AR190 and SX190 on Great Lakes

[Bill D]

I have been on Lake Michigan many times on friends boats (no Yamahas). The Great Lakes are really just freshwater oceans and should be treated as such. On calmer days, you'll have no problems with a 19'er and you can go as far out as your fuel tank will take you. When the weather turns, I wouldn't want to be anywhere I couldn't run and hide on my 24' boat. The waves stack up so quick it makes things very sketchy.

Keep an eye on the weather and use good judgement so as not to get caught off guard and your family will have tons of fun with the new boat!

 

[GTBRMC]

I boat on Lake Michigan all the time. The short answer is your 190 series Yamaha can handle it easily when conditions are calm to nearly calm (ie: no more than 1-2 footers). Above that, it gets dicey, even in my 23 footer, fairly quickly.
There are two major differences between Great Lakes big water and ocean big water (the following is aimed at "offshore" Great Lakes boating, may not apply at all in many of the Great Lakes thousands of protected or semi-protected bays):

• When waves are stable (as in winds are not significantly building or falling and have been at similar velocity and direction for a few hours), the wavelength (peak-to-peak distance of consecutive waves) and the period (peak-peak time in seconds between consecutive waves) of Great Lakes waves are almost always significantly shorter & faster than what you would find on an ocean
  • This also means the wave face is significantly steeper for the same wave height (or amplitude)
  • This is usually described as more of a "chop" and less of a "swell" wave type
  • This dramatically reduces the margin of error, increases the likelihood of both planting your bow in a wave and shipping consecutive waves over your bow and potentially swamping your boat (your scuppers can drain a lot of water in a hurry, but not 30 - 50 gallons ever few seconds)
• Great Lakes weather can change faster than most typical open ocean areas
• Some very large open stretches of the Great Lakes are very shallow (mainly a Lake Erie issue), further enhancing wave risks
  • Lake Erie's long axis also aligns closely with the prevailing winds + its shallow depth can occasionally lead to harrowing wave action and water "stacking" at its eastern end
    • http://www.wired.com/2015/12/dave-sandford-hell-hath-no-fury-like-the-waves-of-lake-erie/
    • This is rare, most often in November, so I doubt it would affect your dayboating plans , but is illustrative of some of the special circumstances on the Great Lakes
• The combined effects of rapid weather changes and potentially heavy "chop" make Great Lakes boating more challenging than many expect
• Worth noting: in Lakes Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior there is a significant hypothermia threat even in the dog days of summer http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/statistic/avg-sst.php?lk=m&yr=0

Advice (again, in protected bays much of this is not as critical):

• You CAN boat on the Great Lakes in your 190
• You have to expect that many days in the summer, depending on your location, the conditions will not be safe for boating in your 190
• When you do go out, always file a float plan with someone reliable onshore
  • The key is your general route & your ETA to return with a predetermined "time to call the authorities" deadline if you have not made it back or otherwise made contact
  • The biggest reason for float plan is the threat of hypothermia should your boat get swamped...it will not sink in anything other than the worst case weather conditions, but you will be wet if it gets swamped http://www.pfdma.org/choosing/hypothermia.aspx Time to rescue is reduced with a float plan.
• Always know the forecast
• Always have at least a marine radio with weather channel to stay on top of changing local conditions while you are out

• Always have all of your USCG required safety gear onboard...and wear your PFDs

• Always have a VHF radio with range sufficient to cover the distance to shore (as VHF is essentially line of sight, range is limited by height of antenna and earth curvature)

• Always think not of distance offshore but of time to get back to shore as conditions change

• 10 miles offshore in glass conditions with a 100% calm forecast and a fixed mount antenna VHF with 25 miles range (a dash to safety of less than 15 minutes) is likely safer than 4 miles offshore with 2-4' chop, no radio, and an afternoon thunderstorm bearing down (possibly a pounding 30+ minute fight)

I will echo the comments above about the relative lack of freeboard in the Yamaha lineup. This + the lack of ability to trim the bow up in heavy conditions are the two main considerations for whether a Yamaha jetboat is a good option for you.

I love my SX-230 and it does not limit my boating most of the time, but it is not a real open water boat... and it is larger with more freeboard than a 190 series. FWIW, anyway.

Cheers and good luck.

Edit: This is a swimmer safety guide to Great Lakes waves, but it has some good photos that illustrate some of the wavelength/period issues well: http://www.weather.gov/media/grr/presentations/Great_Lakes_Beach_Hazards_Overview_2015_2015-07-05_20-57-53.pdf

 

[beachbum]

We have been using our SX190 on Lake Erie for 2 seasons now... admittedly fare weather is always more appealing, but when the wind comes up, Lake Erie will change quickly and generates some significant chop... uncomfortable, but the boat does very well.

We love the size of our boat... we have it moored in front of our cottage... sometimes she gets a bangin' on mother nature's extremes. Enjoy every moment you can get on the water. It is a short season.

 

[Wade]

To ALL above

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your helpful replies.

 

[tim2808]

@tim2808, @ArmyChief could you guys share your experience with your 192s in the ocean?

Yeah I agree with everything that's been said. Port Everglades was the worst part of our trip cause of all the random waves and wake from everyone else. Once we got out, in the best possible weather EVER for the Gulf Stream it was good. BUT we still got air born a few times LOL. Anything higher than 3ft-4ft would have been super rough. The 190/192 is pretty light, so you feel everything and get tossed around.

So that's your $35,000 question, do you want to be able to use the boat anytime you want or is it ok to be dictated 100% by the weather instead of 50%?

 

[Speedling]

I have been on Lake Michigan many times on friends boats (no Yamahas). The Great Lakes are really just freshwater oceans and should be treated as such. On calmer days, you'll have no problems with a 19'er and you can go as far out as your fuel tank will take you. When the weather turns, I wouldn't want to be anywhere I couldn't run and hide on my 24' boat. The waves stack up so quick it makes things very sketchy.

Keep an eye on the weather and use good judgement so as not to get caught off guard and your family will have tons of fun with the new boat!

Been out on Lake Michigan a hundred times and what you say is exactly true. Bimini scares me a bit for the fact that there is no where to run and hide. Sometimes, you just need to run and hide.

A 19 footer is what my father in law has. His bow is pointier than mine and he can trim up and down with his 305 powered i/o which works to his advantage.
I would recommend trim tabs. I haven't installed but would like to. Should help

 

[4wheeldeal]

Mines been rocking on Goergian bay, and Lake Ontario. I'm amazed at how well the boat handles the rough. The V goes very far to the bow and will cut through most waves and the bow just goes up and down no slamming or jumping out of the water if your not flying. Over all impressive, better then any 20ft boat I've been on.