My first boat show
I've owned a boat for 20+ years and yet this was the first time I've attend
the Portland Boat Show.Impressions..... 1. We own a 25 foot pocket cruiser ('96 Starcraft 2531). After walking
through various 25 footers, we were relieved to find none as suitable as the
one we have. Our aft sleeping berth is the best design and size. Whew! 2. The two boats that impressed us most were the 34 foot Glacier Bay
Catamarin and the 25' C-Dory Tom Cat. Regarding the former, it had beautiful workmanship and design. My wife was
so impressed that ended up going through it three times. However, the new
30 footer they have coming will be even better (for us) at 150k less. One
reason is the placement of the galley....up on the main deck instead of
stuffed below. This allows my wife to be up at all times. The only reason
to go below is to use the head or sleep in the roomy queen size berth. The sales guy mentioned that Glacier Bay is putting 190 hp Volvo diesels in
it, with COMPOSITE outdrive. Supposedly far superior than metal. Discussion??? As I mentioned, the other boat that impressed us was the C-dory Tom Cat, a
25 foot trailerable cruiser. Very roomy design. Built like a tank. Well
suited for all weather boating and fishing. In a few years, when we do the
Alaska inland passage, that will be the boat of choice for us. The Glacier Bay 30 footer will work fine for the Great Loop. Fun to dream!!! -Greg |
Dene
Jan 15
2006
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| He likes the D200 almost as much as I do!
--
John H ******Have a spectacular day!****** |
JohnH
Jan 16
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| Interesting. I have the 5.7 on my 25' Starcraft. Dream boat, 25' TomCat
will definitely have outboards, both by design and desire. I love the
simplicity and silence. -Greg |
Dene
Jan 16
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| You store your boat on the hard between uses, and several of the deadly
reasons not to own an I/O apply less to you. |
Harry
Jan 16
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| Don't you have an outboard now? I agree that an inboard or outboard is the way to go in salt water. |
Jan 16
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| The fun was running out there with my pellet gun each morning trying to
shoot the muskrat. But they're amazingly quick, and I never was able to hit
him. My neighbor finally put an end to it with a 12-ga. |
NOYB
Jan 16
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| We had them at our old marina before they put in new retaining walls. No
problem with them and no damage to our outdrives even though on of thier
holes was right behind our boat. |
Jan 16
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|
The phrase "Muskrat fun for everyone" came from a 1970 issue of Playboy
which carried a short story by Stan Dryer. |
Harry
Jan 16
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| Absolutely! I escape only those reasons having to do with leaving the
outdrive in the water for extended periods of time! BTW, I just put a couple of woodpecker pics on abpso. Trying to get those
guys to pose for the camera is a bear! These are crops, about one quarter
size of the original. It'll give an idea of what the D200 will do in the
hands of a beginning amateur.
--
John H ******Have a spectacular day!****** |
JohnH
Jan 16
|
| No, the 1997 Proline 21'er came with the 5.7L Mercruiser. The newer ones
are outboards, and I didn't know about all the reasons for not having an
outdrive when I bought this one. Now that I'm a member of rec.boats, I've learned all this good stuff!
--
John H ******Have a spectacular day!****** |
JohnH
Jan 16
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| Maybe it as lookin' for a little Muskrat Love aka Captain & Tenille |
Don
Jan 16
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| I was under the impression that the drives are metal but covered with a
composite material. No? |
Butch
Jan 16
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| re the D200 You'd like this http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d200.htm re the D-Dory...these guys ought to know something..
http://www.c-brats.com/
|
RichG
Jan 16
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| My neighbor has composite drives on a 35' Regal. He wrapped a rope that was |
NOYB
Jan 16
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| I don't think I could come up with more than a dozen reasons to avoid
outdrives. |
Harry
Jan 16
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| I agree. They are a PITA maintenance wise. But sometimes you have no
choice. |
Jan 16
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| You mean besides the fact that there's just a piece of black rubber (that
must remain completely pliable and flex with the drives) between you and the
bottom of the Atlantic? |
NOYB
Jan 16
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| That's a good place to start. |
Harry
Jan 16
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| Sure you do. You can buy a boat that doesn't incorporate outdrives. |
Harry
Jan 16
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| I'm not sure I could come up with that many, but the few I
know are pretty strong.
That's right, there are really so few different makes &
models of boats on the market nowadays. It's like drinking "lite" beer. OTOH there are an awful lot
of these boats out there, so I'm glad some people will buy
them or the market would collapse. DSK |
DSK
Jan 16
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| Nope, not always true. Some styles or makes come only with I/O's. |
Jan 16
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| But Jim, it is STILL your choice. You can decide to buy some other style
or make. |
Harry
Jan 16
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| Was that meant to inspire confidence in my boat?
--
John H ******Have a spectacular day!****** |
JohnH
Jan 16
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| or canadian beer for that matter. |
Shortwave
Jan 16
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|
but i thought you were gonna move to canada? what will you drink when
you get there? |
DownTime
Jan 16
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| That fit *my* wants and needsyesand they all have
I/O's. |
Jan 16
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| That depends. Do you have muskrats by you? A damn muskrat nearly sunk my
dad's boat when it chewed a hole in that rubber housing. |
NOYB
Jan 16
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| If my Proline doesn't last until I die, I will have an outboard on my next
boat. Unless bassie and I get rich and I get this: http://www.grandbanks.com/yachts/heritage/46cl/gallery.cfm
--
John H ******Have a spectacular day!****** |
JohnH
Jan 16
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| I don't think we have muskrats, yet. Luckily my boat doesn't stay in the
water, so several of the reasons not to own an outdrive don't apply.
--
John H ******Have a spectacular day!****** |
JohnH
Jan 16
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|
You couldn't handle 'Canadian beer'! |
Don
Jan 16
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|
Sasparalla! |
Don
Jan 16
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| >> |
Harry
Jan 16
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| It remains to be seen if the composite outdrive works, but if it does,
it solves two of the biggest problems with them, corrosion of the
outdrive when exposure to salt water and, even worse, electrolysis. On
larger boats, where the outdrive cannot be easily examined while the
boat is in the water, and AC power on the boat is a common thing, it's
not much fun to find your outdrives are eaten away when the boat is
hauled in the fall. I knew someone that this happened to, he needed two
new outdrives, he was not happy to say the least. The boat next to him
had a bonding problem, but never admitted it, that was his one and only
year in that marina. |
Capt
Jan 16
|
| Well said. Makes perfect sense. Ironically, I started out on summer ski
boats and find it difficult to cruise under 20 knots. Last summer, took my
first sail with a pal of mine. Nice....but no desire. I like to get to my
destination and then lay around. Different strokes. BTW....spent half the night trying to figure out how to finance a TomCat.
I'm 6 foot. The idea of weekend cruising without the backache associated
with my 25' pocket cruiser is sorely tempting. Perhaps I could get Dr's orders. ;> Even better.....find a used one. -Greg |
Dene
Jan 16
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| In the same way that naugahyde is "better" than leather, eh? Whatever they are, they're outdrives, with all the negatives inherent in
such mechanisms. |
Harry
Jan 15
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| I've written about both of those boats in the last few months. That Tom
Cat has a remarkable amount of space for a 25-foot trailer boat, and
putting the standard C-Dory house on the cat hull made a huge
improvement over the same firm's previous catamaran.
And how many 25-foot boats can offer a 70-sq ft berth and an enclosed,
stand-up head and shower? (Not all, not by a long shot). If you get serious about the Glacier Bay, there's a new dealer in
Portland- Aman Marine.
See if you can get out for a sea trial, preferably on a day when it's
at least a little snarly and choppy. You'll be impressed, or not- but
there's no chance you'll confuse it with a typical monohull experience
in the same conditions. If I ever switch boats it would be to another
trawler, but it is easy to see why the number of people who are excited
about catamarans continues to slowly, (but steadily), increase. |
chuckgould.chu...
Jan 15
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| The Tomcat is a $100,000+ boat. A bit pricey and a bit heavy for a
25-footer. The boat weighs 6000 pounds sans engines. |
Harry
Jan 15
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| A parker is an 89k boat for 25' and may not be as nice. Quality boats in
25' are close to 100k +- 10K. |
Calif
Jan 16
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| True....but it could be more female-friendly, with some nice touches typical |
Dene
Jan 15
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| If I were ever to change boats, it would be to another trawler. I have
no personal use for a lot of speed, and I think that cruising 8-9 kts
is sort of a relaxed, almost natural pace.
Taking one very long day or two shorter days to get from Seattle to the
San Juan Islands creates a sense of distance and removal that a 3-hour
sprint in a faster boat could never accomplish. Then there's just
enough Scot in my bloodlines that I do enjoy getting 4 nmpg, especially
at the current and probably future prices for fuel. There was a point
in my life where I could easily have taken up sailing, rather than
powerboating, but my wife, (with two toddling kids at the time),
decreed that if we were going to resume the boating activity I had
enjoyed while growing up she would insist on a warm, dry "house" on the
boat where she and the kids could stay out of the weather and out of
harm's way. I adpoted a lot of my boating "attitudes" if you will from my
Grandfather, who graduated from the Royal Naval Hospital School at
Greenwich and served on destroyer escorts in WWI. Just after the turn
of the 20th Century, British naval officers were still expected to
demonstrate many of the abilities required to command a ship under
sail- although pretty much the last of the British sail fleet had been
retired decades earlier. Grandpa was a consumate salt who could almost
turn a sailboat into a living being. Since I'm not ever going to be a
sailor myself, I guess I perceive trawlers as among the most
traditional powerboats, and if grandpa were here today he'd be less
ashamed of his stink-potting grandson in his 8 kt trawler than he would
be if I were
planing along at "way too fast". :-) So, as you see, the answer is strictly one of personal preferance. I am
open minded enough to appreciate that other people come to boating
looking for things that are entirely different than what I personally
value, and I can enjoy a variety of boating experiences and appreciate
the unique aspects of all of them without having to judge every boat
based on how similar or dissimilar to my personally favorite category
(the trawler) it might be. For a beamy layout on the main deck, very civilized performance in a
2-4 foot choppy Puget Sound sort of seas (head seas most particularly),
reasonable speed and fuel economy, a catamaran will meet or exceed a
lot of peoples' expectations. If I weren't a trawler boater, I could
easily imagine having a power cat among choices on a future "short
list". If. |
chuckgould.chu...
Jan 16
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