Let say, I'm all trimmed out and on plane, my boat has a draft of 10" deep. Does it get shallower if I increase the speed? or it doesn't matter whether I'm going 30mph or 60mph?
Look at it this way -- if you went fast enough, the boat would rise to a point where it would go airborne and do a back flip. So the short answer is Yes, draft will decrease with speed. How much at any given speed is the unknown and certainly depends on hull design, prop, power, speed, load, wind, and water conditions.
Heres the problem with that, I used to fish skinny all the time, I would run 30 over water you couldn't float through with the engine down, the problem came when the water one day was 2'' lower than my last trip.
Now you are running 30 mph at 5400 rpm banging rocks on the bottom, I have 2 lower units in my garage attic to prove this is a really bad thing to do.
Funny thing is they all let go while I was running in deep water at WOT, my theory is that the prop strikes cracked the gears and under full power they finally let go.
So save your wallet, when you hit skinny water trim up and go slow.
I have moved to a different part of the river that is much deeper, I learn, eventually.
There is about a 50 yards section of the White River that I go thru, 1ft deep, just sand and mud. I normally use the trolling motor to go thru it because to not hit bottom I would have to trim up so high that the motor can't take in water. I was just wondering if I can get by safely by running WOT thru it.
I agree with the safety issues etc. but here is one option I use sometimes, especially if I am in murky water.
I run full down with my trim tabs to keep her on plane at lower speeds. This pushes the bow down which conversely brings the stern up. And I also trim the drive up as high as is reasonable. Whether I am on or off plane, I'd rather hit with the nose of the bullet than with the skeg and the prop . . .
My biggest concern is actually getting onto plane in shallow water. I have often hit the throttle hard and turned sharply at the same time, this feels like I am getting the drive up quicker, but have no good way of confirming that . . . Could be bass ackwards, but it feels right
