Chine ride help

dave11

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Dec 2, 2007
Messages
1,195
I am planning on getting another boat in a year or so. It will have a planing hull. The top speed of whatever I get will probably be in the low to mid 30s MPH. It will be powered by a single four cycle outboard. What I am interested in learning is what is the difference in ride between a boat with a hard chine and one with a soft(?) chine?
 

ziggy

Admiral
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
Messages
7,473
Re: Chine ride help

what is the difference in ride between a boat with a hard chine and one with a soft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chine_(boating)

i've had two boats. one a trihull with hard chines, the other a vhull with what my mfg. calls nontrip chines. whatever that is......

at rest my vhull with these nontrip chines, which are basicly a third angle breakeing from the side of the v to the vertical sides of the boat, rocks back and forth with wave action much more than did my trihull with hard chines. almost annoyingly so even. not saying that it feels like it's gonna roll over, just that waves at rest seem to have much effect on the soft chine hull.
on plane, at medium speed, the vhull leans into corners very much compared to the hard chine trihull.
on plane at high speed. the v and the trihull both ride about the same into corners. though the v will eventually lean over after speed decreases into the turn....
that's about the extent of my knowledge of chines......... hope someone else speaks out. i'm couious too.......

perhaps a trihull vs a soft chine v are very different animals. but it's all i've experienced for a comparison......
 

steelespike

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 26, 2002
Messages
19,069
Re: Chine ride help

A boat with a hard chine will generally get up on the water easier will ride harder though a deep V will help some.It will be more sensitive in hard manuvers it will tend to hold the spray down it will generally be more stable at rest.A boat with a round chine/rounded hull.Won't get up on the water as well,will ride better, will handle more predictably in hard manuvers,may roll a little more at rest though that depends on the extremeness of the rounded hull.Generally a hard chine will be faster than a soft chine.
The 50s ChrisCraft runabouts are classic hard chine hulls designed for speed 35 -40 quite flat aft and shallow V.Fast for the day yes but rode very hard on rough water so hard that even in my youth I couldn't run at anything
faster than just befor. planing. The 50s inboard Lyman is probably the classic soft chine boat designed for ride, reasonable speed and dryness could be driven at full speed 25-30 mph in waves that would slow the Chris Craft to about 10 mph.The lapstreak hull was strong and reasonably dry.
Few of todays boats could be called true hard chine or soft chine.
 
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