Barnegat Inlet 22' Boat

[ceeg52]

I recently purchased a 22' Sea Ray bowrider (260 HP) and was wondering if on good weather days if the boat is big/safe enough to exit the Barnegat Inlet and fish within 3-5 miles from Island Beach State Park.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[Gerry Zagorski]

You should be fine as long as you pick your days. Even the nicest of days the inlet could get nasty when the wind and tides are running in the opposite
direction so pay attention to your tide tables and wind direction.

[Capt. Debbie]

The winds should be significant 15 and up.

Also swells from storms. If coming inwards and tide going outwards the big rollers get steeper.

You will see it. It does NOT come from no where, as long as you pay attention.

Out to the horizon is not bad.

Also some heavier weather experience makes you a better sailor to practice theories of seamanship. This of course, is under controlled conditions. It wont be a big wave or two, it'll be 100's of rollers.




You should be fine as long as you pick your days. Even the nicest of days the inlet could get nasty when the wind and tides are running in the opposite
direction so pay attention to your tide tables and wind direction.

[ScowardNJ]

Iv'e been boating out of BI for 20 years. Had 20CC and now run a 22CC. You will be fine. If its a washing machine just keep your bow into the swells hand on the throttle and TAKE YOUR TIME! It's never a race getting out of the inlet.
If its snotty coming in, enter from the north side around the tower. Watch the rollers coming in and power up behind a wave and maintain speed BEHIND the wave. DONT think you can surf a boat in, you will run the risk of listing and shit will go very bad very quick! It sounds scarier than it actually is but after some experience it's a piece of cake.

You will know it's the wrong time to run the inlet when you are at the back by the light house and it looks like the banzai pipeline rolling across the mouth.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Here is a thread from a while back on the subject

http://www.njfishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19143&highlight=Running+inlets

[Duffman]

I recently purchased a 22' Sea Ray bowrider (260 HP) and was wondering if on good weather days if the boat is big/safe enough to exit the Barnegat Inlet and fish within 3-5 miles from Island Beach State Park.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Does the boat have a self bailing deck?

[Gerry Zagorski]

Good question Duff.... If it's like most Sea Rays that are designed for cruising, the deck scuppers usually drain into the bilge. And this particular boat being a bow rider and having an open bow is cause for some additional concern... If you take one over the bow, the bilge pump could have a difficult time dealing with all that water.

Had this happen to me once... We had a cresting wave break right on our bow on Romer Shoal.. Pretty stupid but that's another story in itself... Our boat was a cuddy but the force of the wave blew in the eisgn glass above the windshield and we had a foot and a half of water in the cockpit.

Luckily we had a self bailing cock pit and once we got the boat under power and the stern squatting, everything drained out of the scuppers.

[Capt. Debbie]

Good lesson there in boat handling Gerry!

You have to power out of that to stay in control the slosh of the excess water to prevent capsizing. And stay like that.

That's all that works, aside from just dumb luck. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT.

Bow riders also have crap freeboard at the bow. And are heavier in the bow, meaning it responds SLOWER to meet steeper waves... stuff the bow.. perhaps pitch pole. Bad seakeeping boats in heavy water..






Good question Duff.... If it's like most Sea Rays that are designed for cruising, the deck scuppers usually drain into the bilge. And this particular boat being a bow rider and having an open bow is cause for some additional concern... If you take one over the bow, the bilge pump could have a difficult time dealing with all that water.

Had this happen to me once... We had a cresting wave break right on our bow on Romer Shoal.. Pretty stupid but that's another story in itself... Our boat was a cuddy but the force of the wave blew in the eisgn glass above the windshield and we had a foot and a half of water in the cockpit.

Luckily we had a self bailing cock pit and once we got the boat under power and the stern squatting, everything drained out of the scuppers.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Good lesson there in boat handling Gerry!

You have to power out of that to stay in control the slosh of the excess water to prevent capsizing. And stay like that.

That's all that works, aside from just dumb luck. YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT.

Bow riders also have crap freeboard at the bow. And are heavier in the bow, meaning it responds SLOWER to meet steeper waves... stuff the bow.. perhaps pitch pole. Bad seakeeping boats in heavy water..

Yes Frank... We were lucky that day and had the wherewithal to recover from a situation we should have never gotten ourselves into in the first place.

We saw Romer was working that day... Pipeline waves that are a surfers dream. We left the engines running and were doing short drifts and turning around before we hit the breakers.... On that drift we got distracted from catching Stripers and the next thing you know, we were in the thick of it.

Saw the first one coming and manged to straighten the boat out and get square with the first wave which crashed on us and here comes 2 more which we managed to punch through with some power.

Scary situation for sure....

[Capt. Debbie]

Yup. FASTER Moving water under the boat's hull will keep it from rolling over for the most part.

Lucky.



Yes Frank... We were lucky that day and had the wherewithal to recover from a situation we should have never gotten ourselves into in the first place.

We saw Romer was working that day... Pipeline waves that are a surfers dream. We left the engines running and were doing short drifts and turning around before we hit the breakers.... On that drift we got distracted from catching Stripers and the next thing you know, we were in the thick of it.

Saw the first one coming and manged to straighten the boat out and get square with the first wave which crashed on us and here comes 2 more which we managed to punch through with some power.

Scary situation for sure....

[Gerry Zagorski]

Yup. FASTER Moving water under the boat's hull will keep it from rolling over for the most part.

Lucky.

Yep good point Frank... And if your boat is not moving faster then the water underneath it, you have no rudder control/steering.

That's the same reason why when approaching narrow areas like a bridge opening at no wake speeds, you should give the boat with the current behind them the right of way.

[Capt. Debbie]

Another fine point. Speed over bottom, and speed thru water can be very different especially in strong currents.

In fact the state police teach you "minimum headway speed" not "no wake". Running against a 5-6 knot current and only making 2 knots over the bottom is 7-8 knots thru the water. That will produce a wake just to make 2 knot forward progress



Yep good point Frank... And if your boat is not moving faster then the water underneath it, you have no rudder control/steering.

That's the same reason why when approaching narrow areas like a bridge opening at no wake speeds, you should give the boat with the current behind them the right of way.

[MrAC1980]

Similar to what Scott said, you'll be fine. Just hug the north jetty and make sure you don't cut the tower! Those underwater rocks extend to the tip of the north tower. And avoid the south bar that extends out past the south jetty. The rollers build up quick. If you ever want to fish south, go out and around it until you feel comfortable cutting over it. I run a 21 and have never had a problem.

[Mako1]

I run BI all the time, also when I owned smaller boats. You'll be fine, just pick your days and stay away when the wind is from the NE or E. As already mentioned, hug the north jetty until you come to the tower.