Hard over at cruise speed. Was this a stupid move?

[Traveler 45C]

I know this should have been done at sea trial but I didn’t think of it.

At 16kts while on Traveler’s (45C) maiden voyage home after purchase, I turned her hard over to port, made a big circle in the water and when back on my original heading, I put her hard over to stbd. I did this to test her turning ability obviously.

She handled fine. She started her turn, leaned over gently and powered through strongly. No vibration, no stability issues, never once did I get that, “Oh s***” feeling.

I reported her performance in this maneuver to one of the “dock pros” at my marina and he told me that this should never be done as I could have ripped the rudders off the boat. I didn’t believe this and it has bothered me since.

So I thought I’d post the question here. Was that a stupid move?

 

[Avenger]

Not on a Hatteras. Actually, I recall a thread where GaryD described using hard-over S turns to familiarize captains with the boat's roll behavior. I believe he learned this trick from a Hatteras engineer. I'll see if I can find the thread.

 

[Avenger]

That was easier than I thought it would be. It's titled "Hatteras Engineer Test Ride."

Here's the link: http://www.samsmarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2013

Actually, as soon as I get done putting my new rudder shelf in I can't wait to try this trick out. BTW, having had all the steering gear apart on my 36 and seeing how that hull is built, and seeing the evidence of a long ago hard grounding: SS struts, not factory, snapped rudder post, bent and cracked rudder shaft, non-factory rudder and new post on the other side... Come to think of it, when I pulled the rudder shelf for a rot issue it wasn't even attached to the hull anymore! Yeah, this thing took a shot. No evidence on the hull whatsoever. No patches, no cracks, nothing. You can't kill these things. Besides, would you design a boat that could be broken by turning the wheel? I know Hatteras didn't.

 

[Traveler 45C]

Well, maybe this "dock pro" is worried about his own boat. I never see him working on it, he just takes it out fishing all the time. I'd sure like to do that, but safely.

This is the guy who left port to fish with only one rudder! Then lost the other engine (no steering) had to be towed in, fixed the engine issue and then went back out. I guess he didn't learn.

Dock pro? Hmmm!

 

[dougl33]

I'm not sure how much weight I'd put in this particular "dock pro's" insights.

 

[Pascal]

Not a stupid move, unless you work for Princess Cruise lines !

the dock pro must own a carver or sea ray...

 

[Traveler 45C]

It's not one of those and I can't remember what he has.

This guy actually worries about his rudders falling off in a hard maneuver??? OMG, I wonder what else he worries about. “Don’t spin the props too fast or they’ll spin off…”.

I’m still amazed at his comment. What kind of maint philosophy is that? Baby it so it doesn’t break?

Still, it must be TONS of water pressure on the rudders in a hard turn.

I remember being on the USS Midway, an Aircraft Carrier during a shakedown cruise performing hard-over “S” turns and nobody was worried about the rudders falling off. But it was still a little scary!

 

[Genesis]

I consider a "hard over" maneuver part of a good sea trial. If the boat's going to get squirrelly on you, I'd prefer to know BEFORE I buy it!

 

[Capt.Erich]

I have been on many factory sea trials. All of the boats are put through "s" turns figure 8's at cruising speed. What is more impressive is a full power backdown. It's kind of funny to see green water nearly submerge a water tight door on the transome of an 80' MY or a wall of water filling the cockpit of a SF.

 

[Traveler 45C]

What is more impressive is a full power backdown.

We did that on the carrier too.

 

[dougl33]

I remember being on the USS Midway, an Aircraft Carrier during a shakedown cruise performing hard-over “S” turns and nobody was worried about the rudders falling off. But it was still a little scary! /QUOTE]

Wasn't the Midway comissioned back in 1945? Exactly how senior of a member are you?

 

[Genesis]

I like a nice hard backdown test, but I'm not about to submerge a cockpit. When the water starts coming in that's a pretty good test....

The other thing a backdown test will show you is whether there are problems with the engine mounts. If you see the engines jump around - there are!

 

[Capten]

I have been on many factory sea trials. All of the boats are put through "s" turns figure 8's at cruising speed. What is more impressive is a full power backdown. It's kind of funny to see green water nearly submerge a water tight door on the transome of an 80' MY or a wall of water filling the cockpit of a SF.

I understand that Viking now does a ‘full throttle reverse’ test on all of their new convertibles. Apparently the first time they did a while back on a 60'+ convertible they bent all of the blades over on the new Veem propellers!

 

[Liquid Asset]

I regularly turn a 180 at a hard turn in our area. We somtime go out the river to run the boat but do not want to go out in the bay. It takes a hard turn to get around in the deep area. I have never had a problem and the boat does not even worry about it. I can not see why you would worry abou that. A good boat shoudl be able to do this at any time in the right conditions.

 

[luckydave215]

A good boat should be able to do this anytime in the wrong conditions.
Hatts are good boats.

 

[SeaEric]

The seatrial is the place to find out what you've got. The back down test is all about the motor mounts. I attended a survey/seatrial today on a 1947 Trumpy built 54' Motor Yacht. Yes, we did a hard reverse "burst" of throttle on a 59 year old wooden boat. She did fine. We did not do a hard over turn because we already knew that there was a steering quadrant issue. These tests are part of most all seatrials that I have run. If you need to make a panic move to avoid a collision, its good to know that the steering will hold and that the motors won't jump up out of the engine room. I hate when that happens.

 

[Boss Lady]

You can bet that the safety factor calculations were done when Hatteras designed them. What an idiot! I wonder if this guy even knows what sea state 2 is, much less that a Hatteras can deal with sea state 7 without difficulty. Damage the rudders doing standard manuevers, LOL, maybe I might damage them if I run over his Sea Ray, no, I almost forgot, Boss Lady smashed one of them to pieces, and only suffered a bent prop blade and some paint scratches.

 

[Traveler 45C]

Wasn't the Midway comissioned back in 1945? Exactly how senior of a member are you? [/QUOTE]

Yea she was. But I was commissioned in 1963...

Yer funny!

I got aboard in 1983. This shakedown was from a drydock period.

 

[Genesis]

I often joked - only half in jest - that one of the waterrats that used to like to play around in our wake when we were running the Destin inlet would barely scratch the paint on Gigabite were it to lose power at an inopportune time......