25 foot imemsa panga handles 20 knot winds and 6 foot seas at 20mph with ease

[doc]

So I was down in the Keys for opening of lobster season, and had found lots of big lobster during two days of scouting on the outer reefs.  Come opeing morning the winds picked up to 20 MPH and the seas were at a steady 6 feet.  We start heading offshore, and despite thousands of boats in the keys for opening day of lobster season all we see is a single 35 foot or so Big commercial boat heading off shore.  As we pull past him, we see that every wave he hits burries his nose and sends water flying up over the pilot house but we are crusing easy and steady at 16mph with no problems straight into the swell, so we keep going.

Just about when we passed him, on plane with no problems except a bit of splash, he turned around and headed back in never making a dive...  leaving my little panga as the only boat heading offshore  that day on one of the busiest days of the season.  I reached my spot no problem, left my girl on the surface to live boat  and dove down a jug line to my spot, emptied the lobster nest I had identified with five nice sized bugs a day before ,  then headed to the surface.  Visibility and conditions underwater sucked, so we decided to head on back inshore to the bay.  

This is the roughest conditions my poanga has been out in yet, and was very surprised at how good the performance was.  The video is of my little panga comfortably cruising at 18-20 mph through true 6 foot seas without a problem.   As always the ride on this boat is smooth and comfortable and it never, ever pounds or comes down hard.  The boat displayed no bad behaviors, the boat never rapidly decelerated, the bow never stuffed, there were no sudden turns or dangerous pitches like I have experienced in other boast in simlilar conditions.  There was some spray but not one wave crested the gunnel at rest or while under way.  

I have been in the same conditions in probably 30 other small recreational boats in my life, and there is not one other recreational boat less than 45 feet that I think would have handled the conditions better or gave a safer more comfortable ride.

This video is posted for  anybody who sais that all pangas need tabs, any body who sais that all pangas pound, anybody who sais that pangas are flat water boats only, or that you need a powerful engine to bring a panga offshore safely.

For anyone contemplating how to set up a panga or anyother boat consider that Part of the success of this boat is the rear position at which the tiller is controlled from, and the very light construction and very light engine.  Heavy boats dig in and decelerate, lighty boats bob like a cork keep their speed and keep going.   When watching the video, imagine it was a center console and how much more I would be getting bouced around, or imagine I was i in the front like a pilothouse boat.  The tiller allows constant change of thrust and steering with minimal effort to keep speed steady as well which helps to contol the boat a whole lot

 Just about every cat I know would have been slamming the brigedeck or burying the amas and spinning or pitching , most front heavy cabin boats would have been taking waves over the house, most center consoles would have been slamming so hard that the boat would never been able to get up on plane.   Enjoy the video, comments appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDZsxV6Htec

[pathfinder11]

looks like your humming right along on top, nice ride for 65hp. whats the cruise and top end w/that 65?

[Redchaser]

Doc, I am a newbie with post 1. I am in love with the Panga Concept. Watching the video I was not sure I saw what you described as 6 ft Seas?
I'm not saying they were not. It just appeared that the Seas were not as rough as I saw the in the video.

Were you taking them in across wave direction or head on? It did not seem head on? That is where I was got confused?

Reading your other post's, I have no reason to question your Sea Experience.I just want to truly understand the capabilities of a Panga 26, which I am wanting to buy in the future.

6ft Seas would solidify my decision.

I have been in 8 ft. Seas in Cabo San Lucas on a 32 ft. Abermarlie. I was scared but confident in the Boat. I am hoping that a Panga 26 can come close?

That said, I would never take a Panga 26 out in any envirionment that would produce 6 ftr's. It just would be good to know that I would be okay if caught off gaurd?

Thanks


PS, I am sold on Tiller drive Boats. I have an Alumacraft 1756 Allweld Tunnel Hull with a 60hp Merc 4 Stroke that I fish in the Intercoastal of Texas that I love. I would love to build a Boat like yours.

[doc]

Sea states in feet are desribed by averinging the highest 1/3 of the waves and measured peak to trough.  When the boat road into the trough of each wave, and I was looking at the next wave approaching, they were at least head high or 6 feet peak to trough...  you can only really see it in the beginning of the video as Im at idle speed and heading straight into them.  The second way to desribe a sea is by its period in seconds, or time between peaks or troughs...  these seas are at about 4-6 seconds between troughs which would be usually described as short period swell like you get in a brisk wind blowing the waves up high like that morning. They are 6 foot seas by any assesment, and reported by NOAA on the same day as the same.   I came out to the reef heading straight into the swells, it was a bit rougher but I was able to maintain 15mph with no problem on the way out, slowing down to about 12 mph only a few times for some monster rollers that came through. In the video Im cruising back in toward shore after my dive on a stern quatering sea and it was much smoother than into them but rough nonetheless.   I have owned many boats, including a 31 foot diesel powered 15000 pound commercial fishing boat that would have got ist ass kicked and stuffed the bow taking waves over the pilot house on just about each set at 8 knots; and snap rolled and bow steered on the stern quartering sea... I never would have gone up on plane, and at displacement the ride would have been uncomfortable.  The only other boat I can think of that would handle about as well as this one well is a mirage 31 foot set up with inboard diesels.... very heavy, very deep vee, and not in the same class size.  I  cant think of another 25 foot boat that would have done better;  even a deep vee model parker 25, renowned for its offshore abilities would have been getting tossed around and probably would not have stayed on plane.  Ive never been in those conditions in the 26 foot model you speak of.  Ive         been in a dozen differecnt pangas though, and have been most im pressed by traditionally designed models with a lenght to width ratio of at least 4:1. Very hard to find on the american market thogh.

[doc]

PS If your gonna buy that 26 have him build you one custom with out a liner to save a thousand pounds at least and a few thousand off the price and set it up with a 90 or 115 HP that can be converted to tiller...  that would be a blast.  1/2 the price, twice the space, more utility and better performance.

Pathfinder:  WOT 32 MPH now that engine is broken in,  I usually cruise at 25 mph with 1000# of gear and people on the boat, getting about 6-7mpg average.  22mph at light loads gets me 8mpg... and by the way; these numbers are not instantanous mpg from a fuel flow meter...  If I cover 100miles over a day at  22mph avg with light load  by GPS, it will take 12 gallons to filler her back to the rim. 

[Keyscapn]

That is really impessive, Doc. Also thanks for the advice on the other post. I'm going to seriously look into the Imensa 26 with the tiller steering. I tried an experiment with my CC panga. I had a friend steer her into some steep chop while I stood at the stern. The difference in comfort is very noticeable.

Best regards,
Jeff

[slickster]

Difficult to really see the 6 ft seas....looks more like a 2-3ft confused chop....it's really all about the period/sharpness than the height...for pangas it's also more about the chop that the swells anyway...my 22ft pangamarine doesn't like any kind of head seas, unless you are doing 17 mph or so....

[Walt]

Good looking set-up you have. Those boats are amazing when you rig them the way they were designed to be. You probably don't even need trim tabs.

Thanks for sharing.
Walt