wrd4
08-05-2011, 11:28 PM
To all who have much more knowledge than me. I am a boater from the 70"s and back then I had some very fast boats with gas engines. I have recently gotten back into boating because I never got over how much fun I had back then.
My question concerns my purchase of a used Aquacraft UL-1 Superior boat. The boat was very clean out of the box. I had a after-market metal propeller (Aquacraft L40 x 57 AQUB9760). The drive strut was also tilted way down towards the positive. The turn fin and the rudder were sharpened and I felt that maybe someone before me knew what they were doing.
I pulled out the shaft and re-lubed it and then checked the propeller for balance. It was horribly out of balance so I began to feel that maybe the person who owned this boat before me just wanted to get rid of it. I decided to put it back to specs.
I balanced the prop and lubed the shaft and put the strut back to neutral. I also added a airdam as per instructions on the OSE blogs and sanded the bottom of the sponsons. My airdam was 1 3/4" back from the front crossover and 3/8" deep. I was now ready for my first run.
When I put the UL-1 in the water and gave it some throttle, it just submarined. I decided to remove the airdam and then try again. It still submarined a bit but by putting more throttle to it, it finally popped up but not with much speed. Then, boom, it came up on step and flew acorss the pond like a raped-ape. Upon throttling down though, it went right back into drag mode.
I decided to put the strut up as far as I could move it. This time it didn't submarine but it just stayed in drag mode until it finally came up on step. When it's on-step, it's a monster.
My dilema. I didn't have the original prop so that may be of some significance. I also didn't run the UL-1 at its very positive strut setting. Years ago, we used to glue on some extra bottom thickness to the sponsons but I don't think that's necessary today.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have owned and competed with some very fast boats but that was years ago when fuel was the only option. I think it's the prop---am I right?
Bill 602-692-8783/cell kiteflier4682/Skype wrd4682@cox.net:wink:
My question concerns my purchase of a used Aquacraft UL-1 Superior boat. The boat was very clean out of the box. I had a after-market metal propeller (Aquacraft L40 x 57 AQUB9760). The drive strut was also tilted way down towards the positive. The turn fin and the rudder were sharpened and I felt that maybe someone before me knew what they were doing.
I pulled out the shaft and re-lubed it and then checked the propeller for balance. It was horribly out of balance so I began to feel that maybe the person who owned this boat before me just wanted to get rid of it. I decided to put it back to specs.
I balanced the prop and lubed the shaft and put the strut back to neutral. I also added a airdam as per instructions on the OSE blogs and sanded the bottom of the sponsons. My airdam was 1 3/4" back from the front crossover and 3/8" deep. I was now ready for my first run.
When I put the UL-1 in the water and gave it some throttle, it just submarined. I decided to remove the airdam and then try again. It still submarined a bit but by putting more throttle to it, it finally popped up but not with much speed. Then, boom, it came up on step and flew acorss the pond like a raped-ape. Upon throttling down though, it went right back into drag mode.
I decided to put the strut up as far as I could move it. This time it didn't submarine but it just stayed in drag mode until it finally came up on step. When it's on-step, it's a monster.
My dilema. I didn't have the original prop so that may be of some significance. I also didn't run the UL-1 at its very positive strut setting. Years ago, we used to glue on some extra bottom thickness to the sponsons but I don't think that's necessary today.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have owned and competed with some very fast boats but that was years ago when fuel was the only option. I think it's the prop---am I right?
Bill 602-692-8783/cell kiteflier4682/Skype wrd4682@cox.net:wink: