29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

How much better is the ride on the above mentioned 33 or 38 it has a wider beam will that make a difference. The reason for this question is at our lake the water gets pretty choppy like 2-3 footers all day long and crossing the lake at high speeds is a little tricky the boat wobbled form side to side especially if I encounter quartering seas thats when I feel the most uncomfortable.
This Saturday I got my ass kicked by a 25 foot single engine Eliminator and the water was rough as hell, he blew by us and I tried to run with him, and his boat seemed level and stable and my 29 seemed to rock side to side and smacking the chit out of the swells is this a normal feeling or am I doing something wrong, with stroked and pro charged engines I could have blown this guy away ,but the comfort level wasn't there for me ,also had wife and eight year old son in the boat and I don't think they where real pleased with the ride comfort either. Therefore I thought that I would start looking into bigger and wider boats for stability

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

My wife always says:Thank you honey, bigger is always better :D I have been on a 38 its actually a great boat, I was impressed with the ride, if its in reach go for it, I wish they still made go-fasts, late 80's to early 90's is where they really shined. :cool: Good luck.

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

We have a 29 ft. Scarab with twins. My wife spent a considerable amount of time on a 38ft. Scarab a few years ago on the same lake. The owner/driver of that boat was widely known for being an excellent driver. My wife claims that our 29ft. handles the chop better than the 38ft. did. The difference in the beam between the two might have something to do with with that. A narrow beam will slice easier than a wide one will in rough conditions. The rocking is not something we've experienced, even in quartering conditions. We've had some "air time" that we didn't really want from crossing the massive wakes of cabin cruisers but not a rocking issue. I've heard that the 29ft. Scarab with a single big block has some issues at high speed like you describe. I talked with a knowledgable person concerning this issue and he explained that the CG was all wrong on the single engine 29ft. Scarabs, causing them to be on their nose and leaving the stern loose because of that. Does your boat have twins or a single?

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

I've got single 502 Whipplecharged in my Scarab. As far as ride goes it kicks ASS in the rough stuff. I do notice when their are some big quartering waves it does tend to try to push on the bow some. But this is only with BIG quartering waves. I just adjust my trim tabs some and it seems to take most of it out.

Now, I have a 7 year old daughter and a wife that go with me all the time. I've been shopping for a bigger boat. The ride is uncomfortable for them in some of the stuff we ride in. I usually slow down like everyone else does whenI see big stuff coming. I decided it was time to start shopping for something bigger. I don't want to keep buying boats so I'm buying the biggest thing I can afford It will probably be a 35 or 38 Top Gun. This is due to the resale value they have.

They ride like Cadilacs and have better resale value than anything on the market. I plan on keeping my next purchase for a very long time. Plus, their hulls didn't change for a long time which means a paint job and interior and it will look like a newer model boat.

I'm not sure what your financial situation is, but I have seen 38 foot boats for under 50 grand. It may not have big power, but I'm going for ride and dependability not speed. Hell I found a 38 Kevlar Scarab for a damn good price and they ride great.

To me .................Bigger is better in this siutation! :D :D

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

Thanks guy's for the imput,, PT my 29 has twins and when I see the big quartering swells comming I back off the sticks and trim down and wait on them. I too like 29Scarab was thinking maybe the big boats ride better but you have owned them both, and I do agree that a narrower boat would slice through the waves better ,Am I going to slow through the rough stuff ? The boat seems to ride up one side of the swell and then back down the other side (on quartering seas) it leans the direction of the swell be it left as you cross and right as you move over it so I guess when I said it rocked side to side the above statement was a more exact statement. Its like the bass boats you see on full trim wiggling from side to side , but in my case it's slower and more defined in relationship to the size of the swell. Thanks agian

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

n2boatn2,
I do the same thing, the 4 year old does not like large waves yet. My 29 runs very nose high all the time when trimmed, I run with a guy with a 28 Warlock that runs very flat and on top of the water. What props do you run? I wonder if a stern lifting prop would help our boats run more flat and cut through the waves a little better? I have found that faster is better though. Mine does chine walk at anything over 70 and trimmed with no tab.

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

I have a 26' Scarab that seems to take what we run quite well, but too would like to get a 38'r. Can someone please explain quartering seas? Is that something like 'confused water"

Thanks

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

He might mean 2 to 3 footers coming at you on an angle, like an oncoming boat wake from a parallel boat, where instead of turning into them, you keep your course and the chop hits your starboard bow as an example.

I had a 28' Scarab, and now own a 34' Scarab, both from 1990. You just can't compare the rides. The 28 was fast, nimble, bulletproof, but due to it's weight and length, it was hard to keep it in the water. We got pounded a lot in heavy seas, but the boat could take it.

On the Chesapeake Bay, the 34' rides like a Cadillac, doesn't matter what the bay dishes up, it's a great heavy riding boat, you just don't get beat up. The length makes a huge difference (i.e., 34' or 38') by spanning the chop, and the hull design, balance & weight contribute as well.

The overall ride can result from a combination of factors including speed, trim, tab position, etc. You just have to get the feel for the boat, find it's sweet spots and adjust according to the sea conditions.

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

I have 38 scarab straight bottom and the ride is comparable to 38 top gun

Re: 29 vs 33 or 38 ride
 

Ok, so we have basically the same boat. I'll try to give you some things to try. The 38 Scarab I mentioned wasn't owned by us but my wife swears that our 29 rides better. I have a hard time believing this and I never was on the 38 myself. The only place I can imagine the 29 riding better with no experience in both would be when driving into the wind and hitting waves head on. 10 ft. longer equals a bigger drop off the back side if the conditions are really poor.

First of all, if the drives are trimmed up at all, you can expect to experience problems in rough water - be it from wind or wakes. Keep the drives all the way in (or down) when in the rough stuff. I found this out the hard way. Launched the boat completely airborne crossing a cabin cruiser wake. Then I got my ears abused from those onboard. Once was enough.
Even a small amount of trim up will create this situation. Yeah, it goes slower with them down and the fuel consumption is worse, etc., etc. etc. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made! I'm likely to be the "sacrifice" if I don't keep the ride smooth. Here's the headlines - "Man thrown overboard by angry wife after rough boat ride."

Second, we have Bennet K planes. You probably do also unless someone has changed them at some point. In the rough water, it helps tremendously to lower the planes and force the nose down. We don't have indicators on our planes which makes it a little more difficult becuase you never know exactly where they are. I checked once to see how long it took to travel from limit to limit - 13sec. in our case. So I use that as a mental crutch when lowering the K-planes. Be careful with this though. I almost submarined the nose once with the planes lowered too far. It happened when I accelerated from a dead stop, tabs down, drives in. Another DO NOT REPEAT lesson. :rolleyes: I try to trim the tabs for the general conditions of the lake that day. Rough=down and smooth=up. Then I use the throttles and the drive trim to keep the ride as smooth as possible. I have good reason for this. My wife has had several broken ribs in her past. The doctor has told her that a hard sneeze is enough to rebreak them. So, for the sake of that not happening because of a hard jar in the boat, I keep the ride a smooth as possible.

From your description, it sounds as though you are encountering quartering waves at a shallow angle to your direction of travel - almost parallel to them. Try increasing the angle you hit them at when possible. This will get more of the length of the boat spanning the wave and also use the sharper bow to slice more. Too much angle will cause you to ride up the wave and then fall off the other side, assuming you haven't gone airborne.

As far as speed, that's hard to answer. I do know that too slow in our boat is just as bad as too fast. You have to try and plane across as much as possible without launching it. Here's what I do when approaching big wakes or big waves.

1) Immediately trim drives in (down).
2) try and hit the wave at 25-30 degree angle.
3) Be ready to reduce the thottles just as you break the wave. If the boat starts to porpoise, keeping the throttle on will only aggravate it more. (Been there and done that)
4) Sometimes jockeying the throttles at just the right times helps.
5) Anything over 40mph is likely to get the boat in the air(assuming that you are in 2-3 foot waves)

The narrower beam will cause more listing from side to side than a wider one if you are parallel to the waves. The weight of the boat has a lot to do with this also. Heavier will ride better in rough water. Fill up the tank. Or add more gear ... that NEVER seems to be a problem for us. (Honey, we're only going for the day. There's enough stuff here for a week of survival) :D

One note - quartering waves are nothing to take lightly. Especially those that are quartering from the REAR of the boat. These are the ones I find most dangerous. When in these conditions, I will not answer anyone in the boat trying to talk to me - my total attention is on the water and the boat feel/attitude. These are the perfect conditions to stuff the nose under if you don't read them right. Personally, I don't cherish eating that windscreen any at all.