Hurricane owners please help

Hi, I'm a new user of this forum and have found it useful in answering some questions already, thanks. One question I can't seem to answer is the propeller dilemma. I have a 2001 Hurricane, which I love, but we seem to have to wakeboard faster than other boats to avoid the wake crumbling as the boat falls off the plane. I only have the center ballast full, and about 5 people, so I don't think it's overloaded... Difficult to tell you how fast, too, as the speedometer is not adjusted, I can tell you we do between 24000-25500 revs. I've got the 3-blade prop the boat came with, and I wonder - have any of you tried a 4-blade propeller on a Hurricane? if so, which type, and what's the result? Any help would be appreciated.

Um, I'm trying to post a picture of it.

What 3 blade is on the boat??

If you don't know how fast you are going what makes you think you are going faster than others???

I would recomend that you get an inexpesive GPS and set the speedos

I can't tell what the 3-blade is, as some of the numbers are scratched, but I can make out 18(or13)x12.62 SV. any idea what it might be?

I know I'm going faster than others because when we cruise along the same direction as other wakeboarders we always overtake them, and if I go as slow as they do goodbye wake. Also, I've boarded behind other boats and I find it easier on my arms. Here's a pic of the prop, where the nut is (is this the only place to look for details??)

Inexpensive GPS? hmmm. How much is inexpensive?

You probally have an acme 3 blade prop. That is a very good prop. I have one on my avalanche and would never change it.

Rod, I agree with you - this prop is great - but what of the speed dilemma? I just thought, might this be solved by puttting a bit of weight in the front of the boat to keep the nose down?

Hey Daniel
where in Australia are you from I have Hurricane Also. I ride in Middle harbour sydney.
Im not sure if my prop is different but my wake seems to stay pretty clean at low speeds, no complaints.

Hey Steve
Seems we're fairly close to each other, I ride on the Hawkesbury in Windsor. How are you finding your Hurricane? do you have ballast? what revs do you board at, I have to do at least 24000 or the wake crumbles.

Steve,

got any pics of your boat/wake? how old is it? also, do you have a beefy engine or just the standard 350? that would certainly make a difference...

I think you are worried about nothing.
If you like the wake what difference does it make if you are going faster than someone else? They could have a crublely wake and not even know what that is.

One other question how is the wake plate adjusted?

(Message edited by krbaugh on December 15, 2003)

Dan,
Im not sure why he is having the speed problem. I would think by putting more weight in the front of the boat I would help him. I have never experienced any problems like this with my avalanche. They are not the same hulls so I cannot really say why is has to go faster to keep a better wake.

Crank the wake plate down. Worked for me. Fill all the ballasts up. You need the weight with the shallower hull. As far as the speed goes, I pull at 21 and that's just about where the wake stands up tallest. I have a 4 blade Ambush

(Message edited by oshensurfer on December 16, 2003)

Daniel,
I have a 2002 Hurricane and put an ACME 4 blade on it and it holds speed and planes alot better than the stock prop. I really do not have a problem with my wake crumbling I get a little curl on the top of my wake sometimes when the water isn't real smooth it is about the size of a candycane curl. I think my wake is really good. Everyone I have pulled behind it loves the wake also.

It does not sound like you are going all that slow. If you do some basic calculations it sounds like you are riding around 21 to 25 MPH. I assume your RPM's are 2500 rpm (not 25000, that is double a formula one race car), I think the second number on the prop is the pitch 12.62 inches per revolution. One mile is 5280 feet. Every prop has a term called slippage. I do not remember what the excepted value is for slippage but lets assume a range of getting 70% to 85% performance from the prop.

12.62*.70=8.834 inch per revolution
12.62*.85=10.727 inch per revolution

Next inches to feet 12in per 1ft
8.834/12= 0.73617 ft per revolution (70%)
10.727/12= 0.893917 ft per revolution (85%)

Now take your Revolutions per Minute (RPM) and lets use your 2500 RPM case as a baseline.

0.73617 ft per Rev * 2500 rev per min =
1840.425 feet per minute (70%)

0.893917 ft per rev * 2500 rev per min = 2234.7925 feet per minute (85%)

The Revolutions cancel leaving you feet traveled per minute

1840.425 feet per minute / 5280 ft per mile = 0.348565341 miles per minute (70%)

2234.7925 feet per minute / 5280ft per mile = 0.4232561553 miles per minute (85%)

Then multiply the answer by 60 to convert to MPH

0.348565341 miles per minute * 60 = 20.91392046 MPH (70%)

0.4232561553 miles per minute * 60 = 25.395369318 MPH (85%)

If your prop is hooking up well, you may be going a little fast. I am also assuming you do not have a gear reduction in the V-drive unit like most of them do. The reason I figure you do not is because the prop pitch is very low. It is like that of most direct drives. If it does have a reduction, in that case, you may be slower by a factor of 1.25 to 1.44.

Basically if you have a 1.25 gear reduction in the V-drive and take the 25 MPH number, you may be doing around 20.3 MPH. Very Slow.

Just looking at the ACME prop site and it looks like Centurion uses 1 to 1 V-drives

Did a little more reasearch on prop slippage and it looks like 80 to 90 percent seems to be some accepted values (of course this is for a regular running boat and not heavily weighted). Meaning with your 1 to 1 V-drive, you are probabely running at 25 MPH with weight in the boat.

26.9 MPH is the calculation with the 90% value

Just woke up, was delighted with all your responses, thanks dudes!!
Rod, I think you're right. As I said, I think we're going a bit too fast (about 25MPH sounds right). I'm going out today after work and I'm going to try a couple of things, I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again. Maybe I'll post a couple of pics of the wake at different speeds (or RPM's) if I can get a digital camera.

How do you have the boat weighted? That will change everything. Like someone said before in the thread. Add more wieght up front and like some else said with the trim plate. The trim plate fix also means more wieght up front. Most common mistake from what I see is people overweighting the back of the boat. Add more up front and then take some picts.

Take the guessing out of the equation buy or borrow a GPS.

I have the same boat with the center ballast. Regarding the wake crumbling, you have to add weight in the bow. 250 - 300 lbs will clean that curl up at about 19 mph. I used to run a stainless 13X13 oj. It seems to have given me the best all around performance but I was nervous running a prop that may not be so forgiving if I hit something. I now run an acme 4 blade 13X12.5 nibral. Seems to give me a bit better hole shot but a much stronger mid-range. I also keep my hydraulic wake plate all the way up.

Hey Dan and Steve. My girl and I coming down to Australia Dec. 20th to Jan 3rd. for the holidays and to get out of Portland, Or. with all of our winter weather. I would love to get in some boarding while I am down there. Anyway either of you guys can take two Yanks out while we are down there? I'll supply the beer and Gas, We are going to be in Sydney for most of our visit and are taking a trip to Brisbane for 2 days. Let me know. Of course I would return the favor if you ever came to the states. I own a X-star V-Drive and we go out almost everyday during the summer.

Hey Chris,

As I said, I'd be happy to take you for a board. Forgot to mention, I've been in touch with Steve and he's not in Sydney for a little while, just so you know he's not ignoring your request.

Nick says he cranks his plate all the way up. This is cool if you don't have rear locker sacks, but if you do you'll need to go the opposite way.

Scott,
Scott You are right. I just find that when you start to trim the plate down it seems to make the wake a bit more rampy and less steep. I prefer the peak.
I found that if I put 2 sacks in the rear locker then I have to put more weight in the bow...e.g 500lbs in rear, center ballast full, 250lb sac in bow plus 2 65lb lead bricks under each seat. still playing around with weight distribution. What do you do?

Like you said, it depends on what kind of wake you like. I like the wake semi steep, so i put the plate down. The hurricane has a naturally steep wake for some reason and it gets steeper the more weight in the back without the offset weight in the front or with the plate down. I kinda like the wake with just the center tank full too. I usually ride with the 3 stock ballasts full and the wake plate all the way down as far as I can tweak it. I have the manual type. Occassionally, if I'm not strapped for time, I'll put a fat sack 1/2 full in the front walkway (haven't bucked up to buy the ones that fit under the bow seats yet).

another 2 cents.
I have the first gen. ballast with just the center tank. I've played with this hole thing quite a bit and like I think Scott said, I like it a bit vert also. So, in addition to the center tank filled, I have a 375 under the side seat, 300 lbs of lead behing the driver, 250 in the front, and another 125 in lead at the very back of each locker. Oh, and the plate is down, down down!
I've had experienced riders tell me that this is at least as good as a fully loaded 02 and 03 VLX (no wedge)but a little more vert.
Play around with it till you find what you like!
Ho Ho Ho!