Custom speed rails
 

I have a fairly slow heavy boat, now with a stern jack and soon with a procharger. The stern jack gave me better hole performance and more trim travel and a little porpoise. At W.O.T. I drop the tabs slightly, keeping the trim out, and I get a mile or two by lifting the transom and eliminating the porpoise. I have read the threads on ROCA speed rails and have tried to contact the Fla. distributor only to find that they no longer carry the rails. I sent an E-mail to Sweden with no response. I am thinking of making a set out of carbon fiber. The boat has a flat ride pad which I probably would not modify. I would start out near the beginning of my wetted area on the first strake up from the bottom and gradually increase the lift and curl as I approached the transom. The second strake sits on the trailer bunk so I will probably leave it as is. Anybody think this is a good or bad idea?

Re: Custom speed rails
 

I have two sets that have never been used. Sold the boat, will sell cheap.

Re: Custom speed rails
 

How many? How long? can they be attached to a strake that is not vertical on the outboard edge (curves toward the chine). How much

Re: Custom speed rails
 

You'll go faster with no tabs. Find the sweet spot and leave the tabs up. Might have to move some weight arund, but tabs are speed killers unless your setup is WAAY off..

speed rails most likely work on MOST hulls SOME of the time, SOME hulls MOST of the time, and ALL hulls NONE of the time.

Buy em cheap and they are worth a try. I;d work on your porpoising problem first. Might be a hook in the running surface.

Re: Custom speed rails
 

[QUOTE=mcollinstn]You'll go faster with no tabs. Find the sweet spot and leave the tabs up. Might have to move some weight arund, but tabs are speed killers unless your setup is WAAY off..



I had an 88 Baya Force 216 with a 450 hp 383 and this beast was a handfull above 70, I put tabs on it calmed down the ride and picked up speed. Almost 5 mph more.

Re: Custom speed rails
 

If you needed tabs to go faster, then your setup was WAAY off. Either bad weight distribution, counterproductive hull profile (hook or rocker), wrong prop (not enough, or too much bow lift), etc.

Drove a 1989 Baja 280 with twin 502's. Up to that point, all the guys at the dealership swore you couldn't get over 60 without tabs. I was the first guy to get the boat fully topped out. The boat ran mid 70's (supposedly 77) with no tabs. After that, they all saw they could drive through the instability and get her really aired out. That boat, though, definitely had issues. Was a handfull.

Sometimes, though, I agree that the use of tabs to "mask" a setup issue is FAR easier, more convenient, and in most cases less expensive - than addressing the cause of the issue. In many cases, it takes a lot of time and money to diagnose a bad factory setup or installation.

Back to the original thread, Baron should at least ATTEMPT to rule out some obvious handling issues before proceeding with further accessorizing.

The use of tabs beyond the parallel plane even with the hull is a speed killer. It's called drag. While drag-producing tabs can work magic in delivering a flat smooth ride over waves and chop, their use will always reduce top speed in an otherwise stable hull/setup combo.

The only oddball tab configuration that defies this rule is the Arneson style "rocker plate" which is designed to create a "fake hull rocker" which lifts the nose of the boat. Since 0.002% of the boats on OSO are equipped with these, I feel comfortable speaking in a manner that generalizes all tabs into the "speed killing" category.

mc

Re: Custom speed rails
 

Did you see this site baron?

http://www.ocke.se/