Deadrise Rant About Small Boats

[workinpr0gress]

Let me start by saying, It's tough talking boats with a lot of poeple. Most people believe they know and understand everything. Thats why I am glad that I picked up my old SeaCraft and joined this site. Because you CSC guys understand boats and so much of the boating population doesn't. A couple guys were knocking SC's on another site because of beam and deadrise..blah, blah, blah.

People are always bringing up deadrise like it's the only factor in a boat running well in a sea as compared to another. I personally know of a couple people who have bought based off of a couple degrees and a couple who have turned there nose up at a particular boat over a couple degree's.

People get to hung up on the numbers and the look out of the water, especially on a smaller boat. I will say running a lot of deadrise sometimes can mask or amplify some inherent flaws in a particular boat. Obviously a flatbottom Carolina Skiff or older Whaler isn't gonna run in a sea like lets say a Regulator or Contender. But if you take a few similar designed boats and run all of them it's likely you would'nt end up liking the deepest one. It's been my expierence, especially with smaller boats there are a lot of other factors people don't even talk about. Is it a heavy boat? Where does it carry its weight? How beamy is it? What is its running attitude? How much of the hull when cruising has daylight under it? How sharp is the entry? How deep is the forefoot? Do you run the boat from the sweet spot or do you feel every ripple in the water? Does it throw much spray( to much spray is usually inefficent design/lost hp and more fuel) Is the boat loose or glued to the water? Is there a nice fluid transition from entry to the aft?

IMHO generally a lighter slightly narrow beamed hull with a nice sharp entry to knock the waves down. With a variable deadrise so the hull isn't stuck to the water rides unbelieveably especially with the bow of the boat being a little light to respond to waves. Let's be realistic if its a 18'-20'ish boat it rides over waves for the most part not through them. Why fight it, get a boat that embraces it.

It's not just small boats either. For example. I went to the boat yard to visit my buddy at the end of the Summer who runs a classic 70's Jim Smith 60'. He was hauled out and next to an old Topaz. A smaller boat guy was walking around the yard with his teenage son looking at all the different Sportboats that were hauled out. He payed the Jim Smith no mind at all, all he could talk about was how wide and deep the Topaz next to us was. I think it was an early 80's 44. The whole time I'm thinking to myself the Smith burns much less fuel, runs much faster on less horsepower, rides night and day different even on a calm day, lets not even talk about a rough day. So the dad strikes up a conversation with my buddy and I while we're goofing around with some new covering boards he just glued down. So my buddy starts to explain a little about bigger boat hulls ya know 40' - 80'. The Smith is 16' longer and probably still has a 2 foot less beam so of course its not gonna have the same kind of deadrise. First off it's got an extra 16' to transition the water and secondly it doesnt need it cause its so light and carries it's weight in the right spot. Sometimes ya just get tired of answering certain things. You wish you could just take someone on a simple boat ride and watch them, GET IT! Just my .02 rant. Thanks, Bruce