Newb reverse question..

[Hawksr30]

Finally got my new AR195 in the water last weekend and ran it around the lake for two hours for the break in period. As it was cold and rainy, we were basically alone on the lake and I had plenty of time to practice and play around with the handling, especially at low speeds. Installed thrust vectors soon after picking it up so I have no frame of reference without them. One thing that struck me was that when putting it in reverse, there seemed to be very little thrust at all regardless of the RPM's. Basically, stopped my forward momentum at slow speeds but had little effect when trying to adjust direction or increase speed in reverse. Normal and just a learning curve compared to an outboard or should I be concerned that something isn't right?

 

[Bluewater272]

I find that reverse works fairly well, but you do need a good amount of thrust to do so. That was my big adjustment coming from an I/O, can't just bump it into reverse idle and expect a meaningful course change.

 

[DBamaC]

I find a short, large application of the throttle to get me moving is what works best. Then you can use the lower levels of throttle you are probably more accustomed to if you are coming from a stern drive or outboard.

There is plenty of thrust available in reverse...enough to submarine the front of the boat if you throw it in reverse when coming off plane. The trick is getting confident in how you can utilize the short bursts.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

I find reverse to be pretty useful at low speeds with my additions. We always back into the sandbar and the only time I have an issue is when a current is ripping through, so then I have to give it some throttle, other than that I stay a click or two in no wake mode.

 

[JetBoatPilot]

You may also want to consider the Lateral Thrusters. We built them after hearing this complaint over the years.

 

[Hawksr30]

Thanks for the quick feedback all. I’ll play around again with it this weekend.

 

[haknslash]

The only issue I have with reverse is it favors one side better than the other. If you start reversing one direction I find the boat has a hard time if you want to correct and spin opposite direction. I use a small blip of forward and turn to compensate and get the boat to rotate/respond quicker. It does take a bit of reverse to initially get the boat moving backward but once momentum is going I back off when needed. In strong current or wind I don't use reverse often.

When I test drove the V drives it was a whole different animal as those boats will only spin in one direction backwards due to prop rotation however you can use that to your advantage when docking to crab walk sideways just by changing drive from Forward to Reverse.

 

[merlinjet]

I found adding "Fangs" to my Cobra Jet fins really helped a lot with reverse control. Might be able to use them with your TV's.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

The only issue I have with reverse is it favors one side better than the other. If you start reversing one direction I find the boat has a hard time if you want to correct and spin opposite direction. I use a small blip of forward and turn to compensate and get the boat to rotate/respond quicker. It does take a bit of reverse to initially get the boat moving backward but one momentum is going I back off when needed. In strong current or wind I don't use reverse often.

When I test drove the V drives it was a whole different animal as those boats will only spin in one direction backwards due to prop rotation however you can use that to your advantage when docking to crab walk sideways just by changing drive from Forward to Reverse.

Mine now backs up just like a car, which makes it easy for me being a newb still lol.