Day 1 boating questions

[Maj92az]

North Idaho there are many big huge lakes. Some 50 miles long. When it's not snowing..boating is big up here.
I wanted my first boat and wanted to start small...atleast budget wise before I jump in and then realize what i really like. (Made that mistake with RVs).
so I ended up with a 89 Searay Bowrider 180 with the 4.3. For 30 years old it looks good! I guess this industry is different than other 30 year old vehicles.

with the previous owner we took it on the water. Runs great..but for basic boating I have a few questions that will help me understand.

getting a boat on plane... is it true there are certain speeds my boat does not like? If I go under 10, I get little bow rise. If I go little more I rise much more. And create large wake. If I get over 20 I notice the bow lowers and it "glides" and some trim.. it seems i can't go 10-20MPH. If I slow while on plane I can tell i begin to rise again.

also..when I am going great on plane. Smooth wake behind me. When I slow, I get pushed forward by my wake which hits me about a foot under my transom area. Little more and the wake may enter the boat.. If I slow down gradually. I get more bow rise and while the wake is slower, it becomes my violent. Any way to prevent that...do i steer away? Do i not look back? Lol?

thanks and if I seem unready to be boating..might be true..i am taking it slow.

 

[Newbie@boats]

Any time I’ve ever slowed down in any of my boats I’ve always had the wake come up behind me and give me a little push.

if you do a real gradual slow down you’ll notice that won’t be much of an issue.

 

[southkogs]

Welcome aboard.

A first recommendation: find someone to show you the ropes, and take a safe boating course. There's a lot of things that will come in that immediate face to face training to help you.

Secondly: you're mostly right. A boat planes at certain speeds, and displaces at lower speeds. Typically there is a point just up on plane where the boat runs most efficiently - for example, my boat runs about 25MPH at 3300 RPM and that's it's most efficient cruising speed (on relatively calm water).

Your boat is fine "cutting" - running at low speeds, off plane, pushing a buncha' water - or putting along at no wake. But, it's not as efficient. When you increase throttle, the bow is going to come up off the water and then settle back down when you plane out. Trimming the stern drive can help with this, but won't solve it completely. You can drop the throttle, and maybe your boat will jump out of the hole quickly, but you'll still have bow rise.

Coming off plane, you'll always cut into the water and drop a bigger wake. Generally the boat is designed to handle that process, but water conditions can cause a little extra water to come at the stern. You shouldn't take any water on though.

Those are simple answers: someone on board who knows boats will really help.

 

[ahicks]

My advice would be don't look. Not until you get some confidence in the boat anyway.

The other thing is, when the front of the boat is getting high in the air priot to getting on plane, realize you have the same thing going on, only backwards, with the motor's lower unit going WAY deep (we call that stump hunting), until the front of the boat comes down when it reaches planing speed. Point being, consider the depth of the water prior to accelerating to put the boat on plane.

Did the RV mistake as well. One trip out in a gas 34' and we realized what we REALLY wanted was a 38' diesel w/slide out. Expensive mistake! The idea of buying the first boat with the idea it's going to be a mistake that will likely be replaced soon is a good one. First boat will teach you a ton.

Welcome to the boating world, and congrats on the new boat! -Al

 

[PITBoat]

My advice would be don't look.

Lol. Yeah, it's pretty impressive back there when slowing down quickly, or even slowly. One YT video I watched when starting out advocated a 90-degree turn with pulling off the throttle for an emergency stop off plane, for the express purpose of avoiding the wake. Said you can do it in 2 boat lengths.

 

[ahicks]

I don't care for the idea of turning a boat sideways in front of a following wake. You'll find I'm pretty sure, taking a wave like that broadside will be a lot tougher on it's occupants than taking that same wave from the front or rear. Try it! See which way you prefer. You aren't going to hurt a thing. You'll be bobbing around like a cork or a rubber duck, but you aren't going to hurt anything. Just sit down and hang on!

Regarding stopping fast, I had a hot rod ski boat (about a hundred years ago) that you really had to be careful with when stopping or slowing. If you just take your foot off the gas at (high) speed, ALL occupants would slide forward and end up under the dash like a bunch of cord wood. That was a lesson learned the hard way one day. One I won't forget. Thankfully we were all young and nobody got banged up. -Al

 

[KD4UPL]

Why are you even looking behind you? You should be looking at what's ahead. Yes, water kind of comes at you. Slow down more gradually if you don't like it.
There will be a range of speed that if you try to run there your boat will have a really high bow, be incredible inefficient on fuel, and handle poorly. Most people don't run at those speeds. Those who do are usually trying to make a huge wake for wake surfing. Either stay slow at "displacement speeds" or get up on plane where most people run. When first getting on plane it's best to use enough throttle to do it quickly so you're not in that awkward, bow-high, in between speed for very long. Boats handle terrible and visibility is compromised when running like that. If you want to be able to stay on plane when running slightly slower a different prop, possible with 4 blades may help.
Mostly, you really should have someone who knows boating help you learn to handle the boat. Think what would happen if people learned to drive by getting into a car by themselves for the first time and heading out onto the highway.

 

[sphelps]

You could try when coming off plane really fast where you run into what your saying ,which is normal usually , the bow goes down . At that moment just give the throttle a little nudge then back down .. I think it’s just a matter of getting used to your boat more .. The more you use it the more comfortable you will become with it.. Do you have any type trim tabs on the transom ?

 

[Ned L]

Most boats will have a range of speed that is effectively useless. Between hull speed and up fully on plane, about 6 knots to about 20 as you found out for your boat. The underwater shape of the boat can expand or decrease that range, generally the deeper the "V" hull the bigger and more useless that range is.