Good question. I think we need one of the math geniuses here to figure that out. I figure on the 44DB versus the 44DA, the driving station is probably about four feet higher in the DB than in the DA. Both boats are 45 feet long and 14 feet wide. I would be curious to see what the mathematical difference in range of motion is between these two. I bet it is pretty small. Where is Copernicus when you need him?
Excellent analogy Dom!
I moved from a 340DA to a 400DB and love it.
Pro's
More real estate; able to lay on the floor and watch tv with the kids on the couch and the wife......; seperate areas for cooking, lounging, eating and socializing; dad's hide away up on the bridge. Many more Pro's and especially nice for entertaining, though the aft area could be a little larger as in the 480DB or the 450 Express Bridge; better visibility seeing you are perched up above the bow; ...
Con's
Lots of free board space which acts as a sail in good winds (makes it tougher to dock if you do not have thrusters); DA have more cockpit entertaining area though are sucumbed to the cave for cabin entertaining); DB are heavier and need special lifts to be taken out of the water which all marinas do not have; height clearence if you are traveling under lower bridges;
All in all I am glad we made the move and the room is perfect for a family of 5 with 2 golden's. Matter of fact we had 18 out on the boat the other weekend for a trip up to Mount Vernon which could not of been possible in a DA (that being all had a great view even if in the cabin).
Make the move and buy my boat
"
I'm not under my boat fixing a bent rudder... where did you get that? I don't have a bent rudder...
Dom? Has your wife ever been on a DB? I thought she rode on an aft cabin boat and didn't like it...
This is the poop.. If you pile a lot of crap on top of a hull like this:
And then say "Gee honey... this feels top heavy...", that's not a sedan bridge. Remember this picture?
The boat on the left is an express style boat and the one on the right is a DB. I'm not convinced there is that much difference in the vertical location of the CG. If you look at the back of a 480 DB and a 48 DA, the DA has a much higher freeboard where the cockpit is because the engines are higher due to the v-drive layout.
As far as my comments on the older era Sea Ray DB's, I got that from a conversation with an engineer at Sea Ray's PD&E facility when I toured in 2002. He said that the 480 DB was the first bridge boat Sea Ray designed from the hull up instead of trying to retrofit DA hulls. The weight/balance was addressed much better in later models per that discussion. The guy even ragged on the older 540 MY boats due to trying to fit a MY on a DA hull. Maybe he was BS'ing me... I was also looking at the 450 EB (sea trialed both) and they definitely had a different ride. Granted the 400 DB is a few years older, but I know someone who cruises around at 23 knots and I could not keep up with him in my 380 gasser... both were 2001 boats... maybe he was winding it up but it didn't seem like it. I've run down the river with Tim's 42/44DB and it clips along at 26 knots... that ain't slower than a DA.
I think the 47 DB is a change where Sea Ray is looking to go back to saving manufacturing costs and share hulls with the DA line... I don't have any proof of that but that's what it feels like. That thing is a pig per the tests that have been published with having stuck it with v-drives and small engines that have to be all wound up to make it go. Now I'll admit that I have no real knowledge of that other than what I've read so I guess that's pulling a "Kearney".
The deal is this... comments about the DB not being as sea worthy as a DA are baseless and TOTAL CRAP. See picture above and discussion of change in CB with respect to CG below. CG alone doesn't cut it... and it's way more complex than that.
The only time I have a rolling problem is when I'm drift fishing or slow trolling in a beam sea with a particular frequency. How about we talk about the wet ride a DA sees in a 3+ foot chop? I used to put my bathing suit on when driving my 380 on certain days... that was ridiculous.
As far as rolling periods and stability on a beam sea, that's a complicated problem. I've done some reading on simple concepts and it's not a pencil and paper math problem but more of a modeling problem. Basically, boats like ours (all boats... DA's/DB's/Powerboats) are built with the CG above the center of buoyancy (CB) but as the boat rolls to a side, the CB moves over creating a torque trying to right the boat. Some of the flared Carolina hulls can almost go 90 degrees over and still go back upright because of the way the CB moves. Rounded hulls, like that Tiara pictured, are going to need a lower CG as the CB is not going to move as much with relation to the CG. Sailboats usually have their CG below the CB so they can self right. What makes this even harder is most discussions are from a static point of view and not a dynamic point of view which makes things much different. It's a complicated subject... Interesting though...
None of this matters when boating on a river though.
