1993 Prostar 190 Tracking

[Lowballer]

So. Boat tracks dead straight. Very hard to drive through the course. Rudder has already been ground on the starboard side. Do I grind it more?

 

[6balls]

Can you further explain boat tracks dead straight very hard to drive through the course?

[MDB1056]

Yes please explain better. Would seem dead straight tracking would be a good thing , making it easy to drive through the course

[Horton]

funny I have no idea which side is starboard

[dbutcher]

Sounds like too much load on the steering wheel. Easy to drive straight but arm gets tired?

[6balls]

@horton hope that doesn't leave you with too much trouble figuring out which side is port (not just a dessert wine)...are you ok with right and left hands? 1,3,5 vs. 2, 4,6? Toe side/heel side? I think you should panda yourself...or panda me again I'm used to it.

[Deanoski]

Should pulled hard to the right while driving straight

 

Looks like someone ground the right side to take way the load on the wheel

[Horton]

@6balls I'm pretty good with right and left, clockwise counterclockwise, toe side heel side, & North South east West.

[Lowballer]

Lol.

When I’m not pulling anyone I can take my hands off the wheel at 36 mph and the boat goes dead straight. Absolutely no pull right or left which makes it very hard to drive straight with a skier pulling. The rudder has been ground on the right side. If you zoom in on the picture you should be able to see it. From what I have heard, if you grind it so it pulls slightly to the right it tracks much better with a skier behind it. Wondering if anyone has experience with this.

[BraceMaker]

Ya just get a flap disc on a cordless grinder and take a bit off following the factory bevel. One or two light passes at a time till it had a little load on it.

[DW]

@Lowballer - there are a few threads on this site that do detail rudder grinding, might also do a google search as details on process have been documented elsewhere. Some stuff posted in the attachment should help.

 

[keithh2oskier]

@Horton

 

Port is left, it has 4 letters just like the word 'left'. That makes starboard the right side.

 

Also think port wine, which is red, which coincides with the bow light having the red on the left/port side.

 

You may need this info for your California Boating card.

[chrislandy]

Red is right, but only from the front ;)

[Hockdog]

Red Right Return

[Dacon62]

Grind right side/drivers side a bit at a time.

Starboard is a longer word than Port so it associates with longer words, Right/Green.

Port is a shorter word than Starboard so it associates with shorter words, Left/Red.

Couldn't keep it straight till I remembered this.

[Vernon Reeve]

Port/Left is what I used to use to remember until I heard this story. The really old boats used to have a rudder (or oar) was hanging off the side of the boat for steering. So it was originally called Steerboard since that was the side for steering. Which is maybe why the steering wheel is on that side now. Since the rudder/oar was on that side, you couldn't get out of the boat on that side, so you had to get out on the other side, the port side. Port is defined as an access point. You'll see that word used in computers, bays, windows in a boat, etc, so the access point to the boat would be the port side in those old boats. It would be a lot easier if they had left the name Steerboard.

[Lowballer]

I hope everyone got their right and left figured out :D Sorry about that. Thanks for all your help. I will slowly grind the rudder with the boat on the lift and keep test driving. I don’t have any experience driving through the course. Any advice on how much pull to the right I’m looking for when testing?

[keithh2oskier]

@Lowballer it's personal preference really. I have driven boats that require a solid hand to keep the wheel from turning. I have mine set that keeps a pretty light drag and probably only takes 2 fingers to keep the pressure so it's not exhausting to drive.

[coach3]

@Horton Horton needs a panda for not knowing port and starboard. common.

BTW, boats need torque steer to get the steering wheel off of center because of slop in the linkage. That's how it works with the steering cables. Otherwise, one can move the steering wheel left or right and the boat does not respond. Grinding the rudder solves it. Problem solved.

[eyepeeler]

Keep grinding until you start feeling rudder torque at around 23 mph.

[Dacon62]

The amount of ideal torque will vary with the individual. For me I filed a bit drove it, filed a bit more, drove it. Until I had the feeling I wanted. At slalom speeds I wanted to be able to have enough torque that when I needed to steer the boat to the right I just had to release pressure on the wheel with my left hand at around the 10 o’clock position and the boat would go right at the appropriate response rate that I didn’t have to apply pressure on the steering wheel in that direction.

Hope that makes sense.