ST Fin Adjustment Screw

Just picked up a set of ST fins for my Revolution. The dealer didn't seem to know which way to set the adjustment screws. What is the difference with the screws all the way in (fin closer to the drive) or all the way out (fin farther away from the drive and a little longer, but seems move flexible. Which setting gives you the higher speed? I understand that at one setting you have better acceleration and at the other end it is faster top end. I played with them a little and it seemed that with the adjustment screw up tight, less flex, it seemed faster but more resistance to paddle, is this correct? Thanks, Jim

_________________
Jim Houle

Your assumptions are correct. The wife and I both have the turbo fins which have the same adjustment. Loosing up the back of the fin does make it easier to peddle foregoing speed.

My experience is loosening the screw didn't compromise speed any. It made pedaling easier as well as maintaining a constant crusing speed. I think it actually cups the water making it more efficient. But I could be wrong.

ST's or ST Turbo's

I didn't think the ST's had that adjustment option...

_________________
"If I'm not at work, I'm Outback"

I just bought a pair of ST fins not the Turbo ST and they have the adjustment screw. I have only been out once and they go faster but I didn't see any difference in the effort to pedal. I will be on the lake all next week so I will try a few screw setting.

Thanks for the info...will be changing my originals out to ST's and looking forward to seeing the difference in pedal feel and speed.

_________________
"If I'm not at work, I'm Outback"

Just finished changing out my fins and a bad sprocket. I tighted the adjustment screw all the way up and may play with it this weekend to see the differences you describe.

_________________
"If I'm not at work, I'm Outback"

Hello, I recently just purhased a set of ST Turbos and went out for a cruise last weekend and had my screws on the tightest settings for maximum speed. I am not sure if this is what caused me to keep slipping the chain but I kept jumping the chain sprocket, I think this is from too much torque? I could not pedal as fast due to fear of more chain slipping, however, I never had this problem with my regular fins? Are the sprockets bad? I loosened the adjustment screws some and noticed that the chain slipping less. I am taking it to a Hobie dealer this week and hopefully get this issue resolved.

Hi Dude and welcome to the forum.

When is the last time you did a maintenance and adjustment inspection?
http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=6939
A skipping chain us usually indicative of loose cables, and typically happens with the older stainless sprockets. It has nothing to do with your ST fin except that it's allowing you to push your Drive a little harder.

Once you get your cables tuned up, that should take care of the skipping problem. It's not hard to do yourself.

Thank you for the response Runner, I will give the maintenance a try and yes I do have the stainless sprockets? Is it better to upgrade to the newer sprockets to completely eliminate the slipping problem?

If you're Drive is in good condition, I'd recommend that you keep your stainless sprockets. I have both older stainless and newer plastic sprockets (both with Turbofins) and find that, once adjusted, the old sprockets are very reliable. The new sprockets don't skip chains but have had occasional problems with the plastic mast mounting holes using the more powerful fins. Functionally and performance wise, they are virtually identical.

I took my Adventure out for the first time with the Turbo fins last week. OMG what a difference! I can peddle at a relaxed pace and still haul A$$. Took advice from some other posts and prior to any use of my Turbos, I took out the set screw, filled the hole with threadblocker, reset the screw making adjustments like the instructions say to get a good seat, wiped away the excess threadblocker then took a dab of silicone on a flat tipped screw driver and filled the hole over the set screw as insurance to keep the set screw from backing out.

After 16 hours on the water so far they are still tight.

I run the Turbos also & keep having problems with the peddle arm adjusting posistion pin popping out of hole. used 2 plastic wire ties to secure it from popping out & worked so far. only the right side arm was doing it. Anyone else have this problem?

_________________
---A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem---

hey,

I saw your comment about the right pedal arm skipping, and have had the same problem, in fact, once, the pedal arm skipped, and cracked the plastic part where the holes are! this was replaced, but i have since had my new pedal system skip repeatedly!

while i was looking at the pedals after the incident, i noticed that the bolt holding the pedal arm on was loose, and at an angle. tightening the polt seemed to solve the problem for a little while, but then it skipped again!

Z

_________________
If it isn't broken, take it apart and fix it anyways!

Z

Hi,
I too have stripped out the right side adustment holes and have sent the entire drive back to Hobie via my dealer. I beleive the stainless adjustment pin wears its' hole through the aluminum crank arm, which lets the pin get out of perpindicular alignment with the adjustment hole.
I don't believe just replacing the plastic piece with the adjustment holes is going to be a good fix.
I think the crank arm/adjustment pin area of the aluminum crank arm has to be redesigned, maybe drilled out and a stainless liner pressed or glued in to keep the adjustment pin from wearing the aluminum hole in the crank egg shaped.
I noticed this by comparing the backward and forward slop between the pin and the crank arm of the right and left arms.
I am a big guy (60 yrs.) and use the turbo fins but, the problem arose after only about 10 hrs. of use.
Hope this helps for a fix... JIM

_________________
2006 Outback SUV