Add keel to power boat

When you say, it doesn't "track", what direction of travel relative to the wave train, are you speaking of, when the problem shows itself ?

 

Sea Dozer, forget about the bulbous bow, as it's not going to do anything for you on that boat, except cost money to make, add wetted surface, make turning more difficult and limit effective speeds. A bulbous bow is used on vessels that will travel day after day (week after week) at the same speed and in these cases yep, you can get some fuel savings.

Your boat is exactly what I figured it was and it's a semi protected waters hull form at best, being forced into a role it's just not well suit for (deeper less protected waters). Essentially, this set of shapes is designed for relatively smooth water and the rougher it gets, the worse the ride and handling becomes, eventually forcing you to throttle way back and crawl toward shore.

Replacing the current strakes with channel, so you can insert some sacrificial wooden strips is a good idea, especially if you run her aground or beach her a lot. The strips will offer something to replace when they get torn up. These strakes will not help the handling of the boat much, unless well shaped and they don't appear to be very well shaped at all, in fact way too big currently, to be effective as lifting strakes.

If you're running a single outboard, just use two strakes, mounted about 15" (381 mm) inboard of the chine on each side. These will run in a straight line (paralleling the centerline) from the bow to the stern, but stopping about 3' (1 m) short of the transom. They shouldn't be very big, maybe 2" (51mm) - 3" 76 mm) wide and only a 1" (25 mm) to 1.5 (38 mm) tall. The inboard edge ideally should be heavily rounded over, while to outboard edge very crisp, well at least as crisp as you can reasonably keep it. A centerline runner or strake will do no good, unless it's a much deeper skeg (at least a foot deep). This will help tracking a good bit, but also increases drag and decreases maneuverability.

If you want to make splash knockers, just weld a length of 1" (25 mm) angle to the hull, right at the chine, in the forward sections of the hull. These just need to stick out (maybe angled down a tad) above the LWL, in the forward sections of the hull. This will strip the bow wave and most splashes off the hull, knocking them outward. The hull itself is going to make pretty big splashes in some conditions, but for general use, the boat will be drier with these lengths of angle on the chine in the forward 1/3 of the hull (only as far aft as those reinforcement plates).

What kind and amount of power are you running? What speed are you getting in smooth water at WOT?

 

With apologies to the OP, the boat would win the Fugly award, hands-down. It has no forefoot to speak of, which makes me suspect it is getting knocked off course in quartering seas. An off-shore boat it ain't.

 

The hull form is crude, sort of a sea skiff, but not well defined, particularly the chine. I'm sure in its role as a CG launch and utility, it performed well, but asking it to be more than what it is, well can be difficult to say the least. The foredeck has a narrow walkway around the house, which is all that was needed for handling dock lines, so well suited in her utility role at the CG.

Tracking can be improved, but sea kindliness will never get much better. I'm not sure how much immersion she has afloat, but the bottom paint suggests she's well burdened. On nice days in the bay, it'll do fine and a skeg could help tracking, but as the weather picks up, the ride, comfort, wetness and handling will proportionally decrease. Handled intelligently, she'll do fine in most conditions, even if she offers up a beating on rough days. She'll offer a stable fishing platform, will climb up on plane quickly assuming sufficient power and she'll be a dream in smooth water.

 

Thank you for the advice. For power it has a Volvo Penta 180, 6cyl. Not very fast 28mph tops. Cruise about 19mph. Also the tracking problem is mostly under way slow. Very noticeable while trolling.
The season is warming up. Started on the boat projects. I even bought a new 212 Miller with 200 series spool gun. Hoping to address two cracks I found on the bottom of the hull, also the skegs re fitted. I also found a large flag pole to scrap and cut up hopefully into a small crane for the deck. The boat is also in need of a bow rail and I'm excited to use the new welder and pipe bender to make it. Like to make the bow rail from 2 inch aluminum thinking I should find pipe made of 6061 aluminum. Please let me know if that's not the best to use as a bow rail. Not exactly sure which type is the best to bend and weld.

 

I was also curious if I could I improve the tracking that it would increase Safty from a following wave. Where I lobster fish I launch in and out of a cannal with ship traffic also strong currents. At times the waves tend to double up on each other and I'm curious if one caught me off guard it could potentially spin me to the side and roll the boat. Actually I know it could spin and roll but if I can improve the tracking some can't that improve some?

 

Also I'm not expecting miracles just some improvement would be nice and I love to tinker with stuff. The boat is great for the close shore lobstering I do in a relatively smooth waters in the summer. The other side of the Cape tends to be more like a washing machine (industrial kind) and that's where the better fishing for fish is. Also at times tuna come close to sure and I may have a chance. I don't intend to go further than 15 miles out to sea. Stay in radio range anyways. I will post pics of progress if anyone's interested.

 

The general shape of your boat's hull means slow speed handling will suck. It's the nature of the beast. Those big square rub strips will help some (not much) and certain speeds will do better than others. A large centerline skeg will also help, though it will increase draft. On a boat this size a 10" to 12" deep, tapered skeg, so you're not "chasing" the the helm constantly at low speeds, will help more than the rub strips, you currently have. Make it about 8' long, starting about 4' forward of midship.