SN 176

Thanks for the advise. Hard to know what to follow with so many opinions out there. Any recomendations on make, type of prop? i'm only doing about 38-40 mph WOT. pulls well when boarding and skiing. Also is it normal for the boat to be so loud at WOT. I've been on many boats, but this one seems excessive. Any idea why i have some vibration and noise when turning left, but none when turning right? Other than that I love the boat. Too much fun!

It's the 351 HO so it should have 285hp

Anyone have the numbers off the stock 4 blade on a 176? I have a stock 1996 rock'n the 3 blade.

Great info. Looks to be more trouble than it's worth, especialy if it's something rarely used. I was looking to put in a ballast, but may just make my buddies sit on the sac! Does your boat have a 3 blade or 4 blade prop? mine has 3 and pulls well, but top speed is'nt great and i seem to get some cavitation when turning hard to the left. I've read that switching to a 4 blade can help in these areas.

Ahh, I think I see the issue. Are you looking to modify the seat to convert to a sun-pad? I just noticed that your '96 does not have the armrests (which are not depicted at all in the brochure photos). If so, you have a bit of a project.

The armrests are hard plastic over-coverings surrounding a long and quite substantial L-stock aluminum brace underneath, which I presume is bolted to the interior cap. They are about 3" wide by 12" long. The padded upholstery is formed/stitched around, but not underneath, the armrests. The underside of the seat bench has tongue brackets that slide into the armrests, thus interlocking under the aluminum (there are slots in the face of the armrests into which the tongue brackets slide) while the bench bottom sits on top of the armrests, forming the sun-pad when raised.

The key would be to raise your seat and see if the width of the bench seat will overlap the hypothetically installed armrests. There should be little room from the padding of the seat to the padding covering the gunwale. From your picture of the '96, it appears that there is a taper or angle to the gunwales, so I am concerned there is too much of a gap. However, I can't imagine that CC changed the molds on these 176's at all over the years.

All that said, I rarely raise the seat to the sun pad position ;-). Without a backrest upon which to lean, it's a bit precarious up there, it's not level, and if you want ballast, people are better (and far more portable) than water sacs.

Goodness, I hope I was right about your question!

Hi Brent -

Glad you are enjoying the boat. I have a '99 Air Tique, and the back seat is exactly as pictured here (from the brochure section of this site). I can get to my boat this weekend. Are there any other pictures you need?

sure. Would be happy to. The rudder is fine but the port would not be something you would be interested in in that it took a little work to remove it.

Ken

Update:

Took the boat out and all was well. No water leaking through at all. Also the boat handled MUCH better. Nearly night and day between the two rudders. A lot of hoopla with changing out the rudders but I am glad that I did it. Thanks to all for their help

Not the best picture but the older port is on the left. Can sort of make out the size difference between the two.

That is a great idea. I love the small diameter hole saw being threaded upside down. Wish I had done that.

I do wish the outside diameters had matched. Then it would have made for a pleasant swap of the ports. Not sure why the difference. The hole wasn't caked up with caulk etc.   The new port OD is a little over an 1/8 inch or so larger. The 176 that I have has a hull ID that shows it was made in 1995. Not sure if they changed things around as they got more into production. I'll see about posting some pictures although it will be hard to do a side by side comparison now that one is installed.

I hate to say it but I used a dremmel and went around the edges of the hole that was there. I didn't have a hole saw but I doubt I could have lined it up great anyway. I talked with the guys at Nautique Parts/ White Lake marine and they told me that is what they would have done if they had the job to do (surly not the dremmel use but the principal of enlarging the hole). I believe that the finished hole that I ended up with was fine. Sure am glad for the 3M sealant though. I was surprised that the outside diameter of the two ports was not the same. The new port is significantly more stout.

Ken,
I'm curious as to what method you used to enlarge the hole in the hull?

I'm also glad you didn't take the route that was mentioned about boring the exiting port. I sure would have been concerned with the wall thickness remaining but the even bigger problem may have been getting the packing to fit.

Thanks for your quick and helpful response. Have only been in the boat a short while. It didn't seem to turn as well as a 1999 Moomba Outback that I have. I read through the discussions on this forum and thought it would be good to change out the rudder. So today I ordered a new rudder port to match the new rudder. Can't wait to try her out once all is installed. Thanks again.

8122pbrainard wrote: Ken, Why the change? You don't like the SS fabricated rudder?

They do not track or steer with the SS rudder(ett)