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Challenger extended ride plate
- Thread starter Aquaman1
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henryb
Active Member
Sorry, when I originally responded, those pics had not been posted? Anyways, yes that is most certainly the extended ride plate! I'm very surprised that you are experiencing porpoising. I would examine all of the bolts that are holding it on, to see if they are loose or broken? If in fact they are good, then maybe you need to adjust the back of it to be a bit lower in the water?
Another possibility is that there is something being used as a ballast in the engine compartment or rear storage that puts extra weight at the rear... that will induce porpoising even with the ride plate!
Another possibility is that there is something being used as a ballast in the engine compartment or rear storage that puts extra weight at the rear... that will induce porpoising even with the ride plate!
henryb
Active Member
That ballast idea, brings up a good question... when you were out in the boat and experiencing a lot of porpoising... did you have passengers that were all sitting in the back seats? If that was the case, then you may just need to move your guests around to better balance the load.
beergut
Well-Known Member
No ballast- i was alone in the boat. The back of the boat was empty -I even removed the trunk floor. Half a tank of gas. But dropping the plate down another inch made all the difference in the world. Now I just have to figure out why it pulls to the left so much. The plate is level so I'm assuming it's linkage with the jet nozzle.
henryb
Active Member
Great news! One thing with these boats is that between the driver, the battery, tool bin, helm electronics ... there is quite a bit of weight on the starboard side. So it will pull that way! You can certainly adjust the steering cable to get it relatively straight, but as with any boat there are many factors that cause it to drift one way or the other, not to mention the shear fact that the water propulsion is spinning and it alone will have that effect. So it's all about getting weight balanced, steering cable as close as you can and you should be good. The ride plate can also help by adjusting one side lower will help steer.
Try raising the left bolt one full turn and retighten the jamb nut. One turn solved my pulling issues. Basically you want to lower the side you want to pull more towards. In your case either lower the right or raise the left.
biffdotorg
Active Member
I'm chiming in hopefully with some helpful info. I too had to drill out the screws in the ride plate and I was able to seat a stainless steel nylon lock flange nut in the ride plate. I made the hole in the ride plate slightly larger and tapped the flange nut in with a hammer. Then I used new slightly longer screws that would extended into the hole in the housing caused by drilling and tapping at the broken screw. Held perfect with no issue. I also purchased slightly longer bolts to drop the ride plate a little lower and was able to stop the porpoisesing .
I think it is important to note that using a higher grade bolt all the way around is very important. I pulled my ride plate again this morning as I am taking it in for winterization. I come to find that 3 of the four are shot. One of the Torx up front was all that was holding it. The other Torx worked it's way out, and the two bolts in the rear were either sheered off, or sheered when I tried to remove it.
The stress on those bolts has got to be great. I am 90% sure that I will need to drill and fill the front hole again. And I can only hope I can get the rear sheered one out.
Please don't take this the wrong way, as I am not badmouthing the plate. It does exactly what we are looking for it to do. But I can't more strongly recommend upgrading the hardware, and checking it annually.
Good luck guys.
Sandman251
Well-Known Member
So I have an 00' sportster 1800 with a 210hp that pulls to the left. I need to hold the steering wheel hard at about 2 o'clock to make the boat go straight. If I straighten the wheel I can feel/hear the boat "unload" to normal RPM and speed. However, then the boat begins turning left as if I had turned the wheel to the 10 o'clock position. Why would the boat "care" the wheel position relative to the nozzle position so long as the nozzle is straight? I've tried to adjust the factory ride plate with no success. All the running gear appears as-new. At rest, the boat does have a slight list to starboard, but I thought a pull, if any, would tend to follow the list. I'm stumped. I'm pulling the boat for the season and will check the alignment. I'd appreciate any suggestions.
njrealtor55
Active Member
if this ride plate is set too low, will it cause the boat to porpoise?
biffdotorg
Active Member
Just the opposite. Setting it low takes the bow down and decreases porpoise. Beef up the hardware though, I sheared bolts twice over two seasons. It's worth it for sure.
njrealtor55
Active Member
ok, i'll lower it a bit more and see what happens.
dblackstone
Well-Known Member
I read thru this looking to see how it worked with the Islandia, Did anyone try this on the Islandia
I can get one made locally by a buddy that does fab work.
I can get one made locally by a buddy that does fab work.
I just attached mine and it works great(Thanks Aquaman/Mark?- requested it Sunday, Mark called fabricator Monday, fabricator produced, I payed and Mark shipped on Thursday and I received the plate on Saturday- awesome turnaround time). One other option for removing the phillps head screws after trying the torch with the impact driver , was to place the impact driver phillips head bit in my socket/wrench and then jacking up and then lowering the boat onto my wrench that was resting on a block of wood with the bit inserted into the head of the screw. The wrench and bit were then sandwiched between the boat and block of wood, thereby preventing the bit from spinning out while rotating the handle. I loosened a quarter turn and then tightened working back and forth. One screw came out and I snapped the head off of the other. I then removed the star/torx bit screws easily/no resistance , removed the plate and used the double nut method previously mentioned to remove the remainder of the broken screw. Prior to all this I applied PB blaster to the screw from the open top of the thru hole. Hope this helps.
John
John
Natrillius
Member
I’d love to buy one too? Are they still being fabricated ?
Same here. I recently purchased a 2001 Challenger 1800. Porpoising is horrible from 25mph and up.
RexRexBaby
Active Member
Same here. I’d like one if you are still fabricating them.
Aquaman1
Active Member
Sorry for not getting back earlier. I can reach out to the fabrication shop to see if they can make some. The original gentleman who made them for me has cancer and does not work there anymore I’m sure someone else could make them for me. Let me know how many I need to make
BostonBeemah
Active Member
Sorry to hear about the old fabricator. Sign me up for one as well if we can find another person. Thanks
FloatingGiant
Member
Stupid question time... do these work on a 2000 speedster with a 240 merc? I’ve noticed mine porpoises quite a bit.
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