I got a chance to run my AeroMarine Avenger yesterday. To make a long story short, it is hooking bad to the right. And spinout was often. I am thinking of ordering a skegged strut for it to help correct. Also, My rudder (Leading Edge) is 2.5 inches from the back of the boat. It is about 1 inch at full left to the tip of the prop. Would it help if I brought that rudder back farther, say 4-5 inches from leading edge to the back of the boat?

I would also like to compensate by adding spacers (Shims) to the Strut plate (In between it and the boat) I would be putting the spacers on the left side bolts to help correct the nasty prop thrust? Is that the correct side to shim when you are hooking to the right? Do you guys think these three solutions would get me going straight? At one point, I couldn't get her turning left.... Oh Boy. Thanks for any adive offered.

Usually we shim struts toward the left by shimming the right side,naturally boats veer right not left due to prop walk.Hooking can simply be due to too much rudder travel ?,also on cats most people seem to keep the rudders close to the transom which is the oposite to how we do it on monos,by the sound of it you have your rudder too far over to the right,it needs to be roughly inline with the right stringer.How about a pic of your setup on the back of the boat?.Some guys have used trim tabs on the avengers but i dont like that idea.
Mart

Thanks Mart. I called Remy and he said about the same thing. I need to pick up a Strut with a Skeg first. I also have to bring the rudder in closer to the transom. I am about 3 inches out and he said 1 inch off the trans. From working with Hrydos and Monos, I thought further was better. I don't think my rudder placement is bad. It could not be any closer to the strut...NO SERIOUSLY. I almost thing that the Prop wash and force is pushing against the blade and will not let me turn left. I don't think I can bring the Prop any closer to the Transom at this point. So shim the right side of the strut plate to make the boat turn a little left may help too? I am also going to ditch the 3 blade that I cust and go with a 2 to experiment.

I have Conquest, not Avengers, but same applies. I keep the prop as close to the transom as I can, and have the leading edge of the rudder about even with the trailing edge of the prop. I use a skegged strut...that helps a lot. Also mount the strut about 3/8" to the right of the center. I don't shim my struts. Also if using the AM rudders, machine (or cut) the leading edge all the way down to the centerline point of the pivot pin...that helps also. Just taking off the flat part they say, isn't enough for optimal. Remember to re-taper the blade properly after the mod. This setup has been working very well for me the past few years, and the boats have done good in big races. If you go the other route with the rudder in tight, that will work also...it just isn't my personal preference for racing.

Thanks Marc and Mart. One rule of thumb I was about to break was to make to many adjustments at one time. So Marc, you said that the leading edge of the rudder should align with the trailing edge of the prop. I think I am going to go with that. Eventhough my prop (Front) is about 2 inches from the tran, it still aligns with your recommendation to the rudder blade. I think I need a skeg in a bad way. I am just wondering why, as the boat ran a couple bags of fuel, I started to lose my left turn. It turned left initially. I am just wondering if I am having servo issues as well. Not being able to push and pull. Granted, I didn't use a 1/4 scale, going on Remy"s suggestion of the metal high torque, I still wonder if it is lacking the umpf to push left and not able to hold the rudder rock solid. That could explain my viscous right more than anything.

You can test the servo and linkage by hand (with just fingers)...it should be fairly hard to turn the rudder with fingers while the servo is powered and holding it centered. Also you can notice linkage flex easily this way. I would suspect bad servo, bad batts, or bad linkage if it worked and got worse. Also, the higher you run the strut, the more the skeg will come in handy...so if the strut moved up during your running, it would have gotten progressively worse. If your strut only has one locking bolt, it's a good idea to drill another hole and install a second locking bolt. Try one think at a time...process of elimination... you will get it! Start with servo/batt/linkage and install a skegged strut blade...take it from there.

Good stuff. I made the mistake of taking too many boats yesterday. Next weekend, I am just taking the Cat. I kind of like the challenge of getting a new boat to run right. Took me an entire season to get my Hydro. Well, after blowing the dust off of it, I took the hyrdo with me yesterday and put it up a bank bringing it in. (Didn't set my throws right) I am definitly going to get a Skeg Strut from Remy tomorrow. The 3 blade prop that I cut from a template probably didn't make things any better for my new build, so the prop box is coming with me. One thing I have to say is that the new motor I bought from Gizmo ran great out of bax and with a simple set up. Such an awsome deal with the mounts. Bip Props to them. You always hear the stories on the net about someone getting a great deal on a new motor and popping it first time out.

Not to beat this thread to death but......I checked the linkage and one great thing about the cat setup is that it is such a short distance from servo to rudder unlike my hydros where these is a lot of real estate between the two. 4 40 works well-no bending. The servo is strong and keeps the rudder in place. I ordered the Skeg strut but I still cannot understand why I lost the ability to turn left. I mean the right turning became so strong that it was practically going straight at one point with full left.

As a side note, could my cut and polish job of the 3 blade be so bad that it caused the severity of the prop thrust.....I mean this time around I am taking a 2710 2 blade that I have balanced but left un cut. I have also shaved and sharpened the rudder based on your (Marc) suggestion. And one more thing: I looked at the build of the Inane Gen 2 Cat that you did and my hardware set up is very close to that so I figured, in theory, my boat should go straight. It looks like you shimmed on that.

Yeah if the prop isn't sharp and unbalanced it can cause severe propwalk, especially when running the strut shallow. Use a good all purpose sharp prop with the skegged strut and you should be good to go.

Yes the Insane GenII cat was shimmed on strut, as per the manufacturer's instructions to me when doing the review. I don't shim my Conquests though...some do, some don't.

The only reason i mentioned shimming the strut is because you allready have your strut installed so saves you remounting it.Usually i offset it to the right on my boats but not on my hdros and they run perfectly straight.Make sure as Marc says you test with a sharp ballanced prop it makes all the difference.