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How deep of water is it safe to run your boat?


2thdoc01

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Never had a V drive boat before....

What is the minimum SAFE depth to:

A: Start a pull

B: Run at ski speed

c: Run at wakeboard speed

D: Run at surf speed?

Just dont want hammer it and dig a trench and wreck anything...

Thanks!

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Most boats need 3' of clearance to be on the safe side. It all depends on what the bottom surface is like.

I wouldn't want to get in any water that is less that 5' deep.

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I run with my buddy all the time in a private lake and it is routinely < 5 feet. He gets worries about 3-4 ft. But I would say to turn round, etc...5' is safe. His lake is an old river lake where the river re-routed and so it is simply silt/sandy bottom.

We run My LSV in a HUGE lake with timber and shallows, so I get worried around 30ft. I think it is all sort of relative to the lake/waterway and bottom.

Most boats need 3' of clearance to be on the safe side. It all depends on what the bottom surface is like.

I wouldn't want to get in any water that is less that 5' deep.

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We live on a private pond and we have beavers that dam it up. Someone recently broke the dam so the water behind my boat lift is now under 3 feet. Makes me freakin' nervous. I got my spankin' new VTX delivered yesterday and asked the dealer and he said not to start it under 2 feet. At this point I drop the lift and push the boat out before starting - and docking I shut off and hope I aimed right.

Oh and about the spankin' new VTX - got delivered yesterday and last night was picked up and went for it's complete Wetsounds install.

Picks to come!! It is awesome!!!!!!! Drool.gifYahoo.gifThumbup.gifClap.gif

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Not sure about v-drives. With our DD we try to run in more than 5' of water but in late July in the river where we are now we will have to run in less than 3 feet. I won't start a pull with less than 3 feet showing but I will pull through less than 3 feet. We whacked the wedge the first summer we were out here - 7 years ago now. That made a huge mess, try to imagine taking a manual wedge and putting a 90 degree twist into the foil. I'm still amazed that we didn't do any damage to the transom. We were pulling my oldest son out on his board and must have caught the edge of an underwater stump with the corner of the foil. We were well under 3 feet of water that time - this river will drop over 15 feet between now and the middle of August. We now stay out of the river in August.

I'm guessing that your v-drive will squat more than my DD on a start but I might be wrong on that. It still amazes me how little water we really need to take off and how shallow a draft we actually have.

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We ski on a the Delaware River in PA. "Our" spot varies from 12 ft. to 3.5 feet. As long as I see 4' or more on the depth finder, I'm comfortable with it. We've been using that rule for years and never had a problem. There are a lot of guys with I/Os that boat in the same area, I still don't know how one of them hasn't bottomed out yet. In due time, I'm sure.....

So I'd say 4' min....5' is no problem unless your using a Sky Ski or something of the sort....

Thumbup.gif

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I start crapping my pants when I start to see about 3 feet of depth, mainly because my lake was a river that was flooded, so there is tuns of stuff that is unmarked, and lots of areas that used to be hills, and now are shallows. On another lake if you want to save about 2 minutes of boating you have to drive through about 3' to 1.5'.... in an IO (I work on that lake and my marina sells I/o's). The main reason for me crapping my pants at a low depth is because my family members have ripped the skegs off the bottom of our response a couple of times, and that leads to some nice bu-sinking action.

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I start crapping my pants when I start to see about 3 feet of depth, mainly because my lake was a river that was flooded, so there is tuns of stuff that is unmarked, and lots of areas that used to be hills, and now are shallows. On another lake if you want to save about 2 minutes of boating you have to drive through about 3' to 1.5'.... in an IO (I work on that lake and my marina sells I/o's). The main reason for me crapping my pants at a low depth is because my family members have ripped the skegs off the bottom of our response a couple of times, and that leads to some nice bu-sinking action.

IT only takes 18" to float them but we never go any where theres not more than 4'

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I don't like being in less then 5ft of water when towing or cruising. It all depends on your lake/river and how familiar you are. Some people ski on lakes then are only 7ft deep and seeing 4-5 is nothing. While others ride on lakes that are 400ft deep and when they see 40ft they start to get worried.

Our river has one shallow spot that by the end of the summer will read 3.5-5ft. I usually start avoiding that spot in late July but every now and then I have to go over it and I hate it!

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Thanks, it seems like the consensus is 4-5 feet. The lake we go to is sandy, and one area is about 5 feet but I will try to get thru that area and not start out in it.

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Our lake has spots that are 4 ft deep, no issues through there. We were told by out dealer that the VTX needs about 22 inches when unweighted.

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You'll need at least 6-7' for surfing, less than that & the wave won't be able to build well. We surfed through an area that was 6-7' & the wave visibly shrank, & when the depth dropped to 3' it all but disappeared. We didn't drag anything, even loaded down like we were, but I wouldn't want to make it a habit. :lol:

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You talking about actual water depth, or indicated on the depth gauge? You only need about a 1.5' indicated on the gauge, but at that point, you're pretty much asking for trouble.

Go check it out sometime. get your boat up into some shallow water, see what the depth finder indicates, and then feel around (carfully) with your feet and check the clearance beteween the prop/rudder to the bottom.

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We boat in the Potomac, which is quite shallow in the bays. Our very knowledgable dealer told us 1.5' on the gauge is a minimum for using the boat at all. 4' is comfortable (for us anyway) for pulling skiers/wakeboarders. I will admit that I did see 0.8 on the gauge when docking the boat once...I shut the engine off immediately, but there was still clearance from the bottom (I got in the water and checked)...

It's all about what you're used to. We moved here from a Lake that was 300' deep in parts. I used to cringe when the gauge showed less than 20'...Now I only get excited if I see less than 3'...! Some of my neighbors don't even have gauges on their boats...

I don't like being in less then 5ft of water when towing or cruising. It all depends on your lake/river and how familiar you are. Some people ski on lakes then are only 7ft deep and seeing 4-5 is nothing. While others ride on lakes that are 400ft deep and when they see 40ft they start to get worried.

Our river has one shallow spot that by the end of the summer will read 3.5-5ft. I usually start avoiding that spot in late July but every now and then I have to go over it and I hate it!

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If the lake has sand/silt bottoms, then 4' wouldn't bother me. Now if it is a rocky lake....might be a large rock sticking up. Not very forgiving on a prop strike. A little sand wont hurt though.

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The lakes that freak me out are the ones that were cleared forest land with loads of stumps on the bottom. Anyone in the NW that's driven by Detroit Lake in a down year will know what I'm talking about. You could go from 5 feet to 1 in no time flat.

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