Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i Boating

PANEL 1 Three options for connecting to the battery ITC SOLAR DURAVOLT DV8-MARINE THE POSITIVE: This is a lightweight, 8.3-watt solar panel including a 10-foot fused power cable with a factory-installed SAE quick-connect output plug. It’s packed with three options for connecting: ring terminals, alligator clips or a cigarette-lighter plug — all with SAE termination. THE NEGATIVE: Alligator clips are subject to rusting, especially in saltwater conditions. Caution should be taken with SAE connectors. They should be taped with electrical tape to prevent separation or shorting in extremely wet conditions. PRICE: $116; duravolt.net PANEL 2 Automatic microprocessor charger DELTRAN 10-WATT TENDER BATTERY CHARGER THE POSITIVE: This is a 10-watt solar panel with a built-in three-step automatic microprocessor charge controller with LED indicator lights. It comes with a five-year warranty. At…

Steering is arguably the most important system with respect to safe boating. When your hydraulic steering gets spongy, sloppy or otherwise unresponsive, it’s time to check everything for leaks, correct the problem, and then purge the system of air. Steering bleeding is a DIY-worthy task, and with the expert guidance of technical service representative Gary McMath from SeaStar Solutions, we’re going to show you how. STEP 1 For a singlestation, one-cylinder rig, start by screwing the filler kit onto a bottle of SeaStar hydraulic-steering fluid. Next, unscrew the vent plug at the helm and insert the hose from the filler kit. Invert and suspend the steering-fluid bottle in whatever way you can. Cut off the bottom with a utility knife. STEP 2 Allow the hose to fill entirely with fluid…

For the ultimate in versatility, a frontmounted hitch gives you and your tow vehicle an easier way to move your boat or other trailers (it’s much easier to “front” them around than back them up). A front hitch also gives you another receiver to mount accessories. Front-mounted hitches are available online or at any hitch retailer. You can check for your vehicle’s fit at draw-tite.com. Here are a few front-mounted hitch toys: FISHING ROD/COOLER RACK Popular in seaside communities, these are often locally manufactured from aluminum to resist saltwater corrosion. The Anglers Fish-N-Mate 6 Rod Holder is available at major retailers. $190; cabelas.com SNOWPLOW While not a professional’s plow, a hitch-mounted blade like the Meyer Home Plow 23150 will get the job done for a smaller driveway or access road.…

SCAN ME To view our online photo gallery of the Sea Ray SLX 400, scan this tag or visit boatingmag.com/3031. I now know exactly how a 12-year-old boy feels on Christmas morning when he opens up his first Transformer. Faced with all the buttons and levers to reimagine the toy into multiple machines, he is thinking “awesome” and “way cool!” I know this because I felt the same way when I stepped aboard the Sea Ray SLX 400. It is awesome. And definitely way cool. Sea Ray took a hard look at how boaters use boats. We entertain, we swim, we tow kids around. When it comes to choosing the most important feature, some of us would start with the power selection — and this boat will also be available…

Because everything’s better by boat, Boating constantly engages the world by water. We’ve fished, skiied, tubed, boarded and surfed. We’ve raced, run whitewater, rescued, and embarked on adventures to Communist countries. We’ve gone to rock concerts and pro sports games by boat, and we’ve rafted up in party coves But this time, we’re here for the beer. More precisely, the microbeer: the crafty, flavorful alternative to the massproduced product proffered by the international brewing industry. In the last 20 years, microbreweries seem to have popped up on every street corner in America. I can walk to three of them from my home office. But brew-hopping, we figured, would be better in a boat. An opportunity materialized on the new Afina 3950, moored in Jacksonville, Florida, on the St. Johns River…

Humminbird’s Side Imaging was the first sidescanning sonar, but other marine electronics brands soon followed suit. Now Humminbird innovates again with its ultra-high-frequency, high-definition Mega Imaging sonar system. Built into the Helix and Solix series multifunction displays, Mega Imaging uses a 1.2 MHz frequency sonar — the highest frequency of any recreational fish finder. The greater number of sonar pulses over a given period of time results in superb target separation and clarity. You can select from Mega Side Imaging (MSI) and Mega Down Imaging (MDI) modes. MSI looks side to side; MDI looks vertically. The photolike returns are a cinch to interpret. Shipwrecks look like ships, underwater trees look like trees, and submerged bridges look like bridges. Many times, fish look just like fish. With both Helix and Solix,…

SKILL LEVEL 1.5 OF 5 FINISH TIME Approx. 13.5 hours (including drying time after washing and between coats), plus 24 hours for the Durabak to fully cure before use TOOLS AND SUPPLIES • Two gallons of Durabak 18 Light-Gray Textured Polyurethane Protective Coating ($239.94 including rollers, durabakdepot.com) • Four 12-ounce cans of Rustoleum Self-Etching Primer ($4.76 each, homedepot.com) • Wooster 4-inch cage roller frame ($4.68, homedepot.com) • Wooster 9-inch cage roller frame ($6.28, homedepot.com) • Paint tray and stirring stick • Disposable paintbrush • 80-grit commercial sanding disks • Crimped wire rotary brush • Pressure washer (optional) • Blue painter’s masking tape • Painter’s masking paper • Clean shop rags…

Closed-foam EVA nonskid from SeaDek first appeared as original equipment on swim platforms but is now a popular choice for nonskid decking inside many saltwater fishing boats, runabouts and watersports boats. It offers excellent traction, cushions feet and cuts glare. It looks nice too. Available in a wide range of colors, patterns and textures, SeaDek nonskid can really dress up a boat. Most installations are custom designs using 6-millimeter-thick material (two 3-millimeter sheets of contrasting colors laminated together). Ken Gardon of Blue Seas Fabrications — a SeaDek-certified fabricator and installer in San Diego, California — offers these tips when specing out SeaDek for your boat. CUSTOM ENGRAVING Fabricators such as Blue Seas can engrave just about anything you want, including patterns such as diamonds or fractals. Many customers opt to…

There’s a saying among fishermen, usually directed toward newbies who want to hold the rod when trolling, that goes “Let Rodney hold it.” They’re referring to the rod holders in their boat. You may not fish and, consequently, may not have rod holders installed aboard your boat, but after browsing this peek at the coolest boat gear designed to be mounted in rod holders, you may want to install some. And that might accidentally lead to fishing. But bear in mind, some rod holders aren’t made to support much more than a light-action crappie fishing rod, and most of this gear needs more support than offered by light plastic mounts. These all require a solid off shore mount, not a plastic or light stainless mount, to hold this gear. It’s…

Since Sea-Doo left the jetboat business, its engines have been showing up in many new jet-boat designs, including Chaparral, Glastron and now Scarab, the foremost name in performance boating. Scarab’s DNA in forward-thinking style and high-tech boatbuilding comes through loud and clear on its new 255 Impulse. A head-up display gives touch control to engine systems, stereo, ballast and more, and is used to program rider profiles for wakeboarding or surfing. Throttle control is enhanced by iNR, an industry-first intelligent neutral and reverse system. Bump up the throttle settings or drop them back at the tap of a button. You can customize the amount of touch adjustment you want from approximately 1 millimeter of throttle travel to about 15 millimeters. Five millimeters of travel gives approximately a 1 mph adjustment.…

RIVER CITY BREWING COMPANY 835 MUSEUM CIRCLE JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32207 904-398-2299 RIVERCITYBREW.COM Seven different original beers are usually on tap, plus great food in the main dining room and the more casual Brewhouse Lounge. The marina on the St. Johns River features 62 slips for 20- to 120-foot boats, with fuel available. Courtesy slips are available for guests. FOX RIVER BREWING COMPANY AND TAPROOM 1501 ARBORETUM DR. OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN 54901 920-232-2337 foxriverbrewing.com In the center of the Lake Winnebago and Fox and Wolf rivers system, Fox River has been brewing since 1995. The patio and sloping lawn are hopping in the summer, with an outdoor bar and dining and frequent live music. The long list of fresh beers is constantly revolving. The latest is Blu Bobber, a light fruit beer…

Topwater lures are effective at catching a variety of species, from largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and northern pike to striped bass, snook and redfish. Plus, watching a big fish explode on your lure is one of the most exciting experiences in fishing. There is more to it than first meets the eye, so we’re floating these tips to help turn you into a topwater tyrant. WATCH ’EM WORK Make a few test casts and experiment with different actions and retrieves. Every lure has its own sweet spot. For Zara Spooks and other walk-the-dog-style lures, practice a twitch, wind, twitch cadence until you get the lure zigzagging like a pro. For wakebaits, find the ideal speed where the lure’s back just breaks the surface and throws the widest wake. A jerking…

Raising a family, working, paying a mortgage and the usual all left me a surf fisherman into my 40s. Finally, a charter-boat-captain friend recommended a used 16-foot Starcraft with a 30 hp engine and a trailer for a price that even my wife said I couldn’t refuse. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to take it out. So, on a beautiful, sunny July afternoon, I towed the rig to our local boat ramp. With the usual weekend crowd relaxing on the pier benches, I manfully took a good 10 minutes to back it down, using most of the two ramp lanes. Undeterred, I made ready to launch when a much more experienced skipper pulled his boat up for retrieval and nicely asked if I would move my boat trailer…

My 1979 Sea Nymph 14R aluminum skiff had a hard previous life as a rental. Even under the best circumstances, riveted aluminum boats of this age tend to leak a bit. In addition, her interior surfaces had been painted over several times, creating an ugly patchwork of blues, greens and bare metal. To create a fresh new interior finish, I settled on Durabak 18 roll-on truckbed liner, a colorfast polyurethane coating with tiny rubber granules recommended for marine applications. The lightgray Durabak would provide a clean look and seal up potential leaks while improving traction. It would also provide the added benefit of making the boat quieter. One gallon of Durabak covers approximately 60 square feet with two thin coats. Measure all the areas you wish to cover — including…

Multiple uses for your tow hitch Surely, you’ve seen others carrying bikes or cargo with their hitches; maybe you do too. But what else can you do with that 2-inch square hole? Here’s a dozen-plus cool uses for your tow-vehicle hitch. SKI CARRIER Forget bikes, pop in a ski/snowboard carrier and head to the slopes. Why put them on the roof where they’re hard to reach? Here’s a good start: $219; yakima.com/hitchski. PICNIC TABLE What a super-cool accessory for picnicking, tailgating or camping. Plug it in, go to the game, and unfold it for an instant party. $190; ezhitchtable.com/home HITCH STEP For the vertically challenged, this plug-in hitch step can help with loading luggage, or even washing the roof of your SUV or truck. $60; weathertech.com CANOE/KAYAK CARRIER When you’re…

SCAN ME See a photo gallery of the Tiara Yachts F44 by scanning this tag or visiting boatingmag.com/3030. Our sea trial took us from north of Fort Lauderdale to Coconut Grove Marina in Miami, and it proved the Tiara F44 is made for those who demand the most luxurious living appointments supported by a well-engineered, seaworthy, smooth-handling hull with powerful propulsion that is reliable, smooth and easily controlled offshore. And, of course, there’s its flying bridge. Running boats is our main thing, and the only thing better than running a boat designed and built like the F44 is running a boat designed and built like the F44 from a flying bridge. The commanding view proves a benefit whether at sea or while docking. And the feelings of power and control…

My first glance of the Rossiter 23 Classic Day Boat screamed “Century Resorter, 1967,” and it gave me a warm feeling for skiing with my buddies out of Links Landing on Lake of the Ozarks. Both Links and Century are gone — at least as far as classic runabouts go — but their lines endure in the Rossiter 23, and it’s that nostalgia plus the quality construction that made this runabout so attractive on test day. No, there’s no wood in the 23 — none, except the polished teak dash and console boards, and the rails of coaming compartments beside the port and starboard front seats. Well, there’s also a mahogany wheel, stouter, firmer and sporting more gloss than the best finishes of the ’60s could produce. In fact, all…

Joystick steering is a great thing if you can afford it. Today there are a number of joystick systems for sterndrives and pod drives, such as Mercury’s Axius and Zeus and Volvo Penta’s Joystick Docking. For outboards, there’s Merc’s Joystick Piloting, SeaStar Solutions’ Optimus 360 and Yamaha’s Helm Master. All greatly ease the task of docking — a blessing for new boaters unaccustomed to maneuvering in tight quarters. But there’s a downside. Joystick options add at least five figures to the cost of a new boat. Prices start at around $14,000 and range upward to $34,000 or more, depending on the number of engines. That might seem insignificant when you’re already spending $500,000 on a new boat, but where does this leave a family buying a 25-footer for around $150,000?…

Admit it, you never expected that a pontoon boat cruising down the lake would be able to pass you. But it did. Thanks to triple-tube configurations, stout construction techniques and outboard advancements, pontoons today can carry some serious horsepower — and deliver fantastic performance. In short, they can move. Here are five pontoon boats, with tested horsepower ranges from 300 to 800, that qualify as heavy artillery. All of them are capable of topping 50 mph, and a couple can even exceed highway speed limits. BENNINGTON QR27 10 WIDE We tested this ’toon powered with twin Yamaha F250 outboards, and it delivered a 51.3 mph topend speed, hitting 30 mph in just 4.2 seconds. How does it handle the big power? Our tester was equipped with the Elliptical Sport Package,…