First things first - I unashamedly admit that I poached the idea from Mr. Greyak. Credit is hereby given to whom it is due.
Wow! what a difference. For those who who havent seen greyaks pics - look them up in the archives (i’m too lazy to post the link). Removing the stock jam cleat on my qcc700 and replacing with the trim tab has made a huge difference in the usability of the skeg.
I highly recommend that any qcc owners who have a skeg do this. It has totally eliminated the slippage inherent in the original jam cleat design. Only one additional hole needed to be drilled (very small one at that) and one pre-existing hole will need to be filled (another tiny one - silicone caulk currently holding nicely).
I purchased the trim tab from rutabaga sports - about $50 - not cheap, but considering that it totally eliminated one of the few gripes I had about an otherwise excelent boat - well worth the money.
A word of warning - this product was NOT designed for this application. The mechanically inept should probly not attempt. I am “ok” and it took me several hours of thinking and tinkering before I got it working. Please feel free to email me offline for any help.
Thanks again Kris!!!
thanks for the idea
i saw grayak’s post before. i call QCC customer service this week because i’ve not been happy with my skeg. i’ve had a problem with getting the skeg to “drop” when i release the knob. i will try their suggestions, but i’ve felt that a more solid arrangement would work better instead of the current cable i have. maybe something more solid. i can’t get over what a difference it makes when using the skeg. love the downwind conditions with the skeg dropped, it really tracks like on rails.
Congrats! Here’s the link
http://community.webshots.com/album/120051991ThGiEQ
Hey, how about pictures of the second QCC with this setup Mr. Bobdobbs? Bet you didn’t take any during the install either! After shots will do.
Sorry I did not document the process in better detail. I knew what I wanted it to do, but did not know it would work so well (or even at all) until it was done.
The process is very simple - and to do again would be less than an hour - but first time there was, as Bobdobbs said, some “tinkering” involved. For me it was maybe 2 1/2 hours (not counting some time familiarizing with the parts and thinking about it before beginning). Mostly re-thinking which way the lever should turn, triple checking where to cut and crimp the stop on the cable to ensure full deployment and retraction - and mostly putting it together and taking it apart several times to figure all the rest out. Also going very slow enlarging the center hole so I could re-use a cleat mount hole and other little things requiring patience more than skill.
It was harder getting the old hardware out on mine than getting the new in. Best part of the whole process is not having to mess with the box assembly!
When all done, I was surprised just how well it worked and how little alteration was needed to swap over to this. Also at how little tension was needed on the trim control (adjustable) to hold the skeg in the box.
A weird solution - but does the trick without having to tear up your boat. On water - it’s hard to explain how nice precise control is if you haven’t had it before. All or nothing or some unknown amount in between just doesn’t cu it. Slider control owners will laugh/yawn - as they have this sort of fine tuning - but to do that on a QCC would require major cuts, glassing - and a new skeg blade assembly as it wouldn’t work against the spring setup.
QCC skeg tip of the day: Store the boat with skeg down to keep tension off the spring. Should make it last longer and deploy better.