25ft ish, single engined sports cruisers. Hardest boat to control....

Well, I don't know if they are the hardest as I haven't driven every kind of boat. But they are certainly a challenge.

I had one a while ago. Around 28ft, single engine, outdrive. The combination of relatively shallow draft, heavy at the stern/light at the bow and no steerage without power, gives some interesting differences in handling to shaft drive displacement boats. Good at going backwards though!

As with all things, after a bit of practice, it gets easier.
 
PaulGooch said:
Incorrect :)

Try a 27 foot, single engined, shaft drive boat that's as high as a small flybridge cruiser. Absolutely no steerage astern, unless you're going fast, even then it's not entirely predictable.
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Are we talking about the MF805? Hmmm, maybe you're right. But on my one I try to maintain a steady 12 knots when going astern. No problems............
 
PaulGooch said:
Incorrect :)

Try a 27 foot, single engined, shaft drive boat that's as high as a small flybridge cruiser. Absolutely no steerage astern, unless you're going fast, even then it's not entirely predictable.
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Nice see you are still OK Paul. Last we heard you were doing the Thames Trip at easter.
David
 
With a bit of thought a single engine, sterndrive cruiser is a dream to drive. Pay attention going astern so the bow doesn't overtake you and all is lovely.

A single shaft drive boat is far harder to manage at dead slow speeds in tight spaces and astern.
 
certainly been caught out in close quarters a few time in strong winds and tides pushing us away from the pontoon but generally it's an ok boat to handle but those who know me know I've only got experience on 3 boats to date so certainly not an authority on it... still practicing and will get it bang on the day before we go up to a twin screw boat with bow and sterns thrusters:D
 
Not sure it's absolutely the hardest kind of boat to control, but what I will say is that, if you can handle a small, single engined sportsboat with an outdrive and a deep vee hull, most other hull/engine combinations will hold little fear for you .... :)
 
Yes and no.
It depends on how "sporty" the sport cruiser is.
If the outdrive is installed normally, maneuverability is not too bad and I would agree that a single shaft boat is worse.
If it's raised above its standard X-dimension, depending on how aggressive the setup is, in reverse the prop walk effect can be even stronger than the steered thrust, with the result that there's simply no way to turn in one direction astern (to port with a l/h prop, to stbd with a r/h prop), unless completely lowering one flap and raising the other one.
Now, that can be even trickier than a single shaft!
 
Like most things, it gets easier with a bit of practice. We had a 25ft US sports cruiser for a couple of seasons, and I was an absolute liability helming to start with, but after a couple of weekends got quite handy. Even the dyke we had to negotiate to reach our mooring got a bit wider with practice.
 
We found our 25' sports cruiser a bit of a handful but got the hang of it. Now we have a twin engine flybridge that is more manouvarable but sheer size a weight makes it more daunting. Also I cannot help with lines from the helm
 
MapisM said:
Yes and no.
It depends on how "sporty" the sport cruiser is.
If the outdrive is installed normally, maneuverability is not too bad and I would agree that a single shaft boat is worse.
If it's raised above its standard X-dimension, depending on how aggressive the setup is, in reverse the prop walk effect can be even stronger than the steered thrust, with the result that there's simply no way to turn in one direction astern (to port with a l/h prop, to stbd with a r/h prop), unless completely lowering one flap and raising the other one.
Now, that can be even trickier than a single shaft!
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what prop walk?

surley at 25ft the majority will have duo prop set ups?

then again what flaps :) ........
 
mine has an Alpha 1 gen 2 outdrive Duncan, 2004 model so fairly recent, 25ft LOA or 27ft with the platform, deep vee hull. but do agree, most that we looked at had the B3's fitted..
 
duncan said:
what prop walk?
surley at 25ft the majority will have duo prop set ups?
then again what flaps :) ........
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Mmm... Did I say It depends on how "sporty"?
Any fast boat worth its salt would neither use twin prop drives, nor miss some proper flaps.
Besides, there are also plain vanilla 25 footers around with single prop drives, simply because, as it happens, DPs are more expensive.
That said, if what you're pointing out is that my comment doesn't apply to DP drives, that is true of course.
 
MapisM said:
Mmm... Did I say It depends on how "sporty"?
Any fast boat worth its salt would neither use twin prop drives, nor miss some proper flaps.
Besides, there are also plain vanilla 25 footers around with single prop drives, simply because, as it happens, DPs are more expensive.
That said, if what you're pointing out is that my comment doesn't apply to DP drives, that is true of course.
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I will waive the white flag now - let's not start again!

Yes a racing craft, or performance one, wil use the least drag drive rather than the most efficient (and at 25 ft this is unlikely to be surface drives).

The option to use prop walk posititely is ofset by the times it's against you - so we can call that neutral to the thread really.

I'm going to go round the stacks relating flaps to drive configuration; my gut says I won't see a lot of flaps with non-DP set ups; but I'll wait for the facts!
 
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