Hey guys, I had a couple questions regarding running my boat in shallow water. I currently have a 22ft sportsman bay boat with a 150 yamaha four stroke. I often find myself in shallow water depths around 4-3ft + -. I get quite nervous and usually come off plane but am I capable of running in waters this shallow without bumping my lower?. I guess my question is how shallow is a bay boat like mine capable of running on plane before things get sketchy?
YOUR BOAT WILL RUN ON PLANE IN MUCH LESS THAN 3’ OF WATER, MORE LIKE 15-18 INCHES, THE PROBLEM COMES WHEN IT GOES FOR 18 TO 8"S
IF YOU ARE CONFIDENT WITH THE DEPTH IT WILL RUN IN SHALLOWER WATER AT SPEED THAN IT WILL GOING SLOW.
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IF I RESPOND IN ALL CAPS, ITS NOT ON PURPOSE, AND I AM NOT YELLING
Chris is right. Your hull drafts less on plane than at rest. The engine I can’t speak for. If you’re running that shallow you better know the waters pretty well unless you don’t mind eating up your gel coat, lower unit or prop from time to time.
Not to mention your body! I lost a tooth on my steering wheel years back when I was to smart to slow down!
chris is right on. if youre %100 sure it doesnt get any shallower than 3ft, youre fine. but the problem comes when if drops suddenly. when youre on plane you wont have enough time to react before loosing teeth or a lower.
Develop known good routes
Wait for a negative tide -6 or more.
Look for any obstructions. If it’s clear, you lessen your risk and should be OK to run at almost any tide.
You can also save a path on your GPS and always run that path. Now you have a known good path.
The faster you go the less you draft, assess your risk and open her up.
Jack plates and trim are your friend. Getting that motor up a few inches may save it.
Example: Bushy park dries out at low tide so you can see the mud bottom is clear of obstructions. I run at WOT shallow enough the shoot thru hull transducer blanks out and turns the whole screen white. Setting down is a challenge. Kill the motor and trim up before boat sets down in the mud. Then I use the trolling motor to drag the boat to the dock.
The type of bottom matters. The harder the bottom the less “give” you get.
Like said above. The more familiar you are with an area the more comfortable you will be running shallow.
It’s all about risk and your comfort level.
That boat should have no problem running in 15-18" of water but can your nerves/wallet handle it?
Thanks guys for the information. This is all super helpful and will make life easier and more comfortable on the water. Friogatto, funny you talk about a jackplate being helpful as I am currently having one installed. When running on plane am I capable of having the jackplate at full trim up or am I going to “blow the motor out”?
I do not have a water pressure gauge so im sure ill learn the top sweetspot as I go but I thought i might aswell ask the pros.
You probably wont be able to pick that motor up more than a couple inches on plane without cavitation. A water pressure gauge is a good idea if you’re going to do that.