Rudder with wings?

[Jeff Lyman]

Someone here must know what the purpose of those horizontal wings on ProStar rudders I've been seeing. If I have wings can I say my boat "flyes" when asked how fast it is!

[kyfooter]

I believe they were there to help bring the bow of the boat down, to improve handling. My understanding was they were used in 98 and maybe 99. I vaguely recall an alternative solution was adding "hook" to the back bottom of the hull to accomplish the same objective and this was done in 99 or 2000.

[vrsc]

Originally Posted by kyfooter

I believe they were there to help bring the bow of the boat down, to improve handling. My understanding was they were used in 98 and maybe 99. I vaguely recall an alternative solution was adding "hook" to the back bottom of the hull to accomplish the same objective and this was done in 99 or 2000.

plus 1, band aide

[Jeff Lyman]

Bringing the bow down sounds like it. Comparing my boat to other manufactures the bow does ride high. High bow means a low transom and larger wakes? Any other ideas?

[jkski]

That rudder was used thru the 2002 production of the 197 and "the hook" was added to the 2002 TT 197's in place of the T rudder. In 2003 the regular production of the 197 adopted "the hook" and the T was a thing of the past.

Quite a few people, including myself, had the dealer add "the hook" to the hull of our 2002's to improve the wake and eliminate the need for the T rudder. "The Hook" was simply some additional fiberglass added to the rear of the hull making a slight downturn, which provided the necessary lift.

Hope this helps.

[east tx skier]

I think the purposes of the rudder twofold: (1) bring the bow down and (2) do so while keeping the attitude constant. In other words, bow down, but don't let the transom come up so much as to allow chine lock or loss of control surface.

[ahhudgins]

Originally Posted by jkski

That rudder was used thru the 2002 production of the 197 and "the hook" was added to the 2002 TT 197's in place of the T rudder. In 2003 the regular production of the 197 adopted "the hook" and the T was a thing of the past.

Quite a few people, including myself, had the dealer add "the hook" to the hull of our 2002's to improve the wake and eliminate the need for the T rudder. "The Hook" was simply some additional fiberglass added to the rear of the hull making a slight downturn, which provided the necessary lift.

Hope this helps.

I need to add the hook to my 95 Maristar but my closest dealer never heard of doing this when I called last summer, so I’m a little leery letting him experiment on my hull. I still have a nylon wedge glued to my hull that works great but I want a permanent solution to my porpoising. Any of you guys have a T-rudder that you want to get rid of? I’d have to see if it would fit my boat of course.

[h2oskiluvr]

I owned a 2000 Prostar 190 and it had the winged rudder. It also had the strakes added to the hull on both sides. What I have heard is the wings were added to the rudder because of a chine lock problem with the 98 hull. The strakes were added in 2000 and available as a retrofit for the older ones. I sold it for nearly what I bought it for and got a 2005 PS 197. Best thing I ever did. The ski wake on the 2000 190 was problematic to put it nicely at 22' off.

[EricB]

Bow down or transom up, which ever way you prefer to look at it. I agree, it was (or is) a 'supplement' to the design, but so is a wing on a slalom ski fin.
But I will say that I have skiied behind almost everything from a 77 to a 2006 model MC (at shortline). My favorite is not the way older ones, but is also not the newer ones either. The 90's vintage boats were the best. All the others were either developments to the 90's hulls or compromises to the family boater.

[h2oskiluvr]

Originally Posted by EricB

Bow down or transom up, which ever way you prefer to look at it. I agree, it was (or is) a 'supplement' to the design, but so is a wing on a slalom ski fin.
But I will say that I have skiied behind almost everything from a 77 to a 2006 model MC (at shortline). My favorite is not the way older ones, but is also not the newer ones either. The 90's vintage boats were the best. All the others were either developments to the 90's hulls or compromises to the family boater.

EricB,

I felt the strakes and the wings on the 2000 were to make up for a hull that wasn't quite right. I did not think of it as an performance add on like I would a wing on a ski.

Why did I buy it then? Bottom line is I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully I got a great price for it when I sold it.

Due to the chine-lock urban legend I also got a lot of crap from my buddies. They still talk about the "deathstar" I used to have.