Assisted Planing

[Guest]

I have heard stories about how weight is moved forward to help a struggling boat get onto the plane. This was in the context of a small sports/speed boat. Is this true?

Robbie W

 

[hlb]

Oh yes, very much so. My rubber dinghy planes when I go and sit at the front. Trouble is, that leaves no one stearing. So a bit hairy!

<font color=white> The Invisable Man Haydn/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Dave_Snelson]

It certainly is. The problem with planing, or getting onto the plane is to stop the stern from burying itself in the water, which it tends to do, even when normally trimmed. This happens normally when power is applied on anything stern driven or outboard.

Putting weight forward allows the chines to do their job and lift the hull clear of the water so that only the wetted planing area, that is part of the hulls design, can hold the boat on the plane.

Madoc Yacht Club
www.madocyachtclub.co.uk

 

[Guest]

It also works on a 30 footer. With 15 people on board,not surprisingly, we couldn't get on the plane, but packing the 5 lifeboat crew into the cabin and getting them to sit as far forward as possible worked like a charm. That just left me, the wife, two kids, two friends, three other RNLI bods and a Coastguard diver on deck... Perfectly normal Sunday morning, really.

 

[rich]

We had to do it every time, years ago with our under powered speedboats, every body lean over the windscreen.

rich )

 

[DepSol]

Crammed too many people one night on to my FIL boat coming back from Herm and I ended up being Kate Winslett on the front all the way back.

Weeeeee I am on top of an anchor locker

Dom

I am boating again ;-)

 

[Guest]

At Soton Boat Show last year, one of the engine/outdrive exhibitors said that if you tilt the leg, it pushes the stern down and the bow up, thus helping the boat onto the plane, which appears to contradict the info given by the replies to my post. Or is it that both are correct - somehow?

Robbie W

 

[Guest]

complete arse. trim the leg in to hold the bows down while coming up on the plane, then trim out to raise the bow and reduce the wetted area.

 

[Dave_Snelson]

Correct good sir

Madoc Yacht Club
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk>http://www.madocyachtclub.co.uk</A>

 

[BrendanS]

which exhibitor gave you that advice??? sounds like they had hired help for the day who had never been out on a boat in their life.

Best way to prove it is to try it yourself
leg tucked right in you'll go on the plane nicely, then trim out.
Leg out you'll get lots of cavitation, lots of noise, lots of aerated water and not a lot of progress - I know as I've accidentally left the leg trimmed out a few times when I've stopped, and the result when I open the throttle is as described

 

[Guest]

Would love to try it myself but I haven't got a boat.

Do exhibitors really use hired help for the day?

I can't remember which exhibitor it was.

Robbie W

 

[BrendanS]

Some of the small stands will take on extra help, but I would have thought that any major supplier would have had full time staff on the stand, and they should understand their product well enough not to give advice like that.

I'd take you out on mine to show you how it all works but it's out of action at the moment...but if you fancy a trip later in the year?

 

[MapisM]

BrendanS is absolutely right.
But it's not surprising to hear about exhibitors giving suggestions like that.
Once a Ray****e representative suggested me to put the GPS antenna as high as possible on the sea level, whilst it's exactly the other way round.
Well, the leg trim story can also be easily misunderstood - are you sure that he told it that way?