Stormy Or Rainy Weather And Boats

[LuvBoating]

You can still buy a cuddy.
Fewer available, but they are there.

Neighbor just ordered a Stingray cuddy

Many are called "cruisers" now.

​Yes. They are bigger than a cuddy, but smaller than a full-size cabin cruiser. Our cuddy is only an area to sit down with two airline passenger lights, mood lights on each side of cabin, porthole on each side and a hatch window on the roof. We've seen bigger cuddy's that have a small sink/propane stove/frig.
​We've always wanted to spend the night in our cuddy, but it's just too small for us.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

​Yes. They are bigger than a cuddy, but smaller than a full-size cabin cruiser. Our cuddy is only an area to sit down with two airline passenger lights, mood lights on each side of cabin, porthole on each side and a hatch window on the roof. We've seen bigger cuddy's that have a small sink/propane stove/frig.
​We've always wanted to spend the night in our cuddy, but it's just too small for us.

I always wanted to go to a very popular island destination weekend boater get together here On Erie. Snap the camper top on and spend the night. Then I saw a huge 5' snake slither up the transom of a Cuddy at our Marina and I changed my mind, fast, real fast.

 

[LuvBoating]

I always wanted to go to a very popular island destination weekend boater get together here On Erie. Snap the camper top on and spend the night. Then I saw a huge 5' snake slither up the transom of a Cuddy at our Marina and I changed my mind, fast, real fast.

Someone took a phone video, not in our area/state, and it was on local news, showing a Water Moccasin (poisonous) snake slithering up onto a swim platform and trying to get inside a bowrider. The people in the boat were kind of freaking out, but were able to turn the boat fast enough for the deadly snake to fall off. Then then got the heck out of the area.....fast!

 

[ondarvr]

At times we will sleep in our open boats while anchored, a good friend was sleeping in his when a sea lion jumped in, he said both he and the sea lion were so startled they made scared little girl noises and scrambled to get away from each other. He said he's never sleeping in an open boat again.

 

[dingbat]

Quite surprised by the notion that some have expressed that people who slip their boats somehow don't maintain or care about them. That simply isn't true.

First you have to differentiate between boaters and boat owners. Big difference on how they view their boats and boating in general.

I'm on the water 100-120 days a year. Could you imagine the amount of hours I'd spend if I washed, vacuum, spit shined the boat and put it in dry storage every time I went out?

That's not boating... that's a boat owner being a slave to their boat and ego....

You buy a boat suitable for the environment, do the maintenance and enjoy it. I can garantee you, my "neglected" boat gets far more attention than one that sits in a garage for 6 months out of the year.

 

[ondarvr]

Yes, my boats are tools, they aren't worshipped or pampered, they're designed to be used in a certain way, if they can't handle it they don't hang around long. I have no interest in spending my time waxing and polishing a tool so it will be shiny when someone else looks at it. Making sure everything works as it should is far more important. I hate it when I get on somebody else's beautiful shiny boat to go fishing and they have no clue as to how the boat should be rigged for what we're doing.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Someone took a phone video, not in our area/state, and it was on local news, showing a Water Moccasin (poisonous) snake slithering up onto a swim platform and trying to get inside a bowrider. The people in the boat were kind of freaking out, but were able to turn the boat fast enough for the deadly snake to fall off. Then then got the heck out of the area.....fast!

Water Moccasins are not rare around here. I have never ever heard of anyone getting bit though. I don't know why snakes bother me now, we had them as pets when we were kids.

 

[LuvBoating]

Bottom Line.......some folks simply like a good looking boat and will spend the time getting it that way. Since we are now in semi-dry storage (semi meaning not fully enclosed) we don't have to spend so much time cleaning it. When it was sitting on a trailer in a spot at a RV & Boat Storage, with the sun and rain hitting it, cleaning was a pain. Even with a cockpit cover on, it could still look bad after bad weather.

Not anymore, thank God!!

 

[ondarvr]

Forgot to add, my boats are stored inside when not being used.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

At times we will sleep in our open boats while anchored, a good friend was sleeping in his when a sea lion jumped in, he said both he and the sea lion were so startled they made scared little girl noises and scrambled to get away from each other. He said he's never sleeping in an open boat again.

That would wake me fast. Do they bite? The only one I ever saw was in the Buffalo Zoo.

 

[ondarvr]

They can be very nasty when mad, and yes, they can bite, at 700 lbs you don't want to mess with them.

 

[LuvBoating]

We went over to dry storage this past Saturday, after a Nor'easter (wind/heavy rains) and bands of Hurricane Irma hit the area on the 9th and 10th. We were very surprised, and extremely happy, that our new cockpit cover kept the inside of our boat very dry. When I took out the stern plug, on about a teaspoon of water came out of the bilge area. So, the cost of our new cockpit cover was definitely worth it.

 

[Stumpalump]

Water Moccasins are not rare around here. I have never ever heard of anyone getting bit though. I don't know why snakes bother me now, we had them as pets when we were kids.

They were not rare when I boated on the Arkansas River either. I was on a new sand bar in the spring that was not stable and found myself up too my waist in quicksand. I said let's find a better beach. Having a pre power trim Mercruiser on a late 60's Glasstron I had to manually lift the outdrive by the skeg to get it out of the sand. A cotton mouth was coiled up on top of the outdrive and I never saw it until the outdrive was lifted. I was in quicksand fighting for my life one minute and staring at a fat moccasin the next. Those are one of the few snakes that are aggressive and will chase you. We spent 10 minutes slapping paddles and throwing logs just to get away. They are drawn to a warm engine and outdrive and do not want to give up the warm spot. We would get him 15' away and he would come straight back. Don't do what I did and get close to the warm stern of a boat if the water or air is cool.