Could have a new boat by Saturday

By Saturday at noon, I could be burning $350 worth of gas travelling on the boat en route to Naples from the seller's marina near Tampa.

I've been boating for over 20 years, buy have never owned a twin screw boat this size (31' LOA...10'7" beam). It should be a learning experience.

The loan company says that the boat must be CG documented. What are the rules/requirements for CG documentation? And what's the purpose of it?

I always sterned into the dock. The port engine generally stayed in reverse and I did all/most of the maneuvering with the starboard engine (going between forward and reverse gears). I never touched the steering wheel.

It worked for me. ;-)

Maybe this will explain it better:

"If we intentionally move the contact patch line from vertically beneath the Center of Gravity, the bike will start to lean. For example, if while riding the bike straight ahead, we press on the left bar the front wheel points to the right. The front wheel tracks to the right (sometimes called “out tracking”). So the weight of bike and rider is now to the LEFT of it’s “support” on the ground, the tire contact patches. Because the weight is to the left, the bike leans to the left. It is important to note, for a LEFT turn, we initiate a lean to the left by pressing on the left bar, turning the front wheel to the RIGHT. This is often referred to as COUNTERSTEERING: a turn to the left initiated by turning the front wheel to the right."

The above from: http://www.rider-ed.com/tips/motorcyclestability.htm

In your initial post, if you change the word to tricycle, you'll be correct, UNLESS you're talking about going in reverse, which most of us can't do on a bike anyway!

Have you ever had twins?

Eisboch

No, I've not had any babies at all!

I'll post the marina's name on Sunday when I get back to Naples...after the sale goes through.

No registration numbers but you are supposed to display the small square "FL sticker" somewhere on the forward port side of the boat.

There are a few new tricks but with a ouboards that can be steered, you can handle it almost like a single. One of the issues with twin OBs is that the props are not usually far enough apart to generate the steering torque necessary to turn the boat in its own length, as most twin inboards can by putting one engine in forward and the other in reverse.

Did you choose gas because you got a huge discount compared to a diesel boat, or do you actually prefer gas?

If you have never operated a twin screw boat, it isn't that hard to learn but you will want to stay mentally sharp- particularly at first. I operate a single screw most of the time, so when I am called upon to operate twins I wind up deliberately thinking my way through the process- but running my single is almost "instinctive". If you have operated smaller twin screws, the upsize to 31' won't be a huge issue- and in many respects a larger boat can be a little easier to operate (greater inertia) than a smaller one. You do have less room to recover if you get into trouble with a larger boat, but if you stay out of trouble in the first place you should be fine.

Yes, and you can also turn the engines (steering wheel) in the direction you want to spin the boat.

The boat looks like a beauty. Congratulations.

As for you... I don't believe you have a *real* engineering degree. Possibly an engineering technology degree...but certainly not a real, honest-to-goodness bachelor degree in engineering.

In some ways, it is like a "title" that you could get from your state government, but the CG document trumps state titles (and in fact, states are prohibited from issuing titles to boats with a CG document). The document will list the HIN, the builder, the owner (you), and the leinholder (the loan company).

Your lender prefers a document to a state title because it is a lot easier to repo the boat if you stop making payments and decide to hide out in Alabam or Louisiana to avoid your creditors :-)

Most states still require that you *register* the boat and pay any associated sales or use tax, even though your boat will be "documented" rather than titled. The regulation that prevents states from issuing titles to documented boats does not prohibit states from requiring a registration. However, you can not display state registration numbers on your hull if you are documented.

There is some chance you may be boating in a foreign country, such as the Bahamas (?), and you will have some itsy bitsy little teeny bit better security in the ownership of your boat with a certificate of ownership backed up by the US Government than one backed up by the State of _________.

http://www.excelcredit.com/coast_guard_documentation.htm http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/vdoc/nvdc.htm

I am not sure what the requirements are for a twin engine outboard though. Seems there may not be enough room on the transom for a boat name and hailing port. BTW - Florida *is* one of the states that requires a state registration even though the boat is federally documented. I had my Navigator in Florida waters for over a year and was technically supposed to register it there. (90 day rule). I never did and got away with it. MA does not require state registration of documented boats, although I am sure it will occur to some bureaucrat that it would be another revenue stream someday. One nice thing about documenting the boat is that the yearly renewal is free and the USCG automatically sends a renewal notice.

Eisboch