Calling 226 owner. Handling conditions

[Bdsp1234]

My current 226 is the first walk around I’ve ever owned. I am having a hard time figuring out trimming the boat to not allow water over the bow in a two to three foot tight chop with short dwell times such as occurs in Raritan bay. The boat handles great even in 3 to 4 foot seas in the ocean, but I constantly have water on the windshield in a tight chop. I have the boat trimmed up as high as possible with the motor also trimmed up and still water on the windshield. Trimmed down to ploughing, and a softer ride, but still water on windshield. This is my 5th boat with 20 years of experience . This is making me feel like a novice.

I love the boat and open ocean handling , but the tight chop is annoying.

Any advice would Ben greatly appreciate.

 

[Doc Stressor]

There is too much of a tendency to trim the bow down in a short chop with the smaller Gradys. They are just going to get you wet in a short 2-3 ft chop. We see that all the time in the GOM.

Slow down to 20-22 mph. If you go faster with a following sea, you'll launch from short 3 ft waves.

Keep the bow a bit up and if you are running in a quartering or beam sea, use the trim tabs to raise the windward side of the bow a bit. This will cut down on the spray.

I get the best ride trimming the boat with just the engine and use only one trim tab to tilt the boat away from the waves.

The SV2 hull is very quirky and you will need some time to get the hang of how to best trim it right for your own set of conditions. You can't expect a 22' hull to ride well in an honest 3 ft chop. I typically run 30-50 miles out in the Gulf. If the forecast (or what I'm seeing) is 2-3 ft, I stay in close.

Sea conditions vary greatly in different areas. I've been in a 228 in the Pacific and 8 ft swells were not so bad. My 226 and my old Seafarer handle 5 ft seas down in the Keys very well. I would run my 204C in 3-5 at the East end of Long Island Sound, but I would need to slog along off plane.

I find the 226 is by far the best riding hull of the 3 Gradys I've owned. It handles a 2 ft chop fine, but any short period stuff bigger than that, not so well. Remember that it is not a true deep V that is designed to run on top of the waves. It is a more stable platform that is designed to cut through waves. So if you go too fast you're going to get wet and/or beat yourself up.

 

[seasick]

Dumb question; Have you tried trimming in between the two extremes? What position are your tabs set to? When you get the water over the bow, is it over the center of the bow or off the sides? If water comes over the center, you are burying the bow; it's trimmed too far down.
Is the hull slapping the swells? If over the sides and the bow is rising and lowering excessively, you are probably purposing, too much trim up

I am not aware of a wet ride reputation for the 226.
One other consideration might be the depth of the water. I am not familiar with Raritan bay but if it is anything like Barnegate Bay, the waters are fairly shallow and the chop has a lot more strength than it does in the ocean in deeper waters

 

[Summertop511]

It’s only a 22’ boat lol. And that’s where the nickname Grady”wet” comes from. Or wait no, Grady wet transom ha lol.

 

[Lite Tackle]

Can be wet if no full canvas and the wind is blowing just right. I get a bit of a bath on San Francisco Bay running south to north in the afternoon in 3’ chop. Still looking for the sweet spot myself. Still nothing compared to my buddies 21’ Striper.

 

[Summertop511]

Can be wet if no full canvas and the wind is blowing just right. I get a bit of a bath on San Francisco Bay running south to north in the afternoon in 3’ chop. Still looking for the sweet spot myself. Still nothing compared to my buddies 21’ Striper.

I’m assuming better then the striper?

 

[Bdsp1234]

Dumb question; Have you tried trimming in between the two extremes? What position are your tabs set to? When you get the water over the bow, is it over the center of the bow or off the sides? If water comes over the center, you are burying the bow; it's trimmed too far down.
Is the hull slapping the swells? If over the sides and the bow is rising and lowering excessively, you are probably purposing, too much trim up

I am not aware of a wet ride reputation for the 226.
One other consideration might be the depth of the water. I am not familiar with Raritan bay but if it is anything like Barnegate Bay, the waters are fairly shallow and the chop has a lot more strength than it does in the ocean in deeper waters

I live in Toms River and know the Barnegat Bays chop very well. Especially it’s notorious south wind chop. Raritan Bay runs on average from 10 to 25’ depths with the exception of the channels. I usually run with the tabs all the way up controlling the trim with the motor. But, the tight chop even in Raritan Bay is where the problem seems to occur.

 

[Bdsp1234]

Can be wet if no full canvas and the wind is blowing just right. I get a bit of a bath on San Francisco Bay running south to north in the afternoon in 3’ chop. Still looking for the sweet spot myself. Still nothing compared to my buddies 21’ Striper.

I do have the full canvas so I don’t actually get wet. I too am looking for that sweet spot.

 

[Lite Tackle]

Ya, the striper is dreadful in chop. Add the wind off the Pacific and trim tab is a must just to level boat. I will say, I don’t see any boats having a good time with beam or quartering seas in the bay when the winds pick up.

 

[Doc Stressor]

Stripers are really wet boats. The SV2 226 is about as dry a ride as you can expect from a 22' boat. I never use canvas and find that the shape of bow, cabin, and windshield direct most spray over the top of my Bimini when I have things trimmed right. I'm really impressed by that design feature.

Want to talk about Grady Wets? I could not run my old 204C without full canvas except on flat calm days. It was like riding in a submarine underwater. I fondly remember bending over trying to look through the windshield with both wipers going as sheets of water were running down. The hull was bow heavy with a relatively light 4 cylinder 2-stroke engine and wouldn't respond to engine trim angle at all until the prop was blowing out on every other wave. Adding trim tabs didn't do a thing. The boat was laterally stable so they didn't make much difference for balancing loads either.

My hull was one of the first walkarounds that Grady made. They told me it was the seventh one popped out of the mold. I think they improved the design by 1978 and at least got the balance better. I road in a center console version of that hull and it was a lot drier and somewhat softer riding. I loved that boat and kept it for 11 years with a bunch of modifications and a new transom. It was a brick in really bad seas and I never felt unsafe. We once got caught in a storm offshore at night where all I could do was head into the seas with just enough speed to maintain steering. We made could make no headway at all for 3 hours. I learned that the hull could take a lot worse beating than I could. The only thing I worried about was the lightning.

 

[magicalbill]

In addition to everything Doc says:

It's a 22 ft boat. You will get wet in 2-3 footers.

Slowing down and tabbing up the windward side as Doc mentioned are worthwhile ideas.

I'm still tweaking my Marlin. Luck to 'ya!