Why does my boat rock?

[The Garfish]

Originally Posted by swginn

At the very bottom of the transom there is a plug that you screw out to let any water in the hull void

a lott ov dem toronadows aynt gott a drayn plugg. i fink thay waz bilt bi a hyrishman hoo ad bin powked inn de iye wiv a botuk.

tyme to gett de fkin dril owt i fink

gArf

[Andy]

Look at this pic of your boat:

http://dogscogs.com/gallery/album01/DSCF0759

The drain is the silver twisty thing just below the self drain orange trunk. Its a screw plug. Unscrew it and see if anything comes out. Your jockey wheel on the trailer should to raised as high as you can to ensure the stern is lower than the rest of the hull. You may need an adjustable spanner or grips. These things have a rubber seat to ensure they are watertight and the friction can make undoing them hard work by finger power only!!

[benc]

Ah, I didnt know the hull was hollow, (and didnt know know you got to it by the bung - I did know it was there by the way )...
The bung is definately in ok - I have a bilge pump, and always empty any water before I move off...

[Andy]

Originally Posted by benc

Ah, I didnt know the hull was hollow, (and didnt know know you got to it by the bung - I did know it was there by the way )...
The bung is definately in ok - I have a bilge pump, and always empty any water before I move off...

Open that bung anyway and make sure its dry. It should be. Then you can rule out water moving about inside the hull. It should be bone dry!!

This is nothing to do with your bilge pump, that drains the deck well.

Dont worry about your lack of knowledge you are new to all this, and will pick it up over time. People on this forum are (nearly) always happy to help.

[benc]

Right, had a play with the boat out in the solent tonight when I was by myself, to make sure that it wasnt other people weight shifting the boat..... and it does seem to be the trim... I was planing and adjusting the trim, and when it started to chine adjusted the trim and the boat seem to level out and the speed increased to!

Thanks guys!

[benc]

Played more over the weekend, and wow, its so nice that I have kind of got the handle of the tilt now... watching the bow move parallel with the water - I use that as a kind of guide now...

Shot over to the island earlier today in roughly 5 minutes from hamble - first trip I have made there by myself but really enjoyed it.

Had some quite rough water in the solent on saturday (don't know if anyone else was out... is this normal for the solent?)... I loved it however, and got me wanting more rough water to play about with my rib! I can see some extended lunch breaks/early finishes as the boat is moored a few minutes from work

Thanks again to all those who helped, and look forward to meeting more of you in the water!

[Andy]

I am pleased you are sorted and starting to enjoy things more. Its all about time at the helm now and getting experience.

You mentioned that the Solent was rough. The Solent has a nasty chop, caused by wind, tide and seabed conditions. In addition the sea can behave in a confused way depending where you are and what large shipping is about. For example off Gosport, waves coming from the South East bounce off the sea defenses back on more oncoming waves. That combined with a ferry wake can make life totally odd.

The chop can hurt, bang you about a little and there is not much you can do in your boat to get through it comfortably. You just got to keep going and do the best you can.

All boats I have known have exerienced a chop/wave that hurts them. If they where bigger or smaller waves your boat many not have an issue .... but the chop that hurts is the one you remember and hate.

Don't but put off when this happens to you ... it happens to us all and does not mean you have a bad boat. Just chalk it down to experience.

[benc]

Thanks Andy,

I plan to get as much experience as I can now, going out again to play tonight - just taking it easy but, want to play on some waves see how things go... definately going to retake my rya level 2 soon. Going for a package where I do it in my own boat, and take the guy I share the boat with along to... (hes an ocean yacht master... but still ... never a bad idea to brush up)

Anyway, off now, back later

[brucehawsker]

Originally Posted by benc

Played more over the weekend, and wow, its so nice that I have kind of got the handle of the tilt now... watching the bow move parallel with the water - I use that as a kind of guide now...

Can you elaborate on what you mean "bow move parrallel with the water"? I too am in the learning curve of where best to trim to suit the conditions - but I have never expereinced the rocking you describe.... Any hints from anyone on how to get it right would be appreciated!

[benc]

Now I know its trim, I just play with the engines while on the plane, to find which angle of tilt gives best performance and the most comfortable ride...

basically, as I accelerate I have the engines down as far as they go, I bring it up onto the plane... and then lift the engines slightly... problem I have with my engines, and what was causing the rocking was that they lift at different speeds... so I look behind to make sure they are as flat as possible in relation to the water...

This seems to work for me, I am sure more people will post soon.

[Hightower]

I find that trim does very little to my RIB at WOT, apart from making it very unstable if I trim out too much. Revs don't go up and down like other people say happens on their boats and speed is hardly affected. At lower speeds if I trim right out in a following sea, that works quite effectivly on my setup.

[benc]

Sorry if I sound dumb - whats WOT?

[Louise]

Wide Open Throttle.

[benc]

ah, makes sense.

thanks

[Matt]

Same as WFO

[Rogue Wave]

Bruce

The To sorry Solents don't suffer much from Chine walk sp you are umlikely to experience it. If however you have a need to experience Chinewalking then borow an Avon searider 4.7 and trry maxing it.

[RIB BOI]

Hi

The Boat starts to Chinewalking at 47 and the boats top speed that with have had it at is 55 with 4 people in it and that was not good because it start to do it very badly. so when i trim out that shud stop it then. try that a bit but trim up a bit to much and it was doing it very badly. so you are saying if i find the right trim angel that shud stop it.

Thanks

[The Garfish]

Originally Posted by RIB BOI

so you are saying if i find the right trim angel that shud stop it.

ifn i waz yew mayt eyd sine onn att skool forr lonnger dan sevven weaks

gArf