How To Boost Your Boat’s Speed
A good part of the fun and enjoyment of boating is just the thrill of going quickly on the water. And if fast is good, even faster really must be better! Here are some straightforward ways to help almost any boat reach its full speed potential.
Blueprinting
If you are wary of doing modifications to your engine, think about having your boat’s bottom “blueprinted”. Many boating enthusiasts believe blueprinting involves literally putting together a blueprint. In actual fact, it’s a process of restoring the bottom to its previous specifications.
Any boat can benefit from it however the faster you go, the more you accentuate it. Mass-produced boats – for example runabouts and cruisers in the 25- to 30-foot range – may have innumerable imperfections, together with too much hook or rocker in the bottom or flaws in the strakes or chines. These could be as a result of imperfections in the mould from which the boat was built or the result of a boat being kept in the off-season on too short a trailer.
When a boat gets a hook in the running surface, this means the aft section of the bottom angles down. It acts like a giant trim tab and forces the bow down, hampering lift and scrubbing speed. The only way to stop hook is with excessive drive trim, and then you’re losing performance as the propeller thrust is angled more up as opposed to horizontal.
The very best way to check your boat’s bottom for a hook is with a straight edge at the transom. When a fiberglass repair shop takes the hook off, it will free up the boat and let it ride on its planned lines, increasing top speed as well as improving all-around performance.
Upgrade The Mechanical Features
You can upgrade the mechanical aspects of the boat. Updating the engine or changing the propeller could give your boat more power or allow it to do things it otherwise couldn’t do.
Reduce Weight
Reducing weight is almost like finding free horsepower, and a lot of boat owners are surprised how much weight they could leave on the dock. Begin at the bow and work your way back, clearing out every storage compartment, and then putting back only the essentials.
The spare cooler box, the extra fishing rods, the old bottles of sunscreen and the extra towels — each item may not weigh much however together it all adds up. We’ve seen boat owners dump 250 pounds of “stuff” that they didn’t really need on board. Unlike the online roulette NZ offers, it’s not a gamble as to what you need. If you don’t use it or its empty, toss it!
A lighter boat will speed up more quickly and then run with reduced drag as the hull rides a slightly higher in the water. It could also be more responsive to trim, which can reduce drag further.
Try to put heavier items you do want to keep on board, such as a spare propeller, in an aft storage compartment so that they are not weighing down the bow. Finally, on those days when you want to run as fast as possible, drain the fresh water and holding tanks if your boat is so equipped, and head out with less than a full tank of fuel.
