Downforce6
Seaman
- Joined
- May 30, 2012
- Messages
- 74
Well we had out first outing in the new (used) boat yesterday.
I thought it went pretty well overall. The boat ran great, Launching/trailering went fairly well but was nerve racking to say the least, busy ramp. I got the boat all ready before hitting the ramp but once in the water, I just moored up to the launching dock, I was nervous about the old lady pulling the trailer back up to the parking lot, and nervous about being able to maneuver around the dock to pick her back up. There were two boats in the water waiting, no one complained, (outloud, lol) I feel much better about the dock maneuvering now that I've done it once tho, still think I'll be nervous next time.
Trailering was the reverse, (u think?). I was happy to see no boats were at the dock when we got there, I started in a little early to avoid rush hour. Another boat came in pretty quick, but no worries, it's a four lane two dock ramp. So again I just pulled up and moored off, the old lady went to pick up the truck/trailer, seemed like it took forever. Boats start coming in from no-where, lol, I finally see her at the top of the ramp, but she can't get it backed down straight. I didnt wait long, gave her two tries (it was her first time too) and I just ran up the ramp and got in the truck and backed the trailer down. (going to have to take her to the high-school parking lot for practice.) Now there are 4-5 boats waiting in the water, I just unhooked from the dock hopped in the lake grabbed the bow line and pulled the 17' bowrider up on the trailer, and winched her up the rest of the way. Took no-time at all once the trailer was in the water, No one yelled "come-on man!", (wasn't hard to see we were rookies I'm sure). We will do better next time, I at least feel better about waiting for the trailer in the water so close to other boats, instead of tying off at the dock, I appreciated everyone patience, I suppose it was everyone's first at some point.
I had a little trouble figuring out the Trim/Tilt when cruising around the lake, seemed like I got it figured out at some point, the water behind us looked like I thought it should and the boat was maneuvering well, I need to do some research about this tho, any advice or good website links to point me in a good direction?
We found a cove, and time to set the Anchor. I had purchased an anchor kit, an 8lb pound danforth, 5' chain, and 100' feet rope from Bass pro the night before. I just assembled the shackles and zipped tied them shut for saftey, but when it came time to anchor down, couldnt get the rope unraveled. I had to unshackle the anchor, undo the rope, and re-shackle the anchor all while backing the boat away from the shore every 5 minutes. Again, nerve racking to say the least, and I'm sure we looked like idiots. But we got it anchored, we swam, we worked on our sun burns, we had lunch, we watched the other boats come in.. It was fantastic. I didn't let out a whole lot of rode, It isn't that deep there in the cove, and the wake, current was minimal. The anchor held but the stern swung quite a bit, luckily, nobody anchored close to us (wonder why, lol?). Think I'll mushroom the stern next time, keeping the bow pointed toward the wake/current.
Today, time to cleanup the boat and make sure everything is dry. So, what makes boats rot out? The obvious being out in the elements? I have a cover, but that's it for now. I have a detached 22'X34' garage, but do not really want to put the boat in there and take up all the working space. In the winter I will, or find another covered/garage storage solution, but for now she is just covered out in the elements. I'm going to wipe her down, make sure all the lines are dried out, and just a good overall cleaning, the boat has been well taken care of and I want to continue that. What else should I be doing? Any other advise, websites links? Staring to think hard about renting a storage unit close to the lake. Only about 45 minutes away, and at first I thought $1000 dollars a year to store a $3500 boat seemed unrealistic. I still kinda do, but not sure anymore. and consider, the boat gets great gas mileage. I filled it up before leaving town and boated around a couple hours, it barely moved off of full (3.0 I/O mercruiser,) The V8 Explorer, while towing, was another story. I shut the overdrive off while towing and i'm getting, maybe 11 MPG. It could be, storing the boat close to the lake will save enough money in Explorer gas to make it worth while, but I prefer to keep the boat close so I can play with it. I need to come up with a solution here.
Overall, I think it was a pretty good first outing for a family with almost zero boating exp. I am hooked for sure.
Thanks again for all the advice and resources I have found here!
I thought it went pretty well overall. The boat ran great, Launching/trailering went fairly well but was nerve racking to say the least, busy ramp. I got the boat all ready before hitting the ramp but once in the water, I just moored up to the launching dock, I was nervous about the old lady pulling the trailer back up to the parking lot, and nervous about being able to maneuver around the dock to pick her back up. There were two boats in the water waiting, no one complained, (outloud, lol) I feel much better about the dock maneuvering now that I've done it once tho, still think I'll be nervous next time.
Trailering was the reverse, (u think?). I was happy to see no boats were at the dock when we got there, I started in a little early to avoid rush hour. Another boat came in pretty quick, but no worries, it's a four lane two dock ramp. So again I just pulled up and moored off, the old lady went to pick up the truck/trailer, seemed like it took forever. Boats start coming in from no-where, lol, I finally see her at the top of the ramp, but she can't get it backed down straight. I didnt wait long, gave her two tries (it was her first time too) and I just ran up the ramp and got in the truck and backed the trailer down. (going to have to take her to the high-school parking lot for practice.) Now there are 4-5 boats waiting in the water, I just unhooked from the dock hopped in the lake grabbed the bow line and pulled the 17' bowrider up on the trailer, and winched her up the rest of the way. Took no-time at all once the trailer was in the water, No one yelled "come-on man!", (wasn't hard to see we were rookies I'm sure). We will do better next time, I at least feel better about waiting for the trailer in the water so close to other boats, instead of tying off at the dock, I appreciated everyone patience, I suppose it was everyone's first at some point.
I had a little trouble figuring out the Trim/Tilt when cruising around the lake, seemed like I got it figured out at some point, the water behind us looked like I thought it should and the boat was maneuvering well, I need to do some research about this tho, any advice or good website links to point me in a good direction?
We found a cove, and time to set the Anchor. I had purchased an anchor kit, an 8lb pound danforth, 5' chain, and 100' feet rope from Bass pro the night before. I just assembled the shackles and zipped tied them shut for saftey, but when it came time to anchor down, couldnt get the rope unraveled. I had to unshackle the anchor, undo the rope, and re-shackle the anchor all while backing the boat away from the shore every 5 minutes. Again, nerve racking to say the least, and I'm sure we looked like idiots. But we got it anchored, we swam, we worked on our sun burns, we had lunch, we watched the other boats come in.. It was fantastic. I didn't let out a whole lot of rode, It isn't that deep there in the cove, and the wake, current was minimal. The anchor held but the stern swung quite a bit, luckily, nobody anchored close to us (wonder why, lol?). Think I'll mushroom the stern next time, keeping the bow pointed toward the wake/current.
Today, time to cleanup the boat and make sure everything is dry. So, what makes boats rot out? The obvious being out in the elements? I have a cover, but that's it for now. I have a detached 22'X34' garage, but do not really want to put the boat in there and take up all the working space. In the winter I will, or find another covered/garage storage solution, but for now she is just covered out in the elements. I'm going to wipe her down, make sure all the lines are dried out, and just a good overall cleaning, the boat has been well taken care of and I want to continue that. What else should I be doing? Any other advise, websites links? Staring to think hard about renting a storage unit close to the lake. Only about 45 minutes away, and at first I thought $1000 dollars a year to store a $3500 boat seemed unrealistic. I still kinda do, but not sure anymore. and consider, the boat gets great gas mileage. I filled it up before leaving town and boated around a couple hours, it barely moved off of full (3.0 I/O mercruiser,) The V8 Explorer, while towing, was another story. I shut the overdrive off while towing and i'm getting, maybe 11 MPG. It could be, storing the boat close to the lake will save enough money in Explorer gas to make it worth while, but I prefer to keep the boat close so I can play with it. I need to come up with a solution here.
Overall, I think it was a pretty good first outing for a family with almost zero boating exp. I am hooked for sure.
Thanks again for all the advice and resources I have found here!
