V boats - rough water handling

[Kracker Jack]

Originally Posted by peiserma

Like I said, I wasn't trying to call anyone out on their estimates of wave height; I was just presenting some information that i thought might be pertinent to the discussion. What you do with the info is up to you. I think the majority of people on this site are very experienced and can estimate waves just fine.

FWIW, I got my introduction to boating at the Vermilion Yacht Club (on Lake Erie) and my first day "at sea" was was in a little 10' or 12' Gull (that's a fairly small sailboat) with 6ft waves (at least that was the height according to the instructor. Lake Erie is fairly shallow so the waves kicked up kicker than they expected else they would have delayed the first outing). The boom smacked me in the head on a bad jibe at the crest of a wave and gave me a mild concussion. I was maybe 10 or 12 years old at the time (can't remember exactly. weird!). So I do know a little about about rough seas, and I remember that those waves sure looked bigger than 6ft! I would have sworn they were taller than the boat was long. It was an experience I have never forgotten but still think about fondly for some odd reason.

Didn't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers.Carry on.

No feathers ruffled here my friend. Actually I completely agree with with you and your post. Yea lake Erie seems like she could get pretty rough!

[RidgeRunner]

Excellent insight IMO. Roughest day for me it was out of Kawai on the Kai Bear. 8' and snot-ty. Older 38' Bertram. I was happy to downgrade to half-day. Had one beer at roughly 10:00 a.m. I saw the beer again at 11:00 and 11:30 and I never get seasick.. Wife was a trooper on that trip. Noxious diesel was the final straw for me. Offered to buy the first few rounds on the hill and that was that after 3 hours of up and down sideways nothing biting. Took us 15 minutes to get back to port at trolling speed, never more than a few miles from port all day.
I try not to overestimate wave size.
If you want to see some big stuff just watch Deadliest Catch, in particular the end of this years Kingcrab season.

[Road King Cole]

In the CG I was on the bridge of a 200ft ship watching waves go over the bow. By my estimate they must have been 500-600ft waves.

Seriously, I always went by the rule of take a guess of how big they look and divide that in half.

rkc

[ssiredfish]

I got you all beat.......

Was supposed to get an overhaul on the boat but we decided to go anyway so off to the Flemish Cap we went.....

A little trying gettin out there. Two of the guys were fighting until one of em got a hook in his hand and went overboard and the other guy he was fightin with saved his life, then they were buddies after that.

Then we almost had a Mako eat one of us before we got into some good fishin. Man we were killin it!!!! Tons of fish comin up before our ice machine went down and we had to turn home but we had a small problem......

A nasty storm was comin right at us!! Two of em actually!!! We decided that unfortunatley the best decision was to just plow right through them. So we did and we almost went down at first when one the birds got stuck on the rigger, PITA!!!! My buddy had to go out there and bust the chain with a torch to right us back up, pretty scary......

After that it was nasty and gettin worse until we came face-to-face with the biggest swell I ever saw in my life, at least 10-stories tall. It beat our boat right into the white-water and many lives we lost. The only reason I made was that I was clingin to the ship's supplies of Funyans, boy we loved our Funyans back then and I owe my life to em.....

Crazy story......someone could probably make a pretty good movie about it if they wanted to.......

[bgreene]

Originally Posted by ssiredfish

I got you all beat.......

Was supposed to get an overhaul on the boat but we decided to go anyway so off to the Flemish Cap we went.....

A little trying gettin out there. Two of the guys were fighting until one of em got a hook in his hand and went overboard and the other guy he was fightin with saved his life, then they were buddies after that.

Then we almost had a Mako eat one of us before we got into some good fishin. Man we were killin it!!!! Tons of fish comin up before our ice machine went down and we had to turn home but we had a small problem......

A nasty storm was comin right at us!! Two of em actually!!! We decided that unfortunatley the best decision was to just plow right through them. So we did and we almost went down at first when one the birds got stuck on the rigger, PITA!!!! My buddy had to go out there and bust the chain with a torch to right us back up, pretty scary......

After that it was nasty and gettin worse until we came face-to-face with the biggest swell I ever saw in my life, at least 10-stories tall. It beat our boat right into the white-water and many lives we lost. The only reason I made was that I was clingin to the ship's supplies of Funyans, boy we loved our Funyans back then and I owe my life to em.....

Crazy story......someone could probably make a pretty good movie about it if they wanted to.......

Let me guess- The Perfect Storm............ which really was exceptional.
It wasn't forecast to be so bad the day before.
That morning, I was driving early from south jersey for meeting at LaGuardia airport, NY.
Found it very interesting that 1st time ever, my windshield wipers were frequently being stopped 1/2 way by the wind......Got to LaGuardia, NY weather station was discussing the gale and Low Pressure System retrograding down the coast. Well, I got to see the bay - waves hitting the airport breakwall, with huge waves of spray blowing across the runway and grounded planes. Wind was blowing 40 with gusts to 70. That's the storm that beat up former President Bush Sr.'s N. England home. People in New England said they never saw waves so big - hitting the coast. Our New Jersey coast saw the same, with massive coastal flooding. Of course, the Andrea Gail went down in that storm, with all souls lost. If you haven't read the book by Sebastien Junger, I recommend it- better than the movie.

[bgreene]

That Perfect Storm - it was Hurricane Grace headed north into a low pressure system connected to a cold front. The Hurricane was " jet fuel" to the storm and as the giant low pressure developed, it did retrograde S/ SW from off New England to off Montauk, NY area.

Google the infared and satellite photo of that storm - there's a lot of good info available.

Anway, back to V boats, and rough water handling.

[jamesbalog]

Originally Posted by Kracker Jack

No feathers ruffled here my friend. Actually I completely agree with with you and your post. Yea lake Erie seems like she could get pretty rough!

Lake Erie is a nasty little sucker. She turns from a nice two foot chop to bringing some nasty stuff in a matter of minutes. Can be a bad time if you aren't paying attention. She's only 50-55 feet deep and the deepest points from the western end of the central basin and to the west you're lucky to see 35'

Great fishin though

[macojoe]

bgreene
Four pumps in the Sea Ox boat ? Wow - reminds me of the tug boats on 4th of July - spraying all those water cannon !!
Do you use those pumps to fire water at other boaters ?

I have 2, 1100 auto's in rear with a 700 that was there when i bought the boat, i also have a auto 500 up front that was there when i bought the boat.
The 700 and 500 are switched on and off at the dash so when i want them on i can. The 1100's are auto, one higher then the other, both connected direct to a different battery. This way when at mooring one can come on till battery dies then the water can come up a little higher and turn on the 2nd pump till that battery dies. Hopefully that would buy time till let say day light when itcan be seen and helped!

[phatdaddy]

i also have a light wired into the auto bilge system so when the pump kicks on, a light on the dash comes on. found a split livewell hose one day when everytime i took off, i noticed that light would come on for a second or two.

[bgreene]

Originally Posted by macojoe

I have 2, 1100 auto's in rear with a 700 that was there when i bought the boat, i also have a auto 500 up front that was there when i bought the boat.
The 700 and 500 are switched on and off at the dash so when i want them on i can. The 1100's are auto, one higher then the other, both connected direct to a different battery. This way when at mooring one can come on till battery dies then the water can come up a little higher and turn on the 2nd pump till that battery dies. Hopefully that would buy time till let say day light when itcan be seen and helped!

Smart - sounds like you have it covered.

Mine gets moored next to the house with a " day tarp" covering it to keep the sun off and the rain out. Babied, that's how my V21 sits when not in use, on the trailer. At least one good thing about trailering.