Tuning / Troubleshooting
At first glance the simplicity of the WaterBoard™
design may fool you into believing that little or no
tuning will be required. Nothing could be further
from the truth. The following tuning and
troubleshooting tips will assist you in getting the
most performance from your WaterBoard™
These tips were written assuming that you have
built and equipped the boat per our instructions.
Boat dives and will not plane
This is a pretty rare condition when built and
balanced as described in this manual. Diving is
often the result of the boat being balanced too far
forward and or the chines having been left
completely sharp and square. Additionally thrust
line can cause the boat to dive.
Tuning Tip - Radius chines as described in
manual, move the balance point of the boat aft.
In order for the boat to come up on plane it needs
to ride up and over the bow wake. Sometimes
shimming the motor so that the thrust produced
by the prop is angled down slightly will lift the
back of the boat and assist with riding up on plane
faster.
Boat skipping
Defined as the entire boat or bow bouncing up
and down out of the water especially in the
straights. This is typically the result of a severe
imperfection on bottom of the hull and to a lesser
extent the CG or balance of the boat.
Tuning Tip - Try installing a trim tab from thin
aluminum sheet at the transom to better control
the boats attitude as it comes up on plane. Bend
the tab down to force the bow into the water, up to
allow the bow to rise up.
Boat will not skid in turns
When at planing speeds (1/3-2/3 throttle) the boat
may stay “stuck” to the water on a chine or side
resisting turn input. Often it will appear as
thought the water flow will not release from the
sides of the boat or chines to produce the
characteristic airboat skidding turn. Occasionally
turn performance may be so bad that the boat will
actually roll out or against the turn even to the
point of flipping over.
Begin by verifying that the rudder is moving equal
amounts right and left and adjust if necessary.
Tuning should be performed on calm days so as
to minimize the influence of wind on the craft. If
the turning problem occurs only for right hand
turns this disparity is the result of motor torque
acting on the boat lifting the right chine of the boat
and driving the left deeper into the water.
Tuning Tip - Shim the motor so that more of the
prop blast is directed towards the opposite side of
the boat from the problem turn. That is to say, if
the boat is having difficulties turning right, direct
more thrust to the left side of the boat which has
the effect of countering the motor and prop torque
thus driving the right chine back into the water
and lifting the left producing a better right turn
performance.
If turning performance is EQUALLY bad for both
left and right turns this is often the result of having
too little radius along the chines.
Tuning Tip - Per the instructions of the build you
were to have pre-radiused the chines using the
1/16 in. radius guide. Operations in rougher
waters may require adding a bit more radius to
the chines. Use a sanding block or bar loaded
with 400 grit paper to increase the radius applied
to the chines of the boat. Re-seal the chines with
DEFT after you have applied the radius.
Boat digs or dives when turning
Especially in chop or when sliding across wake
(yours or another boats) you may find a that
sweeper turn interrupted by a sudden splash and
the boat diving sideways into the water causing a
loss of speed.
This problems occurs when the outside chine of
the boat (relative to the turn direction) is not being
lifted high enough out of the water to ride over the
chop or wake.
© 2010 Stevens AeroModel all rights reserved. V2.0 (11.10.2014)
Page 21 of 25
