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spray rails 17T Pathfinder


Wanaflatsfish

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I was wondering this too and did some googling around.

Found this 17T with deflectors up high under the gunwales, which the guy says are effective. http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?129467-2000-Pathfinder-Tunnel-Hull-Excellent-Condition-8900

I have my doubts, though. In my limited experience, the problem spray comes out almost horizontally from the chines and then catches the wind, rather than sheeting up the hull sides, as it does on boats with softer chines and a more rounded shape forward.

Then I found this beautiful Hewes restoration with rails added along the chine lines. http://www.mbcforum.com/showtopic.php?fid/58/tid/30291/

I'm guessing they are probably these, or something very similar. http://tacomarine.com/product/V21-0874/2-1-16-x-1-7-16-Rigid-Spray-Rail

This approach looks more promising. Seems like even a small amount of downward "hook" along the chines forward would help knock that spray down as it releases from the flat hull bottom. You'd basically be creating little tiny reverse chines forward.

There's a possibility, of course, that they'd also help the bow "grab" more in turns, which could make the stern sliding more pronounced.

At any rate, that's a ways down the road for me. Up here in the northern lagoon, I rarely face long runs in significant chop. Even when it blows, you can usually stay in lees without too much trouble.

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Be careful with the "reverse chine" idea, we put some on a FS18 (homemade wooden skiff from Bateu Boatworks) and it was very dangerous to say the least. The boat would basically rotate on the forward part of the hull like a jet ski. We threw a 3 gallon gas tank and my buddy Thomas out of the back. We cut them off and stuck with the plans as originally engineered.

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Interesting, Jason. That's exactly what I meant about the bow grabbing and the stern sliding. In fact, my 17T already does that to a significant degree, and yes, it can feel sort of like a jet ski. Definitely takes some getting used to coming from a V-bottom.

When running in turns in the back...you have to run with tabs full down to stop the sliding..without..the stern will slide out from under you...

When I'm runnning the rivers in back in Choko and EC areas...I'm constantly adjusting the tabs, depending on the condtions...

If you have a cross wind, you have to lift one side up signficantly to stop the spray...if you are running dead on - you have to drive the bow into the waves....if you need to run shallow, you drive the bow down and lift the lower unit....

DC

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