How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

[Fordiesel69]

Would adding weight to the front cuddy or to any other part of the boat stop the violent pounding in mild chop? Boat pounds abnormally at any trim position being it is light and has bayliners "sequential lift hull". I remeber even my 19' sea ray never would pound this hard.

 

[642mx]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Get some trim tabs.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Could be that it is pounding the same but it just sounds like its pounding more. Bayliners have thin flexible hulls. I know it was night and day between my 87 Bayliner 2150 and other similar sized boats.

 

[madurodave]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

my 2000 bayliner cuddy in pretty comfotable on mild chop. Doesnt handle huge wakes too well...

And I might add, I have tabs.

 

[capt sam]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

sell the Bayliner and buy a SeaRay.

 

[NYBo]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Getting the bow down may help, so I think you are on the right track.

 

[ziggy]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

getting the bow down will help. however you achieve it.

or

slow down.

my boat rattles my fillings too. it's a real knife edge at the bow but gets pretty flat, pretty fast as ya go towards the stern. i've learned to just plain go slow when it gets bad out. for me it's random boat waves the mess me up. i just can't go fast in them. middle of the summer, there's a lot of them too. in wind blown waves i can generally at least get on plane and do the 45* thing into them. but even then. high speed rattles me... with the waves i do much better and can increase my angle of attack on them and still maintain speed.

but in the end, the best answer i have is to just slow down. it always works... probably not what ya wanted to hear though...

 

[Fordiesel69]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

How hard can I pound it? I do not want to break the hull, as I am not familiar enough to know how much is "too much". Maybe I am just a wimp and can let it pound. Although I remember hearing 1990's bayliners crack.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

at least in my experience, bayliners tend to actually ride better than COMPARABLE boats. (yes, there are specialized deep v's and other things meant for bad water, i'm talking your run of the mill cuddy/bowrider)

As far as how much punishment, your boat is far more capable of handling the waves than your body is. The hull isn't going to break. You might end up with cracks in the gelcoat, but this is more from age and other stresses, not from bashing waves.

 

[ovrrdrive]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Add a set of adjustable tabs...

Having control of the trim of the boat in any situation makes a huge difference in the ride quality. I put a set of Bennett m120's on my boat and I swear it made it ride like it was 3' longer. It's not just talk. My boat doesn't have a large v-hull in front and it makes a difference being able to push the bow down (ok so raise the stern) and let the waves break on the V instead of under the boat. I went from being comfortable in 1' waves to being able to run comfortably in 3'ers. Anything over 3' and I still think I need a bigger boat.

 

[captkevin]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Pair of Smart-tabs would make a huge improvement in ride quality for a small investment.

 

[180Fisherman]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

I'd think tabs would only benenfit you if your drive trim didn't do a sufficient job at bringin the bow down. Personally, if my bow were down any more at full down trim, I'd be afraid to bury the bow. Keeping level does help when hitting waves from the side or at an angle but straight on that tabs would do little in jmy opinion if your trim works properly.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Pair of Smart-tabs would make a huge improvement in ride quality for a small investment.

Not if you are in the ocean and you want your bow UP. Smart tabs in certain scenarios are actually dangerous. Been close to burying my bow in following seas. Smart tabs would be the last thing I would want.

 

[rbh]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

+1 on slowing down.

 

[180Fisherman]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Not if you are in the ocean and you want your bow UP. Smart tabs in certain scenarios are actually dangerous. Been close to burying my bow in following seas. Smart tabs would be the last thing I would want.

With all of people raving about these things I never wanted to rain on anyones parade but fixed position trim tabs have always sounded like a bad idea to me.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Most people that rave about them are usually on lakes only.

 

[mickjetblue]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Smart tabs helped to improve the ride and stability of my 19' Bayliner cuddy,
but I am using mid sized lakes. If you are on Lake Erie, you are dealing with
"big water" conditions, and swells there are different from regular chop.

Good luck!

 

[Lrider]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

Vikings used to add rocks for ballast, while the Spaniards preferred Gold.

I prefer to add young ladies

 

[msojjo]

Re: How to get a smoother ride out of my bayliner?

I had a '97 17 foot bayliner a couple years back, and i had the same problem, you have a nice v hull but as you go back it gets pretty flat, that's the problem, mine wasn't a deep v hull, i'm guessing yours isn't either, and bayliners are light as hell, i think i was at 1700lbs or so with the motor. I upgraded to a deep v hull and added some weight to the boat with what i have now, it's much more comfortable.