New prop needed after today...Suggestions?

[Timmy!]

Customer service goes a long way!

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

You cannot go wrong with ACME....

[murphini]

Hey Houston, I learned this 3 part lesson a long time ago;
1. The first mate is ALWAYS RIGHT.
2. Even when they are wrong, they are right.
3. The more you do to launch/load, the guiltier they will feel and offer to help. Then she will WANT to help.... start small. No woman wants to feel like she's ready for the Geritol ad, the more you don't let her do anything because it's too manly, the more she'll want to help.

What we do to retrieve:
I get dropped off and back the trailer down.
She brings it in close, I winch it in.
That way we don't power retrieve and it's easier to get the chines settled on the bunks.
I also sweetly ask her to turn it off, twice because the FAE makes it so quiet you can't hear.

After a few times, I make it like the winch can't reach the hook and ask her to bring it in a little closer........

On vacation a few years ago, we stay at a place on West Lake Okoboji (Spenchy & Resnick know where), I drive the car/trailer to the ramp on East Lake and she has to drive it over, by herself at 7am when it is perfectly calm and glassy. I was waiting for her to bring it in, it seemed like it was taking a while, and caught the sun glinting off something in the middle of the lake--she was doing full speed S-Turns and uTurns by herself. That's how you get them to help

[IDBoating]

seemed like it was taking a while, and caught the sun glinting off something in the middle of the lake--she was doing full speed S-Turns and uTurns by herself.

That's when you know they've caught the bug!

[houstonshark]

Hey Houston, I learned this 3 part lesson a long time ago;
1. The first mate is ALWAYS RIGHT.
2. Even when they are wrong, they are right.
3. The more you do to launch/load, the guiltier they will feel and offer to help. Then she will WANT to help.... start small. No woman wants to feel like she's ready for the Geritol ad, the more you don't let her do anything because it's too manly, the more she'll want to help.

What we do to retrieve:
I get dropped off and back the trailer down.
She brings it in close, I winch it in.
That way we don't power retrieve and it's easier to get the chines settled on the bunks.
I also sweetly ask her to turn it off, twice because the FAE makes it so quiet you can't hear.

After a few times, I make it like the winch can't reach the hook and ask her to bring it in a little closer........

On vacation a few years ago, we stay at a place on West Lake Okoboji (Spenchy & Resnick know where), I drive the car/trailer to the ramp on East Lake and she has to drive it over, by herself at 7am when it is perfectly calm and glassy. I was waiting for her to bring it in, it seemed like it was taking a while, and caught the sun glinting off something in the middle of the lake--she was doing full speed S-Turns and uTurns by herself. That's how you get them to help

Thanks for the advice! I thought I was helping her in the long run because if she just quit after 3-4 tries and I had to do it I was afraid she would be REALLY intimidated the next time out. She kept missing too far to the starboard side and kept coming in a little hot. As she would approach and I could tell she was going to be off I began asking her to put on the brake.

I had already fully explained to her that you only use reverse as a brake to slow the boat down when needed by ever so slightly pulling it into reverse enough to slow the boat but not enough to actually make it go in reverse. This has worked really well for me but when I would ask her to slow down or brake she would hit reverse enough to swing the back end around. This would start a cycle of me trying to explain it again, she wouldn't listen, try it again and would do the same thing.

Eventually, the last time I just had her aim for the left guide pole, I never said the word brake and she drove it right up. The river was really not moving at all from what I could tell but it just seemed like her frame of reference of where she needed to be was off.

She's ok now and is willing to try it again which I am sure will go smooth. I hope to give her some brief lessons on backing the trailer down this weekend. The ramp we use is not incredibly wide but is actually quite easy to navigate. She mentioned she would like to learn how so I think it will be great that she knows how to do both in case something happens to me while out on the water.

[Bruizza]

Houston I have to teach my fiancé all of these things as well. Not real excited for it. Hopefully your wife learns from it and does awesome next time!

[houstonshark]

I emailed Daniel Watkins earlier today to ask about the prop and weight setup in his RZR he pulls the Australian tour with. He got back to me pretty quick. Here's his response:

TJ

Glad you are loving your RZR. For a 20 foot long boat the wake is insane.*

My boat works best when I have;
A*14.5 x 14.25 Acme propeller and it works fantastic.*
The speed as 23mph*
72.5 length rope
Taps on 2
You will need to remember to weight the boat evenly.*Therefore if you are using the surf ballast full you will need to add extra weight to the front of the boat. I find the wake gets lippy if I the boat is weighted back heavy.*

I hope this helps.


Daniel Watkins

[chpthril]

I emailed Daniel Watkins earlier today to ask about the prop and weight setup in his RZR he pulls the Australian tour with. He got back to me pretty quick. Here's his response:

TJ

Glad you are loving your RZR. For a 20 foot long boat the wake is insane.*

My boat works best when I have;
A*14.5 x 14.25 Acme propeller and it works fantastic.*
The speed as 23mph*
72.5 length rope
Taps on 2
You will need to remember to weight the boat evenly.*Therefore if you are using the surf ballast full you will need to add extra weight to the front of the boat. I find the wake gets lippy if I the boat is weighted back heavy.*

I hope this helps.


Daniel Watkins

So he is running either a 1235 or 1273. Same dia and pitch, different cup.

[houstonshark]

Daniel copied Jim at Acme and when Jim replied to me tonight he said Daniel has the 1235. Jim wants me to measure the prop clearance of my boat because he really wants me to try a 15" 4 blade along with the 14.5" 5 blade and 1235.

[2thdoc01]

I dont know why you guys have your wives/gfs/fiances putting the boat on and off the trailer......

Here is what i do....

Pull into launch, everybody out and prep for launch. Kids have their jobs, i have mine and momma has hers.

I back boat into position, hop out and get into boat.

Momma backs boat in all the way, we launch and she parks.

I pick her up on the dock or meet her at our friends house.

When loading, she backs the trailer in. Its alot easier to control the variables teaching her to back the truck than to put the boat on and off.

With the. Tandem axle trailer...these things back up super easy.

I have her backing the truck up vs putting the boat on the trailer!

[Duncan]

When loading, she backs the trailer in. Its alot easier to control the variables teaching her to back the truck than to put the boat on and off.

Agreed. Loading the boat can get squirely really fast (e.g., wind, weather, other boats). Way more variables, especially on an inboard.

[dingleberry]

I dont know why you guys have your wives/gfs/fiances putting the boat on and off the trailer......

Uhhh, because the more they know how to do and feel comfortable doing, the better. Why wouldn't you want them to know how to handle all aspects of boating? Heck, my wife can do it all, and she can take her friends out for a girls' morning on the water while I'm at work. More power to her.

[robert theisen]

My wife does all the boat loading and unloading.She has had this duty since our first boat in 1989.The salesman suggested i teach her everything so i can enjoy getting pulled. Also if i get hurt and she has to get me back to the truck to take me to the hospital any man can back that tandem axle trailer down the ramp for her.

[2thdoc01]

Uhhh, because the more they know how to do and feel comfortable doing, the better. Why wouldn't you want them to know how to handle all aspects of boating? Heck, my wife can do it all, and she can take her friends out for a girls' morning on the water while I'm at work. More power to her.

Uhhhh...becuase some people...guys included...cant drive a boat well...esp an inboard.

My wife can drive the boat no problem, but its easier to have the lesser experienced peeps back a trailer down if they arent well versed in the inboard loading....as proof by the dinged prop.

[Ewok]

Uhhh, because the more they know how to do and feel comfortable doing, the better. Why wouldn't you want them to know how to handle all aspects of boating? Heck, my wife can do it all, and she can take her friends out for a girls' morning on the water while I'm at work. More power to her.

X2, my wife is good at driving the truck and backing the boat and trailer down the ramp. This year I'm going to get her proficient at driving the boat onto the trailer. I want her comfortable so that she can take it out without me. What if I get knocked out on the water and your significant other needs to load the boat without you? Always a good idea to have redundancy built in.