Quicksilver 380HD off centre V floor

[Neil Langley]

Hello

I have just tested a friends quicksilver 380hd with 25hp mercury 2 stroke with a view to buying it. It is approx 6 years old but only used 3 times!

However, the boat (not engine) was left out to the elements over these 6 years and it got very grubby and had collected bathtub amounts of water (plus gravel that kids had tipped in) in the startbaord bow section causing the bottom to bulge.

I deflated it all and took out the floor boards and power hosed it etc and closely checked the floor middle bladder as i had previously noticed the underside V in the floor was approx 6cm to one side (i.e. not in the dead middle). It appeared normal on inspection but on reflating it all, 3 times in total, the underside V stayed off centre.

The reason i raise this is that i took the boat out from bracklesham to Chichester and it went very well, even in choppy water, apart from the tiller being difficult to turn and sometime very hard - a little more as speed progressed. It stayed on a straight line, planed fine but resisted steer change of direction. I didn't experiment with the tension on the tiller as i had just had the engine serviced and the engineer took the engine out on his boat and he said it was great.

Might this problem have anything to do with the off-centre V or is it the tiller or perhaps something else?. Might the water ponding in the front have permanetly altered the shape?
Is the off centre V anything to worry about at all?

Any thoughts would be most welcome. I am a relative novice!

thanks, Neil

[codprawn]

It is very common for the V to be off centre. I don't know what the handling is like as each time I have deflated the keel section and moved it around until I get the right shape.

This could be your problem or it could be the torque tab on the engine - or both!!!

Or the steering is too tight.........

[PeterM]

No idea on the floor , but the steering does get stiffer the faster I go in my SIB - all of 2.5 hp ! I put it down to more friction as its pushing harder at high speed. Looked all over for a reason & its the only thing I can see . As a basic tilt mechanism the leg just drops down into a plastic C shaped cup on the mount. NO 'fancy' bearings to reduce the friction .

[chris123]

If anything, the off centre keel would make the boat pull to one side - you would have to apply a bit of helm to keep the boat straight. I would not expect it to make the boat difficult to steer away from a straight line.

With floorboards fitted and the keel and tubes inflated to the correct pressures, the outer pvc / hypalon floor should be tight. If the floor appears loose / 'baggy', particularly in the area you have noted then I guess the fabric could have stretched a bit, but probably unlikely.

The tiller feeling tight could be normal, or it could be the steering needs a bit of grease or the friction lock (if the outboard has one) needs to be adjusted.

Cheers

Chris

[geoffs]

If I am not careful with mine, the centre tube ends up offset. Usually wit a bit of patience and time it can be got straight.

[Neil Langley]

a short to say thank to all who replied.

The information was helpful and i will let you know how it all works out.

thanks
Neil