arneson surface drive 12

[mr faria]

Originally Posted by Frosty

The Hydraulic pressure will not be 2500, theres nothing to push but steer the drive leg.

Do you have a hydraulic or mechanical tie bar.

Why is steering a nightmare?

The hydraulic hoses get extremely hot so were thinking of putting an oil cooler. We don't have a tie bar. Problem is when I get up on a plane exceeding 29mph on up the boat runs on it's bow, even running with trimmed all the way up. Being a cat the bow shoots one way or the other so you have to constantly correct your steering. On turns boat leans the wrong way, away from turn rather than into it, giving the feeling of rolling.

[Frosty]

So its power steering, pump assisted.

You do have a tie bar but it is Hydraulic, integral in the system.

If you don't this could be your erratic steering probs. Imagine your car not having the front wheels connected to each other.

You should have balanced rams that displace fluid from the rear as it is actuated from the front, this will be connected to the other ram. That is a hydraulic tie bar, meaning the rams are hydraulically "tied"to each other.

If you can run with trim full up, there is something wrong. We need to get into shaft drive angles and prop rakes --oh dear!

Your rotation of the props will want to pull or push the drives apart or together depending on your rotation, your Hydraulic tie bar should always be in compression.

Your platform is so big you would not be able to see if the drives had come out of alignment. You should have a cock on the hydraulic tie bar line to adjust alignment.

You are certainly not under powered, it would seem to me that your probs are installation related.

You need to contact Rick at Arneson.

[mr faria]

Yes it's got a power steering pump with hydraulic tie bar, running full trim up. I believe the platform prevents the props from ventilating so boat cannot out of the hole, then after great difficulty, acts like a trim tab pushing the bow down after getting on a plane. Thanks again I will be getting in touch with Rick.

[Rik]

Cut a hole, large one near the propellers and put a grate in place so that one cannot fall through into dangers way.

This will enable the vacuum to be broken and your plaining will improve.

As for speed handling, your drives are not in sync.

Do you have any photos of the rear view showing the tunnel height?