Around 11/22/2004 8:07 PM, Eisboch wrote:

Wayne.B wrote in message
...

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:29:29 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

When, exactly, is a boat on plane and how can you tell, precisely, when
this happens?

==================================

Another definition might involve flow separation at the transom. Most
times a boat "on plane" will have little or no transom surface
directly touching the water even though the bottom of the transom is
still below the water line.


I am not sure I'd buy paragraph #2 which relates to flow separation at the
transom.
Certainly true of a speedy, planning hull, it is also true of some of the
boats you described in paragraph #3. I've seen and been on large, heavy,
but highly powered boats that certainly are not planning, yet are going fast
enough to have none of the transom in the water, other than at the water
line.

Yeah, my dad's Chris does that, even though we don't usually take her
above 8 or 9 knots, and she's definitely not on a plane then.


Aside: I can remember when we were breaking in the new Crusader about 12
years ago and we were supposed to run it up to full throttle for a
while. Commando was, if not fully up, darn near up on a plane and making
well over 15 knots, almost keeping up with the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry.

It wasn't a pretty sight since she was really unstable and tended to
wallow from side to side; my dad said it was like watching a little old
lady hitch up her skirts and try to run.

--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows