roug water slipping

[justb21888]

Guys

Got a question. I have a 1998 20ft astro fish and ski and been boating a couple years however never in much rough water. Well last friday my dad and I went to the chesapeake bay and had to run around a point out in the main bay from the launch to get up a river and the forecast was for 1ft or less however there were 2-3 ft rollers/swells almost all the way around the point.. Every once in a while the prop lost traction and the rpm's would just go up like the engine had little to no load on it and I'd have to almost let off the throttle completely to regain traction. Should I be trimmed differently to be running in water like this? I had it timmed pretty much level according to my gauge. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated as I'd like to be able to traverse water conditions like this safely. Am I doing something wrong?

[Fish Taco]

First of all, be careful out there running in rough water. Bass boats are a "pad" hull design, which means that there is a small area of the hull near the transom that they are designed to run on.

In order to balance all that boat hanging in the breeze in front of the pad, the motor is usually trimmed out as far as possible to "push" the bow of the boat up. When crossing a wake, or when running in rough water, you MUST trim down and sometimes reduce speed to get off the pad in order to stabilize the boat.

If you don't, then this little video demonstrates exactly what happens.

Bass Boat Crash. http://louisianasportsmantv.co...d=152

What you were hearing was the lower unit of your motor coming too far up in the water and losing "traction" or coming completely out of the water. Again, when running in rough water or crossing a wake, you need to trim in and this will reduce your speed (most of the time). This puts more of the hull in the water and the motor's lower unit deeper in the water and stabilizes the boat.

Its just like driving a pickup truck. In dry weather you can run with the rice burners on the freeway, but when it rains or pours, you need to slow down so you don't hydroplane and lose control.

Now you prolly have a deep v or full v hull. This hull tends to roll when you have a bit of a heavier sea. This will lift the rear end some. Again, just slow down and trim in. You'll get there.

Hope this helps.

[justb21888]

hey thanks bro, I only run 30mph or less in that kind of water but could never figure out how to keep my big 200hp merc in the water. Need that horse power to run through the waves don't want it spinning out of the water : ). I kinda figured thats what had to be done with the motor but wated to be sure. Its not flipping it )like the video I'm worried about. Its taking one over the side or front and swamping it.

[IronDioPriest]

I've had the exact same problem with my 20' Cajun fish-n-ski on big water.

I posted the same question here a while back, and I was told that it is a simple matter of the motor being mounted too high for big water. I have a step-hull that creates a "hollow" space between the end of the chines and the prop.

Since my motor is mounted as low as it will go, I was told my only option aside from adjusting how I drive in big water is to mount the motor on a jackplate.

I'm not too keen on investing in a jackplate for a 21 year old boat. So, I've learned to adjust my driving while on big water. With a little finesses, and an understanding that speed is going to be sacrificed, I have learned to keep the prop in the water. But it means going only 8-10 MPH in 4-5 foot swells.

Needless to say, I limit my time on big water. But being in Minnesota, I do need to occasionally get onto Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnie, Red, LOTW, etc. I s'pose at some point, I'll either look into the jackplate or get a newer boat that won't have the same problem.

[MMosher]

Cool vid thanks.