Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

[diskord]

So I just purchased a '66 Rienell with a '68 Mercury 1000 on it.

The boat needed a little bit of cleaning, a change of tires on the trailer and a new battery but she fired right up when I dropped her in the lake.

Went out for a spin with my girls tonight (ages 2 and 4) and when I started to accelerate past 10-15 mph or so the boat wanted to pull hard to port. As long as I kept my hand on the steering wheel it went straight, but as soon as I took my hand off the wheel the wheel wanted to turn as well as the boat.

Looking at my outboard, I see this tiny fin on the underside of the antiventilation plate (I hope I am describing it right)... and there seems to be a spot above it where I could insert some hex wrench (looks like a big sized one) to loosen something up. My guess is if I loosen that up, I can pivot that tiny fin that sits right behind the prop? Is this a correct assumption?

I noticed that the leading edge of the fin points to the starboard side, while the trailing edge is back on the port side, just a little. If I am supposed turn that fin to correct for the steering issue, do I want to continue to move the leading edge of the fin further towards the starboard side, or do I want to move it back to where it is straight in line with the boat.

If I think of this fin as a rudder, as it currently stands it would make the boat turn to port, which is what the boat is currently doing. I THINK I just want to move that fin so that it is straight (and see if that fixes, or at least makes it better)... but I am not sure, this is only my second day ever owning a boat!

If anyone has any advice (and if this is indeed what I am supposed to fiddle with to fix the problem) I would greatly appreciate it. Also, what the heck is that fin thing called anyway? I tried looking up diagrams of outboard motors on line so I could call it by it's right name, but couldn't find a name for it attached to any of the diagrams.

 

[scutly]

Re: Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

its a trim tab anode. a replaceable piece of weak metal that corrodes before your engine does. replacement is part of your yearly maintenance. and yes it is adjustable. fiddle with it in different settings until your runnin straight. now how about some pics of this classic?

 

[diskord]

Re: Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

Yep, that is the thing. So I am guessing I just need to fiddle with the setting to get it to go straight at speed?

I was also talking to my dad, and as we were chatting it got me to thinking that the outboard wasn't mounted dead center on the back of the boat. Sure enough from the edge of the transom to the starboard side is 25 inches, from the transom to the port side is 27.5 inches... so that would make it steer to the left as well.

The confusing thing is, the motor looks like it is bolted in place (and has ALWAYS been bolted in place) at that position. There are two bolts going through the back of the boat... so I am assuming it came from the manufacturer that way?

Working on pics, I have a bunch of pics on my camera, but they are just pictures of all of us inside the boat, my wife took a bunch of pics on her camera of the boat on the (rusty) trailer, which show off the boat pretty well. As soon as I can get some of the pics off her camera I will post it up.

How hard is it to adjust the trim tab? Do I just need to loosen the bolt from above, spin it to a new position, and tighten back up? How much should I rotate it? The boat pulls pretty hard to port, do I want to spin it 10 degrees, 20 degrees? Or is it tiny adjustments back there make huge differences and I want to move it 1-2 degrees?

I am so excited (if you can't tell)... I just wish it wasn't dark, I want to be back out on the water!

 

[diskord]

Re: Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

http://thesmithhome.blogspot.com/2010/07/boat.html - There is a link to my wife's blog post about our new boat, she posted a bunch of pictures. I plan on completely redoing the trailer this winter, TONS of surface rust, but structurally the trailer is just fine.

The boat is in GREAT condition, just needs to be cleaned up a bit, which my wife and kids did ALL day while I was at work, was a wonderful surprise when I got home today.

 

[roncoop75]

Re: Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

While I'm no expert on this I have adjusted one once on an 18hp that was on a little lowe fishing boat. It was pulling to port. IIRC it started out centered and I moved it to the left, looking at the back of the fin from the back of the boat (it's been 10 years so I may be wrong about the direction). I had to turn it almost all the way to correct. A small adjustment did nothing.

That being said, it was probably a band-aid for another problem, like the motor not centered, but I'm not sure about that. What is certain is that it adds drag so it would be nice to get things right w/o having to resort to something that causes drag.

It may boil down to how badly you DON'T want to move that engine.

 

[Fed]

Re: Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

Try fiddling with your trim too diskord.

The boat's steering is made up of 3 parts,... 1. weight distribution, 2. trim setting & 3. the trim tab anode setting.

It's normal for the trim tab trailing edge to be turned to the starboard because your crankshaft spins clockwise which causes your whole motor to want to turn anticlockwise which will turn your boat to the starboard.
Turning your trim tab trailing edge to the starboard allows water pressure to push the whole outboard motor clockwise to counteract the anticlockwise torque from the crankshaft.

Seeing how your trailing edge is turned to the Port try trimming the motor down a bit.

 

[scutly]

Re: Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

oh man shes sweet!

 

[diskord]

Re: Noob with a new (to me) boat, boat pulls at speed

oh man shes sweet!

Yeah, and can't beat the price. I haven't really priced out boats or anything, but I paid $900 for the boat, motor and trailer. Since all I had to do was drop in a new battery, change the lower unit oil, and check the plugs (all were in great shape) and she fired right up... I feel like a running boat, with trailer, for under a $1000 is a GREAT deal for my family.

Of course the Governor had to have her pound of flesh as well, which raised the price a fair amount, but still...

So excited, just waiting for work to be over so I can get back out on the lake, lol!