As some of you may know, the Jericho Bay is a Joel White designed, 16’ Skiff, in the lobster boat style. The design specifies a rather pronounced ”hook” in the hull leading to the transom. The design is done this way to provide extra lift at lower speed and help the hull plane quickly.
It it does allow the boat to plane quickly. However, this advantage comes at a cost (at least in my personal experience). Our Jericho has two negatives that I think are attributed to the aforementioned “hook”.
At speed below planing and above idle, it seems to suck the aft end down. This makes steering uncomfortable and overly “jerky”.
On plane, she rides excessively bow down at various motor trims. (30hp etec with power trim for the record). This can lead to a wetter ride and again makes her steering less than ideal comfort.
For the record, I’m not bashing a great overall design and I truly love our “Juniper”. I am seeking greater understanding and experience. If along the way that generated suggestions for “solutions “ so much the better.
In local discussion with friends, lots of ideas are openly being debated. I have played with trim and weight distribution to some extent already. The problem can be exacerbated, but those solutions come up short of my ideal.
I’m wondering about solutions like trim tabs (take away from classic look a bit much for my taste) To refairing the bottom to cut back on the hook. (Pretty invasive one way “solution”) Or even reducing its rather substantial keel depth on the forward half.
Since this an actively built design sold by our forum host I also hope this might guide future builders and provide them options.
Thanks to anyone for their time and sharing experience and expertise here.
Comment