Velos 36 - Balancing Act

[fweasel]

Right Vinny - I'll try something quick & dirty first. Apparently it can be almost anything. One suggestion was taping a drinking straw underneath.

My 27" Zonda has a carbon tube for a dam. I'm using a silicone wiper blade on the Zelos.

[MADRCER]

Did the wiper blade help any?

[mikiek]

Did the wiper blade help any?

From what I'm hearing, just about anything under there will help - round, square, flat, angled, perpendicular, etc. Wiper blade was a pretty common choice. Another one is the stick on plastic protectors you put on corners in your house. You're just trying to disorganize the flow (not necessarily reduce it) thru the tunnel.

[MADRCER]

Yea, I know what they are for but just wanted to know if it helped his issues when running the 1814's. I tried one a couple months ago with a set of x447's and consistently ran 1.5- 2mph slower with the dam, so I tossed it and ran my best speed with the x447's which was 71.6mph.

[fweasel]

My 1814's run the electronics too hot and have not taken that boat out recently. I have not run the Zelos with the air dam installed yet. Too many boats, not enough lake time.

[mikiek]

Yea, I know what they are for but just wanted to know if it helped his issues when running the 1814's. I tried one a couple months ago with a set of x447's and consistently ran 1.5- 2mph slower with the dam, so I tossed it and ran my best speed with the x447's which was 71.6mph.

Just curious, what problem were you trying to solve with the air dam?

[MADRCER]

Not trying to solve any problem... I was just trying it for a little insurance to try to keep it from flipping, if anything trying to solve my bank account from getting smaller if it flipped and broke a hull and I had to pay for another one Lol. The best thing I would recommend for anyone to do is to get out of the low to mid 60's because from my experience the mid 60's is where my boat was the most unstable and unpredictable. I found myself several times feathering the throttle thinking it was about to blow over in that mph range. From the 70's and beyond my boat seems to suck down to the water and run decent with very little stability issues.

[mikiek]

I'm looking forward to that day. Would be nice if that "thinking it was about to blow over" feeling would go away. Of course the flip side of that is does it ever really go away or do we finally just get comfortable driving on the edge? Maybe all of the above.

[vinnyp]

The best thing I would recommend for anyone to do is to get out of the low to mid 60's because from my experience the mid 60's is where my boat was the most unstable and unpredictable. I found myself several times feathering the throttle thinking it was about to blow over in that mph range. From the 70's and beyond my boat seems to suck down to the water and run decent with very little stability issues.

Easier said than done. I am a long way from being there yet.