A question:

Is it easiest/best to get on plane from a level attitude, or "nose up"?

Fiberglass, with steps/strakes. Bow rider.

Thanks,
Mark

Before I added a hydrofoil, my bowrider always went nose up before getting
on plane. Once on plane, I could trim the drive up a little to plane better.
At the same throttle setting, I'd see the RPM increase about 200 RPM and the
speed increase by about 3 knots. I'd also see the bow wave go further aft on
the boat, indicating that about the first 30-50% of the hull was out of the
water.
Nice on flat water, but in choppy water I'd skip across six or so chops and
then pound one hard. Hurts my back too much, and no fun for innocent
passengers!
Oh, the hydrofoil really reduces the amount of nose up, and reduces the
speed at which I get on plane. Nice for water sports, because without it I
was getting on plane at about 18 knots (and falling off if I slowed at
all) - a good speed for my grandchildren to wakeboard. I now get on plane
before 15 knots and stay there.
"Mark" wrote in message
.net...
A question:

Is it easiest/best to get on plane from a level attitude, or "nose up"?

Fiberglass, with steps/strakes. Bow rider.

Thanks,
Mark

My boat does not nose up to get on plane. At idle I set the trim in (I
guess), apply throttle, and as the boat is coming on plane, I start
trimming up and at about 3000 rpm, trim for best speed which is 30-32
mph (cruise) for me. Any way, the boat stays level and whether that's
easiest or not, it just seems reasonable to me.

Mark wrote:
A question:

Is it easiest/best to get on plane from a level attitude, or "nose up"?

Fiberglass, with steps/strakes. Bow rider.

Thanks,
Mark

The natural tendency for an accelerating boat will be to go "nose up"
just before getting up on plane. That's the portion of the power curve
where you have exceeded displacement speed and as a result your hull is
attempting to climb the bow wave. When you get free of the bow wave,
you will be in the initial stages of "plane".

If you use enough trib tab to keep the bow down between displacement
and planing speeds, it might take you slightly longer to get up on
plane due to the additional drag.
Probably no big deal either way and no absolutely "right" appraoch-
just a matter of personal preference and maybe a matter of how severe
the bow rise is during acceleration.
If your bow gets so high that you cannot keep a safe watch direclty
ahead, it would make sense to trum the bow down during acceleration so
you don't run into some drift or another boat.

Around 5/28/2006 3:20 PM, Mark wrote:

A question:

Is it easiest/best to get on plane from a level attitude, or "nose up"?

Fiberglass, with steps/strakes. Bow rider.

Thanks,
Mark


This may not apply to you since Blue-Boat is so light, but for
Blue-Boat, the easiest way to get on a plane is to trim the motor all
the way down. With the motor trimmed to cruising (slightly bow up) she
wants to plow the stern for a few seconds before hopping up on a plane,
but if I nose down, she will leap out of the water and will be fully
planing in only a second or two.



--
~/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
~~ Ventis secundis, tene cursum ~~