Boating season

[89retta]

Well for a lot of us another boating as come to an end or will be soon. Just wondering what were some of your most memorable or worst moments of your boating season. For me its watching my 8 year old grandsons love of boating and water grow. When he first started going on the boat he was scared and nervous. Also always thought the boat would sink, waves rocking the boat and going fast would freak him out. Now he loves being on the boat. Just kicks back up in the open bow by himself as we cruise along and doesn't even think of the waves. Think I have taught him well. How to the love the water well still having respect for the water.

 

[wrvond]

Just yesterday my wife pulled the boat and trailer up on my foot. And stopped. Pretty memorable.

 

[tpenfield]

It has all been a blur . . .

Plenty of good times, getting used to my new windlass.

Worst moment was when we were coming back to our home port in 5-6 footers and a wind angle that was just right to bring the spray from just about every wave over the side and deck and into the cockpit. Everyone got soaked for the 30 minute ride. After that, I started thinking about getting a different boat that could handle the slop better.

 

[89retta]

LOL I do that on purpose but with smaller waves. Zig zag and soak the wife,kids and grandkids. I duck down behind the windshield.

 

[southkogs]

Little bit of a lighter boating year for us this year ... but the kids did conquer the kneeboard. We'll get out a little bit more before I put the boat to sleep, but not very much.

 

[boatman37]

last year was our first year of boating and we didn't even get the boat in the water until mid july and this season still seemed shorter. last year we mainly cruised. this year we did alot of anchoring and a little rafting up. not much highlights other than that. went to a new marina and met alot of great people so that was definitely a plus

low light, too short of a boating season

 

[Mo1]

Just yesterday my wife pulled the boat and trailer up on my foot. And stopped. Pretty memorable.

:lol::lol:

Its my first season owning a boat and it was a blast. It was either tough getting two people and spotter to go or too many baby went and some had to stay ashore and wait their turn, Probably need a bigger boat

 

[WIMUSKY]

Worst moment - It never was splashed. Did all the maintenance and that was it. Still want to wax it b/4 the snow flies.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Most memorable 'boating' experience this year, wasn't a good one-- Trying to launch the new-to-us Regal onto the street not 1 mile from the boat store. The boat's spare tire was just sitting on the trailer 'V' up by the jack. I gave it no nevermind as that's where the Party Cruiser's spare is mounted... I turned right out of the broker's lot, went to the first red light about 1/2 mile down the street, turned right, then 1/4 mile later went over the railroad tracks, which fortunately I slowed down for. At that point the tire fell off the trailer, and all 10,000 pound of boat and trailer went over the UPRIGHT spare tire & wheel. I saw the boat jump at least a foot into the air in my rear view, and the horrendous BANG as it all landed back on the ground made my heart sink. Had no idea at that moment WHY it leaped into the air. I pulled over as quick as I could and found the spare being pushed by the front axle

skid marks on the hull---

this is what went under the front cross member on trailer...

Much to my amazement, there was nary a mark on the crossmember. Nor was there any hint of damage to the boat, the bunks or bunk supports. And fwiw, no transom straps at the time. Pretty good testament to Regal's hulls and MetalCraft's trailers.

As for the rest of our boating season, the powers that be (whoever they are) decided to empty Utah Lake this year as fast as possible, using the water to rejuvenate the Bonneville Salt Flats. They DID get to race cars this year, first time in 3 years. But so much for boating. The lake was pretty much unusable by mid July. Harbor depth was around 32" by then. With my work schedule, we got to take the Regal out exactly twice, for about an hour each time...

Worst boating season of my life.

 

[Pusher]

:lol::lol:

Its my first season owning a boat and it was a blast. It was either tough getting two people and spotter to go or too many baby went and some had to stay ashore and wait their turn, Probably need a bigger boat

Always need a bigger boat


Sorry about the foot WRVOND!

That's crazy FR. Sounds like you're lucky it wasn't strapped down. Imagine being onboard for that ride!

I went out once in my 12', twice in my dad's for halibut (terrible year)... This year wasn't very good. I gurss memorable would be when the newbe drifting next to us yelled "that's how it's done son!" Then headed in with his 25lb 'But. Cradle robbers

 

[JoLin]

Most memorable- 10 day trip in convoy with 4 other boats. From Babylon (L.I. south shore) to Greenport (L.I. north fork) to Mystic, CT to Essex, CT to Riverhead, L.I. and back to Babylon. I did all the trip planning for the group and had a couple of meetings at my house beforehand. Everything went off without a hitch and we all had a really, really good time. Covered 245 statute miles and used 233 gallons of gas.

Next year, Linda and I are looking at a trip up the Hudson River as far as Albany, while some of the group may go on to Lake Champlain. I'd love to do the whole trip, but they're talking maybe 3 weeks to do the loop. Unfortunately Linda has to go back to work so we'll have to do the shorter one.

I'll be calling the boat hauler this week for an appointment to pull the boat right after Columbus Day.

My .02

 

[Mule Laker]

No Title

Simple stuff. My nine year old learned how to water ski. He loves it and even got a wetsuit to ski on our last boat ride of the year this past weekend.

 

[drrnjnr]

I spent all winter/spring sourcing a decent motor(Yamaha F150), sourcing and fitting new bearings on a decent braking with double wheels trailer for the very strict trailer laws here in Europe, painting the hull of our boat with Gelshield, and fitting the motor and electrics to our "New/first boat".

It splashed in September after a very cold summer, and within' 5 minutes we'd hit a rock with the prop and lower unit:facepalm:.

October is end season here because of the wildlife, so it's trailered again all polished and tucked up nice and dry for the winter now, and the autumn is glorius sunshine and warm:faint2: .

Oh well, next year I guess. If everything goes ahead we'll be trailering it to Zwitserland and sailing back 500miles on the Rhine next June.....

 

[wrvond]

Now that sucks!
You might want to invest in a depth finder...

Sorry about the foot WRVOND!

Thanks, I got lucky. It was on the ramp in the water, so the boat (7000 pounds or so) was pretty well floating. Very muddy bottom. And she didn't get mad and leave the truck with the wheel parked on my foot! :applause:

 

[oldjeep]

Boating season not quite over for another month, but I'd say the high point was the annual family week up north where we got 5 little nieces and nephews trying out skiing for the first time this year.

 

[TyeeMan]

A couple high points. First - getting my new Minnkota Ulterra bow mount trolling motor/Humminbird sonar package and installing installing it on my boat. Oh, and using it a couple times, , man is that cool!
Second, and the higher point was taking all that stuff off of my boat (which was only on there for about a month) and transferring it onto the boat that I have wanted for a long time.
Total fluke deal, drove past a boat dealership and saw this gorgeous Lund 1950 Tyee Magnum I/O. I assumed it was in for service cuz it was sort of parked by the boats in for service, but I decided to check their web site and sure enough it was for sale, , and now it's in my garage. :thumb:

 

[Pusher]

Total fluke deal, drove past a boat dealership and saw this gorgeous Lund 1950 Tyee Magnum I/O.

Sure enough it was for sale, , and now it's in my garage. :thumb:

Those are nice boats.

 

[TyeeMan]

Thanks Pusher. Yeah there was literally about 15 things that had to fall in line just perfectly for the whole deal to work out. Two of the THE BIGGEST things were, it has to fit in my garage, and it has to in absolute stellar shape.
She's a 1997, with 140 hrs on it, 30 of those hrs were breaking in the new engine and it is in stellar shape. 3 years ago cold weather came too quick for the previous owner and original 5.7L block and manifolds cracked.
So instead of just buying a long block and new exhaust manifolds, the guy goes straight to Mercruiser/Mercury and buys a re manufactured Special Series Power Unit. So it's a re manufactured block and heads with stainless steel valves, heavy duty valve springs, higher volume oil pump, new alternator, new manifolds and risers, , , , pretty much new everything all in one big black package. And Merc upped the ponies from 250hp to 275hp. From what I see it's about an $8k package.

The wife and I were kicking around names for the boat. We like Hydro-Therapy, but I told her with the deal of a lifetime that we found, I think we need to call it Divine Intervention. Not sure what we'll do. The back of the boat is so nice I don't want to put anything on it.

 

[garbageguy]

Great season - reman 350 longblock finally all good - leaked oil when in went in last season and had to be taken back out to get 'er sealed up.

Memorable no so good - teaching my 17 yr old daughter how to handle the 25 footer in the marina (she's pretty good out in the river/lake). My fault, as I pushed her out of the slip without enough angle, little more wind that I thought, and we're headed for other boats, I jump aboard and begin preparing to fend off, not enough, so I go to jump on docked boat's swim platform, don't land solid, figure I'm going in the drink, then I think my brain told my body not to go in the water here, so now I'm cling on the both boats acting like a fender - stupid. Fortunately I got on the swim platform of the other boat, fended off mine successfully, ran down the dock watching my daughter handle the boat well, picked me up at another dock, went boating. My bruises are about healed, and no damage to any boats - but I think it still gets me excited, judging by how much I just typed...

 

[jkust]

Lots of great things this season. First season with my sig boat replacing our previous newer but smaller Chaparral, both kids learned how to waterski and wakeboard as well. We have a house on a large lake so we spend a lot of quality time on the water in various boats. Can't believe I have to take the boats out of the water this weekend for the year.