26' sedan

[Jaxon]

I have a 1978 26' sedan. being from whatcom county I am quite proud
of this boat. I have a problem, however. The boat does not handle
very well. It is a single screw inboard with a small block. The boat
seems to want to push and list depending on how the waves hit you. It
really bow steers when you use the trim tabs. I really like the boat
and want to fix the problem. I've thought about putting a stern-drive
on it, but I'm wondering if the problem might be the fact that it has
a bit of a keel. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks,
Jaxon

[Troy Olason]

Hi there,

I would talk to the guys at Norstar Boats about this. They are the original Uniflite family and still build boats and work on boats.

 

Take a look at this article in Cruising Northwest... http://www.cruisingnw.com/featured-stories/checkoutthenewuniflites

 

I know that Gary will have some ideas and options for you!

 

All the best,

 

Troy

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[Jaxon Ernst]

Troy,

Hey thanks a lot for the response.  I was beginning to think nobody would answer me.  It's a good idea I'll try giving them a call. 

Jaxon

Sent from my iPhone

[Troy Olason]

Did you talk to those guys? Get any ideas?

[Jaxon Ernst]

Troy,

 I called a couple of times and haven't heard back from anyone. I wonder if they aren't there very often, because I have yet to reach a person instead of an answering machine. 

Jaxon

Sent from my iPhone

[RichZ]

Just a few thoughts

Is there a heavy anchor with chain in the bow?

Are the trim tabs on all the time?  Do they hang proud of the of the hull line?

Do they look like they were factory installed?

You can remove just the tabs to test if they look wrong.

It does not seem possible that your boat was sold by Uniflite with that defect.

There must be something wrong.

Wood boat were sensitive to center blocking during storage that would cause the center to cup and cause a similar problem.  I can't imagine a Uni doing that with that solid keel, but anything is possible.

Was a belly tank added forward? Batteries?

Sent from my iPad

[sear...@buckeye-express.com]

The Uniflite people told me this problem is called keel-steer. It is caused by the deep fore-foot that Uni's have, witch is nice to slice into a steep chop to smooth the ride. But waves from off the center line will catch that deep bow and steer the boat were ever it wants to. As you can notice SeaRay's have the bows cut away.to eliminate this. The Uni. people said to run the boat faster like 30 mph to get the bow up. Too fast for me. So I play with the trim tabs to bring the bow down for max speed, but not too far down that bow catches on the waves. I even took off the 36 x 12 tabs and put on 45 x 18 tabs, the largest that will fit on the 27' hull. You must remember every boat is a compromise and Uniflites do set down nice and easy.    Ray
--- ric...@yahoo.com wrote:

[Jaxon Ernst]

Ray,

That sounds like the exact culprit.  When I run about 25-28 mph, the boat starts to sit down in front and really ride nice, only problem is that it's working the motor too hard.  I have thought about re powering so that I can cruise at the 25-28 range instead of 18-20. Big block, stroker, stern drive, any ideas, ???  With regards to the trim tabs, they don't help they hurt the listing problem.  I've found that leaving them all up helps.  You are also right about the uni handling the chop.  It eats that stuff right up, but you can't always hit the waves head on and in ocean swells and a good strong running tide it keeps you on your toes.  I wonder if a bigger rudder with some hydraulic steering would help?  I'll bet the twin screw boats don't have near the same problem.  

Thanks,

Jaxon 

[Troy Olason]

Interesting. Not sure. I'll try to get a hold of them as well.

[Jaxon Ernst]

Thanks. 

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