Hello everybody i recently finished my first boat. It is about 25 inches long and it has an O.S 18 CVR-MX. I just drove it today and was impressed with the acceleration and speed. I am running it with and octura X438 prop and an outura surface drive setup. I have a couple questions about this boat and was wondering if anyone could healp me. first and foremost i had a problem with the turning. the boat only seems to turn to the right and not much to the left at all. I have two turning fins on the boat that I made myself, they are 1inch wide and 2 inches deep. Could these be restricting the turning. also when i punch it it seems to get up to speed FAST but once it is on plane for a second it slows down. what could that be?


Thank you

About the slowing down after it gets up to speed. This sounds like the engine may be a little too lean.

OK, you've got some work ahead of you yet!
Your water pick-up is in a bad spot which can add to the boat not running straight and making it harder to turn left.
The turn fins are about twice the size that you need and are at the wrong angle. They should be 90 degrees to the bottom of the hull, not to the sides.
The trim tabs should be 1/16" above the bottom of the hull.
Square up the rudder to the bracket for improved steering.
Get the prop strut so that it is parallel to the bottom of the hull, not angled downwards. Raise it up higher if you can, as close to the bottom as possible.
That bullet shaped prop nut. Put a sliver of fuel tubing between it and the prop or you'll lose both of them. It will work like a lock nut.
Cut that skeg of the bottom of the strut, you don't need it.
Lighten that motor mount if you can. Ounces add up quickly in little boats and lighter equals faster.
At first, you hull looked like the DPI Shiada River Racer/ProBoat Nitro Fury. DPI made the Nitro Fury with only a few changes, the deck, a covered radio box and wood in the motor mount area.

WOW that is quite a lot, ok first of all where would be the best place to put the pickup. And how long should the turning fins be? The problem i have with the prop is it can not go to high without putting stress on the cable. and by the skeg do u mean the fin on the bottom of the strut?

Ok so i did every thing that you sugested Ron, But i could not move the pickup any more to the center of the boat because the radio box is in the way. I took some pics so see if i did everything rite. One thing is that the boat weighs a little under 4 pounds. I think that is quite alot. I realy dont know how to take any weight off cause i dont have much on the boat. and about the engine mount there is not much to it so i realy cant take much off of it.

That looks much better. Boy, you work fast!
Try to get the strut level with the bottom of the hull yet as with it tilted down, it's pushing the front down.
I've got the same strut and rudder on my Wild Thing 12. I used a different strut bracket though, a home-made one.

OK, do you mean level like parallel or in line with the hull? And what should i do with the water intake?

Yup.
For now, leave the water pick-up where it is. You can solder a 1/8" brass tube to the back of the rudder and let it extend slightly below the rudder and cut it off at a 45. I saw Gary Preusse doing this on his .12 powered SAW outrigger hydro using the same rudder that we are.

hey ron, i drove my boat recently and it turns to the right well, but it still turns bad to the left, how could i fix that?? I am also wondering how high should the prop be located for best performance on a serface drive. Because when i drove it seemed to not plain as well and it seemed to slip .

the turn fins are still not right
they should be 90 degrees to the bottom of the hull
you will have to legthen the slot in the strut blade to get it high enough,

Not turning well to the left is the nature of the beast, this is why we racing turning right only as we are fighting the paddlewheel effect of the prop.
With a flat-bottom boat, you've gone about as high as you can.

ok ron i ran my boat today and i noticed that it had a hard time to get up on a plain, sometimes. when i move the trim tabs up it is better but the boat gets SO squirly. I dont know what this could mean, maby it is the prop position or the engine. I am also upset because i dont think i broke the engine in well at all, because it still was hard to pull start at the end of the day. UHHH so much to fix!!!

What type of hull is that is looks like a v with the back part of the v cut off?
Cud the back of the boat be coming out of the water lifting the prop with it and losing thrust?
Its Offaly flat back their cud it be the ruder is coming to far out of the water when turning left as well, if the hull is the way I think it is would make cense
just my .02

With a flat-bottomed boat, it's going to make you learn how to DRIVE a boat where most of us can just about point and shoot. Watching the water and seeing what's ahead will make you a better racer if you should decide to try it down the road.
Play with the trim tabs some more. A tiny change in them will translate into big changes on the water in the way that it handles.
Part of it is because it might be nose heavy.

This is a serface drive boat, so how close should the prop be the hull? I think that is why it some times does not get on plain.