first run was scary. is it normal

[mww24]

I just bought my first bass boat after selling my tiller. anyway. its a ranger 175vs with a 130hp yamaha. I had it out for the first time today and it was fairly easy to get the hang of. My question i guess is. When i would get to about 45 mph with the trim up the boat seemed to get squirrelly over the waves. Is this normal. I dont wanna end up like that youtube video. I never felt like the prop was coming out of the water. it was just a very loose feeling ride is how i could describe it. any pointers for traveling at speed would be great. thanks all

[mhollie]

its a ranger it should not chine walk raise your engine till you loose the chine walk just make sure you dont loose water pressure and your tail isnt above the cal

[nmanley]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by mhollie &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">its a ranger it should not chine walk raise your engine till you loose the chine walk just make sure you dont loose water pressure and your tail isnt above the cal </td></tr></table>

Read his post again. He said "When i would get to about 45 mph with the trim up the boat seemed to get squirrelly over the waves."

mww - If it is stable on smooth water then the setup is not too bad but ALL boats can be a handful when trimmed up too high when crossing water that's roughed up from boat wakes or windy conditions. You have to learn to drive for the conditions. You see boat wakes up ahead trim down a little and turn so as to cross the waves like you would rail road tracks.

[bothomas]

if you have any friends with experience driving boats ask them to ride with you and give you a few pointers. They can also help decide if something is not right, but most likely you will just need a little seat time.

[zippers]

Remember trim is your friend.

When crossing waves on the water try to take them at quartering angles when possible it helps in terms of bounce. If there are bigger waves or wakes, trim down a little just enough to lower the nose and get the bow to cut.

Take your time with her, feel her out before you trim up and go WOT across hell and back. Get a feel for where your boat rides the best to your ability, this will change over time, remember trim is your friend.

NOW I pretty much keep my foot in it for WOT and use the trim to make the adjustments in terms of lowering the bow and going through turns, but I run a 4 blade and she is a go cart compared to other boats I have used.

[mww24]

yeah it was boat wakes that were killing me. If it were wind made waves i would have no problem using my trim and throttle to keep it pretty smooth. its just the waves from all over that made the boat rock and roll which freaked me out a bit. my old boat was a deep v tiller so the choppy water didnt effect near as much. like you all said. i'm sure seat time will cure my nerves. I know when to just slow down and trim down to keep myself safe. im sure in time i will feel safer. what you all said pretty much was what i was thinking. thanks

[dward51]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by mww24 &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">yeah it was boat wakes that were killing me. If it were wind made waves i would have no problem using my trim and throttle to keep it pretty smooth. its just the waves from all over that made the boat rock and roll which freaked me out a bit. my old boat was a deep v tiller so the choppy water didnt effect near as much. like you all said. i'm sure seat time will cure my nerves. I know when to just slow down and trim down to keep myself safe. im sure in time i will feel safer. what you all said pretty much was what i was thinking. thanks</td></tr></table>

V-hull tend to cut the waves due to the steep deadrise at the bow and the lower deadrise of a base boat will want to follow the wave more. This is why you see posts about it taking forever to get from point a to b in snotty weather. You have to slow down (more so with a low deadrise boat).

I'm sure you already noticed this, but a bass boat will also have a tendency to want to turn into a wake or big wave as you cross it at an angle (ie, not continue straight, but cut into the directions of the wake/wave). Get into a series of them and that can be "interesting" if you are not familiar with this effect.

Once you get the hang of it, it will be almost instinctive to throttle back a little and adjust trim as you prepare to cross a wake or big wind driven wave top. If you time it right, you don't really loose overall speed as you only adjust for the second or so it takes to get the bow past the crest (unless you have a series of them to deal with - then you end up loosing speed). You have to "drive" a boat unless it's flat conditions with no wakes.

[red314]

If you go out on the croix I will take a spin with ya if you like. I live close to the St.croix bluffs park. A week day-night would be better because on the weekend it is a mess.


Randy 651-248-9940

[mww24]

thanks for the offer red. i had a buddy come out with me. i allready feel way more comfortable. now i feel safe runnin about 40 mph trimmed down and crossing wakes or waves. i have about five hours of just driving into it allready and it is nite and day. thanks everyone.

[red314]

glad to hear you are getting it figured out

[SOONER*REDNECK]

i was the same way when i first got out on the water with something bigger than a 40 horse. It gets better for sure man!!!

[VtSteve]

I've just begun to investigate bass boats. Thinking is that a good-riding bass boat would enable me to trailer easily to smaller lakes, and would be nice when I move down South.

There are quite a few large bass tournaments here on Champlain, so I occasionally get to see them out in the water bussing by. Champlain gets to be pretty unfriendly for bass boats, and anything else that isn't 28' long weighing over 6,000 pounds

We're looking to relocate (again), anywhere from NC down to Florida, more than likely Florida. As I've been reading up on bass boats, and many other fishing boats, a few names kept coming up. Allison, Champion and Bullet. Do these boats really ride that well in rough water? I'm not talking about the 30 to 35 mph winds and huge waves we have today on Champlain. But water that is more "normal", say 1 to 3 footers.

[HaulinBass]

More seat time will give you the experience to know when to back off. You can't be afraid of it, but you got to know when to respect it. As Clint said, "A man's got to know his limitations."

[Neubs24]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by VtSteve &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">I've just begun to investigate bass boats. Thinking is that a good-riding bass boat would enable me to trailer easily to smaller lakes, and would be nice when I move down South.

There are quite a few large bass tournaments here on Champlain, so I occasionally get to see them out in the water bussing by. Champlain gets to be pretty unfriendly for bass boats, and anything else that isn't 28' long weighing over 6,000 pounds

We're looking to relocate (again), anywhere from NC down to Florida, more than likely Florida. As I've been reading up on bass boats, and many other fishing boats, a few names kept coming up. Allison, Champion and Bullet. Do these boats really ride that well in rough water? I'm not talking about the 30 to 35 mph winds and huge waves we have today on Champlain. But water that is more "normal", say 1 to 3 footers.</td></tr></table>

An Allison or Bullet will be a lot to handle if its your first bass boat. Of those three the Champion will probably handle the rough stuff best

[VtSteve]

As is the case with every boat forum in the world, getting to the heart of "boat rides" is a lengthy one. Probably best done in the seat by yourself

I've heard some good things about Champion, and now they're part of that other outfit. Good things about Skeeters, Allisons, etc...

I'm a little less about fishing and more about boating, so more of a 2 + 2 would be my style. I've never even ridden ion one of these bass rockets, so I've not experienced the chine walks and all that. I'm happier doing 50 mph in good waves comfortably than waiting for calmer water to do 80 mph.

But I plan to have a smaller boat that can be easily trailered, so let's say 3,000 pounds or less total. Easier to find a daily driver. My current load would be 5,000 plus, and it's primarily a fresh water cuddy.

I've "read" that Allisons are great, if you can get the cash outlay ready.
Champions have been great, Skeeter is good, newer Rangers are pretty good. Now we have Phoenix to learn about, and others such as Legend and Bass Cats.

Boat rides are not very subjective, IMHO. A boat can take rough water, or pound you into oblivion. Not too much subjective data in the middle. I doubt many bass boats can reasonably be expected to ride well in confusing 3 to 4 foot waves, I expect that. I don't particularly want to be out less than a foot from the water in those either.

For those that have ridden in some rough water in multiple brands, they know.

[tmbullet]

Yes they will I have had bass boats then decided to get a 21XD bullet you think you can drive a boat until you get in the seat of one of these and find out your not as good as you thought you were , takes some seat time to get it right...