How to tell if my boat is overloaded?

[genelson]

I have a 2013 R31 CB.
My wife and I are leaving MN tomorrow on the Great Loop. We have filled all the storage with stuff. The cave is mostly empty. My concern is that the exhaust is mostly under water. Does this mean my boat is overloaded? Is this a problem? We have a full water tank but fuel is only half full. Tks for your help.

 

[Pilotnavigator]

Does not sound good, perhaps more weigh in the bow, what does the capacity sticker say for max capacity?

 

[Automaticman865]

Boats up to 20 ft only are required to have a capacity sticker.
Ball park (length boat(ft) x width boat(ft)) /18 = number of people, average 184 lbs each.

Stuart

 

[knotflying]

How does the boat sit to the water line? That would be the telltale about your weight load in the water. I seem to remember my exhaust is usually 3/4 of the way into the water at the waterline. We all tend to pack too much and eventually things come off the boat. The fact that you have nothing in the cave leads me to believe you are not over loaded.

 

[fishheadbarandgrill]

Agree with previous post about checking your waterline. Based on your description, it seems you may need to balance your load.

 

[BB marine]

The nature of a semi-displacement hull is to run in a stern heavy attitude. Loading gear in cockpit storage lockers needs to be done with light equipment. Try to have most of your supplies midship or forward of midship. This can help with fuel economy while cruising slightly above hull speed maintaining a bow wake. The more weight in the stern causes the bow to run light and a stern wake digging a hole. My gage of how heavy I'm loaded is look at stained water line on the bottom paint how much lower is the water line now. Is it lower at the stern or bow try to keep it even bow to stern or favor slight heavier in the bow. The other gage I use is knowing my normal WOT rpm. I will take a short cruise and give it full throttle to see how much extra load I'm putting on the engine. Example D3 4130 rpm WOT normal equipment on board, full fuel, full water. Now packed for a trip with extra equipment on board if I see I'm operating below recommended rpm 3900 rpm flat water I need to reevaluate what I'm taking. I'm overloaded. Sometimes moving the weight forward will help but most of the time I am taking to much stuff that I probably will not use and I try to take some off.

D4 260 3650 rpm light loaded 3400 rpm WOT.

We are in Grand Rivers KY. leaving in 3 weeks for Florida and hopefully beyond doing our next Loop segment. Maybe social distant docktails are in the future when you get to the Tennessee river.