Running Shallow

2

2ndCurse

Member
How shallow can a V20 run? I was out on a 25' boat this weekend and was amazed how shallow it could run. He had a Porta Bracket and could could go skinnier than I would ever attempt. Has anyone set up their V to run skinny? Thanks
 
Back when my father owned the boat with a 140hp on it, he would bump across the bars to get into inlets. The bow would be slightly lower than the stern, with the motor trimmed up he said he would literally bump the bow across the bars with the combination of the waves washing in and the motors forward push.
Now I have the boat with a hydraulic jack plate and haven't taken the time for real sea or shallow water trials.
What MJ said sounds about right, I'm real interested to see what goes on with the jack plate also.
 
Kind of on topic...and will most definetly make me sound stupid but whats the best way to run aground??? Ex...."honey why are those crab pots half way out of the water??"" ahh **** were not gonna make it.

Is it better to slow down as easy as allowed? Throw it in neutral while raising the engine? Keep it on plane and hope to skip across? Thoughts.

-Svence
 
Somewhere around here is a spec sheet on the V-20 -- maybe in the history section. I believe that draft with the engine up was around 15-16". Next time I have my boat out on the trailer (maybe around Christmas) I'll measure from the waterline to the bottom of the hull.
 
Spec sheet shows 18" w/engine up, 31" engine down. I run a 23' Carolina Skiff and I draft 6" engine up and I can run in 18".
 
i was floating in 1.2 feet of water last weekend according to the depth finder. or should i say i was lost in the shallows and couldn't find my way out for over an hour. :bat:
 
I spend way too much time in shallow water. I can run across 15''s, anything less gets real scary.

As for the best way to run aground...when I see its gonna happen, I will pull back on the throttle smoothly but quickly to soften the blow. There are spots that I know are shallow that I run across and I just keep it on top...
 
Last trip we made the mistake of going up creek at dead low. I knew this spot could get hairy...plus to get to the prime location you go WAY up the creek - approximately 1.5 miles. Well, long story short me and buddy ended up pushing it about 1/3 of the way. At one point we ended up like this at each other:
:fight:
because we couldn't seem to find a way out of one spot and were thinking we might have to stay there until the tide came in. Not fun. Finally got it pushed across.

We would push for a while until it seemed deep enough, then hop in and run to the next shallow spot and repeat the process.

We did catch some flatties once we got there though. We went 4 for 11 on keeper/throwback ratio.

It was no Macojoe day, that is for sure!
 
I think that with the deadrise of the V-20 that it probably draws almost as much water on plane as at rest.

And remember, if your depthfinder says 1.2 feet, you have to ad 18" because the transducer is that far in the water to start with.

As for running aground, I agree with AS, SLOW DOWN so you dont knock your motor off the back.
 
Got 12" to the bottom of the V below the waterline and another 8" with the foot all the way down to the bottom of the skeg.
With the motor tilted up this measurement will decrease but as yet don't know to what. Keep in mind about the jack plate being all the way up!
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Hey Tsubaki,

Did you put the jacking plat on your boat? If you did what kind of performance difference did you achieve?

I was thinking of putting my 200 Yamaha on one want to make sure it is worth it. Will have to rebuild transom first.
Thanks
 
Bought the jack plate before the motor.
Currently the most use I've gotten out of it was to be able to have the boat up at an angle in order for it to drain when it rains and the motor jacked up and tilted down and not be in the dirt.
Gotta find out soon on the real benifits, I do know when running at idle speed I can draw 5" less water.
 
Just curious as to what kind of speed you can pick up if you go up with the motor once you are on plane.
 
On this boat, I have no experiance yet making comparisons.
I do know on my fathers pontoon boat, a 5" difference would increase the speed near 10 mph but in sharp turns, the prop would ventilate.
 
Thanks, don't think we would see that big of a difference though. I am hioping for a 2-3 kph increase, the big plus is not having the motor trimmed to the max.
 
Thanks, Pipe

Still got a pile of cosmetic stuff to do to the area's above the rubrail that was painted.
Burned just under 40 gallons this weekend playing with the boat and fishing a little.
Right now, best as I can tell, the most I can gain is about 2-3 mph.
Again the main benefit was being able to run the motor up for shallow water stuff.
 
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