Perfect Pass Surging / calibration?

[dbishop]

I have an '06 Outback V whose Perfect Pass is surging. I've checked the cables for kinks & tried several different nn & kdw calibration settings. I've read all the posts I can find on the forums but I'm left with a few questions:

* Will someone please share their KdW & NN settings with me? Our boat seemed to behave best at 140/140, and the PP manual says 80/120 is the factory setting and has vague suggestions like "heavy boats may need higher values." What's a heavy boat? Surely an OBV w/ 4 people and no ballast isn't "heavy," is it?

* The PP manual doesn't give any tips like "set the KdW first, then NN" or "if you get as low as 90 on the NN, you've gone too far." Anybody have any recipes for how to calibrate? Trying every setting from 80-200 on the KdW and 90-150 on the NN would be 72 different variations, and that's just going by 10's.

* I've seen a number of posts that say the cables need to be zip-tied in place. I don't see any movement in my cables, but really I wonder: isn't the point of that style of cable that the outer sheath stays the same length (even around curves) and the inner wire is what actually moves? So wouldn't zip-tying the sheath accomplish little or nothing?

[wolfeman131]

No, that isnt heavy for the boat. I would have suggested the cable, but since you have checked that, then move on to the servo. Run the boat with the engine hatch open and have someone observe the PP servo & cable. Take a vid if you can and email it to the folks @ PP. They have great customer service.

[BensonWdby]

I use zip ties for mine - but not to secure the cable. I used one of the lifting eyes on the motor in front of the throttle linkage to put a zip tie through leaving it about a 1 inch loop. This forces the cable into a friendlier path to the linkage - without restricting it's movement.

[BensonWdby]

Now that I think about it - The surging may be from a bad connection at the mounting swivel tab. The instructions I have are very insistent on hot having a gap between the long hex-nut and the swivel tab that replaces the original linkage mount. I have done this twice. On my boat I got lucky - but had to flip the swivel tab so that I could thread the long hex nut onto the cable - and it just hung on by a few threads. The second one I actually got wrong and it was surging. A more expert installer reviewed it and was able to adjust it correctly. I bet if you review you documentation about the connection of the hex nut you may get your answer. I had some questions and email PP and they were very quick to respond.

[dbishop]

Thanks for the advice -- it seems that the cables are critical based on how often they're mentioned in troubleshooting. It's tough with a used boat, since I can't assume everything's installed correctly (speedo wasn't, for example).

Still, does anyone with an Outback V want to share their KdW & NN calibration numbers, just so I have a starting point and/or can eliminate poor calibration? Thanks.

[wolfeman131]

I'll pull them them off my pc later today & post. These will be what PP recommended for me with surf ballast.

[BensonWdby]

Are you running Slalom or wakeboard speeds? I am seet up for slalom and have not done any setting changes. All I have done is the RPM calibration for slalom. Seems to work fine - 99 Mobius DD.

[dbishop]

Wakeboard speeds. Earlier in the summer, 20-22, but we slowed down to 18-20 later in the season and it was like our skills magically improved. (sorry; that was a tangent.) Wakeboard speeds.