Warsash to IOW 21st June

[sonny1]

@sonny1 I was chatting with @Martin about your problems and he thinks a hydrofoil would help as it will lift the back of the boat. Not sure which one as I have zero experience but it might help.
Normally hydrofoils are to help heavy boats get on the plane (which isn’t your problem) but they can also help light boats plane at slower speeds, which I think is the problem you were having.
Watching your boat from outside, it’s as if it never quite gets up on the plane before the next wave knocks it down. When you opened it up on the approach to Yarmouth it rode much better.

[sonny1]

willing to try anything but as i said it didnt behave like that on the previous two outings, one, when there was a fair bit of chop but i had 20 stone of passenger up front and ,two, when the sea state was a bit more benign

[harrison]

Sonny,
Yeah, agree that your 420 rides a little bow high and may feel a little disconcerting. A typical cause of this would be too heavy a motor, but your 30 is ideally suited to the boat and substantially below transom rating. There is another 420 on this forum, kitted out with comfort console/seating and a 40 motor, which looked seriously stern heavy out of the box.

Personally I would accept this trait on yours, load it carefully when solo and trim accordingly to mitigate the effects. The problems you experienced on Friday is basically we were going too fast for the conditions in boats of this length. You either maintain planing speeds or stick to displacement speed, and keep out of no mans land in the middle where the bow just points skywards.

For your length hull I would estimate max displacement speed around 5 knots and a minimum planing speed of around 12knots.

Whilst not a big fan of hydrofoils on light boats they will bring down planing speeds and help lift the stern. If going down that route then would look at the Stingray range as do some ‘no drill’ models.....negates the need to drill holes in the av plate.

Another option would be to fit trim tabs, effectively increasing waterline length so also lowering planing speeds and lifting the stern. These would mean drilling the transom so once on stay on, even if they didn’t give the desired affect.

To be honest, probably the best way to effectively balance your boat would be to fit a jockey style sports console. This would get the helm, fuel and battery well forward to provide a neutral handling set up.

Personally I’d leave well alone, but if a real problem would first try a Stingray non drill as a hopeful quick fix.

https://www.stingrayhydrofoil.com/

https://boatworld.co.uk/boat-accessories

[sonny1]

well thanks all for your input and i think for the time being i will leave well alone as i have spent enough and i dont fancy drilling the hull or anyplace else come to that. overall im very pleased with my boat and must learn to use it within the prevailing conditions . as i learn a bit more from the forum ( rather the people on it) it seems all boats have pro,s and cons and on different days one will outshine the other. on a different note the tank was still two thirds full meaning i only used about 8 or 9 litres . iwill know precisely when i refill it

[ChrisParish]

Awesome fuel usage there! That’s less than I used.

[Mitch]

Thanks ChrisP & ChrisM for your thoughts, I got it wrong, the way I was thinking was that the chop was created because of the water funnelling in between main land & Isle of Wight & once out into open water it would’ve settled a bit & as you come out of the Solent the chop was created by the water converging from both directions around the isle.

One for sonny1 who missed it. A stout sounds good mate.

[chris moody]

You can get a couple of areas of very confused sea between Yarmouth and the Needles due to the water being funnelled down hurst narrows and changing seabed depths @Mitch.

But once out of the shelter of the Isle of Wight and out in the English Channel the waves do get a lot bigger. especially near Christchurch Ledge where the depth changes considerably.

I really want to get round to Scratchels bay on the south side of the Needles in the Takacat. I just need a minimal tidal flow and low wind to get round there.

.

[sonny1]

please forgive my stupidity but is that really a penguin that you saw on friday with your own eyes , (a) not native to northern hemisphere. (b) never heard of one in this area ,could it be a dummy or am i one . honest explanations only please ,signing off as incredulous from hitchin

[ChrisParish]

I think that penguin may be plastic.

[Mitch]

I’m not saying nothing, we may hurt it’s feelings