Southwind bow riding low

Yeah, I was just kidding about the sterndrive thing...expensive to repair. I will be probably looking at foam and stringers this winter. Thanks for all the repair and boat handling ideas!

Dave

Dave,
Please:

8122pbrainard wrote: Dave, Also, when are you taking on all the water - when slowing down for big waves, crossing someones wake or even doubling back over your own wake? We just had a complete thread on how to manage this with the throttle on the newer bow riders with low freeboard.

stillwaters wrote: By minimal I mean couple small kids and one adult. On our last boat which was a 18' sterndrive, we loaded it full of people with no problems. Thanks for the pictures TRBenj...that gives me an idea what some dry foam might do. My battery box is in the center stern...and yes I am pulling tubes and everything else! I just wanted to make sure that there was no design flaw that was perfected in later years.

8122pbrainard wrote: Also, when are you taking on all the water - when slowing down for big waves, crossing someones wake or even doubling back over your own wake? We just had a complete thread on how to manage this with the throttle on the newer bow riders with low freeboard.

Maybe you should go back to the I/O where you can trim the lower unit?? Especially for the tubes!!!

Does the SW have the same battery box as a BFN? My battery box was a large offender; let a lot of water in.

The deep vee hulls should definitely be pretty dry rides, especially the SW with the tall sides and big flare in front. Our BFN is pretty dry.

If your nose sits noticeably lower in the water, then youre probably on to something. Here is a picture of our BFN (top) prior to removing about 600 lbs of waterlogged foam in the nose. Compare it to the BFN in the lower picture and note the angle of the stripe, as well as where the water breaks at the chine (just in front of the windshield vs. the middle of the windshield).



Its a subtle difference, but with the new, dry structure, it sits much closer to the boat in the lower picture. If yours sits more noticeably bow-low than other Southwinds, you may have even more weight up front than we did.

I have a 1975 Southwind bowrider and have been having issues with the bow setting lower in the bow than in the stern. Is this an indication that there is water in the foam? When there are minimal people in the bow...it's a wet ride. I was thinking that with a Southwind it should be a little more high and dry. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks.
Dave