Chine Walking Boats

[geo g]

Does your boat chime walk from side to side while running wide open.  How can you reduce this, without losing top end speed.  It only happens to me while riding solo in the boat.

[J Francho]

Chine walking?  If it only happens while your solo, then it's a weight distribution issue.  That said, you can't "drive through it."  You have to anticipate, and prevent it with steering input.  There's some great YouTube vids out there that demonstrate it, and the corrections.

[WIGuide]

You're going to have to move some weight around when you go out solo to prevent it. 

[Glenn]

Raise the motor height in 1/4" increments until you eliminate the problem.  This will also increase your top-end speed a bit, but more-so because you'll be able to get to the top speed before the chine walk sets in.  Note too, you won't need to trim up as much if you need to raise the motor more than an inch or so.  The drawback is that it becomes a bit harder to turn, meaning more effort to turn the steering wheel.  So don't raise it more than you need to.

 

CAUTION!  If you're used to backing the boat in the garage without lowering the motor, double-check to ensure you can still do it.  You may need to lower the motor! (Don't ask me how I found that out!)

[J Francho]

I can get my boat to chine walk, with or without passengers - I'm 1-1/4" above the pad, lol.  But yes, if you have an adjustable jackplate, raising the motor can help solve many handling issues.

[tomustang]

What kind of boat/motor?

3 or 4 batteries?

Jackplate?

Need some info..

Easy way to check balance is to fill the other sides livewell and see if it changes

[Way2slow]

J Francho

I thought they called yours the Allison Stroll.

Like most anything else about a boat, setup is critical when dealing with chine walk. There's a hole list of things you need to do to help cure/prevent it.

The right Prop and engine height are just pieces to the puzzle, but before you start adjusting engine height, make sure you have a good, working water pressure gauge and make sure your pressure does not drop below the manufactures minimum recommended pressure. Be sure you check it in a turn, and not just running straight.

[martintheduck]

Took me a decent period of time to get my outboard dialed in and running well. I've almost eliminated the walking after some tweaking.

 

Set the jackplate SUPER high (too late to go measure for you), adjusted that little fin-looking-anti-corrosion-thingy to the right, had my hydraulic steering worked on (tightened up) and learned how my boat drives. I've learned how to drive my boat really well and @ 60 mph can prevent it from walking before it even starts. Haven't had to slow down in nearly a year.

 

Im sure you've watched all the videos on chine walking. Essentially your boat gets on plane @ WOT and is balancing on only a tiny part of the hull. Walking occurs when the boat falls off the tiny part of the hull to one side. The goal of steering the boat is to balance the boat on the "tiny part of the hull" @ WOT. 

 

^^^ Once I learned that, things all started to make sense.

[J Francho]

J Francho

I thought they called yours the Allison Stroll.

Like most anything else about a boat, setup is critical when dealing with chine walk. There's a hole list of things you need to do to help cure/prevent it.

The right Prop and engine height are just pieces to the puzzle, but before you start adjusting engine height, make sure you have a good, working water pressure gauge and make sure your pressure does not drop below the manufactures minimum recommended pressure. Be sure you check it in a turn, and not just running straight.

 

It's actually the "Bullet Cant," lol. 

 

Good advice about the water pickup.  I forgot about that.  The top two inlets on mine are plugged, and I get 18 psi at WOT, trimmed out to max speed.  If I ever get a high speed hull other than a Bullet, I'm going with a Stroker, and a hydro jackplate.  Those boats handle so well at high speeds.  Not as pretty as a Bullet, though.

 

Last bit of advice to anyone adjusting things back there - check your bolts after every trip, and torque them appropriately.  For whatever reason, I never had any issue until I started messing with my height.

[Way2slow]

Oops, I thought you were running an Ali, but thy both have that inherent seat time requirement before you can get it maxed out. I know I'm off the subject but a little info about a Bullet. About five years ago, we put one of my power heads on a good friends, friends, Bullet while his was being rebuilt. His was blue printed and setup by Paul Nichols with a Johnson modified 225HO with Wayne Taylor, shorty mid section, Merc Sporter LU, 14" jack plate, Rich Boger prop and ran 93 mph. With my power head, it ran 107. Then he was crying because he had someone else building his powerhead, and I refused to touch behind someone else. So it don't just take one of those Black motors to make a go fast boat.

[J Francho]

I've heard "mixed reviews" about blue printing. And Paul, for that matter. I always thought he was the man when it came to Bullets. Anyway....

I'm not surprised. I don't run a top speed set up, though I've gotten enough seat time in two years to be comfortable at 80. Much faster, ehhh. Personally, I love that it takes like 2.5 seconds to get on plane, and almost no depth. Once in a while, I put my buddy's cupped 29 trophy on, and let her rip. It's quite a lot of boat to drive with that prop, lol.