Z Series Chine Walking Issues

Nitro Owners Forum

Help Support Nitro Owners Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I have a similar problem but not sure what! I have a 2015 Z-7 with a 150 on it. It never had a problem before but recently it started to ( fall off pad) I have power poles and if I turn they will cut into the water and skip a little. It has always done this, but now I can be going straight and it will fall left or right and and catch! It seems to be getting worse. Any ideas that I can try? I have not changed a thing and I am not sure how to go forward. Help!
Check your prop for damage. If you have a Jack Plate check to see if it has moved and check to see if it or the motor is louse on the Transom.
watch your tack when running if the rpms all of sudden increase and the speed decreases you prop is slipping.
Something has changed to cause the boat to fall off the pad.
Also check the bottom of the boat to see if there is any damage or something is hanging lower that the bottom of the boat.
 
Check your prop for damage. If you have a Jack Plate check to see if it has moved and check to see if it or the motor is louse on the Transom.
watch your tack when running if the rpms all of sudden increase and the speed decreases you prop is slipping.
Something has changed to cause the boat to fall off the pad.
Also check the bottom of the boat to see if there is any damage or something is hanging lower that the bottom of the boat.
Thanks Kirby, I will go through your check list and let you know what I found !
 
This is my Z20 in the picture. I have had chine walk issues since ordering this boat. I have the ProXS 4.6 225 on this boat. My chine walk starts at about 68 - 70 on the gps. I have communicated with KVD on this as he is a Nitro guy. He said the same thing about lightly twitching the steering wheel to get through it. The dealer that set this boat up said that it was the fastest Nitro he has been in, he states he had it to 78 mph on gps. I have had it to 74 but it is violent. I have and Atlas hydraulic jackplate. I stand behind the boat and I can see that the engine is out of plumb with the hull by 1 to 1 1/2 degrees. I have an appointment on Saturday at Bass Pro Shop in Gainesville to dial it in. I had a touring FLW pro look at it Monday, by the time I got the engine in a vertical position he already had spotted it was out of plumb. I have spent a lot of time watching youtube videos on chine walk. One of the most valuable videos was the one explaining weight balancing. I have moved weight around efficiently and it has helped to some degree. Good luck with it, I am still tinkering with it. I have a Fury 23P prop. This boat explodes out of the hole shot, it nearly comes out of the hole on a plane.
I have a Z21 with a 250proXS, this is my third Nitro and the first one with a chine walk. mine begins at 58-60 when going straight, if I turn the wheel no more then a quarter inch the chine walk disappears Unfortunately at some point I need to correct the direction of the boat and the chine walk returns. When you say your motor is out of plumb do you mean it’s not level with the transom?
 
I have a Z21 with a 250proXS, this is my third Nitro and the first one with a chine walk. mine begins at 58-60 when going straight, if I turn the wheel no more then a quarter inch the chine walk disappears Unfortunately at some point I need to correct the direction of the boat and the chine walk returns. When you say your motor is out of plumb do you mean it’s not level with the transom?
Out of plumb means it is not straight up and down compared to the transom. Another way to say it is slightly tilted. One way to check it is park your boat and get it perfectly level side to side. You can do this with a a jack under one side of the trailer. Then put your motor so the cavitation plate is also level, or in the position on your trim gauge that you run it on plane. Then find the middle, side to side, of back of your engine cowl and tape a piece of string with a weight of some sort on the opposite end and let it hang behind the motor. if your motor is "plumb," the string should hang straight up and down and come right across your prop shaft.
 
Pat is correct with the plumbbob, having been a self employed welding contractor I have a lot of experience with this. I took my Z20 to Gainesville Bass Pro Shop. Greg is the service manager, and his crew of Ray and Issac, are class act people. They took it for a test run and filmed it, they first dropped the engine 1 hole and gave it back, chine walk then kicked in at 63 rather than 68. There is a lot of discussion about the use of the Talon's and that they add more weight than the power poles. The down side is Tracker told them to put the engine back where it was and that's that. So it is now what you see is what you get!! I have an Atlas Hydraulic jack plate, if I run the jack plate all the way down I have enough room to raise the Talon's a couple inches and it won't interfere the engine. I have a buddy coming over to help me raise the Talon's. He is also going to help me crack the nuts on the engine and use the little bit of slop in the bolt holes to plumb the engine out. I am not the only person to be running Talon't on Z20's, so why isn't there more people raising cane about this chine walk?? As I stated in an earlier post that I had contacted KVD about this, and how's about the rest of the pros, surely they have got to be experiencing this issue also. I have always thought that the Talon's were mounted to low and were actually creating a resistance helping create the chine walk from side to side. I also added the tilt plates so I can lower them to get into the garage.Like Nitro929 states you have to keep tinkering with it, it's a pain and to some degree scary at times. I have noticed that on a glassed out situation it seems to be worse than if there is a slight ripple to a small chop.
 
Out of plumb means it is not straight up and down compared to the transom. Another way to say it is slightly tilted. One way to check it is park your boat and get it perfectly level side to side. You can do this with a a jack under one side of the trailer. Then put your motor so the cavitation plate is also level, or in the position on your trim gauge that you run it on plane. Then find the middle, side to side, of back of your engine cowl and tape a piece of string with a weight of some sort on the opposite end and let it hang behind the motor. if your motor is "plumb," the string should hang straight up and down and come right across your prop shaft.
Thank you Pat, that makes sense and gives a starting point.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top