What kind of seas can a capri handle???

[Jenason]

Just wondering how big the seas could be for my 97 capri can handle..

I was in 2 foot waves today in the channel of the maritimes and the hull was doing pretty well, I tried strait on/45 degrees and parallel...a little lumpy but not tooo bad, I buried the bow a few times but figured that was enough....

thanks

 

[Thajeffski]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

I took mine out in 5-8 foot waves

I think that's about it's limit, a few times water came full over the front!! it was a blast!!! lol. I wouldn't wana take it out in anything more though.

 

[Les Robb]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Well I'm not familiar with capri's but I guess they are all the same length????
One thing I do know is there are different kinds of 2ft seas and for sure 5-8footers. I've been out in 46 footers on the edge of the blue water in 5-8 footers and wished I was well offshore or inshore of the break. Anyway, there are so many variables depth current etc, you really can't give an answer to this complicated question.

At my age if the forecast is for 4-6 footers I'll sit at home and think about those warm sunny days of 1-2 ft when the fish were almost jumping in the boat it was so nice.

Luck ya'll

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Your boat is a Category D:

(Sheltered waters): Designed for voyages on
small lakes, rivers and canals where conditions up
to, and including, wind force 4 (13-18 mph) and
significant wave heights up to, and including, 0.5
meters (1.64 feet) may be experienced.

Cat C:

(Inshore): Designed for voyages in coastal
waters, large bays, estuaries, lakes and rivers
where conditions up to, and including, wind force 6
(25-31 mph) and significant wave heights up to, and
including, 2 meters (6.56 feet) may be
experienced.

Cat B:

(Offshore): Designed for offshore voyages
where conditions up to, and including, wind force 8
(39-46 mph) and significant wave heights up to, and
including 4 meters (13.12 feet) may be
experienced.

Cat A:

(Ocean): Designed for extended voyages
where conditions may exceed wind force 8 on the
Beaufort scale (47 mph and above) and significant
wave heights of 4 meters (13.12 feet) and above, and
vessels largely self-sufficient.

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Just wondering how big the seas could be for my 97 capri can handle..

I was in 2 foot waves today in the channel of the maritimes and the hull was doing pretty well, I tried strait on/45 degrees and parallel...a little lumpy but not tooo bad, I buried the bow a few times but figured that was enough....

thanks

BTW, your boat is not self bailing, if you are burying the bow in "two footers" you better get out of there before you watch the Capri deep six out from under you like a boat shaped hot tub.

 

[Mark42]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

All depends on what year and model Capri you have. I have a 1985 1600 Capri Cuddy Cabin model. Thats a small 16 footer. Been out in 2 foot waves. Not a smooth ride, but it is perfectly capable of handling those conditions. It has high freeboard which helps a lot.

 

[nitsuj]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

How do you find out what category your boat is?

 

[WAVENBYE2]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

It may just be me, But there is noway that I would put mine in the ocean. Like it was said, Inland waters, rivers and lakes. Mine does Ok in 2' waves with the right setting, but some of the things that you guys experience on the ocean, I'll stick to fresh water with my huge 1' waves on average.
It might just be me!! I have no weight in the boat (just me) no people, and look at how low the stern and bow is already.

 

[ziggy]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

How do you find out what category your boat is?

get caught in a storm and make it thru it.... . if ya make it thru that, then wait till the next big storm comes and see if ya can make that work out for ya. just kidding. kinda sorta. ya boat much, you'll get caught and put your boat and boating skills to the test. i've been out in sustained 30mph, gusts to 35-40mph winds on a 2k acre inland lake.

http://www.stormfax.com/beaufort.htm

not because i wanted to, but got caught. the waves were no where near as high as the beaufort scale dictates. this was an inland lake. the lake was solid whitecaps though. looked white in general after i got back on land and looked out at it. spray blowing off the whitecaps. no idea how big the waves were. 3', maybe, pretty long separation. i'd say they were big enough to get my full attention... if i'd have not been caught but was launching, i never would have. no other boats on the lake that day... but i did make it back... so i know i can handle that much.... you'll have to go try your self...

oh, if i'd a had a br i'd a probably sunk. i buried the bow twice that day. very exciting...

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

How do you find out what category your boat is?

On more recent models it should be in the owner/operator manual. It is not just something simple like length but the combined design characteristics of a boat. There are plenty of Category D boats that might be as large as 30 feet, pontoons in particular and deck boats come to mind. That is why I put picture examples.

 

[Crack of Dawn]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Also depends on where you are. I'm on the Gulf Coast, and 3 ft seas in the Gulf is a lot different than 3 footers in Mobile Bay and inshore areas. The wave length in the Gulf is longer so the boat is in an out of the waves, 3 footers in the bay will beat the absolute hell out of you, the wave length is shorter so it's more of a pounding, wet ride. I've got a class C boat and I'm not going to run 20 miles off shore if 3-5's are forecast. 1-2's are fine. I don't want to be in 5-8's, that's just crazy. Around these parts, if you're talking 6-8, we'll be under a small craft advisory.

 

[nitsuj]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Well, my boat isn't a recent model, so the category number doesn't appear in my manual. So is there a way to figure it out if it isn't specified by the boat maker? Just for giggles.

And it would never be in the ocean, or gulf for that matter. But it may end up on Lake Erie, which I understand can be worse than some oceans due to the rapidly changing conditions and wave lengths. (Due to it being so shallow.) I'd also never be out of sight of land or be in anything even close to rough weather. Or even in the chance of rough weather. I was more asking out of curiosity because I had not heard of the category system before. I went to the website. What's with those diagrams? A little extreme no? The house in the diagrams was breaking up in 32mph winds. The tree broke off and the roof came off at 47mph winds. My house has stood up to winds greater than that and I don't exactly live in a concrete bunker. ;-) But thanks for the info.

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Well, my boat isn't a recent model, so the category number doesn't appear in my manual. So is there a way to figure it out if it isn't specified by the boat maker? Just for giggles.

And it would never be in the ocean, or gulf for that matter. But it may end up on Lake Erie, which I understand can be worse than some oceans due to the rapidly changing conditions and wave lengths. (Due to it being so shallow.) I'd also never be out of sight of land or be in anything even close to rough weather. Or even in the chance of rough weather. I was more asking out of curiosity because I had not heard of the category system before. I went to the website. What's with those diagrams? A little extreme no? The house in the diagrams was breaking up in 32mph winds. The tree broke off and the roof came off at 47mph winds. My house has stood up to winds greater than that and I don't exactly live in a concrete bunker. ;-) But thanks for the info.

You can discount the Beufort scales or not as you wish. My house has stood up in 100 MPH winds, don't know what category it is in either. As I said, there are a combination of factors that are used to determine category. You may fixate on specific numbers while what you should take in is that a Class D boat, which is likely what you have, is not meant for operation on big water and for that matter neither is the Class C except under the best conditions.

Wave in Superior:

 

[nitsuj]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

I have zero doubt that my boat is a class D. I was just curious about the classification system. And I wasn't discounting the Beufort scale. I was making a tongue in cheek observation about the diagrams that accompanied it. I'm not so much looking for justification on where I can run my boat. I was really just trying to learn more about the subject. Thanks for the info.

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

I have zero doubt that my boat is a class D. I was just curious about the classification system. And I wasn't discounting the Beufort scale. I was making a tongue in cheek observation about the diagrams that accompanied it. I'm not so much looking for justification on where I can run my boat. I was really just trying to learn more about the subject. Thanks for the info.

I don't understand it either fully, the diagrams are weird, I follow what you are saying. It is kind of a mystery.

Cat Bathtub:

 

[WAVENBYE2]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

I have never used the beufort scale, never heard of it until now, All I know is that the waves here won't sink my boat or the conditions of the weather, when we have high wind days and the chop is just unreal, We just do not enjoy ourselves at all, It makes for a miserable day of boating, You can't run her the way you would like or just put her at 3000 rpm @ 30mph and just cruise, can't beach her and enjoy the day either cause you are constantly having to reset the stern anchor and beating the heck out of the bottem of the hull on the shore. We look at weather conditions and decide if we're going out. I can sit here and try to calculate this and that, but it's the weather we look at and know if it's going to be a good day or not worth going out. And we boat on a lake and the chop can beat the boat to death.

 

[JoLin]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Also depends on where you are. I'm on the Gulf Coast, and 3 ft seas in the Gulf is a lot different than 3 footers in Mobile Bay and inshore areas. The wave length in the Gulf is longer so the boat is in an out of the waves, 3 footers in the bay will beat the absolute hell out of you, the wave length is shorter so it's more of a pounding, wet ride. I've got a class C boat and I'm not going to run 20 miles off shore if 3-5's are forecast. 1-2's are fine. I don't want to be in 5-8's, that's just crazy. Around these parts, if you're talking 6-8, we'll be under a small craft advisory.

Absolutely right about water depth, wavelength and frequency. I boat primarily in the Great South Bay on the south shore of Long Island. 2 footers occur only when we see sustained easterly winds of 25 mph or more, but they'll beat you up. You can't ride up and down them, they're too close together- you pound your way through them. The boat does fine, but it's a wet, unpleasant ride. 3-4 footers on the ocean or in the Sound would be a cakewalk for my boat.

 

[dingbat]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

It's all about the available fetch and how the different bodies of water react to it. In the Chesapeake, small craft advisories go up with 20kts. of wind.

The Chesapeake is oriented in a north to south configuration with the prevailing winds coming out of the south all summer long. With an outgoing tide running against the wind it?s going to rough. We?ll get a 1.5 - 2? chop with 5 knots of wind out of the south. At 15 kts. you?re easily looking at a 3-4? chop at 2-3 second intervals. It?s the same for a north with a wind blowing against an incoming tide.

Our worst is winds come from the NE. With nothing between the Bay and the Atlantic to block the wind, it?s get pretty nasty in a hurry. Throw in the tide running perpendicular to the wind and you end up with waves coming at you from 360 degrees. No such thing as running them at an angle, there is no angle. You?re going to get the stuffing beat out of you anyway you look at it. All you can do is put the bow down and punch your way threw it the best you can and hope you don?t take a ?breaker? over the bow.

You couldn?t pay me to try and navigate a Capri against that kind of water. I did it once in my foolish youthfulness. We got caught in a storm about 7 miles out. That day a friend of mine ended up with a broken noise when the windshield collapsed under the impact of a wave hitting the windshield and the other guy I was with was hung over the back of the boat puking the 2 hours it took us to get back to the dock. I spent the entire time bailing water out of the boat with scoop made from a milk jug just to keep us afloat.

 

[marine4003]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

Its more up to the experience of the operator, i delivered boats for 6 years in every condition possible, Ive met captains who could pilot a 17 ski thru a hurricane ,also met inexperienced boaters who take pontoons out in 3-4 waves loaded with people. class does give you an idea..but the experience of the owner is what matters most.

 

[nitsuj]

Re: What kind of seas can a capri handle???

That's an excellent point. I consider myself "inexperienced" in boating. I've only been boating for about 15 years, with a 5 or 6 year break in the middle of that. All of my boating has been done on rivers where waves aren't a huge concern. Many people with the amount of experience I have consider themselves "experienced" but one look at what can happen to an "experienced" river boated on lake Erie in a storm will show you just how much there is to learn yet.

So that begs the question: How does one get "experienced" in the capacity we're discussing? The only way to gain experience in adverse conditions is to boat in them. But I don't think anyone here would recommend a new boater go out in a storm on a great lake.

So, to add to the original question of what can a Capri handle, I would ask, how would one learn to handle a Capri in less than ideal conditions.