36 Skater Project
06-08-2014 | 08:51 AM
#823
Platinum Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 887
Likes: 18
From: OHIO
Target date for Diamond shipping powerhead and also receiving back the 3 sportmasters from Colabellas is approaching so I've been doing some things to get ready.
one thing I've been wanting to do is switch the center drives to rotating outwards. It seemed like the the stern wanted to buck upwards the last time that I had it out in calm water. The skater handled great when the water had chop and boat wakes. Also the steering wanted to yaw upon backing off the throttles when going over 110. Peter had mentioned to me that due to having the outside engines spread farther apart to accommodate the quad setup, the distance for the outside ones would not be the ideal 3" from tunnel wall. I may have to lower outsides some to get better bite.
There has been a lot of talk about which way to spin drives on a skater. The consensus is that in most cases, spinning props in, increases speed on stern heavy inboards and smaller outboard skaters, but with slight decrease in handling.
However with my 36, it is bow heavy and I'm wondering how spinning all props outward would affect lifting the bow instead, to pack more air and reduce wetted surface.
Currently the set up is outside props outward, and inside props inward.
Since there is very little data on quad outboard setups and none as far as a 36 skater quad outboard is concerned I am in uncharted waters.
I can say this again, that in rougher conditions the bow stayed up and handled great even when backing off throttle. But in calm conditions, it was a totally different animal. This concerns me most right now since I am setting up to run at LOTO and water conditions for the shootout seem to be flat calm.
First thing to do to change drive directions, is to get into the shifter control box and reverse the push/pull directions for the 2 center drives. Since Skater had rigged the box and engine setup for me, I didn't have any experience with the Latham control box. It is actually a very simple and straight forward procedure.
Here are some photos showing removal of the control box, removing the cable plate rod, and rotating the levers to reveal the correct side access port in which you insert allen wrench to remove cable end screw and reposition cable to proper push/pull location. It was much easier than I thought. Just make sure to protect the console surfaces that it'll be resting on and use a drop of Loctite on cable end screw before installing. Now when I get the drives back, I will have the cable setup ready to go
one thing I've been wanting to do is switch the center drives to rotating outwards. It seemed like the the stern wanted to buck upwards the last time that I had it out in calm water. The skater handled great when the water had chop and boat wakes. Also the steering wanted to yaw upon backing off the throttles when going over 110. Peter had mentioned to me that due to having the outside engines spread farther apart to accommodate the quad setup, the distance for the outside ones would not be the ideal 3" from tunnel wall. I may have to lower outsides some to get better bite.
There has been a lot of talk about which way to spin drives on a skater. The consensus is that in most cases, spinning props in, increases speed on stern heavy inboards and smaller outboard skaters, but with slight decrease in handling.
However with my 36, it is bow heavy and I'm wondering how spinning all props outward would affect lifting the bow instead, to pack more air and reduce wetted surface.
Currently the set up is outside props outward, and inside props inward.
Since there is very little data on quad outboard setups and none as far as a 36 skater quad outboard is concerned I am in uncharted waters.
I can say this again, that in rougher conditions the bow stayed up and handled great even when backing off throttle. But in calm conditions, it was a totally different animal. This concerns me most right now since I am setting up to run at LOTO and water conditions for the shootout seem to be flat calm.
First thing to do to change drive directions, is to get into the shifter control box and reverse the push/pull directions for the 2 center drives. Since Skater had rigged the box and engine setup for me, I didn't have any experience with the Latham control box. It is actually a very simple and straight forward procedure.
Here are some photos showing removal of the control box, removing the cable plate rod, and rotating the levers to reveal the correct side access port in which you insert allen wrench to remove cable end screw and reposition cable to proper push/pull location. It was much easier than I thought. Just make sure to protect the console surfaces that it'll be resting on and use a drop of Loctite on cable end screw before installing. Now when I get the drives back, I will have the cable setup ready to go
Last edited by davidmercury; 06-08-2014 at 09:12 AM.
06-08-2014 | 09:50 AM
#824
Platinum Member
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,044
Likes: 3
From: Bethel Island, CA
Target date for Diamond shipping powerhead and also receiving back the 3 sportmasters from Colabellas is approaching so I've been doing some things to get ready.
one thing I've been wanting to do is switch the center drives to rotating outwards. It seemed like the the stern wanted to buck upwards the last time that I had it out in calm water. The skater handled great when the water had chop and boat wakes. Also the steering wanted to yaw upon backing off the throttles when going over 110. Peter had mentioned to me that due to having the outside engines spread farther apart to accommodate the quad setup, the distance for the outside ones would not be the ideal 3" from tunnel wall. I may have to lower outsides some to get better bite.
There has been a lot of talk about which way to spin drives on a skater. The consensus is that in most cases, spinning props in, increases speed on stern heavy inboards and smaller outboard skaters, but with slight decrease in handling.
However with my 36, it is bow heavy and I'm wondering how spinning all props outward would affect lifting the bow instead, to pack more air and reduce wetted surface.
Currently the set up is outside props outward, and inside props inward.
Since there is very little data on quad outboard setups and none as far as a 36 skater quad outboard is concerned I am in uncharted waters.
I can say this again, that in rougher conditions the bow stayed up and handled great even when backing off throttle. But in calm conditions, it was a totally different animal. This concerns me most right now since I am setting up to run at LOTO and water conditions for the shootout seem to be flat calm.
First thing to do to change drive directions, is to get into the shifter control box and reverse the push/pull directions for the 2 center drives. Since Skater had rigged the box and engine setup for me, I didn't have any experience with the Latham control box. It is actually a very simple and straight forward procedure.
Here are some photos showing removal of the control box, removing the cable plate rod, and rotating the levers to reveal the correct side access port in which you insert allen wrench to remove cable end screw and reposition cable to proper push/pull location. It was much easier than I thought. Just make sure to protect the console surfaces that it'll be resting on and use a drop of Loctite on cable end screw before installing. Now when I get the drives back, I will have the cable setup ready to go
one thing I've been wanting to do is switch the center drives to rotating outwards. It seemed like the the stern wanted to buck upwards the last time that I had it out in calm water. The skater handled great when the water had chop and boat wakes. Also the steering wanted to yaw upon backing off the throttles when going over 110. Peter had mentioned to me that due to having the outside engines spread farther apart to accommodate the quad setup, the distance for the outside ones would not be the ideal 3" from tunnel wall. I may have to lower outsides some to get better bite.
There has been a lot of talk about which way to spin drives on a skater. The consensus is that in most cases, spinning props in, increases speed on stern heavy inboards and smaller outboard skaters, but with slight decrease in handling.
However with my 36, it is bow heavy and I'm wondering how spinning all props outward would affect lifting the bow instead, to pack more air and reduce wetted surface.
Currently the set up is outside props outward, and inside props inward.
Since there is very little data on quad outboard setups and none as far as a 36 skater quad outboard is concerned I am in uncharted waters.
I can say this again, that in rougher conditions the bow stayed up and handled great even when backing off throttle. But in calm conditions, it was a totally different animal. This concerns me most right now since I am setting up to run at LOTO and water conditions for the shootout seem to be flat calm.
First thing to do to change drive directions, is to get into the shifter control box and reverse the push/pull directions for the 2 center drives. Since Skater had rigged the box and engine setup for me, I didn't have any experience with the Latham control box. It is actually a very simple and straight forward procedure.
Here are some photos showing removal of the control box, removing the cable plate rod, and rotating the levers to reveal the correct side access port in which you insert allen wrench to remove cable end screw and reposition cable to proper push/pull location. It was much easier than I thought. Just make sure to protect the console surfaces that it'll be resting on and use a drop of Loctite on cable end screw before installing. Now when I get the drives back, I will have the cable setup ready to go
Look'n good and your bow lift concept sounds good.
06-08-2014 | 07:37 PM
#826
Registered
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,555
Likes: 81
From: Columbia S.C.
On my friends 36 they were spinning. Johnny (TNT) said for max speed turn out. We swapped 6s' in parking lot with engine hoist and noticed a 200 rpm drop spinning out at 160 mph. Steve swapped them back to spinning in. To me it was apples to apples at 160 mph. The cat felt light but responsive both spinning in and out and we were in 6" to 1' lake chop. I would spin all of them out to generate bow lift after reading your post. No cat, be it center pod or true tunnel, that I have driven, likes flat water. I will be interested to hear your test results as Steve didn't like how the boat felt spinning out after spinning in for years. Thanks for keeping us posted.
06-09-2014 | 04:47 AM
#829
Platinum Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 887
Likes: 18
From: OHIO
06-09-2014 | 04:56 AM
#830
Platinum Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 887
Likes: 18
From: OHIO
On my friends 36 they were spinning. Johnny (TNT) said for max speed turn out. We swapped 6s' in parking lot with engine hoist and noticed a 200 rpm drop spinning out at 160 mph. Steve swapped them back to spinning in. To me it was apples to apples at 160 mph. The cat felt light but responsive both spinning in and out and we were in 6" to 1' lake chop. I would spin all of them out to generate bow lift after reading your post. No cat, be it center pod or true tunnel, that I have driven, likes flat water. I will be interested to hear your test results as Steve didn't like how the boat felt spinning out after spinning in for years. Thanks for keeping us posted.
