Bass Boat question

[Ihateriversnags]

Well guys (and gals) I have searched the site and have not found anything about this topic and since I will be making a purchase here shortly I thought perhaps someone could talk me through the motion called "chinewalk"?? (think that's how it's spelled anyway). From what I understand this can be a dangerous situation for a new Bass Boater and perhaps it's a topic worth discussing. Guess i'll find out when I'm looking at the replies for this topic.

Jason

[Deitz Dittrich]

IHR- ahhhh the chinewalk.. for your first time driving when it happens.. its scary as all $&@#%^@%#...were talking clean out your shorts ^@^% scary! Some boats will not ever do it.. I have never had a chine in an aluminum boat... and I have never had a chine in anything less than 150 hp eng... You can learn to drive through it.. or you can tune your boat out of it(ie raising lowering the eng)I have a TR186 with a 150 johnson.. and it will chine if I am alone and no water in the livewell and only about 8 gals of gass in the tank. If I have a friend or water in the livewell or more gass it wont do it.. I have tried to teach a friend to drive through it, but again, my boat hasn't done it with 2 people yet. I might get it to do it if I take everything out. I had a Champion 186 with a 175 and it never did it.

It has a lot to do with set up, and where you have the weight in your boat.

To describe wht happens.. you will be fine going along. then all a sudden it will start to sway from side to side. And it just gets worse and worse if you dont let up. Usually a small jerk on the steering wheele will correct the problem.

I am very interested to hear from others who have had this problem.

[delmuts]

deitz is right about how scary it can be.( i only delt with it once when i raised my jack plate to far!) there was an interview a while back with Earl bentz( founder of Triton)he said that any boat will do it once you get close to the 70 mph mark, or a weight issue at lower speeds. if your rig is going to hit that mark or higher, then you will need to have some one help you learn how to control the boat. i worked with a couple of guys that run fast rigs. they both said you learn to control it with small movements of the wheel. as with any new boat, it takes a little time and has a learning curve!

[bassin]

Go check out bassboatcentral on the web. They have different forums on there for each specific boat brand. If you do a search in the Triton section it gives great advice on how to work with it and what setups are best.

[Guest]

Boy, that does sound scary.. Good thing I can't afford a boat that goes over 40mph

[Bushwacker]

The very first time I took out my Stratos w/150hp I experienced the chinewalk. My wife and I got the boat home and went directly to the lake. The gas tank was 1/4 full and there was no gear in the boat at all. I was flying along and all of a sudden when I hit 64mph, UH OH!!! Thing started doing the walk and I got it back under control by throttling down. That was the only time I had it happen. The trim is a lot more important on my bass boat than either of the walleye boats I had before it. If you watch bass boats flying down the lake, you will see some of them being completely out of the water except for the prop when they are at full throttle across the lake. That is a lot of speed with not that much control but once you get the "feel" down, it is a blast.

[katoguy]

I got the following info off another forum that deals with higher performance bass boats a while ago:

Pad runs down the center of the hull from the transom about 8-10 feet and 10-15" wide depending on model. The pad is flat and is the actual running surface while WOT. A pad V hull will chine walk if you’re running entirely on the pad. The torque of the prop pushes the boat off the pad, you correct to bring it back on the pad. Simple enough. Those long notches/steps in the hull are called chines. They cause the hull to lift up while getting on plane and carry the hull in low speed conditions. It's called chine walk because the hull falls towards the chine when it falls off the pad.

If your hull won't chine walk you’re not running entirely on the pad. There is more hull in the water to the sides of the pad. If you are running fully on the pad you only have about a 6 x 12" contact patch with the water. EVERY pad V hull when fully on the pad will chine walk.

Any pad v hull that runs on a flat pad can be made to chine walk. Chine walk is a result of a hull flying on minimal surface to where the torque of the prop forces the hull to the side and off the pad. To get it to this point you have to have minimal hull in the water. Tritons are very good at lifting and running on a very small surface as compared to some others which are heavier and don't lift as well. Tritons have to be "driven" from about 65 mph on up. Set up has a lot to do with it to as the higher the hull angle relative to the water will cause chine walk. That’s why Bullets don't chine walk much even though they run on very little surface because they run very flat with very little trim.

Some boats just won't chine walk because they are too heavy to get running very light. That just means to me that they are not running at their full potential. More like a built in degradation of their performance to make them easier to drive for the common fisherman.

[Stratosman]

Mine has never and I have ran it full and empty, with three and with just me in it and luckily have never had it happen, now granted I don't run her at breakneck speed either, but have "tested" it more than once on a flat surface hitting 70mph, but it is a longer boat too which might make a diff? I was in a friends Nitro that did it and it was scary as heck. He just trimmed it down as he eased off the throttle a bit and all was well.