Toyota replaced rudders under warranty for better performance?

[ColdNorth]

I found an Epic owner in Calgary Alberta (about 3 hours south of me) that loves his boat and will trade it for no other. He owns THE largest Toyota dealership in the Province I believe. At any rate, I sent him an email and he told me that he had originally complained about the agility of his boat to Toyota. Toyota sent a rep up that worked on his boat for a couple of days doing modifications to it including changing the rudder... did it all for no charge under warranty. He said the rudder they put on is significantly larger than his original one and made an incredible difference. There seems to be a huge difference between the agility of my 99' Epic 21 and my 00' X22... I am anxious to go home and compare the size of the rudders on the two units.

Does anyone know anything about these modifications? If so, which models of our boats did they do them on? He has only identified his boat to me as an Epic 22 so I am not sure which model he has. I searched the forum under rudder and could not find anything related to this.

[Rambling Wreck]

I am curious - which is more agile? Also, you may be the only owner of 2 Epics on the site!!

[Capt Rick]

The original Epic 21 had a smaller round rudder. There was an upgrade available to the past current rudder. No other rudders have been used.
MSP0010803   Rudder,w/SSPost,18-3/4"x1-1/8"Shaft,Bronze    $202.78

[ColdNorth]

As for agility, there is no comparison... the Epic 21 is like riding a hopped up waverunner with seats for family... it was the first winter I had personally done the winterization (with my son) and we needed to take it out to make sure there were no water leaks before putting it up for sale... we took it out for about 45 minutes (cold lake) without the swim platform and tower... we were all grins... like riding a hot rod around the lake... it is even louder without the platform. Can't say enough positive about the boat.
I have 5 props between the 2 boats... On the Epic 21 I think I have a 13 x 13 that I bought new from Acme and when I compare it to another 13 x 13 prop I have, there is twice the mass to the Acme; each fin is much larger. Going to switch props and the Acme prop stays with the new X22. I am expecting the X22 to perform better with the Acme prop... eager to try it out as there is no comparison between the performance of the two boats at the moment. My Epic 21 pulls quicker, seems to have more torque and better top end... a significant amount of that has to be the prop.

[phenom_1819]

Curious -- are you running the acme 3 or 4-blade?  All the hype seems to be around the 3-blade (which still sounds strange to me), but haven't heard much about the 4-blade.

[ColdNorth]

I have the Acme 3 blade. I phoned the Acme store last summer and some guy there seemed very knowledgeable about the Toyota boats and strongly recommended this prop. There may or may not be better props, but it certainly helped improve performance... I am satisfied with it. He told me that there was as much or more surface area on the Acme 3 blade as many 4 blade props... now that I am comparing it to another 3 blade 13 x 13 and another 4 blade, there is significantly more surface area on the Acme 3 blade prop.

[ColdNorth]

I made a mistake with my prop size... it is an Acme 13 x 12. I have attached a picture of it and another OJ 13 x 13 that came with my boat for comparison. The Acme prop brings my boat out of the hole quicker and increased my top end. I am really surprised at the difference in the size of the blades... in case it gets difficult to read the details on the props in the pictures, the Acme is the shinier of the 2 props... If anyone is interested, I am going to sell at least one of these 4 blade props in the other picture.

Was cleaning the boat today... by the time you wax the hull, vacuum it (several times it seems), clean and UV protect the seats, shine and tune up the trailer, it eats up most of the day. Even lifted up all the removeable floor panels and cleaned under them and the engine. Have not found a great polish to make my wheels shine like I think they can... anybody know of an amazing product to shine them up with?

[SpokaneX22]

Coldnorth, I am interested in one of the 4 blades!  i have the stock 3 blade and now that i am running all the ballast in my X22 I feel I need the extra low end torque.  I don't mind losing a little off the top end so sign me up.  Send me a message directly...thanks

Jason

[ScarabEpic22]

I have a stock prop, but its a LH rotation (reverse pulls right not left) because I cant stand going into reverse and having the boat pull away from the skiier/boarder.  I get about 47-48mph, any recommendations for more holeshot without loosing any top-end?