Largest swells your Parker can take

[offduty5]

Been in some bad swells in my 1994 1800CC… 2019 Suzuki 90…head seas following seas…no seconds apart.. 3 - 3.5 occasional 4..and never worried … she thinks she is a bigger boat then what she is… it also has a lot to do with your skills of boating… and I have been boating a very long time…. Just know yourself and how your boat performs… and like myself be safety conscious… be safe out there guys… catch them up..

 

[Tonyp421]

I want to start with I’m very happy with my sons 2520 we both enjoy it but it has it limits and is far from comfortable in rough water I have to say anyone that says they are in legit 5-6 ft with a 3-4 sec period in a 18 ft parker or any Parker for that matter is full of sh t it would be bone crushing and teeth shattering a legit 6 fiooters that tight I’ve been boating my whole life I do not say this without experience and I’m assuming that these statements are coming form people that don’t know what legit 6 ft tight seas are really like

 

[IrishCousins]

I want to start with I’m very happy with my sons 2520 we both enjoy it but it has it limits and is far from comfortable in rough water I have to say anyone that says they are in legit 5-6 ft with a 3-4 sec period in a 18 ft parker or any Parker for that matter is full of sh t it would be bone crushing and teeth shattering a legit 6 fiooters that tight I’ve been boating my whole life I do not say this without experience and I’m assuming that these statements are coming form people that don’t know what legit 6 ft tight seas are really like

Obviously Tony has not been on Lake Erie, where 6' waves with 3-4 second intervals are quite common.
I was caught 17 miles out of Ashtabula, Ohio with 15-20 knot South winds. My mistake. Parker 2120 SC with 200 Yamaha. Damn glad I had that boat that day. Took 2 waves over the top, with windshield under water. Long, slow ride back to dock, but I know in a lesser boat it could have been a different story.

 

[Tonyp421]

Obviously Tony has not been on Lake Erie, where 6' waves with 3-4 second intervals are quite common.
I was caught 17 miles out of Ashtabula, Ohio with 15-20 knot South winds. My mistake. Parker 2120 SC with 200 Yamaha. Damn glad I had that boat that day. Took 2 waves over the top, with windshield under water. Long, slow ride back to dock, but I know in a lesser boat it could have been a different story.

Correct.I am not familiar with Lake Erie but am very familiar with the offshore NE and canyon waters and familiar with those seas good luck on that 21 Parker definitely too much for me post a video when you get a chance

 

[Andy]

Hey All,

I was curious what’s the worst conditions you’ve taken your boats out and how sketchy it was or wasn’t.

1. Boat size (ft)
2. Swell (ft)
3. Period (s)
4. Wind (mph/knots) and direction relative to swells.

Thanks!

Not mine, but someone else's

 

[Tonyp421]

Those are not 6 foot seas at 3 seconds he is surfing a wave into inlet and did a nice job that boat cannot take 6 ft every 3 sec to the bow I’m still waiting for the video better yet show me even legit 4’s or 5’s with same interval a swell is a lot different than every 3

 

[Mpellet]

Those are not 6 foot seas at 3 seconds he is surfing a wave into inlet and did a nice job that boat cannot take 6 ft every 3 sec to the bow I’m still waiting for the video better yet show me even legit 4’s or 5’s with same interval a swell is a lot different than every 3

I had a real eye opening incident about 8 years ago and learned some valuable lessons from it. I have/had run my boat for a lot of offshoring miles and through a lot of weather and there had been instances when I had to slow way down and take precautions when wx conditions developed that were worse then forecast but I had never been in a situation that I would put anywhere close to being survival mode or had the $hit scared out of me.

My friend and I, both very experimented offshore technical divers had just completed a 2+ hour dive on a big submarine (USS BASS) that sits under 158 feet of water about 8 miles South of Block Island (RI). It was a beautiful September Day and the water was warm for New England. We were less then 5 miles from my slip in Mystic CT approaching a narrow gap in a reef on the Eastern end of Fishers Island when I noticed that the sea conditions in that inlet didn’t look right. I’d been through this gap 100s of times without incident on days when the wind was blowing twice as hard as it was this day but the timing today was perfect to develop steep waves with a very strong tide combined with the perfect wind direction to stack up the waves like I had never seen them before. I should have turned East and entered from another gap in the reef but I continued straight ahead thinking it wouldn’t be that bad. Very POOR decision on my part! We immediately entered a patch of water 200-300 yards long that had 6-7s with almost 0 interval. I could not believe it! My buddy and I laughed about it later, here are 2 guys who have just executed a 150 foot + dive 28 miles offshore and I am screaming at him “GET THE LIFE JACKETS” and we are literally less then 50’ from land! My Parker 2520 was absolutely slammed about and I could barely keep it heading into the waves and the engine was cavitating a lot. If I had lost power or steering for just a second in that patch of water, my boat would have been flipped over instantly with me and my buddy having to get our a$$es out of the wheel house. Everything kept running and within a couple of minutes we were in the clear but it was truly an eye opening event. We are still friends today and that event still comes up and we now laugh about it. His memory of it are as vivid as mine and him imitating my command to “GET THE LIFE JACKETS” always leaves us both laughing.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like to find one’s self in conditions like we experienced that day but instead of being a 200-300 yard stretch of water like that, how about 20 miles of it?

Scary to think about but also possible. I have a lot of faith in my Parker 2520 and routinely fish her 50+ miles offshore but I try to never let myself get too over confident because the Ocean is VERY powerful and on any given day VERY capable of letting you know who’s the boss…..

 

[POGE]

2300 CC. Slow rollers, 7’ head on , 4’ from the sides And a flowing sea.

 

[Tonyp421]

I had a real eye opening incident about 8 years ago and learned some valuable lessons from it. I have/had run my boat for a lot of offshoring miles and through a lot of weather and there had been instances when I had to slow way down and take precautions when wx conditions developed that were worse then forecast but I had never been in a situation that I would put anywhere close to being survival mode or had the $hit scared out of me.

My friend and I, both very experimented offshore technical divers had just completed a 2+ hour dive on a big submarine (USS BASS) that sits under 158 feet of water about 8 miles South of Block Island (RI). It was a beautiful September Day and the water was warm for New England. We were less then 5 miles from my slip in Mystic CT approaching a narrow gap in a reef on the Eastern end of Fishers Island when I noticed that the sea conditions in that inlet didn’t look right. I’d been through this gap 100s of times without incident on days when the wind was blowing twice as hard as it was this day but the timing today was perfect to develop steep waves with a very strong tide combined with the perfect wind direction to stack up the waves like I had never seen them before. I should have turned East and entered from another gap in the reef but I continued straight ahead thinking it wouldn’t be that bad. Very POOR decision on my part! We immediately entered a patch of water 200-300 yards long that had 6-7s with almost 0 interval. I could not believe it! My buddy and I laughed about it later, here are 2 guys who have just executed a 150 foot + dive 28 miles offshore and I am screaming at him “GET THE LIFE JACKETS” and we are literally less then 50’ from land! My Parker 2520 was absolutely slammed about and I could barely keep it heading into the waves and the engine was cavitating a lot. If I had lost power or steering for just a second in that patch of water, my boat would have been flipped over instantly with me and my buddy having to get our a$$es out of the wheel house. Everything kept running and within a couple of minutes we were in the clear but it was truly an eye opening event. We are still friends today and that event still comes up and we now laugh about it. His memory of it are as vivid as mine and him imitating my command to “GET THE LIFE JACKETS” always leaves us both laughing.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like to find one’s self in conditions like we experienced that day but instead of being a 200-300 yard stretch of water like that, how about 20 miles of it?

Scary to think about but also possible. I have a lot of faith in my Parker 2520 and routinely fish her 50+ miles offshore but I try to never let myself get too over confident because the Ocean is VERY powerful and on any given day VERY capable of letting you know who’s the boss…..

 

[forrest lyman]

I fish offshore on my 2007 1801 and have had three memorably bad days, including one where they got the weather forecast completely wrong, and the 3-4 meter swell (common where I fish in northern baja) pitched up, doubled and started breaking at the tide change about 40 miles out.

It was a terrifying and very long ride home, but the reserve bouyancy of the Carolina bow and self bailing deck kept it from being really dangerous. When we washed the deck you just:

1. point her up hill
2. get onto the mid point of the swell where its a little smoother
3. let her clear (don't overpower at this point, take your time)
4. punch it up and over

I actually had a water activated keychain that blew up half way home haha!

Couple more notes if you end up in a situation like this:

• put on your life jacket
• make sure your ditch bag is within arms reach
• when you get up top you get the advantage of height with VHF range, call out to other boats and let them know where you are
• thank god you have the toughest little boat on the planet

 

[pelagic2530]

With these boats, the limiting factor is pretty much never the boat; it’s the squishy pink things inside it and, by extension, the skill with which they can operate the boat.

Also a factor is endurance- you and your boat can probably make it through a nasty wave line in an inlet with few issues, provided it’s properly powered, loaded, and operated. Fighting through large, stacked up seas for 10 miles before that inlet, especially with only one operator, is going to tire you out- and that’s when you’re going to make a mistake in the inlet. Even though conditions might be something the boat can handle with no problem, it’s possible that they’re too much for the operator.

There’s no real answer to this question.