choppy watters

[Ezrider_92356]

a few days ago i went camping and fishing up on a pretty good medium size lake (about 2 miles across by about 5 miles long) on the last day the weather called for strong winds but when i went out it wasent to bad maby 15mph winds waves were about 10 inches tall no big deal. i figured id get a couple hours of fishing in before it was time to go well when i was out the winds realy picked up to 30mph with gusts of 40. i decided to head back to the boat launch. i get out on the main lake heading to the boat launch the waves were about 2 1/2 ft tall some even bigger. my boat did surpisingly good but its not somthing i ever want to try again. biggest problem is i couldent keep the nose of the boat down to cut the watter insted it would slam the flater part of the bottom of the boat, if i have a pasanger in the front it seems to cut choppy watter better but when myself theres no weight in the front the motor fuel tank battery and trolling motor are all in the back. im looking for sujestions or maby ill buy a differnt boat this winter when there cheep and sell my current one in the spring maby then i can come out with a bigger boat for even money

this is my current boat

its a 14ft alum crestliner

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

here are a couple of other boats im looked at

http://www.bismanonline.com/getListing.php?tcat=10&cat=84&p=1&a=39839

http://www.bismanonline.com/recreational/trailers/37523.php

http://www.bismanonline.com/getListing.php?tcat=10&cat=84&p=6&a=29469

http://www.bismanonline.com/recreational/trailers/32881.php

http://www.bismanonline.com/recreational/trailers/29381.php

http://www.bismanonline.com/recreational/trailers/34965.php

http://www.bismanonline.com/recreational/trailers/36494.php

some of them i could probably make a profit out of a swap if i time my buying and selling right. obvously i dont know if the 14'ers would be any better but there all a steering wheel set up to the weight balance is differant but i would kinda prefer a steering wheel setup. i just want to be able to handel rougher watters for lakes such as lake Sakakawea and audobon and lake havisu in arizona and maby lake mead but where i normaly fish is the the missiouri river neer bismarck nd wich has a strong current as well as alot of underwatter sand bars so i dont want a huge tank and the cheeper the better

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: choppy watters

if you fish alone a lot, i suggest adding remote steering and controls to the middle or front seat. you can use ezglide stick steering, and merc mariner controls. i did it 2 on a 14 foot boats just like yours, then your passenger goes to the stern, there is a mounting bracket to mount your existing trolling motor on the bow, which will give you better performance from it. here's some pics. mine on this one are at the middle seat so i could reach the rope start

 

[F_R]

Re: choppy watters

I agree, middle seat. Stick steer or add a console. You'll never go back to the back seat again.

 

[ziggy]

Re: choppy watters

biggest problem is i couldent keep the nose of the boat down to cut the watter insted it would slam the flater part of the bottom of the boat,

i understand yer wish to keep the bow down to cut thru the waves. but to me, in heavy water i like my bow up. i'll slow down to keep the pounding to a minimum. but bow up.......ya go bow down on a open fishin boat to cut thru the waves ya might find trouble. ya stuff the bow into a wave and yer boat might become more like a bathtub filled with water. fill it up with enough water and ya may go blurb blurb......ya got a bilge pump?

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

i was also thinking about making my boat into a runabout style as well i could close in the bow pretty easy and lightweight use 1 2x4 across the inside then frame it out with some 2x2 then use some of that plasic like you would use to cover a shower wall to enclose it in it would probably weigh somewhere in the ball park of 50-75 lbs a wind shild could be made out of a sheet of plexi glass and then i would sit in the middle of the boat pasanger would sit in the back and if the bow where to get sumberged the watter would go over that and then most would run over the sides. and not in the boat. it would probably lower my carrying capacity from 3 to 2 people due to weight but i never go out with more than 2 people anywhaz and normaly im by myself

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

i understand yer wish to keep the bow down to cut thru the waves. but to me, in heavy water i like my bow up. i'll slow down to keep the pounding to a minimum. but bow up.......ya go bow down on a open fishin boat to cut thru the waves ya might find trouble. ya stuff the bow into a wave and yer boat might become more like a bathtub filled with water. fill it up with enough water and ya may go blurb blurb......ya got a bilge pump?

having your bow come straight up can cause the wind to make a sail out of the bottom of your boat causing you to go over backwards

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: choppy watters

I guess its all in your own point of view. Ive seen people submerge there boat and Ive seen boats para sailing in the wind. I gess it all comes down to
the boat you have and how comfortable you are in tackling that situation.
In ether situation i would like to see the look on your face when it happens.

 

[ziggy]

Re: choppy watters

having your bow come straight up can cause the wind to make a sail out of the bottom of your boat causing you to go over backwards

i aint never gone over backwards. but i've felt like i was. so, i am hip to yer notion........yer choice i guess. goin over backwards in the wind or a snoot full of water......somewhere inbetween would probably be best..........

yer mod for a closed cover over the bow sounds good. more weight up ft. to keep yer bow down too.....

i just have a regular closed bow vhull. i took a wave over the ft. the other day. over the bow, up the windshield, most of it in my lap.....quite a few gallons. i mean everything was soaked to the max inside my boat. a bilge pump was nice to have at that point.........i see yer aware of that possibility, just don't loose sight of that idea........

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

i guess that is kind of my question am i better off going with a differnt boat in the 16 foot range or can mine be altered or changed in some way to better hanle it, iv run choppy watters with a pasanger in the middle seat and it cut threw waves like a hot knife threw butter but by myself its a scary ride to say the least

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: choppy watters

mine would have gone over backwards, if i were alone, could not get on plane, all it did was stand straight up.

 

[jeffnick]

Re: choppy watters

I have no experience with a boat of your size/type, but I'd think trim tabs might be of some value?

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

ok this is the plan is now to make a closed bow for my boat with a steering wheel placing the driver on the middle seat, bow made out of 2x4 and 2x2 maby some shower wall materal to go over the top. on the inside dash board area use 2 2x4's stacked ontop of each other with the top one cut into a kinda oval shape and use some bolts and rubber washers to attach it to the boat. then locate the fuel tank and battery underneath the bow and move the trolling motor to the bow. make a windshild out of plexi glass and the frame for the windshild out of 1 inch wide flat stock steel. the extra weight although this shuld be a pretty light weight design will probably reduce me to a carrying capaicty of 2 people plus gear but should leval the weight of the boat out alot. i would realy rather not get a differnt boat for the fact iv already put alot of time into this boat and also for political reasons with the female

 

[ziggy]

Re: choppy watters

for political reasons with the female

hum, political reasons? maybe you should get a new boat. with fold our lounge seats, or maybe a cuddy cabin. better yet. a cabin cruiser......

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: choppy watters

your shower wall material, may not be strong enough, as it is going to have to support your weight, it is inevitable that at one time or another, you will have to get up there, even walk across it.

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

hum, political reasons? maybe you should get a new boat. with fold our lounge seats, or maybe a cuddy cabin. better yet. a cabin cruiser......

she is deathly afraid of watter so whatever i spend on the boat is a waste in her eyes and i just bought the boat in the spring so if i had another one in the fall that would be bad. were as i can do work to my boat i already have and as long as she dosent know how much things realy cost its fine...lol

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

your shower wall material, may not be strong enough, as it is going to have to support your weight, it is inevitable that at one time or another, you will have to get up there, even walk across it.

what would you sugest? i want to keep weight to an minimum

 

[Boatist]

Re: choppy watters

You can move your tilt pin forward to trim the motor in.
Move your gas tank and heavy tackel box in front of the middle seat.
Move your wieght as far forward as you can and still reach the stearing.
You can add a tiller extension handle so you can move farther forward.

Then you slow down. You want to stay below planing speed.
Slowing down let you use your bow wave to raise and lower the bow.

I have a 14 foot Klamath a little wider and not as flat as your boat but
still pretty flat. I also made a small trim tab out of 1 inch square alumimum.
Tubing. I just glued to on the transom flush with the bottom and it made a
big difference but still not quite enough.
I really needed mine for when alone at planning speed to keep the bow from going airborne.
It still needed a little more and I could not fine any 2 inch square tubing so I took it back off
and put in the vice and squessed so no longer square. Put it back on the boat and was much better.
Actually then took back off and adjusted again to have even more down angle.
Put it back on and glued with silcone seal and it is still on there today.
At first I was worried that may be too low when had 3 people but with 3 could not tell the difference from before.

When alone made a big difference. Almost doubled my speed as before could
not open up the 15HP motor when alone. After that would due almost 20 MPH.

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

i have no problem running wot on calm watter my 25horse will plane my boat out flat in about 10ft flat and top speeds around 30-35mph i keep my motor trimed in i could only go one more in. i don't know what a trim tab is or how it works. id like some more info on that. when i was in the tall waves i had it cracked just off idle to be able to maintain headway which i think added to my problems cause on flat watter just off idle will pitch my front end way up before it plains out so it was a balance between trying to give as little throttle as possible but still maintain headway. i still want to close in the bow and add a console steering. i think it would be cool and defently different. also give me much better weight distribution than i could ever have on the tiller setup. it seems like the trim tab is defently something to look into though

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: choppy watters

btw this is the boat thats kinda my inspration

an 1969 14ft crestliner runabout, there both simular hull designes except mine is rounded a litttle more on the bottom and im not gonna close in the back