Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2015 i Boating

Like a lot of boaters, Keith Cooper likes to spend the day on the water and cruise to different ports. And like a lot of boaters, he’s experienced the frustration of being unable to find a transient slip for his 30-foot Sea Ray. Cooper decided to change that by creating an app that allows boaters to book a slip at a participating marina from their smart phone or tablet, in real time. Aptly enough, he named it Slip Finder. Slip Finder helps marinas manage their available slips through its program so that the dock master doesn’t constantly have to answer the phone or radio and conduct a nautical version of musical chairs. For boaters, it means being able to scroll through the app in search of the best available slip…

It’s water-sports month here at Boating, which means it’s time to read up on all the amazing ways to have fun on the water. 1 Check out some of the innovations on inboard boats that are propelling skiing, boarding and surfing to new heights. Go to boatingmag.com/inboard-innovations. 2 Want to learn how to operate your boat for extreme tubing? Visit boatingmag.com/extreme-tubing. 3 Be sure to check out our 2015 Gear Guide for water-sports towable at boatingmag.com/water sports-gear-towable.…

You’ll need to decide upon this test product when you buy a boat, rather than aftermarket. It’s the Ameritex retractable fabric roof system, which I had the chance to test while our crew shot the Cruisers Yachts 390 EC for our March cover. It’s an accordion like mechanism that rolls back and seals shut at the touch of an electric switch. At speeds to 40 mph, it neither rattled nor created a whistle, two of the biggest “sins” we have observed involving boat sunroofs. Open, it provided the 390 EC with runabout-type airiness. Closed, it kept the wind and water noise down, yet its translucence allowed sunlight to suffuse the helm deck in the manner of a paper lantern. The top rides on tracks developed for marine use and that…

If your crew likes to go in the water for wake sports, diving or just for a swim, a boarding ladder is a must-have item. There’s also the safety factor: Take a spill overboard, and a boarding ladder can be a godsend that fulfills the ABYC standard for a “means of solo reboarding.” One of the most popular boarding ladders today is the Garelick Model 19803 three-step, quick release sport/diver ladder. Its steps and angled design make it easy for divers with fins to get in and out. Here’s how to install one on a stern drive powered runabout. QUICK TIP Cover the work area on the transom with masking tape. This will give you a better surface for drawing lines and help prevent scratching the transom finish. 1 SELECT…

ARE YOU CONVINCED THAT FAMILY-STYLE luxury requires trade-offs in fishing performance? Scout isn’t, and its 300 LXF reflects that viewpoint. As we ripped against the current into a gusting 25 mph headwind, we had to admit being immediately impressed with the speed, comfort and dual utility of this, the only 30-foot center-console we’ve tested that sports a cabin. Known for combining innovative design with super functionality and plenty of style, Scout has enhanced its reputation with the 300 LXF. A sharp and aggressive, forward-seating center-console that handles cruising daytime to light overnight, along with hard-core piscatorial pursuit, our test boat seemed determined to make a statement. In conditions that bordered on snotty, we chewed the chop, cut on a dime and tore through our paces without a flinch. It ran…

OUTBOARDS CONTINUE TO SEIZE territory normally occupied by sterndrives. The latest example is Baja’s 23 Islander OB. The boat is essentially the Baja 247 Islander minus a few inches, the sterndrive and engine, and with the addition of an outboard bracket with an integrated swim platform. The switch to an outboard reclaims welcome space in the cockpit. Baja installs a modular U-shaped lounge in the real estate normally sacrificed to an engine compartment. A side-mount pedestal table mounts to the seat base and stows below the helm when not in use. A pair of insulated coolers is located below the two rear seat cushions. Handy removable backrests slip into sockets on both the bench’s port and starboard forward ends should passengers want to face aft and take in that view.…

SHORTLY AFTER I HAD A NEW FUEL TANK installed, I discovered a problem. It was difficult to put gas in the tank. The nozzle continually shut down, as if the tank were full, until a gusher of gas spewed from the vent. Then I could fill up just fine. When I removed the portion of the deck covering the fuel tank to investigate, the cause became readily apparent. The vent hose had been shoved down, creating a sag, or belly, and causing fuel to become trapped in the line, which blocked the tank’s ability to vent. Not only can this cause issues when filling up, but it can also starve the engine of fuel and leave you stranded. This experience taught me one of the most important lessons about venting…

WHETHER YOUR MOVIE OF CHOICE WAS Endless Summer or Chasing Mavericks, your idol Duke Kahanamoku or Kelly Slater, chances are at one time in your life or another you’ve thought surfing was pretty … darn … cool. And let’s face it: You were right. Riding a board propelled solely by the energy of a wave is one of the most fun things you can do with your board shorts on. Surfing’s got sun, speed, style and soul, all wrapped up into one glorious session in the water. But sadly, it’s also got one really big drawback — geography. Surfing isn’t all that cool if you don’t have access to an ocean. At least it wasn’t until some wake boarders started playing around with surfboards in their spare time. Turns out those…

1 SET YOUR FEET It’s important to make sure you’ve properly adjusted the bindings so that they are comfortably tight on your feet. Too loose and you won’t be able to properly maintain balance; too tight and your feet will hurt and it won’t be any fun. 2 SET THE SPEED No matter what the boarder does, it’s important for the driver to accelerate properly to aid the boarder in getting up, and to maintain a constant speed underway. Drivers should focus on accelerating to between 18 and 20 mph and holding the boat at that speed. 3 SET THE BOARD In the water, the rider should float with the flat underside of the board facing the transom of the boat. The board should also be on its edge in…

THE WATER WAS FLAT-CALM BUT I WAS excited to jump in and catch some waves anyway, thanks to the new Regal 2100 RX Surf Edition. Once I hopped off the transom and grabbed the short tow rope, the driver of the boat pushed a few buttons on the Regal View system to adjust the wake and hit the throttle. Before I knew it, I was surfing for the first time on a man-made swell. Wake surfing might be the coolest new tow sport to develop in boating in the past 50 years. It’s low-impact and the basics are fairly easy to master, so kids and adults can all enjoy it. The only caveat — it’s not really a tow sport. Sure, you use a tow rope to start, but once…

WE SAY Like Leonardo da Vinci or Ben Franklin, the True North Yachts 34 Outboard Express can do many things exceedingly well. Powered by twin 250 hp Yamaha outboards, its shallow draft allows weekending a crew of four anchored in the privacy of less trafficked coves. With its generous cockpit, and because removable canvas closes off the aft end of the deckhouse, the freest passage of crew results. This makes the 34 Outboard Express ideal as a platform for diving and fishing, or as a mother ship from which to launch a surfing or paddle craft expedition. There is massive stowage beneath the cockpit sole in the space the engines occupy in the inboard version of this boat. The Yamahas delivered 1.5 mpg while cruising and proved quiet and smoke-free.…

BACK IN 1952 A MINNESOTA FARMER named Ambrose Weeres welded together two sets of steel barrels and secured a wooden platform on top. When he mounted a small outboard on the aft end, set in between the twin tubes, Weeres essentially invented the modern pontoon boat. Other people who took note of his stable, buoyant design asked him to build more of them; he called the design the Empress. So began the culture of pontoon boats. Their mission: to serve as large capacity family entertainment centers, style and speed be damned. The Harris brothers started building the original Flote Bote pontoons in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1957. The original FloteBotes were 20 feet long and constructed of steel pontoons with a plywood deck. These boats were much narrower than their…

“The smaller the boat, the more it bounces, so unless you want to buck up for a stabilized unit, you’re better off with a handheld,” he added. That led me to FLIR’s new Ocean Scout 320 handheld model (shown right), which features a 320-by-240 high-resolution LCD display for outstanding clarity, even in total darkness, with the ability to detect the heat signature of a human target at 600 yards and a small boat at a mile away. Compact and weighing just 12 ounces, it has an eyepiece with an adjustable diopter setting to sharpen the image based on your vision. Choose from among five levels of brightness. You can also change the shading: White Hot (hotter items appear white or light gray), Black Hot (hotter items are black or dark…

WAHOO Toothy, fast and tasty, these highly regarded fish surprised many anglers fishing kelp paddies or trolling for tuna. TACKLE: High-speed conventional outfit for bait and jig casting, or standard offshore trolling tackle. Rig baits and lures with single-strand wire to prevent bite-offs. TACTICS: Troll high-speed plugs like Braid Marauder, Bonita or Halco Giant Trembler at 10-plus knots. Cast and retrieve heavy “wahoo bombs” or single-hook “iron” jigs, or fly line live mackerel on wire leader. OPAH Known as moonfish in Hawaii for their round body shape, these rare and delicious visitors have been caught at weights up to 180 pounds. TACKLE: Usually caught incidentally by anglers targeting tuna — on 30-to 40-pound conventional bait rigs or heavy jig outfits. TACTICS: Drop and retrieve heavy “iron” jigs like a Tady…

1 Your boat is equipped with a rearview mirror so the driver can see the rider. Do you still need a spotter/observer? A. Yes B. No C. It depends on the state D. Neither 2 Tube-towing ropes have a loop at both ends for easy fastening. What ratings should you also look for with a tube rope? A. Weight B. Number of riders C. Length D. All of the above 3 When a skier yells to a driver that he’s ready to go, which of the following is not an acceptable phrase? A. “Hit it.” B. “Go.” C. “Yeeeup.” D. “Make it happen, Cap’n.” 4 After a skier falls, what side of the boat should you pull up on to retrieve him or her? A. Starboard B. Port C.…

On the first day of spring, when Earth’s axis squares up with the sun, people gather each year at the Annapolis Maritime Museum for a bonfire to roast oysters, toast the arrival of spring, play some music and … burn their socks? Yes, this town in the upper Chesapeake Bay is far enough north to have to shoulder the ice and snow of winters — especially the one that thankfully has just passed — but far enough south that the vernal equinox marks the beginning of the boating season, and the time when bare feet and ankles appear in Top-Siders and Tevas. This vital ritual began in the 1980s in one of the many boatyards in Annapolis’ “Maritime Republic of Eastport,” a peninsula of working neighborhoods bounded by Spa and…

ASK THE MASSES Go to boatingmag.com/forums to ask fellow boaters your questions, or to answer theirs. Salty Finger [ Q ] My boat is kept on Seneca Lake, New York, on a lift out of the water when not in use. I read in your excellent column that for fresh water a magnesium anode should be used. While the Finger Lakes are technically fresh water, Seneca Lake is so deep that it touches the underlining salt formations, and so it’s the saltiest of the Finger Lakes. The water is not so salty that you taste the salt, and we use the lake water as drinking water after treatment. Should I use a zinc anode or magnesium? JOSE MEDEIROS Glen Gardner, New Jersey [ A ] It would help to know…

SO HERE’S THE HEAD-SCRATCHER. BEINGA DILIGENT CAPTAIN, you note that the capacity label of your new Surf Master 220 tow boat reads “14 persons or 2,200 pounds.” You also know that its wake-boosting ballast system holds 250 gallons, or 2,000 pounds. So if you fill the ballast, that seems to leave enough capacity for you … and a ham sandwich. Can this be right? Yes. And here’s why. “Per American Boat and Yacht Council standards, the potential weight of a permanently mounted rigid tank must be included in the manufacturer’s capacity calculation for the boat,” said Ed Sherman, ABYC vice president and education director and Boating blogger and contributing editor. “If the ballast system can be disconnected and removed from the boat, then that potential ballast does not need to…

STARCRAFT’S MX 25 L IS AN EXAMPLE OF a pontoon that stands out both above and below deck. Topside, my test boat featured a familiar bow layout, with a 4-foot-4-inch-long couch to port paired with a 5-foot-8-inch couch to starboard, each with roto-molded stowage in the bases. Walking aft, I found a matching set of rear-facing chaise lounges with sloping backs. Use them to watch a skier or wake boarder, or just to stretch out and soak up the sun. An abundance of cup holders make sure you won’t get overheated. The space below also doesn’t go to waste; raise the gas-shock assisted seat bases and you’ll find stowage that stretches to 6 feet. Like the bow lounges and twin high-back captain and mate chairs, the seats are upholstered in…

WE SAY One thing I’ve always liked about Bayliner deck boats is that the bow platforms seem oversized. The new Bayliner 195 Deck Boat has the same feature. It makes for a great staging area should you beach the boat, or another easy point of entry from the dock, or — when the boat’s at anchor — a good platform for cannonballs. Smartly, Bayliner also built into the platform two storage lockers that flank the recessed swim-ladder hatch. The Bayliner 195 Deck Boat is built for family fun on the water, with a maximum capacity of 11 people. The beauty of the deck boat concept, which carries the beam wider forward, is that it maximizes bow cockpit space. This boat makes great use of it, particularly with the bow-cushion insert…

PLAY BALL! It’s that time of year. The boys of summer are taking the fields, and throngs of fans are packing major league ballparks. Ah! This is baseball. In major metro areas such as Baltimore, New York, Pittsburgh, San Diego and San Francisco, fans revel in the sights, sounds and smells of baseball — tailgate parties, peanuts, hot dogs, $10 beers in plastic cups, a crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd and boating. Wait. Boating? With a busy summer, it’s tough for ballplayers to go boating, but pitcher Kevin Gross found a way in his final 1997 season in the Majors with the Anaheim Angels. If he pitched a significant number of innings, he could go offshore fishing the day after, as pitchers get three or four…

The handheld FLIR Ocean Scout 320 can also serve as a fixed-mount thermal imager, thanks to a camera-mount receiver and a livevideo output cable (included), which you can connect to a multifunction display (MFD) from marine electronics makers Furuno, Garmin, Lowrance, Raymarine or Simrad. I used a RAM mounting system with rail- and camera-base adapters ($36.45, rammount.com) to install the 320 at about eye level beside the helm and then plugged the mini-USB/video adapter cable into the unit and added a 3-foot RCA male-to-male cable ($1.60, smart home.com) to reach the helm. I also needed a video adapter cable ($49.99, store.navico.com) to plug into a Lowrance HDS-12 Gen2 Touch MFD. Once it was set up, I selected the video window in the menu to view the thermal image on screen.…