I did manage to maiden her today...I suppose I will call it a success since I didn't burn anything up or sink it. The issues that I need to resolve are:
1) there is some water getting inside the box. I am pretty sure this is coming from the stuffing tube. Nothing that I can do about it before Saturday...but I am leaning toward going to the .186 cable. For now I have a liner from an Aquacraft Vegas that I hope will alleviate the problem.
2) The collet is giving me fits. I just can't seem to get it tight enough. It slipped on me at least three times today...one time the cable actually rode up inside the collet to the point that the cable was so tight at the strut that the motor could not turn it. I hope that moving to the 3/16 cable with a better collet will resolve this issue.
3) I suppose this one may have something to do with my newness to this boat and FE. Under acceleration it wants to pull hard to the right. After trying the mod 1450, a 42/55 and another prop a friend had there was no change. The turn fin was moved back to where the front bolt is not used...this seemed to help a bit. Obviously easing on and off the throttle is a key factor in driving this thing. I can get it to run absolutely straight on the back and front stretch. It takes very little to get it to enter the turn, but it wants to keep on turning right even after the rudder is centered. I have even centered half way through the turn and it won't straighten back of until I give some left input.
Any thoughts on this?