High Speed Boating Questions
 

I have now finally gotten my 33 foot cigarette ready for the water. It has been a multi-year process, but that is another thread.

I have had other boats, but I got my boat set up to run mid 70s. My questions are these.

1. What are the best places to read about high speed problems to watch out for?

2. What causes some of the high speed rolls?

3. What are common causes of performance boat wrecks that do not involve alcohol?

We have own other boats but never a performance boat.

Thanks in advance for help.

just stay within your comfort zone and be hyper aware of your surroundings and always be looking for potential situations. Wear your lanyard and wear it on your wrist, you will become use to it and are more likely notice if you forget to put it on (sort of how you notice when you dont have a seat belt on in your car). Seat time, seat time and more seat time. Personally i never mix alcohol and boating i really believe in zero tolerance for my self.

If you can, take one of Tres' driving schools. The knowledge and experience between him and Brad cannot be equaled anywhere else.

just dont get ahead of yourself and learn to read the conditions and the capabilities of you and your boat.


post pics of your boat :cool:

at what point??
 

At what point does a fast boat become dangerous (mph)?? I've had MANY years of boating experience, but NONE over 45 mph. What becomes dramatically different?? WHAT is ACTUALLY considered fast??? I actually knew a guy many years ago who landed a 30 ft baja on its side in the Detroit river, throwing all passengers out.. He OBVIOUSLY didn't belong driving a boat, but clearly he didn't respect what he was playing with, and this was the result...

fast is a relative term. To someone like Johnny Tomlinson its probably mundane under a hundred thirty or so. It comes down solely to your ability not the mph #. Best thing is to leave the ego at the dock period. Theres a lot at stake out there at any speed and accidents happen very quickly.

Two good posts by glassdave here.

I don't think there is a carved in stone point where a boat becomes dangerous. It very much depends on the hull design and the skill level of the driver. One thing for sure is that the faster you go the quicker things happen and can get out of control and the less time you have to react. Reality is that there are more boating accidents in family type boats under 50-60 mph each year than in the wild 150+ mph cats. There is an old saying that is very pertinent to performance boating "A man needs to know his limitations!". Learn this and you will never find yourself in a situation that you can not handle in a safe manner. Never trust that the other guy will make the right decision in a bad situation, you must think and react on the basis that he will not.

I very much agree with glassdave in respect to the "Zero Tolerance" when boating, fast boat or slow boat, booze and boats just don't mix. Number one contributor to accidents on the water, number two would be operator error, which is just the result of a man not knowing his limitations and being stupid.

Thanks guys...those are great answers... I guess the start of responsible behavior IS KNOWING you don't yet know what you're doing and taking the time to learn before making the mistake. I've never owned a boat that had the potential to "chine walk" , and hadn't even heard of it before these very helpful forums. I DO KNOW there are lots of idiots out there, and I boat the great lakes, so the danger is even higher.

Thanks again

leave ego on dock and dont be stupid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjluQW-KBas

how fast?? a boat can be dangerous when tied to a dock., with all things being equal, I bet you will be paying more attention when going 70 then when idling down the channel, playing with the stereo and talking to passangers. Thus doing 70 is actually probably safer.

I can only stress from a racers standpoint is to fully learn your boat. Waves, prop, weight (people),speed are variables that change what the boat will do in any situation. With pleasure boating you should always make the safety of your passengers the utmost concern. Alot of good racers have came from poker runners who have mastered there boat and wish to take it to a new level. Learn the boat !!!! Practice Practice!!! Most of have fun doing it!!!

Damn...thats the EXACT SAME BOAT AS MINE CRASHING!!!!

You will be suprised just how FAST everything is happening on a go-fast. Even when you're only doing 50-60, there's just a LOT to be paying attention to. At least that's the one thing I noticed when I was in your shoes last year. At the start of the season, I wouldn't take it much above 45...by the end I was comfortable running WOT (70)for a few minutes on a calm day. Follow the advice above and stay within your comfort zone. If you think you might be pushing it too hard, you probably are. Enjoy!!

I have to agree with most of what being said on here, especially:

Know your boat. I would recommed taking the boat out by yourself so there is no peer pressure from anybody to go faster or anything like that. Then drive where you feel comfortable at, probably 40 or 50 and just get used to it, then you can progress speeds as your ability increases.

How fast is fast? That answer is relative to water conditions and everything else. Somedays you can get bored driving your boat at 70 because of how flat the water is. On the flip side, 50 can be fast when conditions kick up (4-6' and chop etc). Just take your time to progress.

I have seen boats roll in straight aways and seen them roll at 30mph. So the comments of "learn your boat" are right on the mark. If you are serious about it take Tres Class.

What cuased this crash
 

This was the clip already posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjluQW-KBas

Would this of happened if they were running tabs? Is this just the cause of to fast and landed on the starboard side.

What happened to cause this? Were the drives to high, over running boat, came out of throttle,etc. What would cause this?

This is the scenario that I want to protect against.

Thanks

water conditions are what i look at the most

I would put my money on it being caused by over-trimming the drives and trying to show off. Tabs could have helped if used properly, if you had tabs and they were in the up position, they obviously wouldn't have done anything. You can see as soon as the boat hit's the wake, it points toward the sun which it wouldn't have done if it was trimmed properly, people forget that deep v's are designed to slice through the water and when it's rough you want to use the length of your boat to cut through the water and not just ride on your pad (if you have one).

Way too much trim. This is one of the things you learn in Tres's course. When you come off a roller you want to go up level. Now that you have seen this start watching the videos of other boats. Over trimed, coming off a roller you have one of three results, stuffing, rolling or being lucky the other two did not happen.

As far as taking the Tres's school, it can be money well spent. The course is not cheap but lets look at this youtube video. What do you think that roll over cost him? Since it looks like he was the only one in the boat, lets hope he was not injured, the minimum would be to put the boat back together, say $5000.00 If that driver would have taken Tres's course I bet that video would not be existing and this driver would have way more money in is pocket now.

Ditto on the over trimmed. What happens is you learn that more trim = more speed. So (as in the clip) you are out hot rodding with your buddies who are a little faster. In order to keep up and compensate for your lack of hp, you run over trimmed and fast. Then the roller comes through and you end up bow to the sky and landing on the transom. Nothing good happens when you land on the transom as illustrated in the clip. You need to always be ready to quickly trim down or throttle down in high speed sitations to avert trouble. I personally have been lucky and have learn to respect trim :lolhit:

After watching that video I think it is important to itterate that you should not be afraid of your boat either. Learn to make it do what you want it to do. That yahoo was trimming to "make" it jump. "Its not a jetski"...and he found that out. Your 33 foot cig without steps should be a pretty forgiving hull when powered to run in the 70's. A boat like yours is very safe if driven appropriately. Tres course is an excellent recommendation. I think if you can pick it up somewhere, then get some seat time, you will be driving your boat like a pro. If not...find someone with experience in a similar v with tabs to get you pointed in the right direction. You are already proving yourself a future very safe driver by asking this question in this manner.

???

Drives trimmed too much means what? That instead of being level, the drives were pointed up, so they would lever the front end of the boat up out of the water?

I can't recall, is your boat a stepped hull?

A boat is like a teetertotter. Push the back down and the front will go up. Trimming up the drives makes the props want to dive, therefore pushing the stern down, bow up. Now add in a roller and 60+mph speed and you are landing on your transom. Most dangerous scenario I know of that will be routinely encounter on any large body of water and regarding handling skills.