Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

[bryanwess2000]

I'm looking at an aluminum boat with a reverse chine 19' and wondering if
the ride will be better than my 16' 3 keel tinny. Also does the reverse
chine design make the hull faster since it creates lift?

 

[Capt'n Chris]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

A larger heavier boat generally will provide a better ride with exception to hull materials, load, hull design and power.The hull design has much to do with that regardless of length; however. Your reverse chine can be found on most any hull design and affords a number of advantages. The reverse chine adds additional planing surface and can bring a boat to plane much quicker and oftentimes with less power dependent upon deadrise, etc. In banks and turns it will create a functional bite and carves at the water for a noticeable "grab", whereas without it, one would experience slippage and sliding. It also creates buoyancy and lift at speed when the water is thrust downward giving more rise to the hull. Running strakes are also an important factor in hull design and function. Since we do no know to what boats you make reference, a flat-bottomed boat of any length will ride on the surface of any type of water and you'll feel it with or without a reverse chine. They tend to have more initial and final stability than a V hull also and take less hp to perform. A V hull parts the water, and depending upon the bow deadrise and transition toward the stern deadrise, if any, will all be a factor in the manner it displaces the water and, of course, the ride quality.

Captain Chris

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

Glastron brand, has been building boats since 1962 that I know of and was the boat of choice for President Lyndon Johnson....actually they made a 20' with a 454 chev engine (one of a kind) just for him and he used to get a kick out of running away from the chase boat containing the SS.

In one of the James Bond films, they bought 12 Glastrons to use in the scene where Bond drives a boat up and over a road.

They are so convinced that reverse chine boats are the way to go that they just unveiled a multimillion dollar forming machine that makes their hulls and everyone is reverse chine.

You can see it at their www.

One thing about alum. It is light which makes it easy to tow with a lower hp towing vehicle and has low hp requrements for the size. However, corks bob and sinkers sink! Ft-ft, they are usually rougher riding than a comparable FG and can be noisier if not padded down with foam flotation and carpet. BTDT But my current boat happens to be alum so I must have some feelings for them.

Mark

 

[bryanwess2000]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

The boat in question is a 1991 starcraft 190. I'm unsure of deadrise.
It seems most aluminum boat manufacturers are using reverse chines
except smokercraft their hulls look like they use multi keels like the
older starcrafts.

I want to stick with aluminum boats for the ease of repair, but want
a better ride and more speed than my 16' sylvan sportster which is
a 3 or 5 keel hull, I'm unsure if you count the ribs?(term) above the double
riveted seam.

 

[4JawChuck]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

I'm curious, how do you figure an AL boat is cheaper/easier to repair than a Fiberglass boat?

As for ride quality, deadrise determines the ride in rough water more than chine design. Chines are for cornering and planing performance.

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

I've also read reverse chines can help provide a drier ride by redirecting the spray down and away from the boat.

As for the ride in general, the only way to be sure is a sea trial. If softening up the feel is really important, consider getting away from aluminum. Crestliner promised by step-father up and down the 20 foot model they wanted to sell him would be softer riding than his old Starcraft.

So, he bought it, and it's a gorgeous boat with lots of nice features and a beaut of a big Merc 150 Verado hanging off the back for some serious get up and go....but that classic aluminum smash and crash ride is still lurking down there ready to bite you. Yes, damped somewhat by all the weight and soundproofing but still there all the same.

 

[bryanwess2000]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

The repair aspect is mainly the deck and transom. When it comes to the hull
I know the fiberglass boats are easier to repair. Aluminum boat transom can
be replaced in 1/2-1 day, deck a weekend, also no wood stringers to rot.
I can't lay up fiberglass and gel coat and make it look good, but I can cut
and drill a transom and floor and coat with epoxy and or poly resin and glass
knowing the glass work doesn't have to look great.

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

The repair aspect is mainly the deck and transom. When it comes to the hull
I know the fiberglass boats are easier to repair. Aluminum boat transom can
be replaced in 1/2-1 day, deck a weekend, also no wood stringers to rot.
I can't lay up fiberglass and gel coat and make it look good, but I can cut
and drill a transom and floor and coat with epoxy and or poly resin and glass
knowing the glass work doesn't have to look great.

That is all good but prepare to get your butt beat to kingdom come on any water outside of a mill pond.

 

[Bob La Londe]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

I'm curious, how do you figure an AL boat is cheaper/easier to repair than a Fiberglass boat?

As for ride quality, deadrise determines the ride in rough water more than chine design. Chines are for cornering and planing performance.

I guess that depends on your skills and equipment. I can weld up a small hole and cut it smooth in minutes. Dents are a little harder, but a hammer and a hand anvil will fix a lot.

Not everybody has a nice MIG sitting in the shop already setup for welding aluminum, but a not a lot of people have all the fixings to repiar fiberglass either. Just so happens I have a few yards of glass, a bit of both epoxy and polyester resin, and a bag of ground glass sitting out in the shop.

The couple grand I spent for my welder certainly costs more than a brush and a squeege, but the prep time to weld aluminum is minutes, and when its done I can grind it and put it in the water right now.

Labor time, and tying up the floor in my shop is the killer for a glass repair.

For the average single home repair it might actually be cheaper to do glass if you do it right, but resin isn't cheap either. No welding rig to buy, but then a tiny TIG rig could do it with some care. Might even be the better choice for some small work.

If you take the work out to a shop a friendly welder can reweld a cracked weld or patch a pinhole in minutes while you wait. Not much more time and they can even weld in a reinforcing brace. A proffessional shop will probably even have grinders laying around already chucked up with stainless steel brushes just for prepping aluminum. I have a home shop, and I have one angle grinder hanging on the wall with a stainless brush that never sees anything except aluminum.

More involved repairs for either glass or aluminum are just that. More involved.

 

[Bob La Londe]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

That is all good but prepare to get your butt beat to kingdom come on any water outside of a mill pond.

There are lots of aluminum boats that ride just fine in chop or even rough water. Its all about hull design.

 

[high'n'dry]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

There are lots of aluminum boats that ride just fine in chop or even rough water. Its all about hull design.

and a weight and material.

 

[bryanwess2000]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

I know aluminum boats can be a rough ride, my 16' sylvan beats you to death.
But it's the 50's-80's hull design. The 19' i'm looking at has a sharper entry
v ,reverse chine, not sure on deadrise I'm thinking it was 17deg. on this model
,weighs 300lbs. more, and has a front livewell I can use to add weight to the
bow. Hopefully all this will add up to a much smoother ride than my sylvan.
I've read some posts on walleye.com about the 1991- newer starcrafts riding
better than the old hull design.

 

[Bob La Londe]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

The biggest thing that affects ride is hull shape. Remember when trihull glass boats where everywhere. Talk about a rough ride. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

The next thing is trim. There are a lot of small boats out there with no trim. You get it adjusted and pinned just right and they will flat scoot, but get a little chop on the water and you can't just bump down the trim a tad to smooth out the ride.

Currently I run a totally flat bottom 16 foot aluminum boat with no trim, and a 20'4" pad bottom glass bassboat. Both have puh-lenty of power for their size so I am familiar with both extremes.

The other thing that comes into play often enough with cheap aluminum boats is under powering. If the darn thing is just barely planing or planing only if trimmed just right with very little margin you are going to get beat to death when you throw in some wind driven waves or a lot of other boat traffic. That is going to be true with a glass boat too. A heck of a lot of boats on the low price end of the spectrum get sold with the minimum size motor to do the job in order to keep the package price down.

I have no special soft spot in my heart for either material. Just an honest appreciation of the fact that superiority is a hull lot more complicated than most people think.

Bad pun intended.

 

[bryanwess2000]

Re: Reverse chine aluminum boat ride quality?

Thanks for the time and input guys. I went ahead and bought the boat
its a 1991 starcraft sfm190 with 90hp mercury. 19ft, 92'' beam, 17deg
deadrise. weight unsure but list is 930lbs. Gets up to 35mph quick and
on plane in 4-5secs. with a 19p prop. The tach is messed up only reads
to 3200rpm, but using a prop calculator I was turning ~5000 rpm with
10% slip. The boat rides much better than my 16' aluminum. It cuts
through the waves instead of bouncing off them and when the bow goes
up when going over a large wave there is a much smoother entry instead
of the smacking and bouncing off the water with my other boat. All in
all I'm happy with the purchase.