OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

I've been around 20' runabouts all my life, but this is my first offshore boat with twins. I'm not going to be naive and think it's the same thing, just bigger. Is there a primer online somewhere to learn the do's and don'ts? I want to have fun with this, but I don't want to put my family & friends at risk. We will be boating in water that's pretty rough at times (LOTO).

Some general questions:

• General use of the K-planes
• How to avoid a position where the nose gets stuffed
• Drive trim; where to set it, when to change it
• What's the relationship between safe speed and wave size? Is it a skill that's acquired?

I found this on maneuvering with twins.....Maneuvering strategies for twin engines

....but it's oriented more towards twin inboards. Is there something similar for I/O's, or do the principles still apply?

Thanks for helping a newbie....

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

I'm sure there are plenty of guys at LOTO to give you hands-on training that you will find invaluable.
Good luck and be careful until you really understand what your new boat is all about.

Many times accidents are caused because the operator asked his boat to do something for which it was not designed.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

What did you purchase?

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Formula 336, w/502's....

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

The above link is pretty much true for I/Os also but since I'm in tidal waters I've never tried the parallel docking trick. There are a few spots of protected water where it might work. I'll try myself next season. You'll wonder how you ever did it without twins :cool:

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Lot of good questions you ask, and while there are differences between your boats, the important parts are the same (smart and reasonable boat driver). Just bring more gas money.

Does your boat have a stepped hull? That will reverse a few instructions, so I won't address those here, but wait for your answer.

Starting: don't hammer the boat onto plane like you might a skiboat. Your new boat weighs enough to break the drive doing that. Ease into it about half throttle or around 3000 rpm until she gets out of the hole. You'll quickly gain a feel for it. Some drop their tabs to help, but you may not need to. Dropped tabs will reduce the bow rise though. Trim in the drives when getting on plane. (IN and DOWN mean bring the outdrives close to the transom, OUT and UP mean just the opposite) After up on plane, start with the drives and tabs neutral and see how that feels. While the boat is on the trailer, set the prop shafts parallel with the running surface of the boat and note where your indicators are. Do the same with the tabs. This way you know where neutral is on the indicator. After getting on plane, you can back off the throttles (WELL IT'S POSSIBLE!!! :D ) and stay on plane at a slow speed, especially if the tabs are down.

Very few boat stuff. Usually that is racing where a boat is airborne and lands on the back of a wave quickly forcing the nose down too far, and the speed pushes it into the next wave. But, it can also happen on the Busch's Bluewater's wakes, or one of the 53' Carvers that plow down the main channel if you try to pass them at just the right slow speed. In normal boating on LOTO I've never gotten close to stuffing. The ONE time was a slow speed passing of a cruiser from behind, going real gentle to not scare my passengers, and the huge wake was just the size that we almost poked the other half with the nose while still going down the "hill". You have to stay on the throttles at that time, or the slowing action will lower the bow/raise the stern and we would have taken water over the deck.

If your boat is listing to one side due to wind or weight dist of people and things, then drop the tab on the lower side a little to see how that evens up the ride. Do it again if need be. Generally speaking, less tab is better than more. If raising the high side tab is an option, that is better than lowering the low side tab. Some boats run better with a little tab down on both side while underway. If your boat is porpoising, then that is an option. So is trimming in the drives or adding speed.

Start running with neutral drives and tabs on smooth water. Trimming in forces more bow in the water, lengthens your hull at the water line, and can smooth a rough water ride. Doing this at high speed makes the boat handle and steer funny. Trimming out brings the bow out of the water, improves efficiency, can lead to porpoising and if you do hit an big wave or wake at high speed, can cause you to launch with too much bow lift, and on landing can contribute to stuffing. Neutral is a nice setting to learn a new boat. IF you do get airborne (and that is kind of fun, and your boat is built for it) you'll probably fly level and enjoy it.

Good things about Formula sport boats: They are built better than most of us are drivers. You'll start to get beat up personally before the boat is over-taxed. If the speed you're going is comfortable for the waves you're in, you're probably safe. You'll get the feel for it.

Two last things: Don't back off the throttles too fast or you might get lake water running up over your sundeck and into the cockpit. Your wife will love you for that :rolleyes: . And secondly, docking can be easy with two engines. Keep the steering wheel centered and use the forward and reverse levers against each other to move the boat. Note: your props bite better in forward than reverse.

Don't forget to let us know if your boat has a stepped hull, as there is a lesson there too.

You're going to do great. This will be a lot of fun for you.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Thanks, Chart; just the type of advice I was looking for. I'd love to meet up with you sometime and buy you a beer or 6! :drink:

The 336 is not a stepped hull, but it does have a notched transom, if that makes any difference.

Also, I think I know the answer, but what is porpoising? Is that bouncing the bow up and down?

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

This is KEY. Get everything level with the bottom of the boat and then use a dot of nail polish and mark the indicators panel so you know where everything is level. Also make sure the buttons are wired correctly. When you push the top of the button (toward bow) the tabs should drop and the drives should come in. Pushing the back side of the buttons should raise the bow - lift tabs-push drives out. Get comfortable so you don't do it backwards while running.

Also, check for prop rotation. The boat is easier to handle if the props spin outward while your going forward.

Enjoy your new toy and play safe.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

In a nutshell, get the largest home equity loan you can get and send in all those credit card applications. Summer is coming and you'll need the extra credit for all the gas you're going to use.
Oh, and buy the biggest, baddest pickup truck that you can find to pull it with.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

I can't wait to try docking with twins...anything will be easier than a single engine inboard. Try backing up with one sometime...it goes anywhere you want as long as you want the stern to move starboard. I often get into positions where I have to spin the boat 270 degrees to get out of tight situations. People look at me very funny.... :rolleyes:

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

The oil companies certainly need the money, don't they? :rolleyes: Missouri refunds road tax for fuel used offroad. I stand to get a much bigger refund this year.... :D

The boat will be on a lift most of the time at our dock, but I would love to have a 2500 Duramax!

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Ummm... just one thing.
I started with cruisers and worked back to performance.

A skinny boat with twin I/Os simply can't do some of the tricks that fat twin IBs can do. The props are way farther back, closer together and you have no separate rudders. (required for the "sideways" move. sorry)

The experience you had with the last boat will help you in the long run, and you will get the hang of what you can and can't do with twin I/Os. But you will be disappointed if you expect to pull sideways off of a pier or turn 360 in one place.
Your new boat will turn on an axis that is forward of what an IB cruiser can do.

I'm guessing that you have counter-rotating drives on the new boat. You will find that one will "walk" one way, and the other will "walk" the other way in reverse. My bet is that you end up using one more to pull alongside with your SB, and the other to pull alongside with your port.

Now.... go buy some gold chains and some cool sunglasses.
You are a performance boater.

You will also need the theme from Miami Vice on MP3 so it doesn't skip. :D

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

CoBerry, welcome to the club. We also came from 20-23 footers into a longtime dream.

Chart and RonP are dead on. Know your neutral positions for drives/tabs and make it second nature hitting those buttons correctly. We are running a stepped/notched hull and have taken our progression into speed very slow. Still a ton to learn like yourself and we will be loving every minute of it.

Now post some pic's, it was 18 degrees here this morning and I need a boat fix.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

put up some pics CObarry.... it is always nice to see another performance boat on LOTO, i was getting worried that everybody was buying 50+ sea rays.... :rolleyes: :D

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

That's real nice of you. Be happy to accept your offer. But, we need to do it at the far end of the lake, since you have a boat that can get there easily now! :D

The notched transom makes a difference in performance characteristics at an engineering level, but NOT in the way that you drive it.

Non-stepped hulls are easy and forgiving to drive. Only thing to remember is not to enter into a high speed turn with the drives trimmed out much. You most likely won't get hurt, but the props will probably loose their bite and that's hard on equipment. Set the drives neutral or trim in and you'll carve through the turn hard enough to understand why the bolster is so tight! :D Stepped hulls handle differently, and using the same technique can throw you into the water. That brings up another good point: The kill switch lanyard: Wear it.

Yep. Doesn't hurt much at normal speeds, just shows everyone else you don't know how to dial in your boat. Can be caused by several factors, and some hulls are more likely to do this than others. Basically, your props are trying to pick the bow up out of the water, and then the weight of the bow overcomes the props and the bow comes down and it starts again. Usually happens when you are trimmed out too far for your speed. It will happen going over waves once or twice, but if does not settle down, then you are porpoising. Like a big car with worn out shocks.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

50+ Sea Rays on LOTO.... :mad:

Here are some pics....

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

More good advice...thanks!

The props are currently set up to rotate out (looking towards the top of the prop)...based on everything I've read they'll stay that way....

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

I think most boats are like that, but if your boat is wired like my 336 (and 272 before it), it will be opposite of this. Pushing the forward rocker or top of the buttons will raise the drives or tabs and pushing the bottom or back of the button will lower them. It can be a little tricky at first. I had a couple of times where I had the boat leaned over a bit and pushed a tab in the wrong direction and then wasn't sure what to do. That was with my 272 without indicators and I had to just slow down to idle to get out of the turn. The rule I use is that if the boat is not running level, push the tab up (forward rocker) on the side of the boat that's up or high, or down (aft rocker) on the side that's down It's counterintuitive at first, but when you do it a few times, it becomes second nature. There's nothing more nerve wracking than running at 40 with a tab all the way down and the boat leaned over and going into a turn that you can't control or figure out. Unless it's having your family on board and a wife saying "What the hell are you doing!!!", and your answer is "I have no idea!!" I haven't done that with the 336, but did it a couple times with the 272, once on the test drive. LOL. Practice on a weekday before heading out and battleing the weekend crowds.

While tabs are often run independantly to level out the ride, you always trim the drives together. The switch on the throttle runs the drives together and is like the rocker buttons, up trims the drives out, down trims them in.

As for porpoising, I find the 336 hull to be pretty stable. My 272 would porpoise at cruising speeds enough that you had to drop the tabs just a bit to give the boat more running surface. The 336 seems to be better balanced and is pretty forgiving.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

or just mimic this guy. Wait, it's a Formula, not a Fountain. :D :D

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

best advise i could give is sell it and run for the hills.... good looking rig, good luck.. what ever you do dont listen to cuda, he knows nothing...... stecz

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

i thought that was troutly for a sec.... :eek:

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

yep.... and most of them run at like half plane? wtf? why do they do that? i think they like making 4-5' rollers... :mad: the lake lice love it though....

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

For many of them, half plane is WOT.... :evilb:

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Yeah, what is it about semi-displacement hulls anyway.

Oh yeah.... they only half plane. :D

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

This is what we do to those who buy Fountains...roast 'em :p

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

im sure you will catch on fast but it would be a good idea to practice docking on a weekday or early in the morning when there arent 5 other boats trying to do the same.
dont get in a hurry even if theres 5 boats behind you. (i know , easyer said then done)
in and out of gear quickly seams to work the best for manuvering.
the first time i dock at the beginning of the season is the worst for me. i get better as the summer goes by. :rolleyes:

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Don't drive it like this...........

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/index.p...boatpicnic.wmv

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

CObarry
I'm down at the lake most weekends I'm at the 6 1/2 mm on the HH side, if you need some help are advise when the season comes around i'd be happy to go out with you. there's some good advise in this thread,add water time and you'll be a pro in no time. LOTO water can be a little intimidating at times but the 33 while do fine.

later

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

When you get ready to rebuild your engines (don't worry, you will) stroke them to 540 CU IN. The stock EFI can support close to 600HP with modifications. It would be a good thing to upgrade the BRAVO'S at this time. Enjoy

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

COBarry, I was about to make the same statement that another of my OSO brethren made about a sterndrive twin versus an inboard twin. You'll be surprised how slow they are to respond, especially if you try to do the one-forward, one-reverse thing that we do in cruisers. You're still going to want to use the directed-thrust capability of the outdrives even with twins. You'll find that a good crewman on the bow line is really going to come in handy when you're trying to maneuver away from a dock with the wind pushing you against it.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

That boat was for sale at National Marine a little while back, It HAD 525 SC"s in it when I looked at it.
Nice boat none the less with the smaller engines in it.
Best of luck to you with it and remember experience............
j

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

these aren't semi planing hulls, those boats only run 14-18 knots tops...i am talking guys in 50 sundancers that run 20 when they could easliy run 25 and make half the wake.....

i don't see a lot of trawlers or semiplaning hulls at loto.....

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

great advice here. There is another technique for listing other than using your tabs. If you run one drive slightly more tucked in (negative) than the other you can cancel out the list. The benefit of this is particularly nice in rough water, like LOTO on weekends. Especially since the LOTO water is so unpredictable. By using the drives instead of the tabs, you lesson the risk of getting in trouble if (when) you catch major air. With the tabs in different positions, you can risk some stability problems on re-entry if you catch your lower tab early on re-entry. Like I said, just a technique that works well in really rough water.

And remember when hitting those big cruiser wakes, throttle going into them, and back off at the crest.

Most important, patience and practice makes perfect.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Kiss your wallet goodbye...... :drink:

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Ya get a couple more credit cards ..youll need em :D :D

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

CO, alot of good advice from everyone, I'm also running a 336, feel free to call me at 262 820 0782 if there is anything you would like to know.

Ron

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Barry - Before getting up on plane put your tabs and drives full in. When you are up on plane raise the planes all hte way up first and then the drives up to 2 or three. You should not need the tabs except to get on plane and maybe for strong current/wind from the side. The other time you will use the planes is to keep your bow down in rough seas that you cannot get on top of. The 336 is a big heavy boat. I went from a 27 Fountain single to the twin 336 formula and docking became MUCH easier, erpecially in windy conditions. Pratice at the gas dock or other area at your marina early in the morning for practice. You will pick it up quickly.

Let's see more pics of your new boat when you pick it up.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Great info in this thread.

With my 311 I rarely, practically never, touch the steering wheel during docking manuvers, I use the "shifters". Unless I'm in a strong current, or wind, I can parallel park my boat at a dock. It just takes practice. You'll be amazed at what you can do. In tight places, like getting past different length bows of boats already docked, or whatever, by "dragging" one drive, either in neutral or reverse, you can bring the bow around in any manner you wish. Then just shift back to forward to keep going. Once you get the hang of using your shifters to manuver, you'll forget you have a steering wheel, just make sure the drives are "straight".

Four blade props help also, but yours probably already has them.

Re: OK, I bought my first offshore performance boat; now what?
 

Looks like 3 blades....