[Jared]

Well, I'm sure I'm not the only first time boat owner that The Bassholes has or will have so I thought a good question to have answered for me and all other first time boat owners would be "What should, as a first time boat owner, know about boating and bass boats?"

Rodney (Fish4FunInFL) gave me a short list of some things to always remember, such as checking to be sure the plug is always in before loading. And then a couple of you discussed using the power trim on the outboard to help you get out of the water and back into your boat. I am guessing there is probably a bunch more tips all of you current veteran boat owners may be able to give us first timers. I was hoping that perhaps you could list off any tips or advice you have here in this thread.

Some questions I have are:

When in rough water, how should you trim you motor. I think I heard you should trim it down for rough water.

Whats the best way to solve chime walk other than slowing down?

And I know there is probably a lot more that I dont know, but dont even know to ask a question about.

Thanks in advance to all who give input to this thread :thumbup01:

 

[macbass]

jared chime walk is a major concern. I dont have that problem with my boat. but some freinds of mine that owned tritons ended up taking them back to the dealer because it was so bad. the advantage was that the dealer was randy vandam yup kevins older brother and he took them out and showed them how to drive thru it. The best I can say is seat time will correct the problem this isnt like a aluminum boat you have to drive it.

 

[Mike McKay]

another thing is, in rough water, trimming the motor all the way down is pretty much asking to have waves come over the front of your boat...

i like to trim it up about halfway

 

[bassass]

When she starts chime'n trim the motor down enough to quit chime'n then start to slowly trim the motor back up to get back on the pad. In rough water you don't want to trim all the way down or you'll be spearing waves, like mike said you'll find that you need to be somewhere around half way depending how rough it is and how fast you are trying to go.

bassass

 

[dave0331_69]

One more important thing is to always look back to make sure your motor is pumping water, better to look back once and awhile than your motor overheating. My boat has a warning light but it has to be pretty dern hot for that to come on, even though you might have a temp gauge, its always better to catch the problem before the temp. starts to go up. Dave

 

[Ouachita]

A couple of weeks ago I took control of a new Ranger my buddy just couldn't handle during a high wind. No experience at all with high waves, cross waves, and wind. He had the bow shooting 45 degrees into the sky then spearing wave # 3. We couldn't see land or read the GPS screen, covered in spray. We got soaked. I got it up on plane shooting from wave peak to peak, then it began chiming. Dropping speed wasn't an option since that would drop the bow back below wave peaks and spearing waves. I got chiming under control by constantly turning the steering wheel back & forth until I find a cadence that compensates for the boat movement. It's a lot of work, but vital to learn. Soon you figure out the instant the boat will slip right, so just before that happens steer a little left. That left-right-left-right probably happens 2-3 times a second on that boat at 70 mph.

Motor trim in rough water is something I do by feel. I want it no higher than what it takes to keep the bow from spearing a wave. I start high then drop it until the bow is barely too low, then bump it back up a notch. Wave height, spacing between waves, boat speed, and hull configuation/boat load determine what the trim angle ends up being. Feel it along.

Jim