How does beam affect ride?

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Here on the east coast of Florida if we have 6 or 7 foot seas it's blowing 20-25 knots and there is a small craft advisory posted. I have been in some long swells generated by a hurricane say 1,000 miles away but typically here once you get above 3-4 feet there is often wind and thus wind driven chop. The sea state you describe is rare here. I also think the Seafarer can handle nasty stuff in terms of safety and such but fishing in nasty stuff just becomes difficult. I love to fish and catch mahi but I don't love it enough to go out in seas bigger than 5 feet here because it's often with wind . To each his own. I had a dual console , Grady 192 and fished it offshore in seas 2-3 or less. You can fish those boats quite well in my opinion especially for trolling .

 

[Fishtales]

You can get the crap beat out of you in any boat. Really comes down to weather conditions and seas.
I had a Sailfish with a 9'3" beam prior to the 10'7 beam Marlin. The Marlin rides a lot more like a yacht, I was really stunned how different the ride was. That being said, the Marlin feels more like a sled and not as nimble. You can still get whacked around at anchor if waves are a beam. On plane, all boats can be a bit dicey in rough conditions as you are in a plaining hull and a lot of the boat is out of the water. The biggest thing you will notice is the sail affect during slow speed maneuvering if the wind is blowing. The high hardtop coupled with the enclosure are easily pushed in windy conditions. Until you are used to it, roll up the side and aft curtains when you are coming into the slip. Helps a lot.

 

[luckydude]

Here on the east coast of Florida if we have 6 or 7 foot seas it's blowing 20-25 knots and there is a small craft advisory posted. I have been in some long swells generated by a hurricane say 1,000 miles away but typically here once you get above 3-4 feet there is often wind and thus wind driven chop. The sea state you describe is rare here.

We pretty much always have some swell, frequently with wind chop on top. Once in a while we get the Lake Pacific but that is rare.
So you just have to get used to sloppy conditions or you can't fish.

When I was out in 7@11 chasing tuna, there wasn't chop on top, so while we call that elevator water, it's really not that bad. Chop on top of that would suck and I wouldn't go out. Around here, the more experienced captains are more concerned with wind, I'm still a little green so I tend to look at waves but I'm learning that a big swell with no wind is nicer than a small swell with wind.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I also think the Seafarer can handle nasty stuff in terms of safety and such but fishing in nasty stuff just becomes difficult. I love to fish and catch mahi but I don't love it enough to go out in seas bigger than 5 feet here because it's often with wind .

^^^^ This I completely agree with, well with the exception of course being the part about the Mahi, as I live in Seattle, of which we don't have and thus I fish mostly for salmon. That being said... I completely agree with you about the conditions and the weather for fishing. If the weather is that bad, sure the boat will likely handle it just fine, but how are you going to handle it and how fun is the ride/fishing going to be? That's one reason why I bought a 228 Seafarer because I think it's as big of a boat as I'll ever need and if the conditions are nasty enough to not want to be out in it, I can't imagine fishing or just being out in the same conditions in a slightly bigger boat will be any more fun. Admittedly, I'm a bit more a fair-weather fisherman and from my beach cabin I can look out and very quickly tell if the conditions are tolerable or not. If it's incredibly windy or there's waves over 5' or so then I typically won't even bother because it's going to make fishing that much more difficult, and will usually wait a couple of hours to see if the weather/wind dies down at all. I think we can all agree that there's always potentially going to be conditions that even in a 30'+ boat, that you still won't want to be out there in them and would much rather be back in at shore. My uncle's previous boat was a 26' Bayliner Trophy that had an overall length of close to 30'. That being said, if it's too windy/choppy to be out there in my 228, I can't say I'd have much desire being out there trying to fish in his old boat, or even a 30'+ Grady White.

 

[luckydude]

Maybe I should be saying swell when I'm saying waves. If there are wind waves of 7 feet, 5 feet, even 3 feet, yeah, that sucks hard. Swells without wind chop on them are perfectly fine if they are spaced apart far enough. When I say 7'@11s those are always swells. If there is no chop on top of those, it is perfectly comfortable to fish on them. They are actually kind of nice for chasing tuna, you get up as high as you can safely and look out over the ocean when you are on the peak of the swell to spot jumpers.

Wind waves of more 2 feet, yeah, yuck. Any X@2X swell is fantastic. 5@10? 6@12? 7@14? 8@16? Yeah, I'm fine with going in any of that. Which is why the more experienced guys look at wind, they know it is the chop that gets you.

 

[Lt.Mike]

Reminds me of a buddies 25 walkaround with twin 150’s. Not sure of the make but I’ve gone out striper fishing with him, he’s driven it and I’ve driven it. I was sure with the size his would be better but I swear my little overnighter with a big single rides smoother and a little faster through the slop. His was drier though. Not always what you’d expect.
You just won’t be able to compare the ride unless your at the helm. The other fellow may have a great boat but be taking a less than great approach to the seas your running on a given day.
Seems everyone has their own idea what an acceptable ride is too. I’ve seen guys pass me like lunatics and you could hear the hull slamming down off each swell. I guess they have faith that their boat can take it and I guess they can too but damn...
I go as fast as I feel I’m not beating on myself, my boat, and most of all my crew or guests.
So yes, you’ll need to put in the time on friends boats. That’s the only way your gonna know.
Other than that what you can guarantee on the bigger boat is room to move about, fish, overnight in. That alone would be a big factor on moving up over a chance of a better ride.

 

[Summertop511]

Said it before and I’ll say it again.

Any Grady with a bracket or integrated bracket don’t handle the rolling ocean seas with chop on top like a seaV 2 hull that goes all the way back to the motor mounted on boat.

No the bracket doesn’t make it a bigger boat. It does on paper and at the dock. But slowing down in big rolling waves trimmed down going 12 knots staying easily on plane is where most that have been out there on both know the difference.

Grady only makes the gulfstream these days with a bracket. All newer designed models don’t have it.

Side note, not a big fan of the 226 transom flip up motor well. Yet, my 2 year old hasn’t gotten hurt or fallin in by motor. And I’ve heard of stories putting motor well down in rough over bow waves to drain cockpit faster has its perks.

 

[ROBERTH]

My experience in my 252G is way better than my older 20' dual console model. For the smaller boats, less weight, they tend to get up on top and try to skip across the seas. In some cases, that is a bit better by getting on top until you find one of those deeper swells and at speed it will remove your dentures.
For the 252G in comparison, night and day ride. However, it does not like to get up on top and skip in rough conditions unless they are really close back to back chop then it is amazing.
My normal run out of North Carolina coast out 50-60 miles and back is our seas have been rough for a few years now more than it used to be due to more fronts and winds. I could not go fishing most days in last couple of years in my 20' boat, but the Grady let's me go. I normally find myself outrunning others, even the sportfishers on all but the nastiest days. I run mostly on average around 27mph on a 2-4ft with 7 second day. But if those start to turn into 5 or 6 seconds, slow down to about 22mph is ok.
Also, I had to add a lot of extra weight to the anchor locker to help get the bow down as it seems Grady is a but butt heavy and does not allow the sharp V up front to dig in and help even with motors and tabs full down. This made a huge difference it the ride. It will get more spray this way, but that is what the curtains are for. I have never stuffed the bow even in a 12' sea inlet so I feel she is better balanced now for better performance.
I would have to believe in my case, a Marlin would be amazingly better ride due to extra length and weight .

 

[Rlloyd]

Larry, I meant to "weigh" in on this earlier. I agree with a lot that has been said, but will give you a different perspective: My previous was a 35' Cabo, with 27,000 lb displacement (full), and 13' beam. So I had plenty of beam and plenty of weight. My experience was that the boat was so heavy, I had to be doing about 22 knots to get onto plane, even with big 4-bladed wheels. So unless i had very favorable seas (3' or less), it would pound just due to the speed. I don't think it had much to do with beam, and I agree with the comments about deadrise really making the ride better for any boat. Note the Parkers that come in a deep-v vs shallow-v version - the shallow-v's are said to be real pounders. My 232 Gulfstream will plane at 18-19knots, and I prefer to ride at that speed while quartering into a light headsea, to make the ride tolerable while keeping some sense of speed and efficiency. I like the 9'3" beam for comfort while fishing, and I probably have less roll than an 8' boat, but again I don't think it means much to ride quality while on plane. Knowing that you want to go fast, I think waterline length and deadrise are the primary contributors to ride quality, within a given hull design (like Sea-vee2). I would prefer LESS weight, so the boat will plane at lower speeds. For that analysis, I developed my own term I call "hull pressure" which is displacement divided by waterline area. In that regard, my Gulfstream had half of the hull pressure of the Cabo. I think it matters.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I think it just goes to show that the length and width of the boat are definitely somewhat of a factor with regards to ride quality but aren't as considerable of a factor as the hull shape/weight distribution/design. Case in point, my last boat was a 2003 Arima 21' Sea Ranger with a Honda 130 outboard that has an 8' beam and is "roughly" the same length as my 2004 Grady White 228 Seafarer which also has an 8' beam. That being said, having relatively the same length as well as both boats having the same width of beam are about the only two things those boats have in common. All Arima boats come with a modified vee, which make them pound quite a bit right off the bat, but on top of that... they are very light boats that sit very low in the water, along with having the outboard, batteries, fuel tank and all of the other heavy items in the stern of the boat. The result is the Arima being a boat that planes at a very low speed, gets great fuel economy even at WOT or full speed since you basically just "plow" through the water. That being said, the trade-offs are why I sold that boat and bought a Grady White instead since it was a very rough ride in 1-2' chop as well as being a very wet ride with the boat sitting so low in the water and having a low windshield.

There was essentially no weight in the bow of the boat and I could lift the boat while on the trailer off the ground while lifting up on the trailer tongue. So when you'd hit a wave it would shoot the bow up high and then it would slam back down again and you'd feel every bump and wave possible. Basically it wasn't a very enjoyable experience. My Grady on the other hand being a deep vee SV2 hull as well as being a much heavier boat with the weight more displaced in the center of the boat makes for a much smoother, drier ride. The Grady sits higher in the water with also a taller windshield making it a drier ride and it's night and day different from the ride quality of the Arima. Obviously a bigger, heavier boat with a much deeper vee is going to not be as fuel efficient and need a larger outboard motor to push the boat but I'll gladly, and did, take that trade-off to get a much smoother, more comfortable and drier ride. Every boat is going to handle differently, even boats that "look" similar on paper are going to act very differently from one another in snotty conditions and very much of it is subjective. Lots of guys on the Arima forums that drink the Arima kool-aid were adamant that riding under 20mph in 1'-2' chop wasn't at all uncomfortable. I just turned 36 and after doing that a few times, I was seriously considering buying other boats and I bought my first Arima for a steal.

 

[wahoo33417]

A lot of good information here. I'll add another tidbit that has always intrigued me. The draft of the 271 is 23", greater than any other Grady her size and greater than the 306 at 21" and equal to the Marlin's 23". It is equal to the 23" of a Contender 30st.

I asked my dealer about this some years ago. His response was along the lines of, since the 271 was always going to be a center console only, it could carry the sharp vee a little further aft and hence has a little deeper "forefoot" than other boats around that size.

So maybe there is something to the member who got a great ride on a short chop, as compared to some other Grady's. I've never been on a 271, so I'm only making a theoretical observation.

That said, I'd take the length and weight of the Marlin going into most conditions.

Rob

 

[wheeller]

A boat with a higher beam value is more stable, it can withstand turning over or capsizing. Nevertheless, this has the drawback of making it more difficult to right the boat once it has been turned over and to steer it past obstacles. For small sailboats, the ideal beam to length proportion is 2:1. The beams of these watercraft are roughly half their length. For instance, the boat's beam should be nine feet if it is 18 feet long.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

A boat with a higher beam value is more stable, it can withstand turning over or capsizing. Nevertheless, this has the drawback of making it more difficult to right the boat once it has been turned over and to steer it past obstacles. For small sailboats, the ideal beam to length proportion is 2:1. The beams of these watercraft are roughly half their length. For instance, the boat's beam should be nine feet if it is 18 feet long.

I'm not sure where you're getting this 2:1 figure from as I can't think of any Grady White that has a beam half the size of its length, are you sure it's not something more closer to maybe a 3:1 ratio? My 228 Seafarer for example is a 22' boat but only has an 8' beam, though the overall total length of my boat is probably closer to 25' or so. The 232 Gulfstream is a 23' boat with a 9'3" beam and even that isn't half the size of the length, especially the overall total length of the boat. Not even the biggest Grady's have a beam that's half the length of the boat. All of the other boats that I looked at on their site, I can't find a single one that has a beam that's half the length of the boat.