Bow Wake Walking on the F236

[Sdchand088]

Hello everyone. Just joined the forum. Got my new Grady Fisherman 236 a year ago this week. Love the boat. Rides great, with one exception. When passing or meeting another boat and crossing their wake, the bow tends to "wake walk". By that I mean the wake pushes the bow of the boat left or right as it tends to follow the wake, sometimes very significantly. I've searched the forum threads and found a few and understand it is a phenomenon with some of the GWs due to the deep V design. As some of the threads suggest, I've played with the trim and tabs some, with limited success so far (but still doing trial and error). Any other suggestions? Any other 236 owners out there that have mastered this yet? What setting do you trim up to when you get to plane, and what setting do you normally run the tabs after that? I understand there will be variances due to fuel weight, #people sitting in bow, etc. Just looking for a good starting point. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[SkunkBoat]

key is to get out of it quickly, either by steering into the flat wash behind the other boat or accelerating out past the wake. Turn into them and cross them with some speed, bow up.
Three bumps and you are clear.

 

[Doc Stressor]

Yep. What he said. If you slow down the boat will bow steer, which I think is what you mean by wake walking. If you're solidly on plane, this shouldn't happen.

 

[DennisG01]

You might be coming at the wake at too shallow of an angle, as well. As mentioned above, turn harder into them so you cross at 90* (perpendicular) if they aren't too big, or more like 45* if they're bigger. The key is to anticipate and figure out what you need to do BEFORE you need to do it. Obviously, if they're too big, you need to slow down, but generally the angle you attack the wave at and speed will help.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I will also say that that is a situation where trim tabs can screw you. You would want no tabs, ie tabs up, ie bow up, ...again..NO tabs.
If you were running with some tab down you will plow and bow steer. If you were running with uneven tabs you will heel over.

 

[wrxhoon]

What others said. I will add depending on the size of the wash you are negotiating as to the speed. Decide what speed you are going to go, you may slow down before you hit the wash but always accelerate as you are about to hit the wash at or close to 90 degrees . Never trim down, motor or tabs. Keep the boat as level as possible when you hit the wash, you can use the steering to achieve that.

 

[Sdchand088]

Thanks for the replies. I really do appreciate it. However, just to clarify my question, this is not my first boat. I've been boating for 30+ years. Prior to the GW, I had a NauticStar for 10yrs, a Proline for 13 yrs prior to that, and a Chaparral & SeaRay prior to that. Trust me, boating in the bays of gulf coast AL, I know how to cross wakes. My point was that none of my previous boats behaved like the GW when crossing a wake. I've never experienced the wake push the bow of the boat as significantly to the side when crossing wakes as the GW does, almost as if it is steering it to the side (due to the deep V, I know). Other posts in this forum alluded to the same phenomenon, and several of the replies discussed trimming the boat up to neutral after planing, and then tabbing the bow down. Said it would reduce or eliminate this phenomenon. My question was to any other F236 owners, where you trim the engine up to and then where do you set the trim tabs to prevent this. Looking for a good starting points on engine trim and trim tab settings to i can try this to see if it improves the situation.

 

[Greyduk]

FWIW, A friend of mine has a Cobia 280. When he first ran the boat, it would move quite a bit like you describe. It would dig in to wakes and feel like you were really being pushed side to side. That was with no engine trim and no tab input. It was somewhat disconcerting. If you trimmed the engines up about half way on the gauge it handled altogether differently. That was still with no tab input. Much more a feeling of being in control. I have felt like that characteristic was due to the Deep V. Maybe see how your boat responds to that situation. That is in OBA.

 

[Sdchand088]

FWIW, A friend of mine has a Cobia 280. When he first ran the boat, it would move quite a bit like you describe. It would dig in to wakes and feel like you were really being pushed side to side. That was with no engine trim and no tab input. It was somewhat disconcerting. If you trimmed the engines up about half way on the gauge it handled altogether differently. That was still with no tab input. Much more a feeling of being in control. I have felt like that characteristic was due to the Deep V. Maybe see how your boat responds to that situation. That is in OBA.

Thanks. Yes, this is exactly what I'm experiencing. I'll try trimming to halfway and see how it performs. I'll just have to keep experimenting with it until i find the sweet spot. In OBA too.