[bandnew]

I recently purchased a 2010 3600 open and have a peace of mind question for the open owners.

My swim platform kisses the water when I have a full tank, sitting at the dock. It often has water rushing over the platform or pushing through the platform cutouts causing spray to fly up when I go out in 2’ seas. All the compartments have stayed bone dry the few times I have gone out but it does make me a little nervous to take it out in bigger seas. It looks like a standard design for the 3600 open but every other open model seems to have the swim platform much higher. 

I believe I saw a thread that it was designed to drag fish in easier but has anyone had any issues in bigger seas? 

Engines: Volvo D6 IPS
Center fuel tank

[ReelMagic]

I'm not sure of other Opens but on my 38 Open I would guess there is 8-10 inches between the bottom of the platform and the water with full tanks.. M2C

[hiccup]

Every model seems to be a bit different. 38 they are pretty high up, even with tanks full. 36 they are lower. I doubt it was a conscious design choice. You're likely stern heavy. If it's a real problem and/or really bugs you, then you could experiment with what happens as you add or move weight forward. All chain anchor rode is a good way to add weight to the bow and also will improve anchoring performance. A few hundred feet of chain will weigh a few hundred pounds. Have a couple people stand over the anchor locker to see if this gives the desired effect.

[boatmanmark]

I also have a new to us 2006 36 Open with Cummins 425s in her. The platform does not kiss the water but still when at anchor a boat wake will sometimes cause the platform to slap the water. I had that problem with our 30 Pursuit with twin diesels. It was annoying but not a problem as far as the boat was concerned. I wonder if the IPS drives add more weight to the stern causing your problem?

[Hooper]

Good to hear someone else had this question ! I have an '86 36 Open and that platform is almost in the water when I fill with fuel. I have 2, 200 gallon tanks....diesel fuel for CAT 3126's. The edges of the platform skim the water when cruising but all seems to be OK. I've never seen a platform so close to the water but what we do like is that it's easy to get back on it when swimming.

[bandnew]

Thank you everyone for your replies! Glad I am not not the only one! Yes, definitely easier to get back onto the boat when swimming. I will try to add some weight to the bow lockers and see if that helps it out. I've already had to add some weight to starboard to help with portside listing.

[todc]

Just thought I'd add to this year-old Post - I have a 2005 3600 Open (Hull # 6) and it has the same issue.  With a full fuel tank, the bottom edge of the swim step is even with the water surface in fresh water.  In salt water the gap is about 3/4 of an inch higher.  Our fuel tank has a tag on it that says "450 gallons" but Tiara has told me it is a 400 gallon tank.  So I'm not really sure.  Over the winter we keep the boat in Lake Washington so I only fill the tank to about 3/4 full.  This keeps the swim step out of the water by about 1.5 inches and small waves don't splash up.  When summer cruising I normally fill it all the way to get the most range.

A related issue is that the fuel gauge does not read accurately at all.  However, I think it is pretty repeatable so I have constructed a graph that assumes the capacity is 400 gallons based on how much fuel it takes to fill the tank at the various fuel gauge level.  It drops down faster than the gauge indicates initially and then levels out.  I'd be glad to send this chart to anyone who is interested.  Just send me a request through the "private message" feature of this forum.

A backup method I use is to estimate how much fuel has been used is to assume fuel consumption is 0.9 gallons per mile at cruise (26 mph).  I get the miles travelled from my Raymarine MFD.  This works pretty good but only for long distance steady cruising at 26 mph.