Posted by KenOhki (i) on March 26, 2003 at 12:58:51

In Reply to: small boat stabilizeing posted by leonard on March 26, 2003 at 10:24:21:

Can you better decribe what you mean by "the boat moves all over the place" a little better?

the motor mounted in the front makes for unique handling characteristics in the first place. If I am not mistaken, the boat in question has no real keel its pretty much completly flat bottomed, so that will also make it feel a bit sloppy, or slidey if you will.
It took me awile to adjust to controling my boat with the trolling motor on the front ( even worse it was the first time I ever tried a foot controll ) I do not think you will improve the handling much. I would mount the motor in the back, that will probably give you a more normal feeling/responce.
You might also try a few other Ideas I have seen. You might try to make a formal keel and attach it to the underside of your boat. Fiberglass or maybe epoxy?? You might also try something else a little more unorthidox. make yourself a centerboard, like a small sailboat would have,, 1`x 2` should do..attach it to the side of your boat with clamps or some other removable/adjustable riggiing so that it etends down into the water a bit. this will act like a keel to some extent, and might make your boat track better. The boat will naturaly require more water to float in if the centerboard idea is used. If you make a keel,1 too 2 inches thick should be suficiant to get the desired affect on such a small boat.
the charm of that specific boat is that it floats in 4 inches of water,. Sloppy handling might just be the price you pay for the shalow draft of that modle. My 14 foot fiberglass boat also flats in 4 inches of water, but I can not drop the outboard til I hit about 9 inches.