Wind

raybo3

Here is a question for everyone. What is the highest wind you will go out in? What is the roughest water? 

Spyderweb

The limiting factor for me is docking in the wind, not the conditions of the water.  10-15 with a south wind,  10 and under for north.  Might consider a little higher if I’m sure someone will be at dock to assist when I return.

Liberty44140

This is different for us as our waves are chop and not rollers. If I were on an ocean I’d have no issue with 8 ft rollers but here with our stupid Lake Erie chop I prefer to keep it under 4 ft. That said I’ve run the boat in 8-10 ft and while I hope to not have to do that again she handled fine and I was glad to know we could do that when we have to. For wind I like to be under 15 mph but we certainly go out in 20+. 30 is probably my limit. More about waves than wind for me, if it’s blowing hard off shore and the lake is flat I’m good to go. 

randy56

15 or less, at home and when in FL. out early today it was 14 mph. not bad. direction has a big play in my water way. If it's over 15mph  I stay on ground. But I do have a small boat. And get beat up. 

skennelly

Our harbor gets strange currents whenever winds get up to 10+.  The lake can be flat based on the wind direction but docking can be very difficult without dock help.

LaRea

@Liberty44140 same here -- no rollers, but steep chop.  In the 342, I crossed Albemarle Sound in 4-6 ft vertical chop.  I felt safe, but making 15 mph and throttling up/down for each big wave is not my idea of a good time.  

These days, I'd rather not go in anything over 3 feet, because boating should be fun.  

PickleRick

I've slept at anchor thru early summer thunder storms that brought winds at or near 60 mph.  Near by campgrounds had ez ups and awnings torn up/off and blown away.  Ripped bimini tops off boats that were sitting on shore.

That being said, in my protected inland lake I don't launch in over 15 mph winds.  Getting the boat back on the trailer is daunting solo in bad cross winds.



I had the pleasure of anchoring in 20ft waters 1 to 2 miles off shore 2 weeks ago in a small 20 ft center console.  After and hour of chumming the yellow snapper were going crazy.  Had already reeled in two 12plus inch keepers. I'd have loved to fish that spot all day.  Was the best fishing I've ever done without a guide or charter.  

Out of no where the waves went from 1 to 1.5 to near 3 ft and building.  

Took me a good 30 min to pull the anchor in by hand.  I was solo fishing so this meant putting on a life jacket and rope to my jacket before standing on the boats bow to start the retrieval process. 

Every 5 ft id pull in id have to let out 2 to 3 ft to give enough slack to keep the bow from going under the waves that had started to white cap.  

On my way back in a small 22 or so ft pontoon was headed out.  I heard he went out to 500 to 600 ft(4 plus miles off shore) and reeled in some nice keeper mahi.

The waves stayed in the 3 to 3.5 range until evening.  I headed in about noon.

So I guess it depends on the crew and if it's a rental boat!

Willhound

15 mph is my absolute cut off. But that also depends on direction, where I'm going and other factors. Wouldn't go out today considering the forecast. 45knot gusts...yikes!

davidbrooks

More than 12 and i am staying at the dock. I have crossed the bay with 4ft plus rollers and gusts 20+. Not a fun trip and it took forever.

J3ff

Really dont care about wind.. have been out in 25+ and it's a fun time, just have to go find a spot on the leeward side of an island and you have a great day.. 

Ian

I boat for fun and it’s no fun in 15+ wind and chopped up - like today. White caps on the Hudson one thing, rollers another. Why fight it. Stayed at the pool and chilled on the bow later.

J3ff

icoultha said:

I boat for fun and it’s no fun in 15+ wind and chopped up - like today. White caps on the Hudson one thing, rollers another. Why fight it. Stayed at the pool and chilled on the bow later.

ha ha, was out on a jetski today in Long Island sound... not a bad time!!

Michael T

I have run four feet chop in the EC 360 at 35 mph and it ate the chop (Rinker hull) that was with full fuel and water, four people and their gear for a six day trip. The wind was 30 mph +/- a bit that day. I find the Rinker hulls with the straighter hull at the bow (as opposed to the flared hulls of sea rays - sorry for swearing) do send more spray aft in poor sea conditions but since I didn't buy it for extreme weather the straighter hull rise at the bow made for much more room in the aft cabin - lots more room that a friend's 400 Sea Ray.

69fastback

15 are light winds here. Lol. But I don’t put my boat in a slip, and it doesn’t catch as much wind. 

PickleRick

I have a hard top boat, can you please explain to me what spray is?

skennelly

@Michael T - four foot chop where I am would be miserable in any boat.  Everybody stays at the dock for that.  Lol

raybo3

@Liberty44140 IMO and I mean no disrespect going out in 8-10 seas is putting yourself and crew in danger. HeII 4 and 5 footers get a small craft advisory and that's for 60 foot boats and less. Being in that mess can not be fun........ Just say'n

Liberty44140

You are right Ray. "no issue" may have been a little over stated. I'd be more comfortable with any waves in the ocean, than the choppy lake where our teeth chatter and we break things. All of my Ocean experience is on 40-50 ft sailboats transporting for days at a time. There we had no problem with 8-10 ft seas as we were so far out, we took whatever we got, and it really was no issue for those boats. I am sure I wouldn't take the family out in the Ocean in 8-10's for a lovely Sunday afternoon..... 

raybo3

Phew you were scaring my there Lib...lol

PickleRick

How many tons does a 40 ft full keep saiboat weigh?   It's also a displacement hull with deep keel.  She'll slide through waves like warm butter and at 8ft the rudder still has plenty of bite.  

Panda54

15mph around here will get you white caps. On a FV250, its not the most fun. So under 15 and no caps I feel comfortable going out.

Yesterday we had 15-20mph sustained and I watched as a guy bounced off a boat and piling trying to get down the fairway. Luckily I was just enough (1 slip) distance away.

Liberty44140

PickleRick said:

How many tons does a 40 ft full keep saiboat weigh?   It's also a displacement hull with deep keel.  She'll slide through waves like warm butter and at 8ft the rudder still has plenty of bite.  

9-10 tons and yes, exactly. 

halifax212

In my 21' nothing over 20mph. In fact 15knots SW over the open water kick up 3' chop in my Bay. More often than not there is a strong wind warning  which is posted at 20knots. The admiral prefers 0 to 5 knots which is rare in my waters. I tell her a bigger boat will smooth things out but she's not buying it.  Next boat may be an RV lol.

halifax212

Roughest was a 6 foot chop running back into the marina for about 10kms. Wind at my back so it was manageable but my eyes were glued to the surface reading the peaks and valleys. Heavy water for a small lake boat. 

randy56

@halifax212 hope your plan works, convincing the wife you need a bigger boat. 

LaRea

I will say this:  the trip I mentioned above, crossing Albemarle Sound, was a real eye-opener about the level of abuse these boats can take with confidence. 

The Sound is notorious for rough, steep chop.  The constant west wind is why the Wright brothers went there to fly.  It's only 15-25 feet deep, and there's a fetch of 50 miles for waves to build up.  

Before that trip, we had never been boating "in the sh#t."  It was 2004, so we didn't have the forum to guide us.  We didn't really know what we were getting into, which was lots of green water over the bow.  The Admiral and I were yelling "get me outta here" but our Rinker 342 was yelling "YEEEEE-HAWW!!"

Michael T

By "spray" I mean water hitting the bow and spraying straight up and over it onto  the windshield. Yes my 2014 EC360 was a hardtop.

PickleRick

Michael T said:

By "spray" I mean water hitting the bow and spraying straight up and over it onto  the windshield. Yes my 2014 EC360 was a hardtop.

I was kidding.  I've yet to ride in a CC bay boat that doesn't give you a shower in any and all chop.

Liberty44140

In those 8-10 footers, we take spray up over the hard top and down the back! Windshield wipers are must have!

PickleRick

Sometimes when you've been out fishing all day the spray is good.  When you leave the fishing grounds to head home for dinner you need to be fresh. Just bring some soap.  

Firefly

I'm on the south end of Lake Michigan so anything over 10kt out of the north will guarantee 4+ foot waves, so there's really nowhere to go. We don't have any protected anchorages around here. Any other direction and I'll go out in up to 25kt. Docking can be tricky but I've found with our new 410 that it takes a bit for the wind to start moving her around. So I can usually dock without issue, unlike our much lighter 33' which induced panic on a few occasions...