Options
I suck at driving a boat
Jimbo3067
Member Posts: 23 ✭
First time was last night. Worked at steering the entire hour. Getting up on plane she is straight and true but going slow seemed I spent the entire time drifting right or left. Was it me or is it normal to have to constantly turn the wheel? Going slow I don't remember even one second I wasn't turning the wheel.
Again last night was first time EVER. Buying a Fiesta Vee 242.
Thought/suggestions?
Thanks in advance
Jimbo3067
Comments
No problems on the weave.. everybody does it.. just like a helo pilot, who start hovering with wide figure eights, and tighten them up, you'll do the same with your lazy weave, until corrections are hardly noticeable...
Tricks: put as much rudder in the water as you can when moving slow... As in, trim dropped as low as you can if you're in shallows, and all the way if you're in deep stuff.. if you break loose and weave, don't over correct- instead steer back about 3/4 the angle to the other side, followed by 50% opposite, to 25% opposite, to 10%, and down to where an observer would hardly notice your movements, just like car passengers hardly notice drivers on highways..
Have fun in your new (prospective) floater!!!
Oh do trim tabs help with the slow cabo wabo? Man one beer driving like I did and I bet I would be high stepping it all over the dock. LOL Owner said "I have never ever even used the trim tabs" which I thought was strange. Don't the tabs help save on fuel if nothing else?
Jimbo3067
Some say tabs help with slow speed wander but I've never noticed much of a difference. Tabs can help with a variety of issues such as bow rise, porpoising, listing, minimum planing speed, etc.
Mark
2019 MTX20 Extreme
PC BYC, Holland, MI
Windage is whole other deal on these relatively high free-board boats. If you're slowly motoring into the wind as the nose is caught on either side it'll run off on each tack much more aggressively than if you're running downwind.
Frodo has a great point about prop walk too. If it's an Alpha single prop then your docking will have to account for a generous amount of additional steerage from one side as compared to the other, especially in reverse. A B3 will be far less as the props counteract each other.
Congrats on your new ride! Your confidence and piloting skills will improve with each day out. Post some pics when you get a chance. Fair winds and be safe, Mike
Hi everyone,
First of all thanks Mike (tikihut2) for checking out the dealership in Sarasota for me. It's special people like you that keep these forums going..
I feel like a kid on Xmas eve. Tomorrow at 3 can't get here fast enough. Took the wife to lunch today and the café is just past the marina. Wife looks over as we pass and said "hey someone has a boat just like the one we are trying to buy". Then I see the owner and laugh and said "Honey that is your boat tomorrow night". Guys I was so happy to see him out cleaning the boat today. He has a lot of stuff in the boat that he needs to take out before the survey. The surveyor was very specific that he only wanted items in the boat that would be sold with the boat. His personnel items needed to be removed. I printed out the list the surveyor wanted done prior to arrival to inspect and I was afraid he wasn't taking it all that serious....but alas..he did get the urgency. Money is a strange motivator...LOL
hopefully you can see the attached picture. This is the owner cleaning the boat 2 weeks ago when we saw the boat for the first time.
Jimbo3067
Thanks Dano. I am taking this seriously. Passed the Florida safety class. I had no idea how little I knew about boating until I took the course. Actually saw things the owner did that I would not do safety wise. Now I am just waiting for that darn clock to get to 3PM today.
Jimbo
I hope you and your family will be as happy and excited in your new purchase.
Happy Boating from Texas!
PC BYC, Holland, MI
Anyway...
I was humored by the weekend warriors that made a bee line toward me after passing the last channel marker, as if I was a marker in between it and the next one.. sorry, but my floater is neither red nor green.. :-)
Watching sterns rise abruptly seemed to be right regular... The flats boats (which are popular around here and draft shallow) buzzed past me easily 30+mph.. so much for respecting anchored vessels... I actually had one dude ground out, suffer for the better part of an hour getting off the bar, and then when within earshot asked me if I was grounded- and seemed quite perturbed when I answered "nope"....
I felt kinda bad about all of it, as I reckon I made myself some sort of decoy... But I worked my fanny off recon'n charts and maneuvering back in there... Maybe they should learn the rules about passing, about anchoring and anchored vessels, and about charts and flippin' channel markers...
Some days, I actually wish there were more uscg patrols around than there are.. they came and checked me out, and actually said they appreciated me getting off the channel unlike most.. I told them what I just told you guys about the others, and they commented about wishing people would get the free certs, too.
PC BYC, Holland, MI
Boat Name: King Kong
"Boat + Water = Fun"
Jimbo, make sure your insurance company knows you took the course. For me it gives a $100.00 annual discount. A hundred dollars is a hundred dollars. And it is a credit every year.
Tony
Salt Shaker 342
Another note on driving..... When docking: When you think you are going slow enough, SLOW DOWN. Best wishes with the new ride!!!
Idle is your friend!
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express