Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Help w setup P Classic, steering torque and new driver
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Hello all,i have a new to me 2003 pantera classic DC with a yamaha ox66 200, its got a stainless prop without a model number, its just labeled “25-TI” (the “I” may be a 1?) and “15 ./8”. prop to pad is about 3 1/4″ and its clear from marks on the jackplate that it spent some time about 1/2″ lower than it is now. It has dual cable steering, and steering is easy at lower speeds. This is my first bass boat, I came from a biggish lund fishing boat so I know Im going to have a significant learning curve in just driving this boat. I also have nothing to prove, so rest easy! Im sure Ill have questions as I get into my season, and Im definitely going to enlist the Schodack bassman for a driving lesson asap. My question today is about steering torque. I dont think the guy I bought the boat from ever drove it faster than 50-ish, which leaves a LOT on the table. He had the torque-tab (little mini skeg on the cavitation plate behind the prop) turned pretty far to the Right, which seemed counter intuitive to me. When I drove the boat last I only had it up to the high 50s, kissed 60 once, but there was excessive steering torque, I really had to work extremely hard to keep the boat going in a straight line as it wanted to veer right…I expect this both from torque and from the torque tab. My understanding is that steering torque indicates engine height is too HIGH, correct? As a first step I have straightened the torque tab so its in line with the propshaft. Is this correct? Question is on a recommendation for a base-setup to start from–is 3 1/4″ prop to pad as good a starting place as any? Of course Ill run it before I do anything because I want to change one thing at a time, but If I still have excessive torque is dropping the engine a bit the next place to go? If so, my inclination would be to go down to the old mark (1/2″). Any tips or insight?Thanks in advance,Dave Last edited by Macintosh on April 27th, 2015, 10:58 am, edited 3 times in total.
You are right in your thuts on it being too high. That is propeller torque pulling it right and the T1 is a newer propeller. Most of these came with Pro Series in 25″. Right hand torque is a product of the engine being too high and surfacing propeller blade pulling to one side. If you lower the engine enough you will remove the torque. Be sure the steering is free when sitting on the trailer, if so then you should be able to make it freer when under power. If not there is a possibility the cable is jamming into the wire wrapping shrouding it. The old saying years ago on the torque tab that mounts on the cavitation plate is take it off, toss it over your left shoulder and you will never know it. It has no effect on a Mercury or Yamaha engine at upper speeds, however it does on a Johnson//Evinrude in these year models. Today you will notice many high performance engines do not come with a torque tab and only have a flat plate as a sacrificial anode to draw corrosion.
These older posts are from the FAQ section and search may turn up more even. http://basscatowners.yuku.com/topic/2216/engine-heighthttp://basscatowners.yuku.com/topic/223 … entilationhttp://basscatowners.yuku.com/topic/218 … Experiencehttp://basscatowners.yuku.com/reply/609 … reply-6099Good luck!
You may try a 25M or 25 Fury if you can borrow them. What was your RPMs?
I have a 26P Fury and 26 & 27P Trophy Plus we could try though that T1 is a pretty good prop. The Trophy Plus is a 4 blade prop with less torque then a 3 blade Fury or T1. That boat/motor combo shouldnt have a problem turning a 26P especially in our neck of the woods. Think BCB mentioned before that Hammer has a lot of grunt so turning a 26P and maybe a 27 should be attainable. We can get together soon. Hoping the road is dried out at camp and can get boat in now. This week is kind of booked so hoping to get up after next weekend. Itching bad to get out. They pounded them this past weekend with winning weight in paper tourney of 23 plus pounds. Winner had a 6lb plus LM, 5 lb plus SM, and just under 5 LM. South Champlain is on!
Thanks all—I’m going to run it this weekend and (despite advice that the torque tab doesn’t do anything at all) verify before I mess with height, but if it’s still a handful even in the 50’s I’ll drop it a bit. On the trailer and at idle it steers fine, so hopefully the cables themselves are ok and I just need to lower the engine a bit. I think I need to learn to drive this thing before I start messing too much, so I’m fairly sure I don’t need a different prop at this point…that said can you use the mercury props (tempest, trophy, etc) on a yamaha engine? If so, is there an adaptor or something needed? Brian, sounds like you’re busy this week but if you’re free Saturday I’d planned to get out then, forecast looks pretty good. Id planned to stick around here depending on wind but I have the whole day so happy to head down your way if itd work!
What nobodys asked is – how much trim were you dialing up? A cat doesnt like a lot of trim, and thatll cause torque as well. 3 1/4″ PTP isnt far off. I doubt youre more than 1/4″ off the sweet spot. Youll find that the higher you are on the plate, the less trim you need.
It’s entirely possible it’s a trim question and seat time is what I need, I just wanted to see if I was in the ballpark because I’d prefer to learn to drive this thing with a reasonable setup that I don’t have to fight with more than I should. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone locally except Brian that could hop in and tell me +/- definitively if the setup was causing a problem, and I won’t be able to get out with him for several weeks. Regarding whether it’s a trim issue, I wouldn’t have said I was over-trimmed—but also remember this is my first bassboat, so take that with a grain of salt. My previous boat liked a moderate amount of trim and when it got there it would feel noticeably “looser”, but never really had anywhere close to this amount of torque. That was a 1200lb hull with a 125hp with cable steering, this is a 1300lb hull with a 200hp with cable steering and the torque was MUCH more on this boat even at similar speeds (40-45mph). I certainly wasn’t throwing a big roostertail or anything like that, but mostly there was no “sweet spot” I could feel in between my startoff (motor trimmed under) and on-plane trim positions where the torque lessened…perhaps I need MORE trim? Also, I measured my prop to pad on my dirt driveway so I wasn’t really able to get what I’d consider an accurate measurement—I don’t think it’s more than 3 1/4”, but it might be closer to 3” or so. I’ll definitely play with the trim a bunch before I make any changes, but it doesn’t sound like going down Ľ” or even ˝” will take me out of the realm of “a good place to start”. Thoughts or feedback on this? Am I on the right track?Not sure if this will help gauge height, but this is where its set now–you can see the line on the jackplate where it used to be 1/2″ lower. Last edited by Macintosh on April 27th, 2015, 6:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I have an 2006 Classic with a 200 Optimax, 26 p Tempest Plus and my jack plate was 1/2″ above flush when I got it and the steering torque was excessive. I was advised to lower it by a fellow BassCat owner. It is now 1/4″ below flush and the torques is gone for the most part and have run 74 GPS no problem. It did however take a number of laundry cycles to remove the brown spots from my shorts…..
I would think that hydraulic steering would come with an OX66 200. Are you sure it is not hydraulic steering?
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