Large wakes

rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
So on the water last weekend on the St John's river. It's a deep but pretty narrow area and most of the boats are poontoons and runabouts but there are some pretty big boats at various Marina's which seldom move. Found one on the move Sunday. This was probably a 40' searay perhaps on plane and met him coming around a corner and I was in plane also. Could not really slow down I figured so pretty much had our 270 airborne coming off his wake. Is that pretty much the program or should I have tried to ease it over his wake? It was exciting!
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Comments

  • Dream_InnDream_Inn Member, Moderator Posts: 7,552 mod
    Well, I usually back off enough to maybe just stay on plane and hit the wake at a 45 degree angle.  I guess it all depends, but narrow rivers would make it tougher to do that.

    Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express

  • LaReaLaRea Member Posts: 7,505 ✭✭✭✭✭
    For a really big wake, I'll slow down even in my 370.  No sense risking damage to the boat's interior, contents and passengers.  (You don't have to worry about your hull, of course ... it's a Rinker.) 

    Just like @Dream_Inn said: slow to planing speed, and point the boat 45 degrees to the wake if possible.  
  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I was able to cut around it and hit it at an angle but I was not sure about speed. I know I did not want to nose dive over it and wanted to keep the bow up and I stayed on plane- but really wanted slow down more than I did...kind of like a following sea I guess. It was a huge wake where I had to hit it- it was really plowing some water!
  • Liberty44140Liberty44140 Member Posts: 4,318 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Agree with these comments that for the most part when a big wake hits (45 Tiara, Jet Ferry, etc) ill slow down to be sure to not break anything and to keep the admiral and dog from both yapping at me :)
    07' Cruisers 390 (Previous Rinker's: 06' 342EC & 01' 310FV)

  • StodgeStodge Member Posts: 2,738 ✭✭✭✭
    Yeah the freighters throw a little bit of wake.  Can be fun in the rivers.  I slow down and steer into them to cut through.  

    2002 FV 342 on Lake St. Clair - Past Commodore SHC - Vessel Examiner USCGAUX

  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    going "up them" is one thing,...coming off is another which is the position I was in.....
  • zaverin1zaverin1 Member Posts: 1,672 ✭✭✭
    Just floor it and drink buds 
  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Well that's pretty much what happened...
  • andydandyd Member Posts: 849 ✭✭✭
    I just watched a YouTube video of some California surfers in Texas "tanker surfing" the wakes of oil tankers. I never knew that was a thing. I hit the wake of a ferry once and got "air" but thankfully Rinker hulls are strong! Rattled my fillings though.
    Andy
  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Can be a little scary...not having a lot of various boating conditions experience...anyone can drive a boat, being a captain comes with time,!
  • Cableguy GregCableguy Greg Member Posts: 5,011 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Being a river boater, we have our fair share of fly bridge owners that think that they can get on plane. When I encounter these boats and their swells, I slow down to cross their wake. It’s easier to deal with water over the bow than deal with something broken in the cabin. 
    2008 280 Express Cruiser, 6.2MPI, B3, Pittsburgh, PA "Blue Ayes"
    Go Steelers!!!
  • boatman37boatman37 Member Posts: 797 ✭✭✭
    Yep. I slow down if possible. I'd rather not damage anything
  • StodgeStodge Member Posts: 2,738 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    shawnmjr said:
    About 15 years ago (21 years old) I had a 1991 18 foot bayliner open bow that had maybe 3 feet of freeboard and I hit a huge freighter wave on the Detroit River and nose dived into the next wave completely submerging the bow of my boat. I hit it so hard that my buddy fell through the rear seat completely destroying the seat (old removable straight cushion seat between engine cover). To this day I still don’t know how the boat didn’t capsize but it taught me a valuable lesson. When your 21 with a boat, beer, and girls your mind isn’t thinking about the water in front of you. Bad decisions sometimes result in better decisions later on and experience and near misses are always more impactful than anyone will ever be able to teach you. 
    I did almost the same thing (no broken seats) with almost the same boat (2006 18 foot Bayliner bowrider).  Headed down the Detroit river near Pesch Island.  But the wake I hit was a 50ish foot yacht.  We had been boating a few months at the time.  Learned about things like that pretty quick.
    Post edited by Stodge on

    2002 FV 342 on Lake St. Clair - Past Commodore SHC - Vessel Examiner USCGAUX

  • PickleRickPickleRick Member Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭✭
    These must not have been real bayliners, we all know real bayliners would have imploded on contact and sank.  😄

    I've  found lowering the speed then giving throttle as i go over the wake or waves allowing the v of the bow to cut wake helps keep it smooth.  This speed variation changes depending on wake size and spread between wake and or waves.
     When on vacation i like my morning coffee on the way out to a fishing spot.  I see captains hitting wake no faster than i am but no regard for angle or throttle control.  The poor passengers look like they are miserable.  I on the other hand, enjoy sipping my basic white girl coffee that is whiter than i am.  

    The riding comfort over wake and waves is more on operator experience and technique than make/model/size of boat.  

    Ocean boating or open water boating helps you learn your technique a little more quickly as it's not often you have a day with little to not waves to practice on, its usually a constant series of rollers and every now and then one random big one to keep you on your toes.    






  • StodgeStodge Member Posts: 2,738 ✭✭✭✭
    These must not have been real bayliners, we all know real bayliners would have imploded on contact and sank.  😄

    I've  found lowering the speed then giving throttle as i go over the wake or waves allowing the v of the bow to cut wake helps keep it smooth.  This speed variation changes depending on wake size and spread between wake and or waves.
     When on vacation i like my morning coffee on the way out to a fishing spot.  I see captains hitting wake no faster than i am but no regard for angle or throttle control.  The poor passengers look like they are miserable.  I on the other hand, enjoy sipping my basic white girl coffee that is whiter than i am.  

    The riding comfort over wake and waves is more on operator experience and technique than make/model/size of boat.  

    Ocean boating or open water boating helps you learn your technique a little more quickly as it's not often you have a day with little to not waves to practice on, its usually a constant series of rollers and every now and then one random big one to keep you on your toes.    






    Ya know, there were years where Bayliner and SeaRay were comming out of the same assembly building.  They are basic but not so bad.

    2002 FV 342 on Lake St. Clair - Past Commodore SHC - Vessel Examiner USCGAUX

  • PickleRickPickleRick Member Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    I have zero issues with bayliner.  I plan on eventually finding an old explorer 2670 to use as a diesel swapped pocket/trailerable trawler.    The bayliner 2452 is, in my opinion, the sexiest trailerable hard top ever built and has the best compromise family cruiser and fisher friendly design you can find.  The bayliner trophy walk around are also a very salty looking fishing boat/over night cruiser that a couple or dad/kid could really get an amazing bang for their buck on. The price on them is hard to turn down.  Yes that top end walk around has a much better open ocean dead rise but in 4 to 6 ft seas im not going to be 2 miles out much less 25.  I dont care what the dead rise is or how well it takes swells on her nose, rocking in those swells while trying to hold a fishing pole isn't my idea of fun no matter how good the mahi are bitting.

    Bayliner used to run the old volvo penta 270/280 outdrives which is imho the best drives ever created outside the 290 while searay was tossing a BBC on to an alpha 1.  Bayliner may have run the 290 as well but not that I've seen, those came out @88 which is also @the same time bayliner switched to omc.  My years could be over lapping a few.  I was always around boats back then but wasn't really looking into outdrive details at 7 yrs old.  

    Id never own a cobra omc,  due to zero parts support.  

    Much of the core rot issues and gel coat issues were same as any other manufacturer of the time who's owner neglected the boat as well as used silicone to seal anyting bolted onto the hull and top sides.  How many manufactures do you know that used solid mahogany for stingers?  None of the major manufactures im aware of did.  


    The explorer

    The express

    The trophy w/a


    Id own one of each if possible.  One for the icw chas to keys run every winter, the trophy for fishing and the express cruiser for inland lakes.  
  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That explorer is a good looking boat..will have to see what the inside looks like...what circa are we talking?
  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Little dated on the inside but I'm sure the prices are right as you say...I could live on a boat like that..
  • Glassguy54Glassguy54 Member Posts: 588 ✭✭✭
    One time we encountered a large cruiser going up river on The Mississippi near Guttenberg, Iowa as we were going down river. We crested over his huge wake and nearly stuffed the bow coming down the backside. The Admiral had stern words for the Captain!
  • PickleRickPickleRick Member Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭✭
    @rasbury

    They were only made a few years in the 80s.  Usually equipped with a volvo penta 4 cyl gasser.  It's a displacement hull or I guess semi displacement.  They reached about 15 knots.  Really sipped the the fuel at 7 knots.  At about 5000 lbs they were very trailerable.    

    With the stern drive they are a trawler that does well in reverse! 
  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Glassguy54 that's what I was afraid of- not what is in-between doing a nose dive or flying wildly through the air!
  • Handymans342Handymans342 Member Posts: 10,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
    @PickleRick my neighbor has one. I believe he wants to get rid of it. 
  • PickleRickPickleRick Member Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭✭
    @Handymans342

    Which one and does it have a trailer?  I'm a assuming you mean the explorer but i posted up 3 boats.  

    I must move one or two boats before the little lady will allow me another one in the yard (i have 3 right now the smallest being 23ft) but one of those will be as easy as going to the dump.   I wouldnt do well in an h.o.a. neighbourhood. 
  • Handymans342Handymans342 Member Posts: 10,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Its a 2003 Cierra 2859 175 hours Bravo 2 outdrive. Merc 350. Stays on a covererd lift
  • PickleRickPickleRick Member Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭✭
    Youre 100% right, that is a beautiful boat. Id not be sad with the ownership of that vessel.
  • Handymans342Handymans342 Member Posts: 10,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Only worth 10G
  • PickleRickPickleRick Member Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭✭
    Very interesting.  Does he have a trailer?  I know not technically a trailerable boat but worth asking. 
  • rasburyrasbury Member Posts: 8,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Goes back to what I have said before...while living on the water with a boat on a lift sounds nice-  if you have a nice view of the water, why put the boat in the water?
  • PickleRickPickleRick Member Posts: 3,882 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    Lots of dock queens like that.  Bad for manifolds and risers, good for most everything else.  
  • Lake_BumLake_Bum Member Posts: 918 ✭✭✭✭
    shawnmjr said:
    Its a 2003 Cierra 2859 175 hours Bravo 2 outdrive. Merc 350. Stays on a covererd lift
    16 years old with only 175 hours? 
    I bought my 232 when it was 17 years old, with 171 hours. Stored indoors it's entire life, and it was perfect.  I've owned it for 3 seasons now, and couldn't be happier!  Miracles happen 
    2000 Captiva 232 
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