new owner

[deric tyler]

I recently bought a 2008 sugar sand tango jet boat with a 200 mercury optimal in it. I was disappointed in the way it hanbeled and it would beat me to death in any kind of sea. I purchased a trim deverter and it worked as far as taking seas a lot better, but she didn't Handel well. I contacted Jeff walkowiak and purchased cobra steering for my boat. I also sent him my trim deverter plate so he could make a few adjustments to the plate so I could fit cobra steering on my boat. I put the plate and the cobra steering on my boat and it made all the difference in the world. I feel like I'm driving a Porsche I would not own a jet boat without the cobra steering on it. Thank you so much jeff for making my jet boat Handel so well.

 

[itsdgm]

Welcome @deric tyler to Jetboaters.net. Glad you found us. Congrats on buying the Sugar Sands boat. I don't have any experience with your boat, but your right about Jeff's fins. They work well on my Yamaha too.

 

[Scottintexas]

@deric tyler glad to have you on board, update your profile with you location so we know where you are, it will also automatically add you to the member map.

is this your first boat? do you normally operate in rough seas?

 

[OperationROL]

Welcome Aboard!

 

[Bilmon]

Welcome,always good to see another Sugar Sand. There are a few of us on here. By the way, pictures are greatly appreciated here
Bill

 

[4x15mph]

Definitely post some pics and welcome aboard. The sugar sands are great looking boats

 

[MikeyL]

@deric tyler : Glad you found us ...... Have a "Cool one" on us, and enjoy yourself here !@

Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

If I recall correctly he drives a tugboat for a living I think he makes long hauls because half his emails about fixing his steering issues were initiated during his weeks out on the water. and I had to wait weeks for him to try it out and report back on how it worked because he was out on the water at work.
We did this via emails and then he shipped me the diverter to make it work with the steering, a big leap of faith there since I did not have the boat to look at and double check to be sure everything was going to work together.
Here are some before and after pictures although I have never seen a picture of the entire boat. All's well that ends well .
And during all this his wife went into labor and they had a new family member.
This was his email after he finally tried the boat with the diverter modified and the steering added.

"I took it out today and I have one problem. Everybody wants to steer it now because it Handles so freaking good. I can't believe how much better she handles. Thank You so much!"

 

[deric tyler]

Welcome @deric tyler to Jetboaters.net. Glad you found us. Congrats on buying the Sugar Sands boat. I don't have any experience with your boat, but your right about Jeff's fins. They work well on my Yamaha too.

Thank You! Those fins saved my summer

 

[Julian]

@deric tyler Welcome! Glad you found us! How about a full pic of your boat....we love to see all the different boats out there!

 

[deric tyler]

Jeff was great! He did a great job on modifying my trim plate and the fins I bought from him

@deric tyler glad to have you on board, update your profile with you location so we know where you are, it will also automatically add you to the member map.

is this your first boat? do you normally operate in rough seas?

It is my first boat. It seemed like everyday I took my boat out it was windy, and created at least a one to two foot chop which made it miserable.

 

[Scottintexas]

your not far from @OCMD , he's on the Pocomoke (love saying that name!), maybe he can give a better spot to try,

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Ok truth is stranger than fiction, a customer called to order some steering for his sugar sand, he believes he was looking at the same boat just before you purchased it, he lives in a town called Cockeysville MD. Sound familiar?

 

[deric tyler]

I bought my boat from St Michalls Md.

 

[deric tyler]

I've never heard of Cockeysville Md.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

He didn't say where he looked at the boat, he did say that he believes it was the same one you purchased, apparently he read your comments during his research . Have you ever heard of that town ?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

oh well guess you answered before I asked. zip is 21030 cant forget the name of the town that is definitely different

 

[deric tyler]

Yeah that is deffinately a name I will never forget!

 

[Kurt]

Hi Jeff & Deric, this is Kurt, I'm the guy Jeff talked to that lives in Cockeysville MD. I was telling Jeff that I thought your boat was the one I saw on Craigslist last year when I started looking for a Tango. I figured there weren't too many 2008 yellow 4+2's sold on the eastern shore recently.

I bought a 2000 Tango 175 hp primarily for tubing and kneeboarding, and it works great for that, but is incredibly difficult to drive. The first time I had it out, I was driving straight in calm water and it did an unintentional spinout (360+) at 45 mph when I simply backed off the throttle. I understood that spins and slides were possible with the boat, I just thought they would need to be initiated deliberately! Since the 360 incident, I haven't taken it up over 30 mph. When searching for a reason for the handling problem, I found that the stock trim plate was bent and adjusted all the way out to push the nose down. I thought that might have contributed to the high speed spinout. I replaced the plate and readjusted it to a neutral position. I have found that this has not changed the handling problems at 0-30 mph, however, due to having shoulder surgery, I am unwilling to do a high speed test run until I am completely healed.

I have some questions about your experience with the boat before & after Cobra fins. Have you ever experienced the type of problem I had with the boat spinning out without trying?

The one concern about the Cobra fins is do they ever grab and cause problems in turns or slides? After reading your posts and speaking with Jeff I am going to install the Cobra Jet fins and I would like to have an idea of how they are going to perform.

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[txav8r]

Congrats and welcome to the forum! Glad Jeff was able to correct your issues!