Topic: Boats and boating thread

[ArticSteve]

Loonie just needs to hold on another 3 weeks and then I'll watch from a distance.

Canadian dollar posts biggest monthly decline since February


https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/canadian-dollar-posts-biggest-monthly-decline-since-february-2023-08-31/

Normally, that headline would be very concerning when one is attempting to escape disaster.  But, Alberta OIL is going to save you for the next 3 weeks.

GIANT CONGRATS on your MEGA decision to lead you're family to prosperity.  So awesome when one really drills down to the effort required.

[Firm]

Loonie just needs to hold on another 3 weeks and then I'll watch from a distance.

Canadian dollar posts biggest monthly decline since February


https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/canadian-dollar-posts-biggest-monthly-decline-since-february-2023-08-31/

Normally, that headline would be very concerning when one is attempting to escape disaster.  But, Alberta OIL is going to save you for the next 3 weeks.

GIANT CONGRATS on your MEGA decision to lead you're family to prosperity.  So awesome when one really drills down to the effort required.

Yeah, I've been watching it closely....got excited when it hit 0.76, been a downward spiral since. If it holds at 0.73-0.74 range for another few weeks I'll be happy.

Thanks though, the amount of effort to make it all happen without royally screwing ones self with taxes, immigration, on the job, or with the family is absolutely insane. this month is going to be really rough, but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

[ktm525]

The loonie used to be a straightforward petro-currency but lately it has unhinged from the price of oil a bit. Good if you are selling your product in US dollars.

[KD]

What’s the deets on the new unit?  That StarCraft is nice.

I’ve got a Regal 1900, with a 5.0 VP. Just a cruiser, but use it for fishing, floating, and pulling the kids around the lake. Regal makes a solid boat in this size range, not sure about how their larger stuff stacks up.

Dad has a Lowe 175, with a 115 Johnson 4 stroke. When serious about fishing it’s the boat we take. Not that great in the larger waves as it’s so light, but the engine is a gem.

As mentioned recently, I love being on the water. Can spend all day ona boat.

That boat looks in great shape.  The covers look new.  My covers look destroyed, but we just today got around to redoing their push on fasteners (whatever they're called).  Son bought a repair kit years ago and we only got motivated to fix them today because we sold it and don't want it looking getto for the next guy. 

Thanks. It’s an ‘08, I bought it in 2016 with 80 hrs on it. That’s also the original mooring cover. Quality fabric for sure. The older boy gives it a polish/wax once a year so it looks near new.

Wow, BC that Regal is in amazing shape.  Fabric is likely Sunbrella and it is tough as hell.  I leave mine docked all summer with the convertible top in place. Fabric is in decent shape but the snaps are starting to pop off on a regular basis.  Pretty impressed how little water penetrates into the bilge area.  Even with some of the torrential rains we've had this summer the bilge pump ran for only a few minutes max to get the water out.  I've got the original mooring cover as well, which is still in good shape but last owner parked it under some spruce trees for the first two years he owned it and it's full of pitch and it won't come clean at all. 

Really like our boat.  Comfortable and runs well, and heavy enough to handle heavy chop but still decent on fuel with the 5.0 Mercruiser EFI.  I'll likely replace it with something similar to what AS bought when the time comes.  Mine still runs great so might be a while before that happens.   Was not a great summer for boating this year though.  Rained way too much and probably the worst summer for weather I can remember.

Anyways, took mine out of the water yesterday and is now sitting in my driveway.  We still plan on going out but figured the best boating days are over for this season up at the country property and I'm going to be busy at work for the coming weeks.  There is a really nice boat launch a few km from my house so no problem getting it back in the water without too much hassle.

Pretty impressed with how well my dock standoffs have worked out seeing as I put them together with mostly spare stuff I salvaged from work that would have otherwise gone into the dumpster.  Just had to buy a coupe of ball hitches.  Might buy a few more dock modules next year as well to give more sitting room.

[HeliDriver]

Took this pic in camp last night. No idea about the boat, but it looks pretty stout for a little runabout.

[tortoise]

It looks like a Naden. They are well built and used by a lot of camps.

[ArticSteve]

What’s the deets on the new unit?  That StarCraft is nice.

I’ve got a Regal 1900, with a 5.0 VP. Just a cruiser, but use it for fishing, floating, and pulling the kids around the lake. Regal makes a solid boat in this size range, not sure about how their larger stuff stacks up.

Dad has a Lowe 175, with a 115 Johnson 4 stroke. When serious about fishing it’s the boat we take. Not that great in the larger waves as it’s so light, but the engine is a gem.

As mentioned recently, I love being on the water. Can spend all day ona boat.

That boat looks in great shape.  The covers look new.  My covers look destroyed, but we just today got around to redoing their push on fasteners (whatever they're called).  Son bought a repair kit years ago and we only got motivated to fix them today because we sold it and don't want it looking getto for the next guy. 

Thanks. It’s an ‘08, I bought it in 2016 with 80 hrs on it. That’s also the original mooring cover. Quality fabric for sure. The older boy gives it a polish/wax once a year so it looks near new.

Wow, BC that Regal is in amazing shape.  Fabric is likely Sunbrella and it is tough as hell.  I leave mine docked all summer with the convertible top in place. Fabric is in decent shape but the snaps are starting to pop off on a regular basis.  Pretty impressed how little water penetrates into the bilge area.  Even with some of the torrential rains we've had this summer the bilge pump ran for only a few minutes max to get the water out.  I've got the original mooring cover as well, which is still in good shape but last owner parked it under some spruce trees for the first two years he owned it and it's full of pitch and it won't come clean at all. 

Really like our boat.  Comfortable and runs well, and heavy enough to handle heavy chop but still decent on fuel with the 5.0 Mercruiser EFI.  I'll likely replace it with something similar to what AS bought when the time comes.  Mine still runs great so might be a while before that happens.   Was not a great summer for boating this year though.  Rained way too much and probably the worst summer for weather I can remember.

Anyways, took mine out of the water yesterday and is now sitting in my driveway.  We still plan on going out but figured the best boating days are over for this season up at the country property and I'm going to be busy at work for the coming weeks.  There is a really nice boat launch a few km from my house so no problem getting it back in the water without too much hassle.

Pretty impressed with how well my dock standoffs have worked out seeing as I put them together with mostly spare stuff I salvaged from work that would have otherwise gone into the dumpster.  Just had to buy a coupe of ball hitches.  Might buy a few more dock modules next year as well to give more sitting room.

Great effort on the dock.  One acquires the boat and then you've got to moor it.  So it's a 2 part process.  Often painful.  The boat is easy, the mooring is not.  Constant tweaking is required regarding most docking systems and always costing.

BTW, what are those yellow things in the water?

I spent $160 on some pressure treated wood and 16 carriage bolts, 6 hours of labour, only to find out that the assembly is about 1/4 of and inch too thick to clear the bottom supports stopping the lift from floating the boat.    Over the winter I will have some aluminum 1/4 inch plate made as a backer and that should do it.  As of tomorrow I'm going to use the cart that the Yamaha was sittings on and pulled by the Lundini which is a PIA each time, but it is what it is because I can't enter the lift in swells without guide posts.  I have the boat insured for 90K which includes the original kicker, down riggers, electronics, and I don't relish phoning the boat insurer that I totaled the boat because it got jammed in my lift and then got wrecked on the rocks.   They probably won't pay siting gross negligence on my part.

A few pics of lift and cart used for Yamaha.

[HeliDriver]

It looks like a Naden. They are well built and used by a lot of camps.

You know your boats! Yes, placard says Naden N-16S.

[ArticSteve]

That's a nice set up, looking forward to your impressions once it's all kitted out.

Sent from my SM-S901W using Tapatalk

No complaints really with the boat other than inflation has pushed the prices to the point where people are going to stop buying them particularly in the Canadian market.

Never a fan of Mercurys, but they have really nailed it the last few years on the outboards.  Sell 90% of the NA market partially due to Brunswick owning a good portion of the runabout boat manufacturing market and the demise of Evenrude.

Fully loaded the boat pops out of the hole and rips without any trim.  Good thing because there is no trim gauge.    Purchased a Mercury Vessel View module that installs inside the motor cowl and blue tooths all the ECM outputs to one's phone.  If I had of been on the ball at the time of sale, I could have got them to include that in the original sale. 

Being a welded hull, full of injected foam, it slams thru waves so I like that.  The 2 front Captain seats are fantastic.  One was included and I squeezed Legend for the second one.  Both slide, but the port side swivels and reclines to view the rod action.

Installed 2 Scotty down riggers (made in Canada) 1106Bs.  Excellent.  Swivel of course, extend 60 inches, and bonus, tilt straight up.  1006B have braided lines so no more wire trying to slice thru one's hands.

The current problem that won't be fixed until the season is over is that of no overhead tower.  The aluminum tower, purchased out of Michigan a few years ago was a great buy.  It will take quite bit of gunnel re-enforcing work to re-instal.  That is probably my only beef with the boat, namely that the gunnels are not totally re-enforced from mid ship to stern.  So currently no exterior lighting, no planner boards possible and a major lack of rocket launchers.  Went out at 5:30 am and was trying to set everything using a flashlight.  Really sucked.  It equally sucks at night. 

Also got rid of the rear compartment door.  Now I can place the kicker gas tank in there and observe from time to time that no water is filling up at the stern just at a glance. 

[sailor723]

Interesting comment on the Mercs.  I still see far more Yamaha's than anything else around here. I was always a Merc fan (had a 9.9 on a 10' inflatable dinghy and a 60 on a 15'Whaler) but Yamaha really seemed to take over about 20 years ago.

[rrocket]

Interesting comment on the Mercs.  I still see far more Yamaha's than anything else around here. I was always a Merc fan (had a 9.9 on a 10' inflatable dinghy and a 60 on a 15'Whaler) but Yamaha really seemed to take over about 20 years ago.

I know Mercs are killing it on their "big" outboards...Which come in V12 and V10s now.

[ArticSteve]

Interesting comment on the Mercs.  I still see far more Yamaha's than anything else around here. I was always a Merc fan (had a 9.9 on a 10' inflatable dinghy and a 60 on a 15'Whaler) but Yamaha really seemed to take over about 20 years ago.

Mercurys were crap 20 years ago.  Then they transitioned to 4 strokes and they were crap.  But within the last 6 years they have really broken out on design. Their lower ends are probably the best part of the motor.  I have a Yamaha jet boat with twin 1800 cc  and I would have never bought a similar boat with Merc inboard engines.  It really boils down to what specific engine.

Worldwide I think Yamaha sells the most outboards because they are durable, but the majority are tiller jobs between 30 and 90 hp.

[Gurgie]

Had a 1990 Yamaha 70hp 2-stroke on my old boat, was stupid reliable for the almost 30yrs we owned it. Didn't require much maintenance at all & just would fire up every time with ease. Loved the oil injection, so no mixing required. Changed the lower unit oil only a few times & the spark plugs. Would fog it every fall before putting it away & it would fire right up in the spring.

Sent from my SM-S901W using Tapatalk

[KD]

Really surprised this year how many brand new big power boats I've seen running Merc Verados.  Went for a paddle in the kayak yesterday and first boat that passed me was a big centre console running triple Verados.  My BIL is on boat number 24(?) now and most of them were under Merc power.  His new one is running twin Yamaha 200s.  At the other end of the scale, when I was in Lunenburg NS earlier this year most of the newer tenders lined up along the dock were running Tohatsus, which is a brand i rarely see around here. 

[tortoise]

Mercury outboards 30 hp or less are made by Tohatsu. They are known for making good motors and are popular outside of NA.

My 30 Merc is made in Japan.

[WP v3.32]

Mercury outboards 30 hp or less are made by Tohatsu. They are known for making good motors and are popular outside of NA.

My 30 Merc is made in Japan.

Mercury made in Japan?? I though they were a USA brand.

[sailor723]

Mercury outboards 30 hp or less are made by Tohatsu. They are known for making good motors and are popular outside of NA.

My 30 Merc is made in Japan.

Mercury made in Japan?? I though they were a USA brand.

They contract out the manufacture of their small (30hp and less) motors to Tohatsu. So the small Mercs are made in Japan Tohasu's with a Merc cowling. For awhile years ago the Mercury sub brand Mariner was made by Yamaha.

[tortoise]

In the early 2000's Yamaha made the powerheads for some small Mercury's as well. I had one briefly on my boat and it seemed to run well, though it had a bent prop shaft so I upgraded to an EFI model.

[rrocket]

Mercury outboards 30 hp or less are made by Tohatsu. They are known for making good motors and are popular outside of NA.

My 30 Merc is made in Japan.

Tohatsu is Japan's largest outboard manufacture.

They are so popular on smaller craft because they're usually the lightest in segment from 20-60hp 5 year warranty. Perform very well. Fairly priced too (IMO) All things appreciated by smaller boat owners.

I'm very keen on the 60 but could "make do" with the 50 on whatever RIB I end up with.

[ArticSteve]

Had a 1990 Yamaha 70hp 2-stroke on my old boat, was stupid reliable for the almost 30yrs we owned it. Didn't require much maintenance at all & just would fire up every time with ease. Loved the oil injection, so no mixing required. Changed the lower unit oil only a few times & the spark plugs. Would fog it every fall before putting it away & it would fire right up in the spring.

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Yamaha 2 strokes in the mid HP range where the tops in decades.  I had a circa 1998 Yami 85hp I think it was 85, but by that time Yamaha decided people could not operate a manual choke so they installed a automatic choke which ruined the starting when it was cold.  I sold that really fast and got an Evinrude Etec and that was leaps and bounds above the Yamaha, but of course more complex.  They sold them around the world and that motor had a great reputation.