bow dipping

I will never understand why MC and most other boat mfg's have a lower front end. It does not make sense why they have a low bow when not under power. When Heavily weighted they want to dive to the bottom of the lake. MC's throw a nice chunk, but come on what is with the dipped bow? makes no sense to me - end of rant.

Visibility

Especially when towing.

I tell you what though.... we load our boats pretty heavy and rarely dip the nose of the X-star. I used to dip my Sanger much more regularly. Something about it being a longer boat seems to make them less sensitive to bobbing through the rollers.

Like Brenner said, visibility.

try driving a normal i/o with a normal bow/bowrider.....you will find your self peeking of the bow light more than you think. 1 reason why i will never get out of inboards again.

Every time someone drives my friends tige for the first time i swear they are going to sink it! I have taken on my FARE share of water with that boat.

We've been through 5 Mastercrafts. This has never been a problem....no more than other makes anyway. I meN I've dunked a few, but it doesn't seem worse on an MC.

Just one of those things that you have to keep you eye on. When I first started with the wakeboard boats I would dip the bow every couple of outings. Now it's rare that I dip it.

Towing???? Is not what thos things on the side of the truck for, ya know mirrors??

My friend's dad used to do it ALL the time. Swamped their 04 X-Star with about 6 inchs of water a couple of times. HA. You just have to stop then turn. Works for us.

Matt said it. Wait for your rollers. Pop her in neutral, turn the wheel. pretty soon, you're facing your rider with no rollers.

shane, towing a rider.

yea if the bow didnt have any dip to it there would be no way you could see without standing up when pulling a rider.

i remember back in the day when i used to ski behind a jet boat when we would hit the gas to start pulling or even driving normally the bow would rise up so high that you better have nothing in front of you for a good 1/2 mile otherwise you were going to hit it and would never have seen it.

I've been in a heavily weighted x-start that took water over the front and rear in the same stop. I had a ecm problem that caused it to kill the engine when accelerating. It would get to about 12 mph/2000 rpm and then just die. Bow would sink and then the wave from the rear would come over the sundeck. Cost me a $1500 video camera.

yeah in lake chelan i had a ton of weight in my x-star, and I dipped the nose a lot, took on a lot of water.

MB Tomcat doesn't dip the bow! It ain't purty, but it is functional!

You get better at not doing it. I grew up with closed bow Mastercrafts so if you did it, the water hit you in the face. Just goose the throttle to get the nose up when you cross over a large wake. I have taken water over the front maybe twice in the last ten years.

We used to get a few wakes over our 02 X-Star when we were surfing. It only happened if we stopped to fast and had alot of weight in the boat. Just have to slow down slowly.

Our boat doesn't have a dipped bow and you can see over it fine when towing a rider, even sitting down (where the drivers seat used to be, it snapped off and we got sick of fixing it, had one part welded back together and another part broke the next outing, so we just leave it out now and stand up to drive). Take off is the only time you can't really see where you're going but that is the same deal with any boat and it only lasts a few seconds.

Then again, she aint no ski boat. Just a fishing boat with a big motor and a weight problem.

(Message edited by jtnz on April 14, 2008)

I see people dip their bows after a power turn to pick up the rider. If you come off of plane then turn and idle back no problem.

Visibility has never been an issue. When heavily weighted there is minimal distance from water line to bow. This is not directed at newbie’s. When one of the top mfg's designs a boat it makes no sense to me why they have the bow spooning toward the water. You should get the point.

is that your boat?

(Message edited by denverd1 on April 15, 2008)

U serious?

hell yes I'm serious.

What boat are you dipping?

I dipped the bow a couple times on my 21V but as I got used to how to handle the boat it didn't happen again.

Like these guys have said, its something that you'll "grow out of".

I like the dipped bow look personally. Sink the trim plate and give it gas if you're in chop.

well okay, just let your rollers pass and you won't have a problem. no matter what boat you're in.

I dipped my bow on my Tige 24Ve when I first purchased it. Now I have the RZ2 (which is a lot lower than the 24Ve is) and I have yet to dip it. Just takes some practice, knowledge of the boat, and situation at hand. You will get it.

When a roller is coming in toward your bow, and you are stopped, try clicking reverse at a slow idle speed. Don't know why, but it just works.

With a heavy loaded boat, it often works better than goosing it forward.

J-rod explain that one to me. I understand what your saying, but I don't understand why that works. how does the boat react?

I think J-rods method would basically make the boat move with the roller a little bit so it can kind of "ride" instead of smacking into it. With the boat heavily loaded you might not have enough time to bring the front up enough if you gas it and therefore making the problem worse because you really smack into the roller.

Guess I will have to try it.

I think it would also move water against the roller, giving it less impact. I'll have to try it as well.

I've only dipped mine once but my boat was heavily weighted and I hit a big roller at the wrong angle it's a little thing I like to call not paying attention

Ussually we use the slow reverse method when the boat is heavily loaded, we're sitting still, and we spot a few rollers coming in fast.

Clicking into reverse gently moves the boat backwards with the rollers.

"With the boat heavily loaded you might not have enough time to bring the front up" exactly!

I've doubted it several times on the biggest rollers, but it's never let me down. Slow reverse works.

I've personally put the front end of a Prostar 197 under water where the water kept coming till I slammed it into reverse and pulled it out of the hole. Terrifying. Then again...that happens when you have 10 people laying on full fat sacs througout the boat

They only time i ever took water over the closed bow of the old Tigé was when a large cabin cruiser barreled by too close to the bow while we were putting a rider in the water, of course the windshield was open and roller number three came right over and in! And of course i had my back to it and never saw it coming either!

Jarrod is right. The slow reverse works every time. And, if you have huge rollers coming at you, just give it a quick punch in reverse. You just end up moving with the rollers instead of into them and reverse typically brings the nose up.

Also, if you come into them with any kind of angle it usually takes care of it. Even with my boat really heavily weighted I have very few issues. It will get close a lot, but it normally holds. It's nothing a little mindful driving can't take care of.

J-Rod - thats what I do. It works 99% of the time.

Approval from Travis Moye on my driving....Sweet!

"reverse typically brings the nose up."

really? I always noticed the opposite.
I really can't believe I just questioned Travis Moye on driving a boat. I am such a bastard.

Hey.... I'm pretty sure that was my trick, first... LOL!!! Everyone doubts it, but it works everytime. Having created my driving technique in a super dumped Sanger DLX I became very good at not dunking the nose. My boat was usually slammed to the rubrail. You didn't dare hit rollers any way except sideways and when you didn't have time for that you just backed up. Just be careful if you have a rider in the water or shore nearby (which is always the case at the delta).

You definitely get the credit for that one Evan.

Train, you are right reverse will bring the nose down, but when you do it with a short little punch it will dip and then the boat will rock back bringing the nose up, especially with the help of the roller.

And, I am here solely for verification of the method. I hold no copyrights or trademarks.

Excellent! The old dog has learned something today.

thanks for clarifying Travis. I had a feeling that was what your were getting at, but was not all that certain.

Travis... I'm sure you've been using that method since I was in diapers. LOL!!!