What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

[dogsdad]

These political discussions are getting tiresome. A while ago, I looked at the "Post a Poll" button, and I thought I saw "Post a Troll." Sounds funny, but I am serious. Maybe we don't talk about boats enough at Dockside. So, I pose a question or two that hopefully will not create a stir, yet be interesting and entertaining (or am I being unrealsitic?).<br /><br />What kind of boat do you have, and how do you rate the ownership experience? What do you like about your boat, and what do you hate about it?

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I have a '97 Gambler 209TE and love it.<br />I would not own another boat except another Gambler.<br />The ride is unlike any other boat I have owned or ridden in.<br />It has the 225 ProMax with all the power you need to cruise or get to that spot real quick.<br />Has a huge front deck with plenty of room.<br />Has the tackle storage area for them plano boxes.<br /><br />Huge livewells and gas tank(45gallons).<br /><br />I can think of nothing that I dislike about the boat.<br /><br /><br />(9754)

 

[dogsdad]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

My boat is a 1990 Sea Ray 180 Bow Rider with a 1991 135-horse Mercury Black Max. Overall, I would say that ownership of this boat has been a pleasure, but I do have some issues with it.<br /><br />On the plus side, it's a nice looking boat. It gets up on plane fairly fast, and will run almost 50 mph. It handles nicely out on the water and is a smooth ride. The seating is not ideal for fishing, but for an all-around, all-purpose boat, I think it would be hard to do much better.<br /><br />On the negative side, low-speed maneuvering is not easy, and backing the thing is problematic at best. The thing had a case of deck rot when we bought it three years ago, and I had the deck replaced...but it's got rot again. I have kept the boat dry and covered, but obviously I overlooked something. Now it's in tha garage with the deck partially ripped out, and I detest working on it.<br /><br />Since this is my first boat, I can't give it a numerical rating, as in one through ten, but I can say that at least it hasn't made me decide to swear off boating forever. Yet!

 

[heycods]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I think I ought to chang my name to Boat Poor, but my favorite is my 17.5' Sea ARk Bass Boat.<br />Its got a 50hp jonny fueel saver on it,Its a welded and tough old girl wit a hundred or so holes drilled in it to accomidate my goodies,Rigged for troling, spider rigging, bassing, crappie and catfishing. <br /> Im afraid as much as Im gonna like this thread its gonna move. <br /> So we have to throw something else in to keep it on Dockside. How about adding <br />"would D!ck Cheaney ride in your boat"<br /> He probably wouldnt ride in mine unless we wer Quail hunting from the water, In which case I would wont to hire Reel Poor to Capitaan my Boat.

 

[rwise]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I have several but the one I use most is 1958 starcraft 14' with a 1958 35hp Johny. It goes where I want has been very reliable. When I got it was given to me, went to pick it up it had been setting near a pond for about 10 years. The motor had been pulled and stored inside. The guy told me that he bought it so when they had parties his guests could float around on the pond with it, but all anyone ever did was sit in it on the bank. It was full of water and the bait was still alive as though it was ready to go fishing! It had some bass and perch in it! Took it home, tore out all the wood and replaced it, cleaned up the Johny and it started right up. A little TLC, oil, grease, impeller, lower unit seals and hit the water!

 

[aspeck]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

My boat leans to the right. <br /><br />it is an 81 Skeeter with an 88spl Johnnyrude. Fun boat - just don't get to use her enough.

 

[dogsdad]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

Rwise, have we seen photos of your '58 here?

 

[Ron G]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I have a 93 bumblee bee with a 175 johnson on it,i love this boat.the good people here have helped me alot with the setup,were going to start working on more speed and power soon hopefully.This boat rides good brand new trolling motor ,nrw depthfinder and has the extended front deck.

 

[one more cast]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I have a 1983 Fisher Marine with a 1983 Johnson 35. I would have to say a Pleasurable Pain!

 

[Dave Abrahamson]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

1998 Angler 204 with a 1997 Johnny 115SPL. I love the room it has for fishing. Big casting deck up front and plenty of room behind the console. I've had 6 people fishing all at once and nobody got in anybodys' way all day. I haven't found a dislike yet except maybe power wise. She's rated for up to 185hp but I really like the fuel consumption of the V4. 35-38MPH is fast enough for me anyway.

 

[QC]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I've loved all three of my boats. Current one is a 23' Carrera with a Merc 6.2 Bravo 1. I am always thinking about my next Mistress, but the whole family is in love with this one. She has has been very reliable and is a lot of fun and looks great. Runs about 55 and I think I could get her to 57ish if I messed around with weight a little more. This boat already had a 1000 watt stereo with twin subs and 12 assorted speakers scattered around when we got her. I never cared much about a stereo before as you can't hear them underway and they sound like crap unless you are sitting at anchor and in the boat. This stereo has totally changed my opinion. Not that I do it much, but I can get very good sound at 50+ MPH and I have thru-transom exhaust and no real windshield.<br /><br />I have one nagging electrical issue (bad ground somewhere) that shows up from time to time; a flaky bilge pump and the engine hatch ram doesn't work unless you say a little prayer and look at it cross-eyed. Also she is not as dry as I would like. Oh, oh, and I am really sick of carpet on wood!!! I want something I can wash out with a hose.

 

[scrapper]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I have a 1980 15 ft Caravelle which get used for pleasure & fishing Powered by a 30 hp evenrude it even gets up to plane quickly , Top speed unknown But hey its all mine for under $800.00 canadian / with trailer.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

Right now I have a 1987 1800 F/S. Tracker Bass Boat. Its a fiberglass model. I wasnt looking for a Tracker when I bought it, it just came up. Oregon isnt the Bass Boat capital of the world and this boat just came up from Texas.<br /><br />I Like the boat better than I thought I would, Its very stable, and seems not to have any bad habits like chinewalking or porposing. Its flawless now with the Smart Tabs installed. Im redoing most everything on it now, carpet, seats, and Im going to repaint the engine eventually. My boats allways are better when I sell them than when I buy them but I have yet to ever actually make any money when I sell them. Im thinking of a bigger boat now that I am guiding some, but thats the only reason I would sell it.<br /><br />I seem to enjoy piddling with old boats less and less as I get a bit older. Its just harder to crawl around on my knees and jump in and out of the boat like I used to. Next boat will be new enough that I shouldnt have to work on it as much.

 

[sangerwaker]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

Mine is a '97 Sanger Barefoot outboard, which I purchased from the original owner in September of '03. It has a '97 Merc 200 EFI motor. I lusted for one of these models when I stumbled across her. It has been a pleasure to own. She is as beautiful as they come IMO, and has been pretty much trouble free. Carpet needs replacing, but I'll get to that eventually. This boat is quicker out of the hole than anything I have ever ridden in,and has the best barefoot wake I've skied. It's a great family boat with lots of seating and room, along with lots of storage under the bow.<br /><br />The only problem I have is an occasional dead battery. Must have a draw somewhere, but I have yet to find it. I'll work more on that when I pull her from storage in 4-5 weeks.<br /><br />In my 2-1/2 years of ownership, the only problems, other than routine maintenance, I've had are one of my speedometers went bad, destroyed a high five (ouch), and a small bout of sabotage last summer. Someone put 4-5 gallons of water in one of my tanks while I was on vacation in Utah.

 

[brother chris]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I have a 16' Winner boat, enclosed bow. It has a 55hp Evinrude on it. Top speed is 33mph, with just me in it. <br />And yes, to keep this in Dockside Chat, I would love to take any political figure out for a ride and talk politics with them. <br /><br />The boat is awesome. The only thing I wish it had, was an open bow. Need a bit more space, but at least the 2 seats in the back, fold up, so there is more walking space.<br />Downside to it: I hate having to do all the up-keep to it. I also hate finding wasps nests in the boat, when out on the water(I am in the process of fixing that). The other problem is all the things that go wrong in one season...that drives me crazy.<br />Overall, the boat is good for the price I paid for it.<br /><br />Here she is:<br />

 

[PW2]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I have a 1989 17 ft Crestliner with a 1989 50 hp Johnson.<br /><br />I've been very happy with both. Boat is very solid, and motor has been very reliable, and economical to run.<br /><br />My all time favorite boat was a 15 ft Duroboat, which was far and away the best rough water handling small aluminum boat I've ever owned--much better than the Crestliner I currently have--but the Duroboat is tough to find out east here, and they are expensive. <br /><br />I had to sell it during a financial crisis a few years ago--So it goes...<br /><br />I have an unlocated small electrical drain somewhere in the boat's electrical system, so I have to disconnect the battery during storage, but other than that, all is well with it...

 

[bh357]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I guess I have an S&M fetish, as I took great pleasure in the often-painful restoration process. Fortunately, I did know full well what I was getting into, as the floor was noticably rotten when I got her. I didn't know about the transom when I got her, but from my observations of the floor, I was well prepared to re-core the transom.<br />Other than a *%*#$@ problematic reverse in the L/U, the motor is running good and strong.<br />The maiden voyage was mostly enjoyable, other than the runaway choke butterfly cotter pin , the bad check valves in the bulb , and the discovery that reverse didn't quite want to engage .<br />The second voyage went very well, but I did have to baby it in reverse to keep it from jumping out.<br />This spring I'll see if reverse is sorted out. Hopefully I then can do a small bit of tuning (motor already does run strong), and enjoy the summer.<br />At least I know how to disassemble the lower unit quite well .

 

[Pony]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I bought my 1987 Alumacraft with 1988 25hp Johnson early last summer.<br /><br />Me and my dad decided that we needed to spend more time fishing and he wanted to spend less time working......<br /><br />I was driving to work one afternoon and about a mile from my house I saw this boat sitting in someones front yard with a "For Sale" sign on it. I quickly put the guys number in my phone and called him the next day to ask if I could look at the boat and also to find out what he was offering for it. He wanted $2000. I looked online at some of local Marinas here, and two had similar set-ups which were in worse shape (not bad at all, just not as clean as this one) and 5-7 years older......$2,500. <br /><br />With this infor I went to his house and looked at everything that I needed to look at. Everything looked great, the motor started right away and was pissing water and idled VERY nicely. He was selling the boat because his 3 boys were getting to big for it and he had just bought a bigger boat (which was on the side of the house)<br /><br />We ended up just standing there talking about boats and fishing for an hour or so. I asked if he would take $1,700 for it, and he said he thought that was a fair price......I promptly drove it home <br /><br /><br />Since I have bought it....<br /><br />1) replaced the swivel seats. (one was broken and I wanted all matching )<br />2) Built a 3 piece removeable floor.<br />3) Wired it for Navigation lights<br />4) Added a rod holder <br />5) Replaced the bearings and buddies on trailer<br /><br />This Spring.......<br /><br />1) Bilge pump<br />2) New plastic gas tank<br />3) Transom mount trolling motor<br /><br /><br />I LOVE this boat. Its PERFECT for fishing.....it really is a dream. Plus it gets me and my dad out on the lake again <br /><br />

 

[aspeck]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

I am thinking that I would love to have this for my next one - if it will fit in the garage. Gatorjetboat Sure looks like it would be great for the lake AND the river!

 

[ZmOz]

Re: What About YOUR Boat...Pleasure, Pain, Nightmare, or Worse?

My '72 CV-16 is a never ending nightmare. They say boats are a hole in the water you throw money into...mine is a vacuum that actually sucks the money directly out of my wallet.