Suggestions on Bowrider Bow Drop?

D

Daniel1980

Member
Jun 29, 2021
88
Boat Info
Sea Ray 175 Sport
Engines
Mercruiser 3.0
Due to the design of my 18' bowrider, the bow dips hard when I come to a stop....further exentuated in chop. Moving along, want to stop, bow dips hard. Really unnerves my wife.

Is there a way to maneuver the boat to decrease this? I was thinking making a hook or a u-turn before stopping of to get out of the momentum of my own wake pushing me forward and thrusting the bow down.?

It bothers her so much, we may be going with a larger boat (cruiser) that sits high off the water and has a cabin in front instead of a giant scoop for water. It doesn't bother me personally. I like a bowrider and would rather go with a larger one in the future.
 
Dan, "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"
"Happy wife, happy life"
"Happy crew, happy cruise"

My suggestion is if you want to reduce the stress your wife is facing every time she's on the boat with you, get a bigger boat with a deck that will shed water if some comes over the bow.

You didn't complete your profile so we have no way of knowing where you live and boat and what kinds of water you're facing. No offense, but a 17' boat is suitable only for inland lakes that aren't large enough to have large wind generated waves.
 
Daniel1980 said:
Due to the design of my 18' bowrider, the bow dips hard when I come to a stop....further exentuated in chop. Moving along, want to stop, bow dips hard. Really unnerves my wife.

Is there a way to maneuver the boat to decrease this? I was thinking making a hook or a u-turn before stopping of to get out of the momentum of my own wake pushing me forward and thrusting the bow down.?

It bothers her so much, we may be going with a larger boat (cruiser) that sits high off the water and has a cabin in front instead of a giant scoop for water. It doesn't bother me personally. I like a bowrider and would rather go with a larger one in the future.
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Trim up as you throttle back. That should keep the bow higher. Add a little thrust if needed to keep it up if the bow drops too low.

We run across some large ferry wakes here occasionally. Too big to take while still on plane. As I approach them, I can get the boat up on a steep angle by doing this.
 
Perhaps also consider adding a "whale tail" (hydrofoil) to your outdrive? This might give you some additional control of the bow when slowing (and trimming).
 
Going with GFC on this, most women are not as daring/crazy about toys as men. If she doesn’t feel safe you will be going out yourself. Even after 30 years of boating, and I am dam good and have handled boats though some bad shit, with a good size boat for our conditions, she still freaks when it comes up on plane in a bad chop with a heavy lean until i can get trimmed.
As GFC said Dan, maybe consider moving up. I will refrain front my rant about how much i hate bowriders (unless you ask).
 
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Pirate Lady said:
Going with GFC on this, most women are not as daring/crazy about toys as men. If she doesn’t feel safe you will be going out yourself. Even after 30 years of boating, and I am dam good and have handled boats though some bad shit, with a good size boat for our conditions, she still freaks when it comes up on plane in a bad chop with a heavy lean until i can get trimmed.
As GFC said Dan, maybe consider moving up. I will refrain front my rant about how much i hate bowriders (unless you ask).
Click to expand...
You are correct about if your wife doesn't feel safe you will be going out by yourself. This past July we got caught in a bad storm. Now every time it looks like the weather might turn, even after checking the radar, my wife starts to panic. I now play it very safe and have passed up on some boating days. I would rather miss one day on the water, then facing a lifetime of going out without my wife.
 
WaveDancer01 said:
You are correct about if your wife doesn't feel safe you will be going out by yourself. This past July we got caught in a bad storm. Now every time it looks like the weather might turn, even after checking the radar, my wife starts to panic. I now play it very safe and have passed up on some boating days. I would rather miss one day on the water, then facing a lifetime of going out without my wife.
Click to expand...
Few times this year we got down to marina. Flags were straight out. I saw the look, said lets go land bar, got that relieved looked. A boat is supposed to be fun. If not fun for both, its not fun.
 
Dan, my wife is a chicken when it comes to things that make my heart beat a bit faster. That being said, when we had our 550 Sedan Bridge she was pretty comfy in anything we encountered, including the waves in these two videos. I'm not suggesting you step up to a 550, but if you go bigger, get one that has enough flare at the bow that it will cut through waves and blow that water to the side so it doesn't come over the bow.

 
You're likely coming off throttle too fast. Throttle down slower and it will allow the stern to squat. The only reason to throttle down fast is during an emergency - with everything else you should be well enough aware of what's going on to control it.

Unless you have a bunch of people sitting in the bow? Physics does work, afterall, you know?
 
Yeah, I don't want to deal with a submarining of the bow. It starts a nasty domino effect on a bow rider that I would never want to confront. I boat at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. Only time I had a moment was going out of middle river for a trip to the inner harbor. Going was easy. Conditions turned on the way back making it a white knuckle ride.

She's extremely reliable and as capable as can be. Not tempting Neptune with this comment. The size of the boat fits so well into our lives. Garage kept, no boat insurance or monthly payment, cheap maintenance and really no problems (on going or present). Runs 42mph wot. Tough for me to want to go with a bigger boat that will not work (in the garage, towable, adding a payment to monthly expenses and keeping her off site).

Although increased range, overnight stays and reduced risk of taking on water sure is TEMPTING...
 
I agree with Lazy here.

Throttling back abruptly will dive the nose of almost any boat.

Doing so can also drive tailing water up your exhaust and into the engine creating serious trouble as well.
 
I forgot to mention the reason that it happens... and this goes along with what Soul mentioned. When you come off too fast, you allow your stern wake to overtake you. That lifts your stern up. Plus, there's the issue that Soul warned about - so "best practice" is to just not do that.
 
The water in the bilge is shifting forward and causing the center of gravity to move towards the bow. Pull the drain plug if this is a trailer boat. Hand pump the bilge and have the auto bilge pump maintained otherwise.
 
And Definitely don’t put a plywood cover over the bow, that’ll make it nosedive even more.
 
I’m hoping she’s not sitting at the now when this happens? The misconception about bowriders is the bow is for passengers while underway. It is incredibly dangerous. Have passengers seated in the boat and use open bow once your anchored.
 
Like I said, there is water in your bilge because you failed to drain it. The bilge water shifts forward with the C of G when you stop!
 
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