Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Boating

A company called DeepFlight (deepflight.com) is taking personal submarines to a whole different depth. Instead of your typical castiron personal sub with buoyancy tanks, DeepFlight’s Dragon is more like a four-rotor drone that can dive to 400 feet, no training necessary. It looks like a two-seat underwater Formula One car, and it’s about the size of a Formula One too: 5 feet tall, 16 feet long and 6 feet wide, and weighing 4,000 pounds. It’s perfect for the novice with $1.5 million to spare. DeepFlight founder Graham Hawkes has made a career out of designing submarines for research, oil and gas exploration, cinematography, and the occasional Mariana Trench plunge. But as a kid, Hawkes really wanted to be a pilot, so he designed the Dragon as a two-man, four-rotor, underwater…

Locking Shaft to Coupling It might be a straight bore with a pin or set screws, or a tapered bore secured with a nut inside the coupling. Either way, the shaft, coupling and components are machined at the prop shop to fifit together perfectly and are then labeled as a set. If assembly requires more than a solid whack from a soft mallet, something isn’t right. - V.F.D. OTHER LESSONS REINFORCED THAT DAY IN THE BAHAMAS: 1. Danger comes quickly. Demonstrate how to use personal flotation devices before leaving the dock and be sure everyone aboard knows where they are stowed. Better yet, wear them. 2. Know how your boat handles on one engine. Using the bow thruster and backing hard on my working starboard prop, I swung the bow…

When it comes to venturing ashore, a bike can be a cruising boater’s best friend. Downtube promised I’d love the 8H. Like other folding models, the 6061 aluminum-frame hinges in the center allowed the front and rear tires to fold back. It folded into a compact 3-by-1-foot-2-inch by 2-foot-3-inch package, which is small enough stow in a large duffel bag. What made the 8H stand out for me, however, were the Gates carbon belt drive and internally geared Shimano Nexus 8-speed hub. The former requires virtually no maintenance and won’t flinch at the salt air that rusts conventional chains. The latter fends off the elements by eliminating exposed derailleurs and gear cassettes, and it shifts effortlessly. Yes, I was pleased. $689; downtube.com…

Sealant Savvy Prior to installing, apply a 1/8-inch layer of marine sealant, such as 3M 4000, to the flange, sidewall and stem threads so that the sealant extends 1/8 inch higher than the combined thickness of the hull, spacer and nut. Also apply a 1/8-inch layer of sealant to the inside surface of the spacer. A properly installed through-hull transducer can maximize the performance of downlooking sonar in two ways. First, it has direct contact with the water, so there’s no signal loss as you might experience with an in-hull transducer that sends and receives sonar through a layer of fiberglass. Second, a through-hull is less likely to suffer from interference due to aeration unlike a transom-mount transducer that gets bathed in foam as water exits the stern and mixes…

I AM IMPRESSED BY TIARA’S Q 44 FOR A VARIETY of reasons, including the fact that, rather than cruise in the wake of perceived demand, this boat sets out on a course of its own. That’s big stuff, especially when one considers that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and most boatbuilders gush with praise for their competitors. The Q 44 is unique in many ways. Read along and find out why I think the Q 44 deserves the “adventure yacht” moniker its makers bestowed upon it. Any boat ready for adventure must possess the ability to handle rough, open water in a confidence-inspiring manner. Tiara built the Q 44 using the same bluewater hull-design features one will find incorporated into the builder’s vaunted Open series of offshore fishing…

STEPPING OFF THE DOCK AND ONTO THE bow step of the 182SC was as easy as stepping into a neighborhood diner. The next step down hid a compartment that could be a cooler or dry stowage. I’m a big guy, yet this easily trailered boat stood firm while I slouched into the helm seat. One guy at the helm and 12 gallons in the fuel tank wasn’t a workaday load for the 90 hp Yamaha outboard, but it did let the 182SC step out, up and into the sunshine at a high rate of speed — 41 mph. The acceleration proved satisfying and efficient, making as many as 6 mpg. I was more impressed by the 3-second time to plane and 8 seconds to get to 30 mph. The 182SC…

THOUGH SEA-DOO HAS PERENNIALLY BEEN A FRONTLINE combatant in the personal-watercraft horsepower war, recent years have seen the manufacturer focus on ergonomics and handling. For 2016 the emphasis shifts back to power, with the introduction of the 300 hp Rotax 1630 ACE, the most powerful engine the brand’s Austrian power-plant manufacturer has ever produced. Though technically a new engine for Sea-Doo, the 1630 is loosely based on the previous Rotax 1503. It features the identical 100 mm cylinder bore, but gains 9 percent in displacement due to the stroke being lengthened from the previous 63.4 mm to the current 69.2. Cylinders feature a new plasma coating, rather than pressed-in, iron sleeves. Applied by a proprietary thermal spraying process, the coating minimizes friction, improves heat transfer, and reduces engine weight. Pistons…

Among fishermen and hunters, there has been a slow tempest brewing with a white-noise hiss that barely catches the ear of the unconcerned. It came to my ear one afternoon as I channel-surfed past the hunting and fishing shows on television, and then backed up a couple of clicks on the remote. Men stood on a huge flat-bottom jon boat, wearing olive drab and camo, with a platform at the bow from which they launched solid, white fiberglass arrows into the water. These angling archers hauled fish after fish on board, all skewered on a solid fiberglass shaft tied to a the end of a string. I saw a boat like this recently and assumed it was for hunting Florida gators — and it could well do that too —…

It’s adventure month around these parts, which means it’s time to start thinking about some awesome things you can do with your boat. 1 How about going wake skating on a lake that has no paved road to get there? See our photo gallery at boatingmag.com/roadboating-adventure. 2 How about taking your boat camping? Read about our Colorado adventure at boatingmag.com/boat-camping. 3 Load up the trailer and take your boat on a luxury towing adventure. Click boatingmag.com/luxury-towing.…

1 Bahamian Moor One way to limit the amount of swinging a boat does when at anchor is to use the Bahamian moor, which basically consists of two widely spaced anchors off the bow. Start by anchoring into the current, and then backing down to set the first hook. Continue reversing to twice the distance you ultimately plan to use for your rode. Drop the second anchor directly down-current from the first; make sure it’s set, and then position yourself halfway between the two. On some boats, it might be easier to use a stern cleat to set the second anchor because it keeps the rode away from the propellers. Once the second anchor is set, you can then transfer the line to the bow. The biggest concern with establishing…

SAYING A BOAT HAS ATTITUDE COULD MEAN two things. It could mean it has some oomph at the helm and feels anything but boring when you push down the throttle. It could also mean that the boat rides true on plane, hitting its sweet spot without any unnerving bow rise and maintaining a sea-kind feel. In the case of the Regal 2800 Bowrider, both definitions apply. The performance attributes of this large bowrider — or day boat in modern parlance — start with Regal’s signature FasTrac hull design. It’s essentially a stepped hull amidships, which helps to reduce drag from the water flowing aft along the hull while underway. Regal claims the hull leads to 26 percent faster speeds and 30 percent better fuel efficiency. These are the company’s numbers,…

WE SAY Mag Bay Yachts was formed by Cabo Yachts founding partner Mike Howarth and his son, Barrett. The first model, the Mag Bay 33 center-console, features a flaring bow, broken sheerline, rounded stern quarters and a Michael Peters-designed twin-step hull. Fishing elements include a 70-gallon pressurized transom livewell, a 40-gallon well under the aft deck, and three cavernous insole fish lockers. The 35-inch helm panel easily accepts a pair of flush-mounted Simrad NSS12 evo2 multifunction displays. The diamond nonskid deck is level throughout. Walkways aside the console measure 25 inches wide, making it easy to fight a fish down the rail. A tackle-stowage station abaft the helm seating features an 85-quart Frigid Rigid cooler that slides out on tracks for access to beverages and snacks. With a padded top,…

The ancient, sculpted monoliths that give Ruby-Horsethief Canyon’s Black Rocks section its name loomed ahead. I saw my husband’s mouth set in a tight, thin line, and I pulled the girls next to me so I could hold onto them. Sparkles of summer sunlight scattered across the surface of the swiftly running water; it looked calm, but we knew it was very different underneath. Black Rocks is spooky. Here, the Colorado River winds through an otherworldly pre-Cambrian landscape that’s distinctly at odds with the Mesozoic sandstone around it, funneling through a narrow channel as it plunges to depths of 80 feet. Weird hydraulics are the norm, and we were remembering a June day, on another river, when an unexpected whirlpool pinned our port side and sent us careening into 49-degree…

Though mostly associated with sonar, CHIRP is actually the acronym for compressed highintensity radar pulse. As the name implies, the technology started with radar, and now, with the new Quantum CHIRP Wireless Radar from Raymarine, it has come full circle. Quantum is the only radar featuring a solidstate pulse-compressed radome, according to Raymarine. Exclusive ATX technology places up to 10 times more energy on targets but uses a fraction of the power required by conventional radars, the company claims. This results in better target separation at greater distances with less screen clutter. With a maximum range of 24 miles, it can also detect targets as close as 18 feet from the boat. The technology rejects interference from other radars, ensuring noise-free images in congested waters, Raymarine says. Amazingly, the radome…

We are huge fans of booming stereo systems aboard boats, but not all boats have them built in. What then? Do we ride along or anchor out in silence? Do we drain the battery on our phone trying to stream music loud enough to hear? No, we get ourselves a pair of rugged water-resistant Bluetooth speakers, like the Yatra Aquatune 9612 unit we tested. The Yatra Aquatune speakers are rated to IPX6, which means they are weatherproof but not completely submersible. This means you can play them on board and not worry about getting them splashed, but you can’t dunk them overboard. (Taking them to IPX7 level, which is fully submersible, would muffle the sound output.) This little speaker unit is also shockproof and dustproof, meaning you can drop it…

Propeller shafts are large pieces of metal that penetrate your hull while spinning many thousands of revolutions every mile you travel. What could go wrong? In the near calamity I shared in this issue (page 30), a prop shaft slid from its coupling, which left me with one engine and no steering near a notorious reef. I also had a large hole below the waterline instead of a shaft inside its stuffing box, and it could have been worse. Here’s a look at a few problems to avoid. 1 Transmission Couplings “Every coupling is machined to fit exactly onto its shaft. They’re labeled port and starboard, or one and two, as a matched set,” says Randal Hale, co-owner of Hale Propeller (halepropeller.com). Castellated nuts are shaved until they draw tight…

QUICK TIP Want a cheap, effective lubricant for snaps and zippers? “Draw on” protection using a wax crayon or candle. 1 Fabrics SUNBRELLA This solution-dyed acrylic holds color best, resists shrinking and stretching, and cleans with relative ease, but it is not 100-percent waterproof. It’s highly resistant to ultraviolet (UV) light but less abrasion-resistant than other choices. It comes in a veritable rainbow of colors. STAMOID This vinyl-coated polyester is waterproof, resists abrasion where the fabric bears on the frame better than others, and is easy to clean. It is highly resistant to UV light, though not as colorfast as other choices. It’s available in a wide range of colors. SEAMARK This vinyl-coated acrylic is 100-percent waterproof, provides excellent abrasion resistance, and is easy to keep clean. But it weighs…

THE CHECK BOX FOR “FUN TO DRIVE” IS always at the top of my runabout evaluation list, and we marked it with an exclamation point after putting the new 2016 Crownline 225 SS through its paces. Credit the Crownline F.A.S.T. Tab hull for extra smiles per gallon. The acronym stands for fin-assisted safe turn. That’s the description. In practice, a F.A.S.T Tab hull’s vented chines aerate the running surface to reduce drag, and the finlike tabs keep those vents from producing handling quirks. The hull sticks in turns, is responsive to trim, and really airs out at speed. Chop back the throttle and you can feel the vents working as the boat glides along for quite some distance before settling off plane. EXTRA POINT The marine Perma-Panel stringers and the…

WE SAY The Angler Qwest 822 Pro Troll TT2 is built for fishing. It boasts a center-console layout with a doublewide captain’s bench-style seat and an integrated cooler seat. Aft, other than a pair of jump seats and a center-transom fishing console, there’s oodles of fish-fighting space. The cockpit is surrounded by doublewalled diamond-plate panels that house immense gear stowage. The gunwales are capped by Traxstech accessory tracks. Overhead is an aluminum radar arch/rocket launcher that has no fewer than 16 rod holders: four adjustable models and eight static holders across the top. In all, we counted 22 rod holders aboard this boat. The fishing console aft holds a 22-gallon livewell/baitwell, tackle trays, a quick-measure fish board and a rack for fishing pliers. Up front is a pair of 60-inch-long…