how to drive in shallow water with my 19 ' Bayliner I/O

[finest88]

So just purchased my first boat about a month ago and just recently finished fixing her up for the season. My boat experience was always as a passenger on my friends boats so I'm pretty new to driving one. I took my 2005 Bayliner 3.0 Mercruiser I/o out for the first time this morning just to learn the channels and realized that a ton of areas where my friends and I use to park up changed dramatically do to erosion. As I passed I noticed that a bunch of boats similar to mine in size were still using these areas to sit and enjoy the weather. I decided not to go in because my depth finder was reading 3 feet and I don't want to hit sand. Is there a science behind driving in shallow water with an I/O? So many beautiful places to drive into are around 3 feet by my area and I want to take advantage of this. Any pointers on how to drive in shallow water would be greatly helpful.

 

[tpenfield]

The science is called 'trim' and 'tilt'. You can use the trim switch to bring the outdrive up to its 'limit' position so that the boat/outdrive does not draw as much water. Beyond that you can use the 'tilt/trailer' button to bring the outdrive up a bit further for more shallow areas. Of course, when running in the tilt range, you want to be at idle speed.

I'm sure your friends would bring the outdrive up as much as needed when they ventured into shallow areas and to get near shore. You just may not have noticed.

When anchored (or beached) in shallow water, you want to bring the outdrive up well into the tilt range to avoid it hitting bottom during wave action.

 

[Scott Danforth]

your boat has two drafts. on plane and displacement speed.

your depth finder is mounted to the bottom of your hull not at the water line this extra depth is going to help you not hit bottom

know how far below the depth finder your outdrive is.

know how much you draft at displacment speed (measure when at dock)

then as Ted described, use trim and tilt when water gets close to your draft depth (the added buffer of the distance below the water line to your depth finder is your safety margin)

 

[Sprig]

The advice given so far is spot on. But to add to it the best thing you can do is avoid shallow water. Anchor on the edge of it if you must. Even if it is sandy bottom there will be some submerged hazards around that if you hit one may damage prop or outdrive. If you know the most shallow area is 3’ then you may be ok. In 50+ years of boating almost every prop I’ve damaged has happened from hitting something in shallow water where I shouldn’t have been. If you want to “sit and enjoy the weather” don’t do it in shallow water.
Also I don’t know where you boat but if it is affected by tide and current the shallow depths can vary from the 3’ to 6” before you know it.

 

[roscoe]

slowly

 

[roscoe]

9' water can go to 6" in a second.

 

[KD4UPL]

trim up, go very slowly, basically no wake speed.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

3' isn't a problem, 1' sure is. If you aren't sure how deep you are heading to, don't go there. The thing I have learned about rivers and sandy bottom lakes is what was 3' yesterday may be 1' today. If you boat mostly in sandy/muddy bottom waters a stainless steel prop is recommended, and a tow rope. I've bottomed out on plane a few times on the river with zero damage on my SS prop, just my ego was bent a bit.

 

[tpenfield]

I'm not sure but, isn't wearing a life boat some sorta safety precaution when it comes to riding on a boat?

Life boats tend to be pretty big, so wearing one may not be all that easy.

 

[GA_Boater]

Life boats tend to be pretty big, so wearing one may not be all that easy.

This life boat sank.

 

[Grub54891]

9' water can go to 6" in a second.

Apparently you've been on the Miller dam flowage... Been there, done that...

 

[roscoe]

Apparently you've been on the Miller dam flowage... Been there, done that...

And the Flambeau river, Otter Lake, Turtle- Flambeau flowage, Big Chippewa, Castle Rock, and 100 different lakes in the US and Canada.

 

[Lou C]

If you can get charts for your boating area that helps too. Keep in mind if you have the drive tilted all the way up you must be at idle speed because that puts the u joints at very extreme angles. I avoid shallow areas whenever possible. Not only is hitting the bottom an issue but you can pick up sand which grinds the impeller wear plate and then you get mild overheating. Here we have tides (coastal NY) and the depths are always changing, but we do not have low water levels due to droughts. So I time it to go out before high tide and return before low tide.