Heading into a rough chop

The ’91 V20 is my first boat, this is my third summer with it, and I love it. I’ve learned a lot from keeping up with this board. Occasionally I’ll post a stupid question. Here’s one – is it normal for the cuddy to get wet during snotty weather?

Yesterday morning with a stiff southerly breeze the upper Chesapeake had a pretty ugly 3’ (sometimes more?) chop. Driving south right into it, I had to keep to about 9 or 10 mph – it was just too rough to go faster. A number of times a wave sloshed over the bow, and this ended up leaking into the cuddy cabin.

1- Even with the forward hatch cover and the windshield closed, I got this leakage into the cuddy. Is that normal? Or am I missing a gasket or something?

2- Under those conditions (3’ chop, some water over the bow), is there something I should have done differently to keep the bow up? I turned 45 degrees away from the bigger waves, and that kept the bow from dipping under but gave us a pretty violent roll. What would you do?

By late morning the bay calmed down and we ended up with a nice day. No fish, but a nice day.

[macojoe]

When ever you Stuff the bow its going to get wet!!

On my boat, much older 1975, when I am going threw the waves and they curl up the bow flare, I get water from the seam between the cap and hull, I guess the caluking is gone, but I am not going to be the one to remove the cap and reseal it for the little water i get!!

[steplift20]

you made it back alive
thats a good boat case closed

My 89 c/c on day's like that like yesterday i went about 3 miles offshore and i have to do about 10 to 12 mph and right about where the flair ends it will send a colum of water up and right down to where i am standing is this normal or is my motor not trimed right or do i need to get the bow up or down to keep this from happening? I know this might be a bumb question but can someone give me some advise on this.

[macojoe]

what you need to do is keep the boat level. this way the water will go away from the boat.
Try triming till you are level and plowing the water rather then on top of it pounding!
You also neede to quater the waves for a better ride.
But no mater what the wind and the way the waves are coming you moight get wet!! I do from time to time also!

[fillet1]

dvanko,

I get the leakage in the cuddy too ! Its not bad though.

How did you have your motor trimmed at the time?

Fillet1-

I had the trim tabs up and the outdrive trimmed to "bow up." From macojoe's comment about keeping her level, I wonder if I should have had the tabs down and tried to hit the chop at a more level angle.

[chesapeake724]

It's not something you can really describe, you just have to "feel it" when everything (engine trim, tabs, throttle) is dialed in for the best comfort and performance combo. There are no absolutes, but next time, try trimming the outdrive all the way down and bring it up a little bit to lift the boat. Then use the tabs to push the bow down and try skimming the wave tops. This takes advantage of the sharp entry of the hull.

It might be counterintuitive, but sometimes going slow beats you up because you go up and down with the maximum amplitude. In certain situations, going faster might make the hull thump faster against the waves, but not as hard as riding all the way up and falling back down hard.

[reelapeelin]

dvanko, mine's the older version, too, but in a sea like you describe, I'd be surprised if even the newer V20s come thru bone dry...sounds like a good day for front AND side curtains... ;) ;D...

[buckleyjr]

If your cuddy is completely closed, shouldn't be that much water in it. Does it leak if it rains? I found that mine did and was able to fix it - but I have a 95 v21- not sure if it is different in the 91 v-20. *Here is what I did:

There is a plastic piece that runs the length of the track and curves down to the deck. This piece forms the track the hatch slides on. It is screwed into the deck with screws and there is a bead of caulk too. The caulking failed and was letting water that gathered in the track into the cuddy. Here is picture. Hope this helps. (btw this isn't actually a picture of my boat, downloaded this pic a while back)