Upgrade time... I think

[DevonS]

Hey guys! Long time no post!

So, had my first boat for a season and a half and I'm starting to discover things I don't care for. My 1985 Baja is very shallow, and very fast, but if the water is moderately rough the tub hammers every wave jarring your teeth, frightening the kids, and making the wife want to stay on the beach... permanently.

I'm under the assumption that I need a "Deep V" boat to help break the waves and have a somewhat smoother ride. Am I mistaken? How do you determine a deep from a shallow V? I've also read that because of a Deep V there's more friction and resistance, yadda yadda yadda, and therefor requires a bigger motor and this increases your gas bill. Hazard of the hobby I guess.

Anyway, before I go and crack my wallet, am I looking for a deep v or something else? I'm looking for the typical 18 - 20 footer, bowrider/runabout for 95% wakeboarding/tubing/rippin' around. Checking out tubs 1999 and newer with names such as Chaparral, Rinker, Maxum, Sea Ray, Four Winns, and Sugar Sand (yes, a jet).

Thanks for the great community, folks!
Next search topic... importing a boat from the US to Canada.

 

[wgl333]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

My first purchase was this year. The lake I am on in Upstate NY (Oneida Lake) is rather shallow and can turn rough realllllly quick. With that in mind, I went kinda big and bought a 1995 Wellcraft Eclipse 236 SC Cuddy. And it does exactly what you are looking for....it cuts through the chop quite nicely. I see a lot of smaller boats handled by wide eyed people with a death grip on the wheel....not a problem for me....nor am I looking for exactly what level of seas I need to turn me into one of those, but, I think upgrading in length and hull design is the right course.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

You sir have what is called "twofootitis" a common disease with new Boaters, Welcome to the world of Real Boaters!!

Happy to see you made it!!

 

[DevonS]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Yes... I'm familliar with Twofootitis. I was hoping I wouldn't contract the dreaded infection, but apparently it attacks loosened teeth after a rough ride!

So, is pretty much everything a "Deep V" nowadays? How can I tell by looking or reading about a boat if it's deep or regular or shallow or other? Here's a few for arguements sake:
2000 Maxum
2004 Sugar Sand
2004 Sea Ray
1999 Four Winns

Are any of these considered Deep?

 

[DevonS]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Thanks for the input wgl333. That's consistent with other's stories. I'm not sure about going for a cuddy at this time. Almost feels like too much boat if it has rooms on it

 

[LiFeStArTs@FoRtY]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

TBH, I would go bigger than 18. If 14K is your budget, look for a late 90's or early 2000's crownline 202. Grat boat that will ride really well.

 

[emilsr]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

I'm not sure what the cutoff for a "deep" V is, but if I remember right (and I may not) your boat has an 18 degree deadrise at the transom....which probably makes it a deep V already and probably similar to the other boats you listed. Deadrise can go all the way up to 24 degrees on performance v-hulls (Sutphen and a few others go to 26 degrees). The downside is that those kinds of hulls don't make for good tow boats. For ripping around in rough water they're great as that's what they're designed to do, but if you want to pull a wakeboarder all day they aren't a particularly good option.

More deadrise will help with the ride, but more mass (a bigger boat) helps more. If you're really concerned about ride, look for a boat that it's possible to stand up and drive/ride. When you're sitting down your spine takes all the shock load.....not comfortable. When you're standing your legs take the shock and that's MUCH more comfortable. It took a while, but now that I've got my wife convinced she needs to stand up when the water gets rough I get way fewer dirty looks.

If you're set on a 20' runabout, take a look at Baja's 202 Islander. We had one....loved it. Not the best ride in the rough as it's a sit down boat but way better than what you have now, better than most other runabouts AND it'll make a passable tow boat. There's other options to be sure though, so take your time and shop around. It's definitely a buyer's market.

 

[DevonS]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Yep, Crownline is on my search list. My only concern in getting to 20 feet is weight. I have to pull this with a little Ford Escape V6 (3500lb max towing I believe). Not interested in buying a bigger truck too. Not at this point anyway.

 

[cannonman]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

I second the motion that a Crownline 202 would be a good choice. I love mine, but I don't think your tow vehicle would handle it very well. Good Luck!

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Let the record show that I was not the one suggesting a Crownline!! I believe that you will soon fall into vehicle twofootitis soon though also.....

I agree with the notion that you should buy the biggest boat you can afford, they get small very quickly!!
Just a heads up....

 

[NYBo]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Try trimming down a little when you hit the rough stuff. You want to get the bow down low enough to help slice through the waves.

Of course, this won't treat your "disease".

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

I would think a saltwater "dual console" (that's the term you need to search) would have a deeper V. In my quick search I'm seeing some with 20 degrees or more of deadrise.

This one was pretty pimp http://www.cobiaboats.com/boat-specs.php?ID=112

 

[DevonS]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Daaaaaaaaaaamn that Cobia's a sweet boat. Don't know about the "saltwater" in your post tho. All fresh water around here, smack dab in the middle of the continent. Anyway, looks like I'm on the hunt for the biggest boat I can TOW. Damn little V6 truck.

 

[shrew]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Tabs could probably help. Trimming the drive in slightly could also help. How fast are you going when everyone is getting banged around? Have you tried simply slowing down? Sometimes that will do wonders for smoothing out the ride.

 

[rbh]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Importing a boat into Canada is really quick and simple, yes there are a few threads that have been started here, almost step by step.

A couple of things we took into consideration was how much time we were going to spend on the boat as compared to the beach, how many people we would have on at one time, were we going to be doing boat camping/overnighters, was this boat going to be used for water sports IE sking/tubing, were we going to be fair weather boaters or handle the good and bad.
We decided on a sea ray sundancer.

 

[DevonS]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

I'm trimmed all the way down. Trim terms always confuse me... my motor is in all the way, under the boat, held the down arrow till she goes no more . I tried pretty much everything between idling and wide open. Seems the best is around 20 mph, I think. A lot of it could be lack of experience too, and maybe poor expectations. But comparing to other boats on the water, I can pull mine half up on the beach without effort. Everyone else seems to barely get the nose dry which makes me think the have a lot more hull under the water line. My motor is in the water where their windhsheild is.

A friend of mine has a Bayliner 195. I'll probably drag my boat out to where he's vacationing and do a little comparison shopping. I've already started the endless web-search shopping. Soooooo hard to get the model and trim levels straight. Like everyone else I want the most expensive boat for the cheapest dollar. The plan is to pop across the border and pick up something since the CDN $ is so damn high, but I also wanna make sure I'm actually going to save some coin doing so. So not only do I have to find a boat in the US, but a comparable boat up here to see the price difference.

Twofootitis is painful. But shiny boats are fun

 

[aspeck]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

My wife hated the rough ride of my Skeeter bassboat - go figure! LOL! Anyway, I got one of the dual consoles that ez was talking about ... a 19 foot Renkin Seamaster:

Wife loves the smooth ride (almost too smooth for me). A little difficult to control at low speed (ie docking), but nothing that can't be gotten used to. Definitely worth the purchase because now the wife asks when we are going to the lake and I don't have to convince her! (BTW, picked up this 1998 with the electric trolling motor, depth finder, 7.5 Evinrude kicker and 115hp Johnson for $5300 a couple years ago).

 

[LiFeStArTs@FoRtY]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

You could get by towing a 202 with escape. Just use a weight distributing hitch. My buddy towed his crownline 225 cuddy with an early 90's Jimmy using the weight distributing hitch. IOW, that could get you by for quite a while before you'd need to upgrade tow vehicle. Seriously, going from 17 to 18 feet isn't enough upgrade.

 

[DevonS]

Re: Upgrade time... I think

Something like this may fit the bill: "2000 20' Chaparral SSE boat. Open bow. 5L V8 220HP Volvo drive. Wakeboard tower. Stereo. Excellent condition. 411 hours. Dual batteries. 2 covers. Fresh water only."
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/nvn/boa/2409109126.html