WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

10 years I disliked pulling into my tight rental space boat slip. I could kiss the butt of Wander Finn.

O K.. Shake their hand & give a bear hug.

19' X 8' bowrider. Benifits are no bow wandering at slow speeds & a reduction of the steering effort at ANY speed. No loss of speed.


BEST of all the boat is level at all speeds. Accelerating & decelerating. Just like a center mounted inboard.

Mercruiser really is dropping the ball by not putting them on their drives. It is always at the perfect angle.

Simple & foolproof. $ 190 + installation. 4 holes & 4 bolts. Done.

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

Oh boy! You've just opened up the whale tail vs tabs debate of course, for $190 you could have installed smart tabs

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

OK...show us this Wander Finn

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

coastalrichard said:

OK...show us this Wander Finn

Click to expand...

Google Wander Fin ( one n ). It looks like a whale tail with two vertical fins.

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

$189 is way over priced for this "new" gadget. The Doelfin came out about 30 years ago (+ or -) and it will do the same thing for only $39.

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

The web site is www.wanderfin.com

I do not remember if the Doelfinn had 2 vertical plates right behind the prop like the Wander Fin has. The 2 vertical should be creating a kind of straightening of the spiral prop wash at low speeds. Whatever. On my stern heavy 19', 5.0 L V8 bowrider, I can line up the boat 40' away, let go of the wheel & go straight at the dock space. Light breeze has little effect.................SWEEET.

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.




Quick Google search brought up these (I always like the pics IN the thread so you don't gonna open more windows). At first sight, looks like it's turning that drive into more or less a jet-drive. That's obviously not the case and jets are really difficult to steer at low speed. It does, however, seem a little on the expensive side as you can at the very least get smart tabs for less than that. To each his own, I suppose.

Glad you like it and it's worked out to your benefit.

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

I thought a straighter flow also . But my boat had that classic bow wandering with hands off the wheel. A constant slow, 30 seconds of oscillations left to right, right to left, none stop. Forever. I have not heard of anyone knowing why the 2 vertical fins make the wandering stop........Even a couple of marine hull designers could not agree on what causes it or how the fin cures it.

I have always said .......... " Far better to be very lucky. Than to be very wise. "

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

Looks like the fins act as a rudder - a kayak without a rudder wanders whereas a kayak with a rudder goes straight (if it's centered). No surprize in theory but maybe surprizing in practice (that it makes such a difference with your boat, given how small it is).

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

i'm glad ya like it and gave it a review. i've not seen one of them...
while i never tried one of those, i have had a wale tale on my last boat.
1st reason i didn't like it is i hit something underwater and it broke on my wale tale along with part of my anti cavitation plate. that alone is enough reason to not think they're a good idea.
i still think that a wale tale puts undo stress on the drive. at the pivot points. + the transom up at the transom plate, in the middle of the drive. not down low like trim tabs.
as for the wandering. i got a old style v hull w/flair to it. it wanders too... i just pilot it straight. mine wanders like yours. back and forth. i went across the lake one time to see if it'd go where i pointed, despite the wander. in the end. the long distance it pretty much evened out and i ended up where i estimated...
just my take. like i said. i'm glad it works for you and the review is good. the pics are great too. looks like the straight rudders would help a boat go straighter to me.

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

That thing will surely make changing out a prop, while boat is in water, a real treat....

Bennett trim tabs in the full down position stopped my low speed wandering by 98%.
Idles along straight as an arrow, now.
That was an unexpected HUGE plus when I added the ST16 tabs.

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

04fxdwgi said:

That thing will surely make changing out a prop, while boat is in water, a real treat....

Click to expand...

Ha! First thing I thought of when I saw the thing, too. If you've never had the need to do it, its just a matter of time, if you boat anywhere with a rocky bottom...

Re: WAAAHOOO! I love my Wander Fin Chaparral.

Ziggy

Thanks for the possible stress on the transom. Will check it each month. Should not be too bad with my 305 / 220 hp carb job.
Chaps are rated for the 350 / 360 hp engine that year. My boat comes fully out at WOT. running on the planning pad only. Prop tip is level with the hull pad then. I wiil check it for " spider lines ". Boat has 175 hours. Runs about 3 hours a year.

Thanks Ziggy

Rich