What's the truth about Post 46/47 ride?

I have only run my 46 ( 93 ) for 1 season. Never pounded ever...Following sea can be a little freaky , proper use of power , no tabs and foremost seamanship will stand you well...I would say she is a very well built boat....

Gray,

I own a late 80's Model 46 Post. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the performance and construction of the boat.

I would agree that the 46 Post (mine anyway) can be a handful in a following sea.
I counter following sea issue by going light on the bow with an air deck inflatable, no davit, and the OB in the cockpit;
I also try to leave weight in the rear. The 46 Post has a forward and aft fuel tank.

My Post has almost zero deadrise. The stern looks almost flat.
As a result you need less power and fuel to push the same size boat with a lot of deadrise.
the Post also has less draft because of the flat deadrise.
As a result of the flat stern, the drift and troll is extremely stable.
Its like a rock at anchor.
Some other well know boats (listed below) will rock you silly and snap roll you into sea sickness.

My Post can be wet but, not any wetter than a similar size SF.
I will say that my 46 Post does not pound. I know that is a big statement, but it is NOT a pounder.
The boat is simply not a pounder for some reason.
There are other boats (some listed below) that are pounders.


In my 46 Post, I have Inline engines behind capital gears. That combination pushes the mains pretty far forward in the ER.
I understand that the same boat with different gears or 6v92s puts more weight in the rear.

Also, apparently there was a re-engineering of the rudders at some point which apparently significantly counters the following sea handling.
I have a pair of these new rudders in the shipping crate, some day I may get around to installing them.

I base my opinions on:
Over the years I spend considerable time on Hatteras, Vikings, Bertrams, and a Henriques in the 35-54' range.
Recently, I have been spending some time on modern Downeasters.
For some reason I dont have a lot of time on Ocean Yachts.

Bottom line(s):
Any of the above boats have trade offs and limitations, all are somewhat of a compromise.
If you end up with the 46/47 Post you will be happy.
My 46 Post has exceeded my expectations in performance and construction.

The only thing I don't like about my 46 Post is that it is not a 50 Post.

Gray, I cannot agree more with RT 46. I have a 91 46 with 6v92's. I Got her in 2005 and was faced with all of the same concerns that you have. Post made a number of refinements on the hull and running gear in 89 and 90 to address the concerns over following sea performance. She does have a flat stern but I think the benefits of that design far outway the heavy deadrise boats such as Bertram. I can tell you that the boat does not pound. She has a long deep bow that slices the waves in heavy seas. She will throw water depending on the wind direction but I think all boats do that in that category. I don't know anybody who likes 6 to 8 foot seas but if you have to be there slow down to 16 to 18 knots in a head sea and work on driving better in a following sea. She goes very fast down hill. Perfect boat for me. We don't talk Ocean.

I own a 1981 Post 46, with 6-71's and always have a 5-7 foot sea... bow is wet (sorry), only pounds if I go to fast and throws the boat a little sideways in following seas, if I go to slow...

In my opinion it's all about the right speed, I was a little concerned as you are, but extremely happy with the build quality of my Post 46... I have been through almost everything, so think I know about some of it...;-)

(RT46, could you give more info on the new rudders??)

I went out to the shop and opened the box.

Woww, that's a complete different design... I'm vey interested how it handles if you have mounted them!!

Mine is an '80 and this sums it up for me too.

I believe that allot of the chatter you hear about post and ocean around the dock comes from people who heard it from a friend of a friend who knows a guy who took a run on a post/ ocean. The bottom line, is that allot of it is just dock talk. the reason that people may have the called the post/ ocean, slammers is because in the early 80's they had higher cruise and top end speeds compared to the hatterases and bertrams of that era. Some owners would try to run those higher cruise speeds in heavy seas, and hence the boat will be called a pounder. The following sea ride on a post/ocean is definitely not as good as the following sea ride of a bertram, but the fuel burn is not as high, and as others have said, every boat is a compromise.

just my 2 cents

The trade off on the following sea handling is the stability at drift, anchor or troll.

You can adjust seed and weight in a following sea.

There are boats that handle the following sea better than Posts, but those boats will rock you silly at anchor, drift, or troll.
you can not adjust for that, your stuck with the snap roll

yea the ocean is not the best in the following sea, the 43 is an improvement over the 38. the oceans definitely have a narrow transom, hech the transom width on my 43 tapes out at 11 ft compared to 15 ft at the widest point. If you want to talk about scary in a following sea, older hatterases will take the cake for that one, there is an old 60 and 46 down here in Trinidad that have had broaching incidents which caused injuries to the passengers onboard. the captain of the 46 was almost ejected from the flybridge during a bad broach, which broke the helm chair off its mounts

I put those rudders on my 42 after losing one rudder due to corrosion. I also replaced the rudder ports and replaced the wood crossmember with a built up fiberglass board.

http://s96.photobucket.com/user/porthole2/library/Boats/42 Post/Steer shelf rudder?sort=9&page=1

Big improvement in handing over the originals.
I also found using a fast acting autopilot really helped in a following sea. Although there were times I just had to change my course when coming to keep the ride comfortable.

Just curious, any updates on the rudders RT46?

This is what is on mine from the factory in 84. Bigger than even this new design. Could be why I don't find following sea handling nearly as bad as some claim. (Pic is new cutlass bearings this past winter)

Woww, that's a huge difference with mine, any idea where to buy?

I got mine direct from the new Post in Maryland last year

Have you mounted them already?