new owner

[Murf'n'surf]

That spin out seems crazy! Are you sure that your steering and shift cables -are both good?

 

[GTBRMC]

Hi Jeff & Deric, this is Kurt, I'm the guy Jeff talked to that lives in Cockeysville MD. I was telling Jeff that I thought your boat was the one I saw on Craigslist last year when I started looking for a Tango. I figured there weren't too many 2008 yellow 4+2's sold on the eastern shore recently.

I bought a 2000 Tango 175 hp primarily for tubing and kneeboarding, and it works great for that, but is incredibly difficult to drive. The first time I had it out, I was driving straight in calm water and it did an unintentional spinout (360+) at 45 mph when I simply backed off the throttle. I understood that spins and slides were possible with the boat, I just thought they would need to be initiated deliberately! Since the 360 incident, I haven't taken it up over 30 mph. When searching for a reason for the handling problem, I found that the stock trim plate was bent and adjusted all the way out to push the nose down. I thought that might have contributed to the high speed spinout. I replaced the plate and readjusted it to a neutral position. I have found that this has not changed the handling problems at 0-30 mph, however, due to having shoulder surgery, I am unwilling to do a high speed test run until I am completely healed.

I have some questions about your experience with the boat before & after Cobra fins. Have you ever experienced the type of problem I had with the boat spinning out without trying?

The one concern about the Cobra fins is do they ever grab and cause problems in turns or slides? After reading your posts and speaking with Jeff I am going to install the Cobra Jet fins and I would like to have an idea of how they are going to perform.

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Kurt

I know nothing about the Tangos, but just wanted to welcome you aboard jetboaters.net

 

[Bilmon]

Hi Kurt,welcome,you're going to like it here there is a lot of good info and help to be had. As to your spin, is this your first experience with a jet boat? It could just be that you came off the throttle way too fast and even into neutral. No thrust and you lose steering and they will tend to spin out.
Bill

 

[Speedling]

You can't just come off the throttle, you'll lose steering. You gotta ease it down a bit. Simple as that. You'll get the hang of it.

 

[Kurt]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the responses and happy to have found this site, this seems like a great forum community!

This is my first jet boat, but i have 1200xl wave runner that have I towed kids around with for years. I never had a problem getting used to the steering or handling on the jet ski, but this thing seems like a totally different animal. Maybe i pulled off the throttle faster than I thought, but i definitely didn't yank it back.

The other thing that bothers me is that most of the time the boat tends to pull pretty hard to the left. The steering effort is easy if you want to turn left but is much harder when you turn to the right. Also, when running straight and , decelerating off of a plane, if you hold the wheel the boat turns on its own, if you reapply throttle (still holding the wheel) it straightens out ?? Is this a characteristic of a single engine jet boat, it seems like most small jet boats have twins and maybe its to overcome these issues ?

 

[Speedling]

Well, a boat is a good bit heavier so it reacts differently especially coming off plane.
A single jet shouldn't have issues like that unless the linkage is screwed up.
It could be that a broken vane in he pressure bowl could be broke as well. Wouldn't hurt to get familiar with some of the mechanical parts anyways so take it apart and look for anything oit of the ordinary

 

[Speedling]

Oh, and as far as twins, there are some benefits, but in general basic turning isn't one of them.
Using the 4 cylinder engines that they use, some companies have just went with ski parts in a bigger hull.
Old school big block jet boats actually have less pump volume than our twin 155mm pumps though!
Strap a v8 to a 155mm pump and it'll do about 45 mph. The dual pumps allow for more volume with separate engines.
Also, some slow speed maneuvers are easier, and you have less chance getting stuck somewhere from a downed engine.

 

[Bilmon]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the responses and happy to have found this site, this seems like a great forum community!

This is my first jet boat, but i have 1200xl wave runner that have I towed kids around with for years. I never had a problem getting used to the steering or handling on the jet ski, but this thing seems like a totally different animal. Maybe i pulled off the throttle faster than I thought, but i definitely didn't yank it back.

The other thing that bothers me is that most of the time the boat tends to pull pretty hard to the left. The steering effort is easy if you want to turn left but is much harder when you turn to the right. Also, when running straight and , decelerating off of a plane, if you hold the wheel the boat turns on its own, if you reapply throttle (still holding the wheel) it straightens out ?? Is this a characteristic of a single engine jet boat, it seems like most small jet boats have twins and maybe its to overcome these issues ?

My Mirage 240 will also turn right with less effort but not near as bad as you seem to experience, I think it may be the nature of the beast.As to turning when decelerating something isn't right.I would look closely for excess play or something worn in the steering, mine has almost no slack when you try moving nozzle by hand.
Bill

 

[Kurt]

I've looked at the linkage and it looks ok, but I am going to have a mechanic with Mercury Sportjet experience go over it. One of the stator vanes has a pretty good size chip out of it, so maybe that's contributing to the problems?

 

[Speedling]

If a vane is screwed up, the water coming out of the pump will be swirling instead of straight. This causes a rotational force that, while probably not huge in terms of steering a boat, is less efficient and causes you to steer to counter it.
See how much it is for a part. It may not be all that much. Check Ebay.

 

[deric tyler]

I know nothing about the Tangos, but just wanted to welcome you aboard jetboaters.net

I know nothing about the Tangos, but just wanted to welcome you aboard jetboaters.net

Hi Kurt I had the same problem. Once I put the fins on my boat it stopped. Cobra steer will make you feel like you're in a different boat. Welcome aboard!

 

[Kurt]

Thanks Deric, i'm going to install it in the next couple of weeks and am looking forward to trying it out!

 

[deric tyler]

Just wondering what do you guys do as far as winterizing your boats.

 

[Bilmon]

Just wondering what do you guys do as far as winterizing your boats.

Change pump lube,fog engine,and stabilize gas is the most I ever do been known to skip any and all steps and have never had any issues.Engine is self draining so no worries there though I do have heated storage.

 

[Kurt]

my sport jet is a 175, which has an integral underwater exhaust, it's supposed to be fully self draining. The higher hp sport jets and your optimax have mufflers, I'm not sure if they hold water, but might be worth checking into? Otherwise the powerhead should be winterized like any 2stroke outboard. For the jet drive, I did some research before I bought my boat , and I think you are supposed to change the oil in the pump & stator annually. I guess if you don't put many hours on the boat, this could be done every other season? There is a really good tutorial of this on a site called Outlaweagle.com, i think the link below will take you to it.

http://www.outlaweagle.com/forum/files/sjannualservicev1.1_190.pdf

There are a bunch of sites based in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Apparently a lot of river fishing & hunting boats in those areas use sport jets, if you do some searches on the sportjet & optimax, there's some really interesting info there.

 

[Kevin Turner]

One thing I like about this site is the ability to freely link to other sites. So on that note, there's a couple good reads on the below sites.
http://www.meanchicken.net/webmain/forum/index.php
http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/108409-PAPD-Optimax-Drain-Kit

 

[ToesintheSand]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the responses and happy to have found this site, this seems like a great forum community!

This is my first jet boat, but i have 1200xl wave runner that have I towed kids around with for years. I never had a problem getting used to the steering or handling on the jet ski, but this thing seems like a totally different animal. Maybe i pulled off the throttle faster than I thought, but i definitely didn't yank it back.

The other thing that bothers me is that most of the time the boat tends to pull pretty hard to the left. The steering effort is easy if you want to turn left but is much harder when you turn to the right. Also, when running straight and , decelerating off of a plane, if you hold the wheel the boat turns on its own, if you reapply throttle (still holding the wheel) it straightens out ?? Is this a characteristic of a single engine jet boat, it seems like most small jet boats have twins and maybe its to overcome these issues ?

@Kurt I have the same problem with my 1998 Tango Kurt. I have been told it may need steering cables, possibly caused by the cable sheath being too close to the exhaust and melting it. I will be looking closer tonight as I just got mine at the end of last summer and haven't had much seat time. But that easy one way and hard the other is a PITA ! And dangerous. I have to beleive something is wrong. No one could sell a boat that did this!! I have also experienced the sharp left when dropping the throttle. mine happened several times when the motor bogged out from electrical issues. Will be checkin the broken vane thing as well after reading this thread.

Lets keep this thread going with results

 

[Kurt]

Hi Bill,

Just wondering if you had any luck with the steering cable ? I am really interested to see if replacing that helps.

I put a cobra fin on my boat and took it for a ride a couple of weeks ago. It has helped overall handling quite a bit, but the basic steering issues are still there. I have also been told that the boat is super weight sensitive. Later this month I will start putting a lot of hours on the boat and will really see what the fin does.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[ToesintheSand]

I didn't get to spend too much time with it this weekend. I am able to move it easily by hand but haven'r made it to the lake yet. Just got it out of winter storage. Hoping to test w/in the week. They are definately weight sensitive and very light up front. I still don't think it should steer so poorly. It's more like driving with a flat front tire and having to pull hard the opposite way!

 

[ToesintheSand]

@Kurt .....found this little gem. While it doesn't actually have a final answer for the problem to trim tabs being installed , it definitely gives some insight on possible causes.
http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/48426-Jet-easy-right-hard-left