Will a 14’ Bayliner Capri handle choppy water?

[MC3387]

Hello, I’m here to ask about the capabilities of a 14’ Bayliner Capri in choppy water.
*Edit: Aprroximately 2’ chop. We’re just trying to putt around, and see the sights.
My garage is only 18’ deep so I can’t go bigger than a 14’ boat, even with a folding trailer tongue mod.
I really like the open bow design since this boat is meant for leisure rather than fishing. So it’s either this, or a skiff.
I live in Portland, OR and would like to boat on the Columbia river which I hear gets pretty choppy.
Someone told me they owned a 16’ Capri and they didn’t like it because it was really unstable. They said it felt like they were on a canoe.
I will be buying a new house next year, thinking I might just put off the boat purchase until then so I can get something bigger.
But you can get a used Capri for around $2,500, so it wouldn’t be a total loss if it got me out on the water this summer.

 

[Scott Danforth]

define choppy water. a 6" chop or 3' chop?

any boat for under $5k should be looked at as a project boat, especially this time of year.

any Bayliner Capri, unless it was freshly restored should be looked at as it is a project that has a rotten transom, rotten stringers, etc.

 

[garbageguy]

+1 on the above, and the answer to your question depends on how to define "chop", and "handle", and what you want to do in the boat, and how much boating experience you have

given the info from your post - wait til you can put more $ into getting a boat

 

[southkogs]

Welcome!

Any 14' boat is going to feel a little "unstable." Not so much that it's not safe or working like it's supposed to ... it's just small. The hull weight difference between a 14' and 19' Capri is going to get close to 1,000#. Move a couple hundred pounds around on it, and it's going to rock a little on ya'.

 

[QBhoy]

Hi
im not aware of a 14ft bayliner Capri...but the answer is almost certainly....
not really.
It will manage but won’t be pleasant.

 

[Texasmark]

A heavy V hull with a good dead rise at the transom, lifting strakes along the bottom of the hull is your softest riding boat at most speeds, but the worst for "at rest" stability. An aluminum flat bottom is your roughest with a light weight tri-hull or semi-v somewhere in the middle.

Short boats can't span deep water crests at speed but handle them well creeping along....they just go with the flow. Shallow water whipped up by high winds is your worst enemy unless you have a fast bass boat and just ride the crests with a little "dip" as the transom hops from peak to peak.

 

[Starcraft5834]

"I will be buying a new house next year, thinking I might just put off the boat purchase until then so I can get something bigger."

my 2 c. wait and get something bigger. other than calm days... 14ft boat in any chop your head will be snapping back and forth.... bigger is better in boating

 

[Texasmark]

"I will be buying a new house next year, thinking I might just put off the boat purchase until then so I can get something bigger."

my 2 c. wait and get something bigger. other than calm days... 14ft boat in any chop your head will be snapping back and forth.... bigger is better in boating

"........bigger is better in boating." Yeah that's what I thought when the kids were growing up.....till one day I was washing my boat and a neighbor came over and said something like "My God, that's a ship!". Not quite but on the water (streams and ponds excepted) how true. Off the water, as they get larger the problems mount not necessarily linearly.

 

[ahicks]

A 14' anything should not be expected to handle well in choppy water.

 

[SkaterRace]

with a 14' I'd be looking at max 6" chop. IMO wait till you have the new house and then buy something better. If you do buy this one please go slow and wear your PFDs at all times.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Your problem any where around Portland isn’t wind induced not that you won’t see the big waves like we do up river a bit but the wakes created by all the boat traffic when the waters flat. I’ve never seen rougher water on a flat day as I have anywhere near Portland. I live in the gorge we see severe predictable waves you on the other hand can be motoring around on a perfectly flat water day one minute and be swamped by a combined wake of a dozen boats and in a nano second. Myself 18 foot is the smallest boat I’ll actively be in the middle of the Columbia in any more. I value my life more these days. Thirty years ago I fished it in as small as 12 foot boats. My words of advice come from boating from the coast to the John day dam.

 

[roffey]

I have a 19 foot boat and it does not really handle 2 foot chop. You will get wet and you will take a few over the bow. Fun sometimes but not so mush for your passengers, lol.

 

[Wesleyg72]

I’ve got an 18’ Bayliner Capri and it gets a little hairy in anything over 2’ seas on the James River here in Virginia. I would imagine a 14 footer would be the same at best. Your best bet would be to keep it in the trailer in rough days.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

The simple answer for that boat in any chop is simply no. Comfort is relative. With my bad body now my 19' deep V StarCraft isn't comfortable in almost any chop. If it's comfort you want your gonna need a bigger boat. 2' chop is really 4' belly to crest.