What's the 'softest' hull design?

[Gringo]

Wife and I moved to the tropics four years ago, and started running small boats hard on day one. We have run a Whaler Montauk 17 ft., a Whaler Dauntless 18', then our Andros panga 22 foot, and now a Contender 25 foot.

All of these are planing hulls. We drive em standing up, and two foot chop is pretty much the norm for average conditions, on top of whatever the swells are doing.

The pounding is killing us. I hate to admit it, but my knees started going to hell, and her back started going the same direction, after the first year or two of us running boats here. Now, I have just had one knee replaced, and she has had a steroid injection into her spine.

Lets face it, this doesn't fix the problem. The problem is that we engage in high impact boating.

We don't want to give up boating. Its a big part of the reason we moved to a small island nation. IF we didn't love boats and the ocean, we might as well be snowmobiling in the mountains somewhere. But we love boats.

SO, I am looking for ideas. What hull design would allow us to continue boating without the pounding? A catamaran? A displacement hull? A (gulp) blowboat? I am serious about that, too. A sailboat would work, but we would be giving up a lot of fishing.

Does anyone make a shock absorbing seat, like the long haul truckers have in their rigs?

Any constructive ideas greatly appreciated.

[Patudo]

Not sure how far you have to go to your fishing grounds but I'd suspect probably not all that far. I have some doubts whether any planing boat in the size range you have been owning (17-25 feet) will give you a really soft ride at speed in those conditions but if going out to the grounds at trolling speed won't disadvantage you too badly in terms of time taken to get there, a displacement vessel could be well worth considering. There is also the bonus that they require a much smaller engine and consume a lot less fuel. Plus, in my experience, boats with small single diesel inboards tend to raise fish really well...

[cdail28590]

I would look at a 23' World Cat. Cats have there querks but they are soft riding and don't slam. You would just want some good curtains for sneeze out the front. I have talked to many cat owners that now have larger cats (33' or bigger) and they all say if they couldn't have the big cats they would have the 23. Something about that set up makes for a great ride.

[clt_capt]

There are shock absorbed helm chairs made for Coast Guard, Offshore Racing, etc - unfortunately they are quite large and very expensive - Might not be the fit for the contender...

[RCARNEY]

You could always pull those levers back. High speed troll to the grounds, you have fertile waters right off the beach there. On the calm days you still can let her rip. Even the
50'+ boats do not always run their normal cruise for obvious reasons. Just because you can run 40 knots does not mean you must. I am not busting you, there are plenty of guys that could benefit from throttle control.

[Bligh]

Whats the hurry? Your in heaven already,why the rush?

[Gringo]

Problem is not just the trolling, we actually use the boat more for transportation than we do for fishing. The 300 HPDI is bad enough on fuel on plane, it really really sucks trolling. And fuel is down to $ 3.60 a gallon here, lowest we have seen it in years.

I am thinking, if I have to putt putt around, then this is not the boat for it.

have any of you guys had any experience with these pedestals?:

http://www.seaspension.com/

[Gringo]

Whats the hurry? Your in heaven already,why the rush?

uh, 30 miles at 1 mpg at $ 3.60/ gallon...

[Questsportfishing]

what are your costs on oil now??? they make some real good white pads you put down on the deck and they take away a bunch of chop! wish you guys would have come up and seen my 25 mako I rebuilt with the e tec 250... the cats are a great ride for a twin hull though.. the inboard rigs tend to be a heavy rig and not as fast but the ride is great.

[Gettinwet]

well they are an older boat and it might be a tough one to find but the 24 wellcraft airslot is the softest dryiest riding boat i have ever been on in it's class...you have to run one to belive it...2-4 ft chop no problem even at 20-25 knots....my dads back is SHOT and even he can run around all day on my boat...