Stuffing the boat
 

How dangerous can this get and what are the different scenarios that can lead to stuffing?

I was behind a 40ft cruiser that was doing 12-15mph, I was creeping up at around 20, trying to find the right time to pass.
This was difficult to do in a narrow part of the East River w/ some traffic around.
I finally got close to the stern so attempted the pass.
On the way up this large swell of a wake, my bow pierces and 8-12" of solid water come over the deck and soaks me and the family. I think I was more spooked than the rest of my crew. How dangerous can this get? And I thought it was odd to stuff on the way up the wake, instead of on the way down.

Re: Stuffing the boat
 

It can get this bad, this happened on a trip and stuf on the straitaway. When the boat stuffed it hooked to the left hard
the sequence is pic 3 followed by pic 1 and 2

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I stuff my 357 Formula in Lake Erie on the way to Put in Bay, it picked me up out of the driver and but me in the back seat. Decided I did not need a beer in the Round House that bad. Thank God for lanyards!!

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Should have passed him long before getting that close. Traffic in the east river can be a biotch but I wouldn't consider it narrow. When you get to Rosevelt Island take the channel farther away from NYC, it is usually less crowded. This is the narrowest part of the river.

Last year we were heading south around 30th st when a sea plane started to take off, little scary playing chicken with that thing
:eek:

As for stuffing at 20mph isn't a big deal, probably the worst thing was the East River water, yuk

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Yea... not the best move I made by getting closer. Next time I know better. Glad my kids wear their seat belts.

Scott, I could only imagine what a high speed stuff would feel like. :eek:

I hate this boating in confined waters. Boat traffic really screws w/ you.
In the ocean, its not as much of a factor.
I guess I will eventually need to move up to a heavier bigger boat.
I'm seeing I don't need to run in the 90s, but would like to run in the 50-60s in something heavier and more settled in.

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BTW, Mr V, We saw that seaplane at 30th ST, had just landed.
The kids dug it!

And Chelsea Piers was great. We signed up the kids for a 1 1/2 of rock climbing and gymnastics, while the wife and I went to the SPA. Had lunch, watched an outdoor band, and then headed home at 4:30.
Hell of a good time. :D :drink:

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Sounds like you need a 41 Apache... ;)

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I was at the new ferry port in queens, it runs between 43rd ave., nyc and vernon/jackson, queens. They dumped in 20 truck loads of sand to try to make it feeel like a beach on the east river. Thank god was not a real beach, couldnt imagine going in that water or getting sprayed by it.
Jack Jr.

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I guess having a fast boat really dosnt matter unless you can get a good ride through the rough or the even worse unreadable boat trafic chop.

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Its not even about going fast... none of these fast boats have any bow flare. A 20ft center cosole grady or contender would have faired much better.
I wasn't even going 20mph.
Maybe if i was on plane at 40 i probably would have been fine.

But undoubtably, the longer and heavier, the better the ride. The boat runs great in the rough, and is as dry as can be. Had it out last year w/ mom and kids in true 3-4 chop, no swells in the sound. And my mom couldn't believe how dry the boat was. But the unreadable traffic chop, coming from different directions will throw me for a loop.

The good news is, my wife was pleasantly surprised w/ how well the day went, and what a great time all had.
I mentioned a cruiser(due to some pounding and the stuffing) and she said no, the likes the idea of a speedboat, but just that we'll need something bigger, in a few years.
I guess better late than never.
Hip Hip Horray!!!! She's getting w/ the program. :evilb:

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My father and I submarined a bassboat a few years ago.....We tried to jump a set of Tug boat waves at 40ish. Didn't clear the last wake and went nose first into the bottom. When we popped out the other side the boat was almost full to the top with all our gear floating. We stayed in the seats, on the gas and luckily the boat had 3 bilge pumps. Worst part was it was Feb. and a bit chilly. Ended up not fishing that day at all.

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had a 23 foot Nova, trying to get to port fast in the afternoon in San Francisco Bay, plowed through a 5 foot roller/wind chop going about 40 mph, my chest slammed into the steering wheel :chimp: , clapsed the wheel, I hit my forehead on the wood trim windshield and learned real fast to respect the seas (and also save up for a bigger vessel :eek: ). By the way, my chest is still throbs, but that could be my wife telling me and poking my chest on what a dumb -aZZ i was trying to gofast in the bay. Chance of luck, the crew was in the cabin and bounced against the cushions-could have been worse

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It can be deadly! Lots of people had been killed by stuffing; 1. hitting the dash hard and collapsing/puncturing lungs. 2. slitting the bow open, the debris peeling back and killing the passenger.

Here's a pic of a stuff....

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This is exactly why I run the boat that I do. Between crusier traffic, freighter traffic, and great lakes nastiness... I decided on a 6000 pound dog with a WOT of 55.

But the ride is great, and it's tough to get in a bad situation, even crossing wakes.
Even if I get the boat completely out of the water, it keeps a good angle and lands soft.

Slowest ride maybe... but smoothest ride!

I won't give you any chit for getting too close to the vessel you were trying to overtake. You already copped to it, and you know what you did.

Glad that you weren't hurt.

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Go pumps go!!

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I usually run up behind the cruisers( useing there wake to smooth out the water on rough days) then about 3 of there boats lenghths to go I launch out of there wake ....less waves to handle. This came back and bit me one time when passing a tugboat pushing a barge........Came off the first wake.....cleared the second and went right thru the third......wall of water.....no one got hurt just really wet!! :D

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I will only get close enough to jump a cruiser's wake if I know the skipper of the cruiser and he is expecting it. And I still pass on the port.

Otherwise I am no better than the jet fleas who do it to me.

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Since I'm fast enough, what I usually do is cross the wake slowly far behind, and then accelerate and pass. I'm glad I was going slow and we only got wet.
Its always an adventure, and a learning experience.

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I think that is kinda what happened to me at six years old & mother pregnant with my sis.
I know we had an accident somewhere on the East river/Hells Gate area. My parents don't talk much about it. At the time we had a 30' Fino, a wake came over the bow, threw my parents back and sucked me into the cabin. None of had on PDFs. It wiped out all instruments on the panel and left us stranded. I would say any type of a stuff could be detrimental, speed doesn't matter. We were just lucky.

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Don't go too fast either!

Had a friend jump a tug boat wake at 70 mph near Hells Gate about 8 years ago. The bow was probably 25 ft. out of the water, the stern about 8-10 ft out. The boat landed on it's side as the driver was falling half way out of the boat. The result was a broken back, one guy with a f'ed up tailbone, and one person thrown out of the boat with a consusion.

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Panther... that's f'd up.
Its an interesting ride down the river.
It can be flat as can be... then pick right up.
I try to make up time when no one is around, and I can pass the cars on the FDR!!! :p

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I did a mini stuff a couple of years ago at loto. I was pulling off plane next to a massive cruiser that was also pulling off plane. As he settled into the water he created a massive roller. As we went up the face of the roller I saw the bow pierce the wave and the water ran about half way up the deck. We crested the wave and I thought "Oh, chit!". We went down into the valley and immediatly the bow pierced the wave face. This big slug of water came over the dash and caught Waterfoul and me right in the face. Scared my wife who was in the back seat because she had no idea it was coming. Flooded the engine out and instantly put 8" of water in the bilge. It was so rough out and the boat wakes were such that I was thinking instant swamp. Luckly the engine refired and was able to get moving again. That was only one of three times that I was afraid of sinking at loto.

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Is it just me, or does anybody else wanna hear about the other two times?

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Believe me you don't want to end up in Elmhurst Hospital. :eek:

The accident had less to do with speed and much more to do with trimming to the moon.

This pic is just after the accident

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Best way against snuffing is tabs up, trim out!

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Trim to the moon, speed, and booze don't mix.... :(

Mr. V., I think we were all humbled that day. I know I'll never forget it.

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Correct, that's the correct recipe for a "trip and stuff"...

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Hey, Panther and Mr V. (and all others).
It seems most of the "stuffing" occurs on crossing boat wakes.
Is running the ocean between NJ and NY any different.
Could the odds of stuffing be less in a consistant frequency of waves?

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I've stuffed in 10's at the tip of the hook, Jones inlet one day when it was huge and also under the VZ when it was big. It can get big under the VZ at times if the wind and tide are just right. If it us you can just run around SI to get home. Tug wakes are probably the worst though cause they tend to be steep.

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Storm,
I don't have the experience Mr V and Panther have but you said all others so I'll just add my 2 cents.

Even in the Ocean you can experience cruiser wake.
We were in the Ocean coming up on a 50ft Searay. This guy must have been running full throttle. The seas were not flat but not to high, this cruiser caused a huge wake----it was almost impossible to pass him safely. (Well maybe we could have if we had a few Martinis and the family wasn't with us :D ) I was in a 41ft boat with plenty of power. I never imagined a boat like that in the Ocean could cause such a wake considering the distance we were from him. Usually the ocean waves act as a breaker and kill the wake.
You learn something new everyday.

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Could the odds of stuffing be less in a consistent frequency of waves?

Depends on the space between each wave and the length of the boat.

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A few years ago their was a link on OSO of a Velocity stuffing at high speed, delaminated the top deck from the v hull :eek: It was a real eye opener

WILL

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Believe me..I don't run right up there azzes .......I jump thier wake well behind and 90% of the time to port. I've only had a coup[le of people get bent because of this.....I think it's just because I'll get a better dock space at the resturant :evilb: :D

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Ok, not new to boating, but I haven't spent much seat time driving an offshore boat in big water. Drove my buddy's boat at LOTO several times, but the issue of which side to pass on never came up. I'm not a novice boater, just a novice offshore boater. Forgive my ignorance, but why pass on the port vs starboard? I understand the rules of the lake driving down the channel, keep right and all that. Just curious on the overtaking of another craft.

Sorry if I'm hijackng a thread!

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If I remember correctly (from the safe Boating class), generally ("inland rules")you are allowed to pass on either side--1 short blast means you will be passing the stand-on vessel on the starboard side and 2 blasts is the signal for passing on the port side. Lots of variables involved such as type of vessel, waterway, inland waters, rivers, etc... :eek: meeting head to head is confusing as well.

The problem is most boaters don't follow the rules or don't know them.

Your comment just reminded me that I need a louder horn, and I need to take another course on the Navigational Rules.

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Trying to pass a cruiser in the East River is tough not to mention dangerous. I've done it in everything from a 17' Tahiti to a 25' sport boat.
It's never a pleasure. You usually get not only the wake from the boat,but the wakes bouncing back off the seawalls on either side. It can get nasty (as you found out). I've found it best to get over the wake as far back as I can. In a lot of cases, a healthy dose of throttle didn't hurt either. If you want a real experience, run the river at night.:)

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4th of July three years ago after the fireworks...I am heading back through Hell's Gate in the dark. I am the only boat using a high powered light to see where I am. Lots of cruisers all around me creating lots of boat wake. One son of a bi**h was really plowing hard...I give a short blast to let him know I am passing him and the next thing I know I Am heading straight down what seems to be a never ending valley. The bow of the boat cut right through the the water....everyone in the boat got wet....not a true race course stuff but pretty dam scary at 10 o'clock at night in Hell's Gate. The best part is everyone in the boat was smiling and laughing not having any idea that I was scared s**t.

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taken from the U. S. Department of Transportation Navigation Rules

OVERTAKING (Rule 13, page 29): "...any vessel overtaking any other shall keep out of the way of the other vessel being overtaken."

On the water, passing another vessel from behind is called "overtaking." The vessel being overtaken is to maintain course and speed and not slow down or turn suddenly. Even in wide-open water after traveling for some time, it's necessary to look back; it may be that you are being overtaken.

The vessel that is overtaking (passing) should, if at all possible, pass on the port (left) side, but may pass on the starboard (right) if for some reason she cannot pass on the left. When yours is the boat that is passing, remember to "stay out of the way of the other boat as necessary" to avoid a collision. It is necessary to stay out of the wake of the boat being overtaken to be out of the way. After passing, "keep clear of the overtaken vessel," or stay out of the way of the boat you just passed.

In Ohio... as far as audible signals go... the overtaking vessel sounds a single blast for SB pass, a double blast for port pass. The stand on vessel (being overtaken) would sound the same signal back for agreement.

One for SB, two for port.

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(somebody asked....) :D