What kind of seas/wind can this boat handle?

[Billy Marlin]

I know its a matter of what most people feel comfortable with but I would like to know what to expect that this boat can truly handle safely. Keep in mind I have driven a 18' bass boat in some gnarly sea conditions when I was fishing big tournaments on Ky lake spearing a few waves along the way. Just wanted to see if those of you who have been off shore what kind of seas you are willing to go out in. Weather reports for Florida are showing a lot of wind over the next few weeks so want to be prepared. Heading to St. Marks Florida and only plan to go off shore maybe 10 miles or so to get a little deeper water and bottom fish.

 

[Julian]

@OUT ON THE REEF might be the best person to comment on this....I know he's offshore quite a bit. But it will also depend on your boating skills and comfort level as you point out.

 

[Billy Marlin]

I can handle some pretty nasty stuff but I don't want my wife to feel uncomfortable so really just gauging what weather report would most people just say I am going to stay in shore today. Here on Ky lake when they say winds out of the North 20-30 and the current is moving against that wind I will not be on the lake. In a bass boat where you are sitting down below the waves it can be very intimidating. Hoping that @ClemsonTiger will throw out some thoughts as I know he said that he has to pick his days but I think he is on the east coast which can get pretty nasty over there.

 

[highanddryinco]

Have fun out there @Billy Marlin.
It's all about direction and duration down there. We rarely had any calm while we were in Destin recently but manged our way around pretty well. If the wind was coming off the land, we did pretty well out in the Gulf even though it was blowing 15-ish. If it had been blowing in from the Gulf for a few days, it took a day or two to settle down after wind switched back around. We could then usually spend our time in the bay. All in all, I though the boat did quite well for it's size.
The ride is generally quite dry but there will be the times when you have to go in "X" direction and the wind is coming out of "Y" direction and after the first five gallons of wind blown salt spray drowns your significant other...she will have you immediately heading in "F!" direction back toward the dock and you will most likely go boating another day.

Some days it's best to send the spouse to the shops and enjoy the ride yourself.

 

[Billy Marlin]

Exactly what I was looking for and I am going to be in St. Marks Florida in 2 weeks right in the pan handle staying at Shell point. I am used to checking the weather regularly when fishing in the early spring. Very excited got 2 shimano TLDs for doing some bottom fishing that I just rigged up with 65# braid for trolling or knocker rigging. Then have plenty of ole Johnson Gold spoons to cover the bays looking for redfish and trout. I have gone red fishing several times with my uncle so know how to find them. Hoping to run out to deeper water looking for some grouper and cobia for a nice fish fry when I get back home.

 

[Bruce]

Looking at forecasts for Apalachee Bay, West Tampa Bay and Tyndall Tower I do not see anything over 0.8' between now and the fifth. The winds are typically in the teens. Sounds like great water to me!

 

[Bruce]

SailFlow is a good app for viewing the forecast.

 

[delfinonet]

Hi Everyone, I'm a new owner of Yamaha 190 FSH, purchased it in April and have taken out it to the ocean several times in choppy conditions with 3'-4' short- period swells with East and SE onshore winds @ 10-15 MPH. The hull is Modified V with 18 degrees rise. A boat with a modified v type of hull is designed to navigate in choppy waters but not in extreme conditions. This property of the boat was the most important reason for my decision to purchase this boat. In my experience so far, the boat is a lot of fun to drive in the ocean. For your first time driving the boat in the ocean I recommend that you do so alone so that you can experiment and get a feeling of the boat in the ocean. You want to be able to get a degree of confidence in your boat's ability to ride on top of the waves, ride in the direction of the waves and ride in the trough of a set of waves. Keep the bow in an angle of 15 to 25 degrees when driving into a head sea, use your throttle to modify speed as needed. Do not go fast and keep the boat in the water at all times avoid the temptation to jump waves. Do this first experience by yourself and wear you life jacket and the switch off engine cord. Don't expose your crew to your first experience in the ocean. Lastly, be very careful with the conditions in the mouth in the inlet and avoid low tide with a strong onshore wind, I had green coming into my bow for not being cautions enough. Good luck

 

[Billy Marlin]

So far had to deal with some crazy winds in Daulphin Island, Alabama and a nasty wind out of the south against an outgoing tide in St. Marks Florida. In Alabama it was crazy you had to time and shoot the gap to get out of the protected launch area. Straight into some big old 3 to4 ft rollers back to back just enough to get into the channel then run the trough to get around the island. That was a high pucker factor!! Then had 3 apps on my phone none of them predicted a pop up storm in St. Marks that started getting so big it was just a race to get closer to shore so I could run parallel to get back to my rental house. In this case I was REALLY happy I did not have a prop because at times I was dropping into 2-3 ft depths and very thankful all the rocks and oyster bars where in the opposite direction than what I needed to run. This is where having the batteries in the front of the boat did not help and I had to move the big cooler to the rear of the boat.

 

[delfinonet]

Jet Boat Lover, good job w getting out of the situation on time. I think this is a key issue with this boat. Extreme conditions are not worth getting into with this boat not matter how experienced you are. The boat performs excellent in my opinion in choppy water if you know what you are doing. I will never expose my crew to a situation were the will never ride with me again. with said, this father's day weekend the conditions in my home town of boca raton florida are going to be rougj in the ocean so im staying inshore in the iwc. happy dathers day.