trimming is with the drives. Look at the back of my boat for ideas on the hyd. steering. The worst thing that happened while driving my boat is that I almost went over backward because I had too much positive trim hitting a cruiser wake. My boat planed better with negative trim and ran with the safest attitude with almost neutral trim.

hardy.hardy@hotmail.

thanks that is some nice hardware.again anyone got any steering for sale maybe local.

DMOORE

Lew, take a look at Lathem. They make full hdy systems. I run this set up on my Advantage, and it incorperates the trim switches right into the steering wheel. There are 3 buttons on the wheel, and all 3 adjust both drives.There are also seperate switches on the counsel. This way you never have to take your hand off the wheel. It's a great system and very reliable. As others have said, most cats do not use tabs underway. Every one that I have been in, moved the center tab full up after getting on plane.


Darrell.

Scotty Boy

Hardy,

Tres is on the money. Be careful. Flying a cat takes seat time. Some guys get it. some don't. Once learned there is nothing like it.

A quality twin ram hydraulic steering system overhaul or upgrade is mandatory.

I'm curious...they made some of these with outboards. Is this an IO boat or Outboard?

If your comfortable with it, Take some pics of the rear of the boat and post them. You could ask for some thoughts thru private emails.

If you hang a tunnel tab on the pod and trim down at the wrong time you can stuff the boat or worse. You probably don't need it. I'd call Eliminator and Daves and network to owners that have these to save yourself some time on setup. This board has a wealth of info if you choose to use it.

If it's an outboard rig I'd try scream& fly.com and do a search. There are guys on that site who have done it all with this hull. It most likely save you a lot of time and money.

Propster

Seat time and set up is the key. Make sure your trim guages and drives are even and know the setting at neutral trim. Check your tow in and make sure all of the steering connections are tight. Be careful using positive or negative trim at speed. Ask other owners what props they like and what ones they don't like. Props can make a big difference in handling.

I think the biggest problem with the center pod cats in rough water is figuring out the correct speed and trim for the conditions. I have been caught a couple times going a little to fast and hitting rogue waves. My boat has skyed straight up, tripped on the next wave, then caught one of the sponsons on another wave. Catching a sponson with some negative trim will spin the boat. It happened a couple times to me before I figured out how much speed and trim I could get away with.

Too much positive trim can sky the boat when going off a wave, chopping the throttle when going off a wave can stuff the boat. Seat time is the key, be a test pilot and slowly push the envelope.

bewitched

I don't post much, as I don't have a performance boat, and feel that I probably don't have a whole lot to offer in this realm.
The group here is a very knowledgeable bunch, so I try to stay quiet. I read a few posts and news, but I've got to admit, I'm in the classifieds most.
But just to weigh in, Lew (Hardy.Hardy) is my brother. Although we deal with sport fishing boats primarily, we do spend a fair amount of time on performance boats, as our roots are pretty deeply seated in the region, and not all of our buddies fish.
Although I will agree that a performance school would be nice, and w/o question something we all could probably benefit from, I'm not sure how soon we'll make it there. Especially since there's all this steering stuff to spend $ on!

I'm posting primarily to show my appreciation for all your helpful responses. I'm also quite confident that we'll have the cat (Lewie's thinking about "Cat-alized" as a name, since most of what we do requires catalyst) running at her potential this summer. I think that we'll get a feel for her pretty quickly.
Thanks again for the feedback, and for an excellent site.

RunninHotRacing163.1

Good Luck Bewitched and take it slow

bewitched

Thank you, Sir.
We're pulling together parts for her external steering, and we're getting her trim sorted out.
It was hard to get her trimmed properly when you have no idea what the drives are doing. And her trim motors don't trim equally, so we were winging it.
So, there's no question we've got a few bugs to work. But I think once we get her steering tightened up, and we know exactly what the drives are doing, we'll start to see some good passes from her.
I'm excited.

sunchaser796

Hey Guys Listen Tres and what he has to say. I have known him and his family for many years while working for Donzi. The family along with Tres has been into racing more years than some of you guys driving boats. I would trust his with my life. Brad , his partner in crime is also a very smart and carefull driver and boat owner himself and only known his for a few years and i would strongly listen to these guys. They could and can save your LIFE !!

orthos1

Nothing like education from a REAL expert! If you think knowledge is expensive TRY Ignorance! I commend you guys for listening to these fellows...........I have been lurking here for years.

BE SAFE! Get good jackets (lifeline my fav) wear the kill switch lanyard, and gain speed slowly. I flew my 25 talon @ 850 hp the first time out> I removed the hood pins and put hydrolic lifts (stupid). Talon put the hood pins on there for a reason! At 110 mph the hatch blew up vertlcle and I went for the ride of my life. Yes the can blow over, especially if some thing like that happens. Discretion is the better part of valor!

Have fun....... I love Cats, but they like V's have there own set of characteristics. At speed remember you are flying a boat!

Stu