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Challenger extended ride plate
- Thread starter Aquaman1
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biffdotorg
Active Member
X2, I want to know what you experience once installed. I am still thinking I may create a shorter version on my own that will work with my CobraJet Steering.
Aquaman,
I am looking to adjust the plate I got from you for a pull to port. It is not terrible, but I have to apply pressure to the wheel to the right to keep it tracking. Would I lower the port side for a pull to port or the storyboard side of the plate?
Thanks,
Mike
For those who have the stuck or stripped bolts on your factory plate, here's another option as what I did. I have a 2003 SeaDoo Utopia with the Mercury 240EFI engine and M2 Jet Drive.
I do a lot of hobby work with Carbon Fiber, so I'm pretty comfortable making pieces that are more than strong enough out of it. I went with Carbon because it's a LOT LOT lighter than any steel or even Aluminum equivalent ideas that have been made on here and the stuff I made for this will flex a small amount but always return to the original shape. So think when the boat takes off, you want it to pitch a little but then the plate pushes back down to level it out.
I made basically an "extension" plate that I drilled 4 holes in my factory plate and mounted it. There's more than enough material there, the original plate has 13"x4" sticking out that you can use as the mounting section for your extension plate. I also beveled the leading edge so there's next to no water resistance. The 2 bolts towards the stern have washers between the CF plate and the factory ride plate to be able to adjust the angle. Currently with about a 3/16" amount of washers, the boat works perfectly with no porpoising and rides awesome even with 3 people on the rear seats with no one upfront.
I also shaped the plate with a little different outline to provide as much ride plane help without interfering with the nozzle at all.
And you can partly see the other piece I've made - a rudder out of Carbon that attaches to the nozzle itself. I wanted something that steered a little better and didn't have the tendencies to drift as much when moving. It also gives you a tremendous amount more steering at slower speeds. I'm still tweaking the shape of it for the best performance.
All of these parts have been through at least 4 hours of running now with no issues. I think I even smacked the rudder into the bottom once already with no damage on a hard take off in shallow water, so they're very durable.
I've also noticed zero loss in top speed - actually may have gained .5 or 1 mph.
I do a lot of hobby work with Carbon Fiber, so I'm pretty comfortable making pieces that are more than strong enough out of it. I went with Carbon because it's a LOT LOT lighter than any steel or even Aluminum equivalent ideas that have been made on here and the stuff I made for this will flex a small amount but always return to the original shape. So think when the boat takes off, you want it to pitch a little but then the plate pushes back down to level it out.
I made basically an "extension" plate that I drilled 4 holes in my factory plate and mounted it. There's more than enough material there, the original plate has 13"x4" sticking out that you can use as the mounting section for your extension plate. I also beveled the leading edge so there's next to no water resistance. The 2 bolts towards the stern have washers between the CF plate and the factory ride plate to be able to adjust the angle. Currently with about a 3/16" amount of washers, the boat works perfectly with no porpoising and rides awesome even with 3 people on the rear seats with no one upfront.
I also shaped the plate with a little different outline to provide as much ride plane help without interfering with the nozzle at all.
And you can partly see the other piece I've made - a rudder out of Carbon that attaches to the nozzle itself. I wanted something that steered a little better and didn't have the tendencies to drift as much when moving. It also gives you a tremendous amount more steering at slower speeds. I'm still tweaking the shape of it for the best performance.
All of these parts have been through at least 4 hours of running now with no issues. I think I even smacked the rudder into the bottom once already with no damage on a hard take off in shallow water, so they're very durable.
I've also noticed zero loss in top speed - actually may have gained .5 or 1 mph.
I did some testing and trimming and the ride is perfect now with no pull either side. Thanks for the help and great product!
SeptemberC
Active Member
Trip to the lake tomorrow and Saturday. Will keep you posted.
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henryb
Active Member
Great to hear you were able to get the "pull to one side" worked out with trimming the extended ride plate. I was wondering what adjustments you actually did... mine pulls slightly to the left, so I have to turn the steering wheel to the right to correct. On the ride plate which side would correct that... post #11 suggests that I would need to lower the left side (port side)... but that almost seems like it would exaggerate the situation, but I could be completely wrong? What was your experience?
Thanks,
Brent.
I would say lower the side opposite that you have to turn into. If you have to turn to the right to straighten it out, lower the left side. I started with the plate adjustment screws all the way up and the ride straighten out, but I still had a little porpoising going on. I lowered the screws 3 turns and it then pulled some to the left, so I raised the left side 3/4 turn and it straightened right out.The hard part is you have to pull the boat each time to adjust, but it is worth it. It does not take a lot of turns to make a big change. I am going to run both up one turn to see if I can keep the porpoising down.
henryb
Active Member
Thanks for the feedback, I will be giving it a try this weekend, I will report back on how it worked.
SeptemberC
Active Member
Thank Aquaman!!
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SeptemberC
Active Member
I HAVE TO LAUGH!!!
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SeptemberC
Active Member
I think I'd want SS
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Aquaman1
Active Member
Finally went out with new ride plate today. This is my first jet boat, and I was a little skeptical that a simple ride plate could solve the issue. Well, it did! Heavy chop today and no porpoising!!! Normally I would have to back off the throttle to regain control, but not today. Still hit 53 mph without even trying, and will start adjusting until porpoising reappears to pick up more top end. Aquaman, you are AquaGenius!!! Can't thank you enough.
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Aquaman1
Active Member
Thank you very much for the kind words. As soon as I made one of these for my boat and it fixed the porpoising problem I knew many other people were out there with the same problem I had. It seems like a very simple fix I wonder why SeaDoo never made these from the get-go. If you know anybody with one of these types of boat Spread the word so they can enjoy their boat as well.
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