How well do Cuddies handle the coastal waters?

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wipe_out

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I see quite a few Cuddy cabin boats in the marina (even a few bow riders).. Compared to our boat, a 26ft cruiser, they are SO low and ours isn't exactly high either..

How do they handle when it starts getting a bit choppy?
Do they easily get a lot of spray and water over the bow?
 
Well as a Monterey 214 owner I would say pretty well. Yes we probably get more spray that if we were sat up on a flybridge but not so bad we cannot get out when we want. Our 214 is much much better than the 18ft bowrider that we had before but I'm sure it's not as good as one 3-4 ft longer.

You just have to pick the conditions that you want to / are happy to go out in.

We don't get a lot of solid water over the bow, just spray tbh.

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Depends on the conditions (obviously), but I'd say they're generally fine.

You will get more spray if its choppy , especially if the wind is in the wrong direction relative to boat travel, but on the whole they're fine.

My current cuddy ,a Windy 25 Mirage, is actually RCD certified for Offshore use (category B), not sure I'd actually like to go out in the conditions that the certification says it should be able to withstand though, but it does feel pretty sturdy.

I've previously owned a 20 foot sea ray bow rider (amongst other types of boat up to 37 foot sportsboat) , and contrary to a lot of people beliefs found the bow rider quite capable in a chop (up to f3-4, not pleasant, but will get you home), and never taken a wave over the front.

As you'd expect though, the bigger the boat, the bigger the sea it will handle.
 
+1 on the above comments, but I guess it's 'how long is a piece of string' question...... All depends on conditions, but generally speaking, bigger the boat, the better waters it can handle, as a general rule anyway, I'm quite sure there are exceptions....

My last boat was a 19, sport cruiser, so higher freeboard than most at that size. Handled rough waters very well but did get spay over the screen, but she was also light and nimble enough to throw her about and jump over the waves. My current 25 sport cruiser has a slightly higher freeboard but lower compared to a conventional cruiser. She handles the spay very well indeed but doesn't feel as nimble as the 19 when throttle trimming for example.
A friend has a 18 bowrider and in rougher weather we just get wetter and wetter, but his boat always puts a big smile on my face :D
 
A lot depends on the model, like all boats, some are good, some bad and some truly awful.

I cruised in company with a Chaparral 205 cuddy on a round trip from the Solent to the Channel Islands and France. Superb boat that happily kept up with our Sports cruiser if a little wetter :D

This year I had the opportunity to take a 20 year old refurbished Sunseeker Mexico 24 through the Straits of Gib and up the Spanish coast. We were in company with a new 30ft Sports cruiser which we easily outpaced in a very lumpy Sea.

For shear grin factor a decent cuddy is hard to beat, but the lack of facilities soon brings you back to earth with a bump.
 
Especially with the bowriders/cuddies you need to look at their intended purpose and use, as the hull is so key here. Some are often called lake boats, which is fair enough description, bcz that is what they are built for..fast boating on flat waters. Nothing wrong with that if that is where you are going to use them. Also those low deadrise boats are often popular with waterskiers as they dont produce much wake maybe 17-18 degrees of deadrise.
However, get into some UK waters, and you are going to want something with a much higher deadrise--Regal and Searay usually go up towards 24 degrees. You can have alot of fun in one of those, but I would still say they are at their best in big bays like Torbay and around Falmouth. They arent really the choice for taking on St Albans when it is cross.
 
wipe_out said:
I see quite a few Cuddy cabin boats in the marina (even a few bow riders).. Compared to our boat, a 26ft cruiser, they are SO low and ours isn't exactly high either..

How do they handle when it starts getting a bit choppy?
Do they easily get a lot of spray and water over the bow?
Click to expand...


I chartered a Bayliner 21 ft cuddy from Le Poulegon ?SP? for a short cruise across the Bay to St Nazaire, there was just something about the bridge that made me want to cruise under it.

Great sunny day , started calm enough , as I got close to St Nazaire there was a bit of swell , but the boat just cruised over it . On the way back the tide had turned and I was hitting the swell head on, the boat started to slow down and struggle a bit so I decided to check the cuddy in the hope to find a life jacket, the cuddy had filled with water, seat cushions were floating along with the lifejackets , I realized that every time I crashed through the swell the windows leaked and all the way round the seam leaked ( Leaked = water sprayed in under force).

I slowed down and the bilge pump seemed to empty the cabin or it soaked away out of sight , then I had the job of drying the seat cushions and carpets out before I took the Binliner back .

Cuddies totally unsuitable for offshore.
Great for sheltered bays but watch out for the tide turning !
 
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"Cuddies totally unsuitable for offshore."

wrong conclusion I reckon - your conclusion should be that boats with leaky windows are totally unsuitable for using on the water, regardless of inshore,coastal or offshore.
 
julians said:
"Cuddies totally unsuitable for offshore."

wrong conclusion I reckon - your conclusion should be that boats with leaky windows are totally unsuitable for using on the water, regardless of inshore,coastal or offshore.
Click to expand...

I would tend to agree that the particular boat was unsuitable to be afloat, not particularly the style of boat unsuitable for offshore....
 
DAKA said:
I chartered a Bayliner 21 ft cuddy from Le Poulegon ?SP? for a short cruise across the Bay to St Nazaire, there was just something about the bridge that made me want to cruise under it.

Great sunny day , started calm enough , as I got close to St Nazaire there was a bit of swell , but the boat just cruised over it . On the way back the tide had turned and I was hitting the swell head on, the boat started to slow down and struggle a bit so I decided to check the cuddy in the hope to find a life jacket, the cuddy had filled with water, seat cushions were floating along with the lifejackets , I realized that every time I crashed through the swell the windows leaked and all the way round the seam leaked ( Leaked = water sprayed in under force).

I slowed down and the bilge pump seemed to empty the cabin or it soaked away out of sight , then I had the job of drying the seat cushions and carpets out before I took the Binliner back .

Cuddies totally unsuitable for offshore.
Great for sheltered bays but watch out for the tide turning !
Click to expand...

You were lucky that the pop rivets holding the hull and super together did not pull out, They still build them like that now not even any silicon sealant on joints!
 
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I think the OP should read my experience along with gjgm (who also owned a cuddy type boat) and make his own mind up.
This shouldnt turn into an anti bayliner thread ( It was a great little boat, we went out to a little Island and beached it while we waited for carpets to dry out.)
I owned a Falcon 18 cuddy, Falcon have an excellent reputation as boat builders,
I cruised
Norfolk Broads
Suffolk Broads
Humber Estuary
Trent
Ouse
Extensive Scottish Loch systems to the West Sottish coast

Cuddies are not suitable offshore .
cuddies are only safe in sheltered waters with careful planning.
 
DAKA said:
Cuddies are not suitable offshore.
cuddies are only safe in sheltered waters with careful planning.
Click to expand...
That's a bit of a sweeping generalization.
Already half a century ago, Don Aronow raced the Miami-Nassau with 23' and 27' cuddies...
...and I wouldn't mind going offshore with one of them also nowadays, rather than with many modern "cruisers" of similar size.
 
I think it all depends on the weather.

A few years ago I took my diesel Fletcher 19' GTS from Poole to Torquay crossing Lyme Bay about 15 miles out. Conditions were good both outbound and inbound.
No problem.

Sometime later I went from Poole to the Hamble. Conditions were fine when we left Poole and we stopped in Newtown Creek for a couple of hours. When we set off again conditions had changed and I tip toed the rest of the way to Hamble Point marina. I didn't feel that I was in danger but felt that I should not have been at sea in the deteriorating conditions.

It was that trip that made me decided to get a bigger boat and on return to Poole I immediately put the Fletcher up for sale and bought my current boat, a Bav29.
 
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