Weekend drinking game: Name that boat...by ear.

[harringtondav]

Retired, so we mostly spend our river house weekends on the deck 30' above the crowded fray. Mon-Fri water is nice.

So I listen to approaching boats on our slough, and try to guess what is coming. Drink when correct, or wait until the next boat.
-PWCs. Easy.
-Flat bottom O/B. Easy. Slap, slap,...
-Jet boat. Generally correct, except for the big PWCs.
-'Toons. Impossible. Stealth boats.
- Inboard ski/wake. Hard to distinguish from I/Os, but I'm getting better. Throaty steady sound.
-V hull O/Bs. Easy engine to ID, boats are still iffy. Deck O/Bs are stealthy like 'toons.
-I/Os. Easy. But I have to see them power up to ID I4, V6, V8. Although SBC's with thru hull exhaust can confuse with a BB.
-Inboard cruisers at no wake. Can't distinguish from a BB fast boat.

-3/4 mile away in the channel BB Formulas, Bajas, etc are the real challenge. I can hear them approaching from a mile in either direction, but only have a few seconds to see them. Single, Twin?
-The few twin O/B racers on the channel, easy. Impossible to not hear them, but the 40' rooster tails verify.

 

[scoutabout]

Love this idea! I've long noticed the definite difference in the small to mid sized outboards zinging around the lake. The soft pure of older OMC vs the cat-in-the-dryer screech of the Mercs. Because our inland lake doesn't have many ultra high performance boats, the few that go by you not only know the type but the owner too...

I'll add to your game the seaplanes we get. Not hard to distinguish a big old deHavilland Beaver opening up that fat radial as it boils along overhead vs the various ultralight Rotax mosquitos flitting around vs the tried and true Continentals. Puller vs pusher props have different tones too. Fun! Sounds like you have a great vantage point.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Kinda boring at my place pretty much pontoons and a few jet skis and a ski boat or fishing boat. We do get a float plane visitor every other week. Love watching the take off.

 

[harringtondav]

We do get a float plane visitor every other week. Love watching the take off.

20 yrs ago we were at a Mississippi River beach 10 mi N of Dubuque. A float plane pulled up, unloaded and joined boating friends on the beach. First time I saw this sort of plane. It didn't have the extended 'ski' floats, but a belly float plus two smaller floats under the wings. The engine was high mounted above the cockpit.

Just after we pushed off the beach the plane also did. I held back a safe distance beside him. When he powered up I took off WOT. I had him...for about 70 yds. Then he walked away from me like I was standing still.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

I love to watch an experience float plane pilot, the one I watched powered up built speed and then pulled one float out of the water then lifted, cool to watch.

 

[southkogs]

Percy Priest where I go most often is right next to KMQY. There's a dude with a Cessna 175 on floats who'll shoot landings on the lake some days. It's like watching a campfire ... you just sit and stare in this comfortable euphoria while he's doing his thing.