Turning with an inboard

My wife and I bought a 2000 Tige' 21V Riders Edition back in January. We are now getting it out onto the water some and have noticed that it is harder to turn left than right. When the boat is on the trailer you can turn either direction with one finger on the wheel. But, when you get it out on the water it feels harder to turn left. You can still turn right with ease, and the steering insn't binding, it just takes more effort. Is this normal? This is the first inboard my wife and I have owned so were are kind of new at this. Before, we had an i/o and there was no difference in the steering from left to right. Since most of you guys own inboards, any advice you have on this subject would help. Also, we had our mechanic center the steering and he said nothing was binding. Thanks for the advice.

Dave

Most inboards still have many features of the slalom boats they evolved from. Some of those features are the minimum wake they leave at high speeds, the factory ski pylons, dual speedos, and the other is the off set rudder. This off set creates a force to one side which is what you are experianceing. The reason of this is that the operators found it easier to keep the boat in a stright line when running through slalom courses.

Craig is correct. This is done so the driver can keep a straight line easier. If you want to get rid of it, take a grinder or file and shave a VERY VERY small portion off of the rudder. Take it back out on the water and see if it worked. I cannot stress enough as to how little the increments should be made when doing this.

Perfectly normal. The rudders are not off set in terms of being offset from the centerline, but the rudders are often 'tuned' with the trailing edge slightly ground different on one side. This helps preload the steering and makes the rudder harder to turn one side at speed.

Also, inboads experience what is know as 'prop walk'. The prop effects more water on the bottom than on the top because of the presence of the hull. Kinda like a paddle wheel. The prop 'digs in' and will pulls the stern to the side. This is why most inboards back only to starboard. (Nautiques to port-their props turn the opposit). If you notice, the easy way to turn and smaller turn radius in forward is the same way it backs (the stern moves in opposite directions and pivots around the tracking fins).

(Message edited by siuski on April 05, 2006)

Thanks for the info, but, since I've only had this boat in the water twice I think I'll just live with it!

I challenge the reason for the rudder being offset. They set the rudder an inch off to one side of center so that you can remove the prop shaft without having to pull the rudder first. If they didn't, replacing a bent prop shaft would go from a 10 minute job to an all weekend job.

The rudder offset in itself wouldn't cause the "feedback" that you feel. If the water flowed straight back from the prop then any placement of the rudder would have the same feel, although the effect on how the boat turned might change.

In addition, if the rudder was "balanced", then there would be no feedback torque trying to turn the wheel, either further into a turn or to straighten out. This is generally not a desireable thing, you want to have some amount of self return to center. Note, however, that a perfectly centered rudder may not result it the boat traveling in a straight line.

In a real boat, the water from the prop does not flow straight back, it swirls and pushes off to one side. In addition, the torque of the engine tries to rock the boat one direction which causes the lean of the boat to try and steer.

The swirl of the water can act directly on the rudder, trying to turn it one direction more than the other. In addition, the uneven forces of the prop wash and the tendency of the boat to torque steer will require some amount of rudder to counter act it.

Some boats have a small trim tab on the rudder to help offset this. If you object to the feel of the wheel, and have such a trim tab, you can try making some adjustments. Warning: make very, very small adjustments!

When making trim tab adjustments you have to realize that the trim tab is acting on the rudder, it is not steering the boat. Deflecting the trim tab to the left will make the end of the rudder, and therefore the boat, want to right. A tiny change on the tab can have a very large effect.

Like Chris said, you can also accomplish the same thing by filing your rudder, but it is a lot harder to put it back the way it was!