Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

[paradiddle1]

I want to get a better ride in choppy water. In my area of Florida in open bays and the occasional Gulf of Mexico run my boat can be a rough ride. I usually just ride the inter-coastal with its speed limits but want to cross some open bays like Charlotte Harbor, Sarasota Bay and Tampa bay.

I have looked at Fat-Sacs that the wake boats use. I was thinking of adding some weight in the bottom locker. They make a bag that adds 370Lbs that will fit. anyone else do this. Or maybe wakeboats can chime in on ride quality.

My Glastron is a light boat 19ft bowrider so that is why I was seeking to make the boat a little heavy.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

Ayuh,.... I'd probably go with operator controlled trim tabs, rather than adding weight, myself...

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

They don't improve the ride that much... In some hulls, they could potentially make it worse. (more weight means more hull that is wetted, which could also mean you have another sharp edged chine that is hitting the water.)

If anything, if its that rough, I'd want all the freeboard I could get. Adding extra weight on a 19' bowrider isn't the best way to do that...


To go along with bond-o's comment, they don't even have to be operator controlled. I've had a huge improvement in ride quality putting on smart tabs. I used them on a 14' jet boat that would pound your bones into dust if there was a ripple. After adding them, it was like riding in a completely different boat, about 10 feet longer.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

I don't think that you will turn a duck into a swan, but if you are intrigued you could try it.

I assume it is water ballast(?)

 

[sqbtr]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

I'm going to +1 the tabs, be it controlable or smart. The smart tabs made my boat ride like a cadillac compared to the beating the tri hull use to give me.

 

[cyclops2]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

If you have a V8 in the boat like I do ?
It is a Chaparral 186 SSI 5.0L V8. VERY stern heavy due to 4 & 6 cylinders being normal. But I had the V8 as a option. I find that 300 to 400pounds of people in the bow seat is fine in up to 2' waves. Then 1 person up front is fine for 3' waves. After that height, everybody to the rear bench seat.

You really need to be able to shift you ballast or people as conditions change.

 

[Philster]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

You aren't going to get a good ride out of a 19ft bow rider in open waters like that (if they aren't placid/calm -- and if they are, then ballast and tabs aren't to be considered). It's an unreasonable goal. If you are concerned with adding ballast, then you must be thinking about times the water is a decent chop/snottiness.

A bearable ride with some good hydraulic trim tabs? Possibly. Should anyone be up front if conditions are such that you are posting worrying about ballast and others are here talking about lowering hydraulic tabs to smooth/balance the ride? Nope.

Should you ensure you have a second battery and bigger redundant bilge pump sitting over the smaller/primary one? Yes.

Take one wave wrong without a self bailing deck and your at the mercy of a battery and small pump.

.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

I don't think it's a good idea to add weight to a boat for trim purposes (wake boats and sail boats excepted). Shift existing weight, use the trim, understand that waves make boats bounce, and get a bigger boat until you have the power to control the weather.

It would be dangerous to add weight you can't get out in a hurry. at most, put some water jugs in there so you can pour them out if needed. Try the collapsable kind.

 

[cyclops2]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

At 1 time I to thought about putting 4 ..60 pound bags of stone chips under the lift up front seats. But I can go WOT at 50 mph to safe Docks somewhere . Reading the.... sky & waves..... IS VERY IMPORTANT. Any doubt ??? RUN FOR IT!! while you still can.

 

[shrew]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

I'm curiuos about what you need to improve in the ride in order to make it better. If you're concern is improving the ride in chop I assume that the boat is pounding along in these conditions. As has been stated, the size and type of boat is intended for lake use where chop is typically minimial. electric or hydraulic tab will definitely help. Also worth considering is pulling back on the throttle. Unlike a car, when you go up hil, you step on teh gas. In a boat, in rough water, you simply slow down to improve ride. Just my .02

 

[nlain]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

I have Smart Tabs on my 04 SeaRay 185Sport, I put them on for the very reason you are talking about, they work great. Now a boat the size of what we have is not going to be smooth riding in the sounds and bays unless the water is smooth. With the Smart Tabs I can raise or lower the bow with the drive trim, slow down and have a decent ride across the sound. Smart Tabs will do what you need for most of the issues with a boat our size, no you cannot adjust them when someone changes sides of the boat where the electric or hydraulic tabs would allow for that. I will say I have never noticed a need for that adjustment with my boat and Smart Tabs, I do have some full figured folks that change sides at times but everything stays good.

I run about 20 miles from my dock to the East, thunderstorms make up to the West of my house, I have learned to watch the weather and head home. I do not always make it, I have dropped anchor under I95 bridge and shut everything down for a few minutes while it blows over, then go on home. I have only had to do this about three times in 20 years.

Tide change can make the water go from smooth to washing machine rough depending on the wind direction at the time.

I would not advise adding weight to the boat to hold it down in rough water, stuff the bow of a bowrider and you have a 1 to 2 foot stream of water coming in your boat, I did it once with my old boat, so I know, I changed the way I ran that boat and never had a problem again. I still do not run hard in rough water, it is not a good ride, it is not good for the boat, it is dangerous, cause if you land wrong you are going swimming or worse. Just my thoughts from many years of experience.

 

[jacoboregon]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

No added weight, but also would recommend smart tabs.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

I had one of those - - lots of space for a 19'er but there isn't much you can do about the ride. I ran mine over at Cayo Costa and down in the Keys. Many times I turned around and put it back on the trailer as I didn't like the beating I got in rough water. I can run my 23' CC up on a plane quite comfortably in the same rough water.

 

[paradiddle1]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

Thanks for the replies - it seems like smart tabs is the way to go. I know that they improve the hole shot but it looks like they can help with rougher conditions. I know I can't make this into a CC - just looking for improvement.

 

[Philster]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

From what I've read and understand, Smart Tabs help out of the hole and at crawl speeds to keep the bow down. They don't help much (at all) on plane and they can't be adjusted to address a variety of situations encountered in open water.

In fact, in open seas, I wouldn't want Smart Tabs - no way. At low speeds, to prevent a wave coming over the bow, you actually want the bow up... and you can do this by sitting behind your bow wave, nose up, just below planing speed. Smart Tabs work against this. Personally, from my experience on small bow riders in open seas, this was the most critical safety measure. Maybe someone can correct me, but Smart Tabs don't help here; they actually hurt.

Hydraulic tabs = yes. Because you engage them when you need them, and you don't always want your tabs in the water at less-than-planing speed.

 

[nlain]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

As a user of Smart Tabs for quite a few years now I can say I have never had a problem with handling rough water. They do help with the rough water, I do slow down if really rough and trim the outdrive to put the bow where I want it and stay on plane at about 15 mph. So far that has worked great for me. You can bog the boat in the water if you want to but I have not found a need to since I put the tabs on. I can also say that they do everything advertised, on plane faster and easier, increased speed at cruise for the same rpm and increased speed at wot, better ride in rough water, reduced fuel consumption, on the fuel consumption, I have a set run from my dock to the barrier islands of about 20 miles each way and I use about 1 1/2 gallons less fuel than before tabs. Low speed wander goes away, this one I tested in a cove on a lake idling into a marina, no current, no wind, turn loose steering wheel and it ran straight. I have no interest in the company that makes Smart Tabs I am just a very satisfied user.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

From what I've read and understand, Smart Tabs help out of the hole and at crawl speeds to keep the bow down. They don't help much (at all) on plane and they can't be adjusted to address a variety of situations encountered in open water.

In fact, in open seas, I wouldn't want Smart Tabs - no way. At low speeds, to prevent a wave coming over the bow, you actually want the bow up... and you can do this by sitting behind your bow wave, nose up, just below planing speed. Smart Tabs work against this. Personally, from my experience on small bow riders in open seas, this was the most critical safety measure. Maybe someone can correct me, but Smart Tabs don't help here; they actually hurt.

Because of how they work (constantly moving), they are quite a bit different than conventional tabs. At high speeds, the water pressure is great enough that they really don't have any impact at all. In rough water, they function exactly what they look like, shock absorbers... A fixed tab isn't going to absorb any energy, it is just adding to the hull surface.

They also don't prevent you from running nose up at below than planing speed, still easy enough to do that. The speed might be a little slower than before, but in rough water that isn't exactly a bad thing.

 

[sqbtr]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

Unless you have actually gone from a small boat without smart tabs to installing them and realizing the difference, I don't see how you can comment on their pros and cons.....................................................

 

[Philster]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

Maybe someone can correct me, but Smart Tabs don't help here; they actually hurt.

.

I stand corrected.

Dialogue and questioning make for better answers. Case in point: Tabs.

Happy boating.

 

[Captain Caveman]

Re: Ballast bags for better ruff water riding ??

In my simplistic way of thinking, it sounds like a bad idea to move your boat closer to the bottom of the ocean (adding ballast) because the boat isn't setup to handle the conditions.

I've got an aluminum boat that crashes across waves and will rattle your soul in bigger waters. I recognize this and just stay away. My life and likely yours as well aren't worth some of the risks we seem so willing to make.

Buy a bigger boat meant to cross those big bays or don't cross them.