We have an early 90's 440 sundeck/cockpit, semi-displacement hull located on Lake Michigan. Overall great build quality and stout hulls. Earlier OA bottoms often have a minor blister issue....nothing structural..uncommmon on Great Lakes boats as they get hauled every winter.. Typical semi-displacement handling characteristics....snappy roll in beam seas...prefers pounding head on into larger waves, or taking them slightly off the bow. Short coupled 6-7's on bow with no issues...on the beam sux. Relatively large rudders for good directional control. Ed Monk OA hulls run dry in rough stuff and more fuel efficient than most. Like most OA owners, we're huge fans of the marque. The factory still answers questions about their older products. Yard in Seattle has the flick on tech questions.
How does a trawler take rough water?
- Thread starter jwnall
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We have an early 90's 440 sundeck/cockpit, semi-displacement hull located on Lake Michigan. Overall great build quality and stout hulls. Earlier OA bottoms often have a minor blister issue....nothing structural..uncommmon on Great Lakes boats as they get hauled every winter.. Typical semi-displacement handling characteristics....snappy roll in beam seas...prefers pounding head on into larger waves, or taking them slightly off the bow. Short coupled 6-7's on bow with no issues...on the beam sux. Relatively large rudders for good directional control. Ed Monk OA hulls run dry in rough stuff and more fuel efficient than most. Like most OA owners, we're huge fans of the marque. The factory still answers questions about their older products. Yard in Seattle has the flick on tech questions.
Just Bob
Veteran Member
We are enjoying the boat a great deal. It is the 54 Trawler model that O/A developed three years ago along with a 60' version of the same boat. We are very happy with O/A's design features and quality.
Unfortunately Johnny Chueh has decided to exit the trawler market again after only building a few of these boats. I've had many conversations with him about it and he says he has just been away from the trawler market for so long that it would cost too much to get back into it at the volume he would need to make it profitable. He can develop, market and sell a motoryacht for considerably less than he can a trawler.
We feel fortunate to have gotten one of these. Since we took delivery of it we have continued to look at what else is in the market and for our purposes it is the best boat we could have chosen.
As I mentioned in our previous post, you can read all about our purchase in the October issue of Passagemaker magazine, where they ran an article I wrote about building our boat.
Good luck with your search and purchase.
Unfortunately Johnny Chueh has decided to exit the trawler market again after only building a few of these boats. I've had many conversations with him about it and he says he has just been away from the trawler market for so long that it would cost too much to get back into it at the volume he would need to make it profitable. He can develop, market and sell a motoryacht for considerably less than he can a trawler.
We feel fortunate to have gotten one of these. Since we took delivery of it we have continued to look at what else is in the market and for our purposes it is the best boat we could have chosen.
As I mentioned in our previous post, you can read all about our purchase in the October issue of Passagemaker magazine, where they ran an article I wrote about building our boat.
Good luck with your search and purchase.
To answer your original question, most cruisers of the type most of us have will take rough water better than the people on board them.
If you have a cruiser with a semi-planing hull it will have a shorter, faster roll with a sometimes very abrupt snap-back when it starts rolling back the other way. As opposed to a displacement hull (there is no such thing as a "full displacement" hull-- displacement is like dead; you either are or you aren't) which has a longer but slower roll with (usually) a more gentle transition to the roll back.
Some people find the snap-back roll of a semi-planing hull uncomfortable, some people find the slower, longer roll of a displacement hull sickening. So you have to pick your poison using your own preferences.
But as long as your boat is designed and loaded properly it will most likely be able to take whatever you can.
The other issue with most of the cruisers most of us have is the transom. Boats like our GB have wide butts. This is to maximize the volume of usable space inside the boat for things like queen berths and such.
In a following or quartering following sea, if you have a slow boat like ours the waves will be overtaking the boat, and when they encounter that big, flat transom they will shove the back of the boat around with all the power that waves pack with them. Keeping the boat from being pushed around broadside to the waves, or worse, being slewed around violently into a capsize (broach) can require some lively and continuous exertion with the wheel and sometimes the throttle(s).
Autopilots can help but the situation can reach a point where an autopilot can't keep up. Also, an autopilot can't anticipate, it can only react. The last fourteen years have taught us by virtue having to cross five to seven miles of an often-rough bay at the beginning and end of every run that handling a boat like ours in rougher water with the waves behind us requires as much if not more judgement, anticipation, and before-the-fact action with the wheel that reaction with the wheel when each wave hits us. And an autopilot can't do this.
So the bottom line is that I think cruisers like ours can handle a hell of a lot in terms of rough water. The more relevant question is what can you handle? What kind of a ride are you most comfortable with, and how good are you-- or do you think you can become-- at steering a wide-ass boat in conditions that are trying to take control away from you?
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bfloyd4445
Guru
out west with the the offshore currents and wind from the south west or west the flood can kill you. Killed two commercial fishermen at Tillamook oregon bar in october
Giggitoni
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Actually Larry is correct. With a west to northwest swell from the Pacific it's always best to enter with the flood. The flood has a tendency to "lay the swell down". During an ebb the swell stands up and the period shortens and the conditions become dangerous most of the time.
I'm not sure it was a flood tide, bad luck or judgement (?) or maybe there was another incident in October.
Coast Guard Rescues 2 After Vessel Capsizes Crossing Tillamook Bar - Salem-News.Com
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psneeld
Guru
Every experience boater knows to watch inlets where tide opposes current. Some are a breeze no matter whsat...some can be deadly.
Also the bars and standing waves can break unexpectedly with current surges.
ec...etc...etc
If you are not experienced or can read water and weather (and do your homework)...most dangerous inlets have some sort of traffic/rescue services that can be contacted for info.
My experience with west coast bars is the really bad ones had USCG spotters at the mouth giving advisories...do they still do that?
Also the bars and standing waves can break unexpectedly with current surges.
ec...etc...etc
If you are not experienced or can read water and weather (and do your homework)...most dangerous inlets have some sort of traffic/rescue services that can be contacted for info.
My experience with west coast bars is the really bad ones had USCG spotters at the mouth giving advisories...do they still do that?
The CG pretty much controls/gives advisories for the river/bar crossings on the WA, OR and northern CA coast from our experience. In 2008 we sat in Coos Bay, OR for 2 weeks waiting on weather. At one point the CG closed the bar to all recreational traffic. Later it was closed to recreational vessels less than 40'. The entrance is manned 24/7's, at least during the summer. Unless conditions were flat calm, we called the CG at every entrance for advise.
bfloyd4445
Guru
Ah, my mistake. I was crossing the bar at Coos Bay when i heard of the missing fishermen. Stuck in my mind as being lost at that time but maybe they had not yet been recovered when i heard the news on vhf. There have been many incidents there since the north jetty was repaired which messed the bar up.
Not sure if flood but there was lots of water coming down the rivers cause of all the rain at that time. I think it depends upon the angle of the winds in relation to the flood that would make the difference?? Is that correct?
Next time out i will check at the coast gaurd station to see what they have to say and will post what i find.
bfloyd4445
Guru
Yes they do, on occasion. Sometimes their resourses get stretched pretty thin.
Hey, just read this and it dosent make sense
THREE RESCUED FROM SINKING FISHING VESSEL NEAR COOS BAY OREGON
inShare
|ShareThree crewman were rescued Tuesday from the 38 foot fishing vessel MANATEE. The vessel began taking on water near the entrance to Coos Bay, Oregon. The United States Coast Guard sent a 47 foot motor life boat to rescue the crewmen. The vessel reportedly sank and an investigation into the cause of the sinking and salvage efforts are underway. Records indicate the MANATEE was built in 1941 and is owned by William Merrit. There are no reported injuries at this time.
The Coos Bay bar entrance is notoriously dangerous in heavy seas and high tides. Studies by the National Transportation and Safety Bureau have identified the Oregon Coast Crab fishery as the most dangerous fishery on the West Coast. Tragedy appears to have been diverted in this case, but safety precautions must be followed at all times to prevent seamen and fishermen lives from being lost.
I fish that bar and high tide always appears better to me. But you know, there is part of the south jetty and rocks that can be under water at high tide so someone not reading their charts or paying attention may find them unexpectedly. They are off the end of the south jetty
