Issues running in choppy water

[NHGuy]

I'd not spend money on the current boat. Keep your money for the next one.
Bottom paint is for boats that stay in the salt water, not as needed for dunkers.
Just please give a shot with the trim way down and the bow taking the waves. You'll like it better that smacking your boat bottom repeatedly in chop.
You can carry weight to help dissipate the bumps too. Full tank helps or your chubby relative too.

 

[viper1216]

I'd not spend money on the current boat. Keep your money for the next one.
Bottom paint is for boats that stay in the salt water, not as needed for dunkers.
Just please give a shot with the trim way down and the bow taking the waves. You'll like it better that smacking your boat bottom repeatedly in chop.
You can carry weight to help dissipate the bumps too. Full tank helps or your chubby relative too.

I will be keeping at a slip next year, so it will be sitting in the salt water for about 6 months. Pretty much always have a full tank when I head out. But wouldn't that make the bow come up more since the tank is in the back?

 

[Philster]

Weight will help and trimming in/down will offset anything the extra fuel is doing to the balance. By the way: Riding on top of chop is like using the light chop to provide lift... so that you run across it... with the spaces between waves helping. You can only do this when the bow is down. Raise the bow and it's not gonna work.

Nothing is guaranteed. The advice about handling chop in a given boat are techniques you try to maximize your odds at success. You could come back and have done everything suggested and find your boat doesn't suit your needs.

Funny thing about boats:

The deeper the V and the greater the deadrise, the more use they get. It's just more pleasant to be out in the boat.

And when you look for a cruiser some day, you'll notice the bigger engines in proportion to boat size have more hours. Boats get used when using them is pleasant. Deep V's and 23-plus degrees of deadrise = a boat that gets used.

And if you find cruisers with 5.0s, they might have 250-300 hrs on them (as an example) Find similar sized cruisers with 6.2's or bigger and suddenly -- despite huge fuel cost increases -- they will consistently have 400, 500, 600+ hours.

Save for the boat you want.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I run those $100 Smart Tabs. They are great shock absorbers. Go to their website and watch videos to see in action and how to mount. One note: never use sillycon to seal screws on the transom. Stick with something better quality like 3M 4200.

 

[viper1216]

I run those $100 Smart Tabs. They are great shock absorbers. Go to their website and watch videos to see in action and how to mount. One note: never use sillycon to seal screws on the transom. Stick with something better quality like 3M 4200.

I think someone commented about not using auto tabs in the ocean as it can cause an unsafe condition in certain sea conditions. The Smart Tabs were what I was originally looking at, but then started looking at the hydraulic controlled ones.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I think someone commented about not using auto tabs in the ocean as it can cause an unsafe condition in certain sea conditions. The Smart Tabs were what I was originally looking at, but then started looking at the hydraulic controlled ones.

I never read that. I did run mine in Monterey Bay this last July. 7 foot at 5s. It was fairly gnarly water for an Idaho boat . I'm so used to the tabs now that I don't hardly think about them.

 

[viper1216]

It was actually Dingbat about 10 posts up that mentioned it.

 

[SeaDooSam]

My 18 ft chap handles 4-6 ft waves on our lake fine. It's just a little bumpy. Maxum I would assume though has less deadrise so it will slap more. Follow everyone else's advice. Trim down and try to hit the waves head on with the v of the bow

 

[Thalasso]

1 ft waves? Don't take the waves head on. Take them at a angle. This way you don't come off of the top so quick. You will get less hammering. Trim the drives up some. You want the bow up so you don't bury it in the next wave if there close.

Edit.
Watch this and you will get the idea.

https://youtu.be/O8ICz7yWG4Y

 

[KJM]

An 18 ft boat isn't too bad if you are not going too far out. I fish in wide open ocean every summer in a 19.5 boat and have never had problems. I use smart tabs and find them good. they get me up on plane at slower speeds then would normally be possible. I would suggest the safest thing you could do was simply slow down as the chop increases. It only takes one large swell combined with chop and/or another boats wake and you can be airbourne and out of control at too high a speed. slow down and you will be a lot safer and drier.

 

[viper1216]

Thanks KJM, have you ever run into an issue with your smart tabs that would make you wish you had gotten hydraulic controlled ones?

 

[jkust]

My 18 ft chap handles 4-6 ft waves on our lake fine. It's just a little bumpy. Maxum I would assume though has less deadrise so it will slap more. Follow everyone else's advice. Trim down and try to hit the waves head on with the v of the bow

I think you hit it on the head here. Everyone considers 'fine' to be different. Your 2470 lb 7 foot 9 inch beam boat in 6 foot waves for many would not fit into the definition of 'fine' .....like a 3.0 is 'fine' for many. My previous same length as yours Chap was much heavier than the one you are running possibly with the same deadrise, I don't see specs for your 1996 model in a quick search and on winds days, I would not say mine was fine. My current 6 foot longer, much heavier chap with a much steeper deadrise than my previous Chap I consider to be fine but that's as far as i'd go. Your baseline and mine are very different it would seem.

 

[SeaDooSam]

Very true. Fine does mean very different things to different people. At the very least I will say this: with your maxum, you will most likely make it back if you know how to hit the waves right etc, just you might be a little wet by the end and may not be very comfortable.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Ya know the best part of this conversation.... everyone knows that 'their' answer isn't the only answer. Impressive posts, all.

 

[tpenfield]

Ya know the best part of this conversation.... everyone knows that 'their' answer isn't the only answer. Impressive posts, all.

Very true Rick . . .

I will admit that around my waters, I see small run-abouts and bowriders launch at the ramp and head out into the bay. . . . then about 20 minutes later I see then coming back into the harbor with a weathered look.

 

[gddavid]

I believe the average boater overestimates wave heights they observe and consistently complain that the NOAA forecast was way off. A 1' chop at a short interval can be a significant challenge to your typical 20' bow rider. Throw in confused seas due to heavy traffic and it really takes the fun out of your day on the water.

I find it particularly interesting to look at the evolution of pleasure boats over the last 60 years with respect to ride quality and our modern expectations. From the 50's to the late 70's your average trailer able family runabout was much smaller, lighter and with flatter bottomed (virtually no dead rise). Boat size and weight were limited by what the current outboards could push, so there were far more aluminum and flat bottomed cruisers out of necessity. Natural wave heights were certainly the same but the average boater wasn't going that fast or venturing into large bodies of water on rougher days. Now we expect to run 30 knots at all times without having to pick our days, so it is no surprise that it takes 250 hp to push the average family boat and a 1/2 ton truck or better to pull it.

 

[KJM]

the only time I wish I had individually controlled hydraulic trim tabs is when I have heavy people sitting opposite me and i'm higher then them! I think part of that is due to prop torque. As for dangerous in following seas, i'm not sure why that would be. I'm not pretending to be no expert mariner and am always willing to learn something new! I have been in following seas many times and kind of like to "surf" the swell, but its usually travelling too fast and I eventually let it ride under the boat, this is usually followed by a slow down and a fair bit of water building behind the boat as the next swell approaches. I figure in a situation like that having the stern up a little due to the trim tabs is a good thing?

 

[dingbat]

i'm not sure why that would be. I'm not pretending to be no expert mariner and am always willing to learn something new! I have been in following seas many times and kind of like to "surf" the swell, but its usually travelling too fast and I eventually let it ride under the boat, this is usually followed by a slow down and a fair bit of water building behind the boat as the next swell approaches. I figure in a situation like that having the stern up a little due to the trim tabs is a good thing?

There is difference between swell and the steep, breaking waves and confused seas that are normal in our area. The waves are spaced so tight and so steep that they are usually on the verge of breaking as they approach you. If they do break, which is quite common, your bow instantly drops into the trough and the following wave tries to shove the bow under the water. Heading into a tide with a following sea is the absolute worst yet.

Sure, you could play the timing game in an attempt to minimize the chances of burying the bow, but when you have 20-30 miles to cover, taking your time isn't really an option. All you can do it pick up the tabs. Keep the bow up and trust your cockpit drains are up to the task.

I figure in a situation like that having the stern up a little due to the trim tabs is a good thing?

Lifting the stern pushed the bow down which is the last thing you want in a following seas. Tabs fully retracted. Bow up

 

[KJM]

like I said, always willing to learn. i'd never be 20-30 miles to cover, at least not in a 20 ft boat! where I usually fish is only about 3-4 miles from land and even then I wouldn't be the only boat out there or even the farthest out! I'm not sure how far viper is talking about but I would assume its nowhere near that far from shore, if it is then its way too far. As for the the smart tabs,i don't find that they lower the bow so much as lift the stern more even with the bow. My rule of thumb and i'd suggest the same to viper is when you see white caps get in out of it, and don't go farther then you can get back from in about 1/2 hour at moderate speed.

 

[sphelps]

I must agree with dingbat .. I have smart tabs on my 16 ft boat .... When its flat they are great .. Now I have never taken it out in the ocean but I have had it in the very wide parts of the river At one point a good 2 ft chop ... Even on that it seemed like the stern was just to high and it would like waddle down and push the bow down into the next wave ..This was at pretty slow speed.. Not a very stable feeling at all ..... I figured out that if I trimmed the motor way up and gave it more gas it was a much better ride ...
Think about it this way ... When the stern is high the bow pushes into the water the boat will veer which ever way it is pointed ... If your headed at any kind of an angle to the wave the bow will want to go one way and the stern may go another making for a not so comfortable ride ...
Was I rambling or did that make any kind of sense ? :facepalm: