• Welcome to the Checkmate Community Forums forums.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access to our other FREE features.
    By joining our free community you will be able to:

    » Interact with over 10,000 Checkmate Fanatics from around the world!
    » Post topics and messages
    » Post and view photos
    » Communicate privately with other members
    » Access our extensive gallery of old Checkmate brochures located in our Media Gallery
    » Browse the various pictures in our Checkmate photo gallery

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support by clicking here or by using the"contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

Chine Walking 101

ericrn

ericrn

Member
Ok this is the fastest boat I have ever had so I'm new to this chine walking thing. I just upgraded to a modified 200hp my boat is a 19 foot 1969 V191 Marathon (checkmate of course) I have around 8-10inch set back and am running a 27 chopper. when I put it wide open the boat tilts to the left a little then I start to trim it up and she straightens out and the nose rises up (awesome feeling by the way!) I'm reving around 5500 and the speedo is around 65 when she starts to chine gently back and forth if I don't back off or trim down it gets worse. I know I probably have a little more power there but how do you "drive through" the walking? I know I need lots more seat time but any advice would help.:bigthumb:
 
you cant preach seat time enough, but i can tell you that solid mounts and jacking up the motor makes a real difference, if you got a low water pickup, get the motor as high as you can it makes a big difference.
 
Mine walks at about 55 mph but with a passenger it doesnt. Buss is right seat time is the key and load and throttle and trim reaction.
 
You'll to anticapate The boats next move.You'll really be driving(thinking) one rock ahead.And then you'll develope the feel of the wheel to correct the boat with out thinking of the present but always anticapating your next future move!Over and over again. And all the go fast goodies don't hurt either!;)
 
I had the same problem in my Pulse170 w/200 merc, until I tighten up the steering cables. The steering cables had alot of slop making it near impossible to drive above 65mph. Also added a JP and water scoops to get the motor higher and farther back.
 
All the above is good advice... don't try to drive through chine walking, that could get rough... Seat time and a properly set up rig is the key. I see you have a jackplate already- play with engine height some but watch the water pressure, it would suck to burn up your new mota! Also, you may want to counterbalance the boat with a sandbag or brave passanger- some kind of weight on the pass side, makes it whole lot easier to balance the boat. Try to use as little trim as possible at first, overtrimming the motor will cause it to chine badly- seat time will help you feel whats right. Make sure your steering is nice and tight (I'm guessing its a dual cable, right?).

Good luck, keep us posted on your progress.:thumb:

Also is the Marathon hull a v-pad hull, or straight v? I'm guessing it doesn't have a pad? If so, going to be a tough rig to drive fast...
 
Thanks for all the good advice, I went out and looked at the set back today and it's 10 inches I also noticed that I could raise the motor another 2 holes. Does that effect how fast it gets out of the hole? How about low speed and handling? I tried to post a couple of pictures but haven't figured it out yet. This boat has no pad but does have stationary trim tabs does that help? I am going to try and raise it up but my temp guage isn't working so I better get that fixed before i do anything else. The motor does have a Bobs nose cone and low water pickup so I don't want it overheating. Somebody let me know how I can post so I con show you what I'm talking about. Thanks again!
 
Props also make the boat act up. I tried a different prop a couple of weeks ago and the boat leaned bad unless I trimmed it heavy. The Chine walk was twice as bad also. That prop made the boat a different uncontrolling beast all around
 
cmpulse170 said:
I had the same problem in my Pulse170 w/200 merc, until I tighten up the steering cables. The steering cables had alot of slop making it near impossible to drive above 65mph. Also added a JP and water scoops to get the motor higher and farther back.
Click to expand...

water scoops ?? I added a bob's nose cone and it was good till the 4th pass with the lower unit last yr and the housing cracked ( think I was sold a junk lower if had a lil bulge in it when I bought it and the guy said her replace the internals but I don't know till I get it apart he seamed like a honest guy -- goes by Pop's on Scream~n~Fly, now I have to take the bobs off the lower unit and see if the case can be repaired.. mine chine walks real bad at 63 and I have close to 1/3 -1/2 throttle left..
 
ericrn said:
Thanks for all the good advice, I went out and looked at the set back today and it's 10 inches I also noticed that I could raise the motor another 2 holes. Does that effect how fast it gets out of the hole? How about low speed and handling? I tried to post a couple of pictures but haven't figured it out yet. This boat has no pad but does have stationary trim tabs does that help? I am going to try and raise it up but my temp guage isn't working so I better get that fixed before i do anything else. The motor does have a Bobs nose cone and low water pickup so I don't want it overheating. Somebody let me know how I can post so I con show you what I'm talking about. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

yeah, raising it up is going to make it easier to control the chine walk...it will make the boat handle different as well. the tabs will help, as long as they're actually touching the water when your going fast, depends how far out to the sides they are and how much boat is actually in the water at full speed. when ya put the motor up the best thing to have installed is a water pressure gauge to see if its getting good water. also make sure the steering is very tight and solid motor mounts help alot to if ya don't have em. like everyone else said, seat time will let ya learn the little corrections it takes to keep it level.
 
Reed said:
water scoops ?? I added a bob's nose cone and it was good till the 4th pass with the lower unit last yr and the housing cracked ( think I was sold a junk lower if had a lil bulge in it when I bought it and the guy said her replace the internals but I don't know till I get it apart he seamed like a honest guy -- goes by Pop's on Scream~n~Fly, now I have to take the bobs off the lower unit and see if the case can be repaired.. mine chine walks real bad at 63 and I have close to 1/3 -1/2 throttle left..
Click to expand...
Reed here's the water scoops: http://checkmate-boats.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14721 and another from a older post: http://checkmate-boats.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=12310 7th post down.

Today I purchase the scoops from a Mercury Dealer. They actually had them in stock. For those that are interested in the scoops, they're called "High Speed Water Pickup" part #17280A2. I'm hoping to install them tomorrow. Now that i've added water temp and pressure gauges, water pump, thermostats and a jack plate hopefully i can get a few runs this weekend and play w/ the setup. Here's what they look like not installed.
Attached Thumbnails
 
My 16' Enticer with a V6 merc would scare the crap out of me at 62. It had some wild chime walking issues. I was told to just learn how to just drive through it :eyecrazy: LOL! Hell, I nearly wrecked the thing a few times trying that crap! It had the low water scoops, sea-star pro hydraulic steering and a 6" jack plate but it was far from where I needed to be to run good at high speeds. You have the nose cone and that is a must, now you need the water pressure gauge, solid motor mounts, a hot foot and mount the trim on the steering wheel. One hand working the wheel with the other hand working throttle and trim will not cut it. Funny thing about my lil Checkmate, all my 85 mph big block jet boat buddies would not ride in my lil 62 mph Checkmate :thumb:
Good Luck!
 
AS mentioned above, dual cable steering, trim on the wheel and a foot throttle are a must. Water pressure gage is a must have as well.
Once all that is completed try some prop swapping. On my trimate the chopper was not the prop for me. Ill handling prop on this boat. Not as bad as a cleaver but close. Have fun and be safe when trying to sort out the handling issues. This is the fun part.
 
Driving with the throttle, steering and trim. but it does get busy in the drivers seat. i have it down to a science now. There is a big difference if someone is in the passenger seat the chine gets cut to half as bad:bigthumb:
 
175checkmate said:
AS mentioned above, dual cable steering, trim on the wheel and a foot throttle are a must. Water pressure gage is a must have as well.
Once all that is completed try some prop swapping. On my trimate the chopper was not the prop for me. Ill handling prop on this boat. Not as bad as a cleaver but close. Have fun and be safe when trying to sort out the handling issues. This is the fun part.
Click to expand...

I had a real bad chine walk at 63 that would make your backside pucker and grab your seat it was real scary and I tried up / down all around with my jack plate and motor ( Guss suggested a 4 blade prop ~ haven't had the money to get one and try~ but I did have a lower unit that was drilled for a ~ whale tail~ so I dug through the parts trailer I have and found one that was off a 2.4 that I had gotten parts off and tried it.. I got 63mph ~ NO chine walk~ and I was at 5,000 rpm with a 28 pitch chopper prop..( I was only at 1/2 throttle )
~ I will sat this every boat is a little different, you have to find what works on your boat for you ~ But on my rig the chine walk is totally gone~ I have some little tuning to do but I will see 75+ this summer. ;) :)
 
Last edited:
practice is everything, so is water conditions.
Foot throttle is a must, keeping two hands on the wheel is the only way to really get control of it.
trim control on the steering helps, trim tabs help and so does a 4 blade vs a 3 blade prop.
but on my non-pad vhull it doesn't matter what height i have it at, ive tried everything from 5" below to 2" above, no matter what the chine walk comes back at about 65 mph and the higher it is jacked the more torqe steering there is, really gives your arms a workout if you do not have hydraulic.
worst part of all is that my max speed has always been when i was controlling the chine the best, so theres more speed there just need to get the boat under control. :cheers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top