Boating and weather advice

XCR-700 · 09-08-2019, 08:55 PM

Feeling safe and in control of your boat is a critical factor to truly enjoying your time on the water. And when you get to that point where you feel safe and always in control, you will enjoy your time so much more. So you need to think about more than just how to predict the wind on any day.

Wind is only part of the problem on weekends, the lake get churned up pretty bad by other boaters on Saturdays.

Also every boat rides different in rough wanter; our 20' Glastron ski boat is virtually unusable on Saturdays, our previous 23' Carlson was stern heavy and almost a flat bottom and you got pounded on a rough day, our 23' Caravelle was pretty good overall, and our 27' Formula is so much better than all my previous boats its hard to even describe the difference in spectrum from our ski boat to the Formula.

I have ZERO experience with pontoon boats, but the big tri-toons seem to do a whole lot better then a smaller and older twin pontoons when I see them crossing the lake in rough water.

I now try to take time off and boat during the week, it is totally different experience than any Saturday.

If you are only able to boat on Saturdays, try very early or very late in the day or think about a bigger and heaver boat. Life is short and time is our most precious and challenging to get commodity, so you need to figure out how to get what you need out of your time at the lake.

A couple of other quick final thoughts, as said by someone else add MPH to whatever wind speed any weather forecast says (they always seem wrong to me), and regardless of what the forecast says (i.e. forecast is for ZERO wind today) Winnipesaukee seems to create its own weather and wind mid-day that is never on the forecast. There is no such thing as a guarantee clouds and wind wont pop up at any time and you need to know that and ALWAYS be ready for it. It happens to me all the time, we finally moved up to a bigger boat in part because of this. So dont be surprised to find yourself thinking about an upgrade. Maybe try renting a bigger boat and see the difference for yourself, it usually pretty noticeable.

Good Luck and ENJOY your time on the lake.

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09-08-2019, 08:55 PM	#10
XCR-700 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: MA Posts: 1,342 Thanks: 753 Thanked 539 Times in 314 Posts	Feeling safe and in control of your boat is a critical factor to truly enjoying your time on the water. And when you get to that point where you feel safe and always in control, you will enjoy your time so much more. So you need to think about more than just how to predict the wind on any day. Wind is only part of the problem on weekends, the lake get churned up pretty bad by other boaters on Saturdays. Also every boat rides different in rough wanter; our 20' Glastron ski boat is virtually unusable on Saturdays, our previous 23' Carlson was stern heavy and almost a flat bottom and you got pounded on a rough day, our 23' Caravelle was pretty good overall, and our 27' Formula is so much better than all my previous boats its hard to even describe the difference in spectrum from our ski boat to the Formula. I have ZERO experience with pontoon boats, but the big tri-toons seem to do a whole lot better then a smaller and older twin pontoons when I see them crossing the lake in rough water. I now try to take time off and boat during the week, it is totally different experience than any Saturday. If you are only able to boat on Saturdays, try very early or very late in the day or think about a bigger and heaver boat. Life is short and time is our most precious and challenging to get commodity, so you need to figure out how to get what you need out of your time at the lake. A couple of other quick final thoughts, as said by someone else add MPH to whatever wind speed any weather forecast says (they always seem wrong to me), and regardless of what the forecast says (i.e. forecast is for ZERO wind today) Winnipesaukee seems to create its own weather and wind mid-day that is never on the forecast. There is no such thing as a guarantee clouds and wind wont pop up at any time and you need to know that and ALWAYS be ready for it. It happens to me all the time, we finally moved up to a bigger boat in part because of this. So dont be surprised to find yourself thinking about an upgrade. Maybe try renting a bigger boat and see the difference for yourself, it usually pretty noticeable. Good Luck and ENJOY your time on the lake.