Thanks for asking, and I'm happy to report our test run went absolutely fine. With some caveats.
First things first: got there late, didn't get boat in water till 5:45PM. Which is OK as it was a beautiful sunny day with no wind and our days here in Alberta are long (bright till close to 9PM this time of the year). This gave us over 2.5 hours to enjoy this gorgeous lake (a huge reservoir, actually).
Got there green as they come. Before attempting to pull to the dock, I parked the rig on the side of the road and watched. Asked a guy standing nearby for advice and he was super helpful in giving me the rundown and offered to help me unload. Not surprising, seeing how great many of these boaters are.
Unloading went fine, did a solo test run to ensure all was safe for the family to board. Didn't take long, boat was solid. Got everyone aboard and didn't shut off the engine till some 2.5 hours later. Now, how's that for first run? Wife drove the boat, as did my 5 year old, with me right behind him at a very slow speed. Both kids were absolutely thrilled to be out there. It helped it was a warm, sunny and beautiful day. Just the ideal setup for a first run and just what you could ask for in order to introduce the family to boating.
Here are the caveats: boat is too low to the water, scary low. Hull design isn't meant to cut through wakes, as another boater had warned me when he was looking at the boat prior to launch. Combine getting splashed and bounced around like crazy whenever a fast boat went past (50 metres away) and it got me scared for the kids. Not sure what it would take to capsize this boat or have it filled with water to the point I'd have to perform rescues for wife and 2 boys but it was enough to have me run scared. Boat is so low that when I got up to speed (close to 20km/h, or just over 10mph) the front was high up and the stern was mere centimetres from the water. This is way too low for comfort, when you have little ones onboard. Which is why we cruised about at around 8km/h, just taking it easy (which btw used up virtually no gas at all).
So, by day's end I had some key questions answered:
1- Boat is sturdy, all systems worked (despite a malfunction of the steering cables at the very end)
2- That Johnson outboard is reliable, run great and although not fast, did the job superbly.
3- Boat isn't ideal for a family of 4, especially with 3 non swimmers. Boat has to go, time to find a bigger one (very key answer right there)
4- Perhaps the most important answer I could ask for: family greatly enjoyed the outing. A boat definitely belongs in the family. And this is a priceless question that was burning in my mind ever since deciding to get a boat just 2 weeks ago. With all the stars lined up and weather absolutely ideal, there is no doubt that my family wants to do this again. We are now officially a boating family.
I'm already looking at a bigger, higher, more proper boat. Something similar to this, that I plan to go see later this afternoon. Still on a budget here, so we will start cheap in order not to break the bank. We can always upgrade later. But how's this for a start? Should I be concerned the hull is not a deep V? (concerned about its ability to handle wakes). How much should I offer in case everything else checks out?
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-buy-sell-other/calgary/must-sell/1095425220?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
And this looks good too:
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-powerboat-mo...le/1093657192?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
Just stoked the day after venturing into this whole new chapter that all went so perfect. What a great thing you guys have here. Glad to now be a part of it.
