Sea trial - Swift 34

[bmckinnon]

I read a old post an another forum about the Swift having a whiplash effect and wanted the opinion from owners ONLY please.

My wife and I went on a sea trial of a Swift 34 in two to three foot seas in heavy boat traffic.

She felt that the ride rolled very heavy and leaned a lot during sharp turns.
She I be concerned?

Do other boats “feel” the same in this size?

I have a small bow rider currently so I do not have experience with this size and type of boat.


Thanks!

[johnma]

I see no owners answered yet so i'll throw in my 2 cents. Any relatively light, narrow flybridge boat will roll in those conditions. Your bow rider is only 2' above the water line so while it bounces a lot in a heavy sea and is also very wet, it will not roll very much. Add a bridge 10' high on your bow rider and you would then really notice the rolling motion. I've only been on one Swift trawler and liked it a lot. They have a 13' beam and only weigh 16,000 lbs; that is why they can hit 15 kts easily. A wider, heavier boat would not roll as much but you give up speed.
john
2003 MS 390

[rclarke246]

Hi, we drove the 34 and liked it, but bought the 44.

Had an experienced captain take her out last summer and he really liked the ride and handling.

I think either is perfect for the Chesapeake and coastal cruising, in fact, I'm surprised that there aren't way more around!

Our dealer, Annapolis Yacht Sales, offered to buy ours back after 1 year, at full price, if we didn't like it.
No need, we love her.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[SOJOURN4]

My Captain and I had a ST 34 for almost 4 years - Cruising from the lower Chesapeake to NYC - Some good WX days and more than a few bad WX days.

NEVER did we feel that the sea conditions were too much for the boat. Certainly with a light fly bridge boat, you are going to "feel" some rolling effects.

We upgraded to an ST 44 this past March

[Joebad]

We ran 3' seas from St. Pete to Ft Myers in our new 34. Seas were at 1 o'clock and I tipped the boat slightly to port and the ride was great at 17 knots. We rode st Pete to boca grande that way over 5 hrs. Later at pt Yerba we rode a storm anchored with 28 knot winds (on the AWS indicator) and 4' plus seas and the boat handled that very well. Because of the hard Chines it doesn't roll like a displacement or high dead rise hull: much less bit with gear and fuel/water it is light at 18000 pounds. The deep keel helps too. Tracks like a laser, no wander. My best top end so far is 23.8 mph at 6 degree bow rise. We're very impressed with the boat after 2 weeks. We like 7.8 mph at 1300 rpm and 8 lph fuel burn.

[Joebad]

34 update, with 2 months and over 100 hours on our ST 34 we are thrilled with the boat. All of the little things add up to a wonderful live-aboard trawler. I must say that without both thrusters it would be difficult to dock but with them it is a cinch. We went key west to ft myers at 18 kts and burned 130 gallons of diesel. Seas were rough (4 footers) and direct from the starboard side fir half the trip but it handled well. This week we went from ft myers to Moore Haven (up the Caloosahatchee) 55 miles each way. We ran at 7 mph at 3.8 lph on the flow gauge and ran the generator with ac for 6 hours if the trip. On return we filled up with 18 gallons of diesel!! We were towing our AB9.5 tender. I am sure 7 mph (6 kts) is our displacement speed. That is a beautiful trip for anyone who hasnt tried it. Because we have iur boat loaded with "stuff" top speed is 19.5 kts. Maintenance is easy and storage on the boat is outstanding. All systems work to perfection. Will be adding two sets of golf clubs to the lazarette this week. I am going to put a tender mount on the swim deck. The Cummins 6.7 diesel is very quiet and smooth and the acceleration is amazing!


Sunset Grille 2016- Swift 34

[Joebad]

Btw run rough water from the lower helm. Also a semi displacement boat resists rocking compared to full disp because the big keel and chines work for you. We find rocking from side waves to be minimized on this boat. I followed a newly acquired friend in his15 year old nordic tug (nice boat!!) and it rocked more than we did from passing boats. It was same length at waterline and weight as ours and at 1130 rpm (both of us) his 220 hp Cummins burned the same amount of fuel as our 425 hp Cummins, (probably due to a more modern engine in the Beneteau). (Just a note about hard chined boats and stability)


Sunset Grille 2016- Swift 34