r29 Heavy Seas

[Sandro]

Hi All,

When I was researching the r29 cb I searched high and wide for information or videos on how the boat performs in rough weather. Most, if not all, shots and videos were all calm weather outings. I have a 2019 and coming up to the end of my first cruising season here (and my first power boat, long time sailor) on the coast of Maine I thought some insights might be helpful for those looking at a purchase with similar concerns/questions.

I was caught out two-three times in pretty nasty weather. The first was headed downeast crossing some open ocean off Owl's Head (about 5 miles before I could get behind the islands again. Wind: 20 knts off the ocean, waves shot up to 5-6 feet, trailing. I powered up to get on a "plane" - to about 14-15 knots - boat settled/dug, raised trim tabs a bit so the bow wouldn't plow and although quite a ride, she handled everything extremely well. Setting the autopilot to heading hold makes a huge difference (it there were not 100s of lobster pot buoys to avoid would have been even better.)

Second was heading into the wind in 4-5 footers. In this case I ran about 12-13 knots. Trim down. All good. LOTS of spray over the bow but plows right though no pounding. Anything less than 3 feet, trim down and it's like they are not there even at 14-15knots.

Third was yesterday. Hurricane remains from a few days earlier that passed well offshore combined with steady 25 knots, gusting to 30. We stayed overnight in a protected harbor at the mouth of the bay. Woke up to a beautiful day but blowing like crazy. We left the harbor to find 6-8 foot, steep waves, hitting us between broadside and rear port quarter. I powered up to 14 knots. some trim tabs (not full) and again autopilot as much as i could. Standing at the lower helm I did have to hold onto the dash. This, luckily was just a 2 mile run across the mouth of the bay, but it was pretty bad. Again at that speed the boat digs in and becomes stable - super wet yes, but the waves just pass under and around and it rolls over them (though a few passed over i think! It was like being in a carwash on the port side.) This I do not wat to repeat. But it's nice to know she can.

Point: the boat is a tank. The reverse chines and the chines in general at speed, I assume, create that stability when at speed. Pretty impressive actually. Power I learned is key. No way you could do that at displacement speeds (tried that when we first got going, scary 45 degree rolls). Counter intuitive - you'd think slower is better in rough weather, but it's the opposite to get the hull to do what it does. about 13-14 knots of speed seems to lock it down into a groove.

Anyway..hope this is helpful to someone. if rough sea handling is a concern (say caught out in a severe thunderstorm etc) It will handle it.

Jeff

 

[baz]

Jeff:

You gave a very good account of how the R29 handles in somewhat bad weather and sea conditions. I've occasional had similar experience in my 2019 R29 CB here in the PNW, and I agree, getting the speed and boat direction is critical for getting the best ride. The R29 is quite heavy and this helps it cut into the waves without too much 'shuddering'.

Nasty following seas are the worst for any boat, and I agree with your 'vote' for using the auto pilot to help with the steering chore.

I also agree, that after battling bad weather and seas it's always a relief when entering home port. 🙂

 

[dclagett]

A lot depends on the wave period, the steepness of the wave and if the wave is breaking. On the Chesapeake in 6 to 8 foot seas you will not go out in a 29 foot boat. I remember one of our charter captains who went south in Florida and was running the Stewart inlet. He had a 50 foot sport fish and was coming in with 4 foot breaking waves, it rolled the boat over and threw him off the helm breaking his neck. He died. The Coast Guard now uses a video of his accident take by someone on the jetty as a teaching video. It is hard to generalize on boat handling of wave height.

 

[2savage]

Just came from Falmouth MA and was heading for Greenport NY when the wind increased to 25 and there was a two knot tide going 'upwind'. Square waves with no back and some approaching 7 feet caused me to turn and run for Woods Hole. Max capable speed into the waves was about 7 knots but occasional slamming and a very rough ride for my dinghy was too much. After heading down wind powering up to surf was equally dangerous because some of the waves from crest to crest were so short that plowing into the front wave was inevitable. I'm now tucked into Stonington CT and thankful to be out of that washing machine. This was worse than my experiences off the Jersey Shore and an equally rough ride in the Delaware Estuary.

These boats do have there limitations but I am guessing that most owners rarely find the limits.

 

[baz]

Yes, being caught out with bad weather and bad waves, etc is not good for any boat. A good cruise route/plan requires attention to having locations along the route to hunker down and wait for the weather to clear and improve.

 

[BB marine]

When I read threads about how well a boat handles heavy sea's I caution to believe some of the conditions. I commend and then question the fact of anyone cruising in 5' to 6' wind waves in a 29' coastal cruiser. I am truly surprised that the R29 is capable of operating in 5' to 6' wind waves at 14 kts in a following sea. I personally would not want to be in square waves of 6' in a 50' sport-fish. I have, it is not a nice ride!

4' to 5' "wind waves", "square waves", "4' to 5' with 4 to 5 second period " are not to be recommended to be cruising in when onboard a small craft. 6' to 8' steep waves and cruising at 13kt to 14kts in a 29' Ranger ? I was talking to a captain of a 63' Viking in Orange Beach Alabama. I asked him how well the boat handled in rough sea's. He responded unbelievable ! Cruises at 25kts comfortably in 3' to 4's anything bigger than that she starts to pound bit. If I get "caught in" 6's or bigger I shut it down to about 10 kts. I have been on board a few 29's and the ride is impressive. I took a cruise across Charlotte Harbor Punta Gorda Florida sea conditions were decent 1' to 2' and the boat was a very solid boat in the water for a 29' boat. We did hit a few large wakes at 14 kts Maybe 3' they seem bigger than they really are. The boat handled those nicely but a lot of spray over the bow. Now I could not imagine hitting waves twice as big as those wake waves continuously at 14kts. Cudo's to you for saying it was not bad at all and you are comfortable cruising in you R29 in that kind of water.

I had a smaller boat C26. We had it in following 1.4 meter waves for 40 miles on a 85 mile trip in the North Channel Lake Huron. With any 4' to 5' wave you will have an occasional 1/3 larger. We did, close to 6' a few times. When in the bigger wave troughs it was all the 220 hp Volvo had to push out of them. WOT 10kts, the boat would normally be at 18.5 kts at WOT. I will say my experience lead me to believe a Small craft has no business being in 4 to 6' foot waves. I have learned to adjust my Go no Go to no more than 3'. I Now have a 18000 lbs 34' pilot house that the same rule goes with. I would not advise anyone to cruise in a boat when sea conditions are more than 4' ( Wind waves) (square waves) hight equal to second period. Now 8' swells are a completely different story. That is not what thread poster was indicating. Sandro cudo's to you if you can endure cruising in those kind of seas and find it comfortable in a small craft. You have a lot more guts than I do. My wife would never step on board the boat again! She still talks about the day the boat was stuck in the 1.4 meter waves. There were small craft advisories and Gail warnings that day 25 mph winds with gust to 35 mph. I did a poor job checking the weather window! Never again!

 

[baz]

BB marine: Well said. Your cautionary words should be read by all of us in this forum.

I have the R29 CB and avoid any day to go out when the wind has been blowing hard from especially the north starting in early morning or overnight. The Puget Sound section I cruise in/through is at the southern end of Admiralty Inlet: this is from Port Townsend down to Seattle Elliot Bay. which measures around 35 nautical miles long "reach". The wind velocity and currents (incoming and outgoing tides) over such a distance can cause the waters to get very nasty especially at the southern end of Whidbey Island..

By "Blowing hard" I mean 8+ mph.

A similar issue arises for me if the wind has been blowing from the south, but find that is not as bad as blowing from the north.

Even if the wind is down around 6 mph at the start of a day, and likely to increase during the day, I also stay in home port.

Yes, I've been caught out even with the best cruise plan, and getting back to home port is always very welcomed. I don't mind the rocking and rolling personally, but the passengers' needs and safety need to be considered, and is my priority.

 

[pwensinger]

Obviously being "weather wise" is key. What weather apps are everyone using? I use "Weather Bug" for on-shore weather plus their radar is easy to access. I use WeatherTrack for GRIBs. In addition I look at "Windy". The only NWS info I use is their "single point forecasts" With these you can specify where you are or where you are going to be. There is a marine version and an land version that focuses on fire risk. Somewhat difficult to get the marine version to come up. You have to point at a location well away from land.

A "weather hobbyist" friend of mine points out that most of the apps get their data from the NWS and just repackage it. Also he cautions that many of the NWS products and hence the apps that pull data from them, have not been reviewed by an actual meteorologist. I'm sure the near-shore and off-shore forecasts have but they generally cover too wide an area for me.

I haven't looked at the Canadian offerings for several years. At the time they seemed to be "thin".

 

[baz]

Obviously being "weather wise" is key. What weather apps are everyone using?...snip...".

I use Windy -> https://www.windy.com/-Wind-gusts-gust? ... ,m:eYPacK4 for my local area.

 

[Sandro]

Hi all. Great responses and I agree my post in 25-30 knots in the mouth of the bay was a one off experience that I would not want to repeat or do for more than a couple of miles to get home. That said, here on the coast of Maine we get a steady 15 knot sea breeze almost every afternoon in the summer kicking up 2-3 foot waves. It’s really nothing at all for the boat. I and crew and guests don’t even think about it. 8-10 knots would be a nice calm day with maybe a little 1-2 foot chop, not noticeable. I start to pay attention when white caps form, at about 10-12 knots.. pretty common and still no big deal. At 20 I totally agree.. it’s a windy day and we thus head away from the mouth and up into the bay.

 

[b&jsrubiconii]

Thank you to everyone posting on this very interesting subject from a future R29CB owner! Loved getting various points of view on this subject. Once we receive our R29CB and have had an opportunity to run it for awhile, I may come back and add a new-owner perspective to this conversation.