Quote :

"there are videos out there of folks catching marlin off PWCs"

Wow, that's some Old Man and the Sea shit. Do you try to reverse and fight it or just let it drag you? I assume they have harnesses?

[Edited on April 22, 2012 at 9:31 PM. Reason : .]

4/22/2012 9:30:30 PM

i don't remember what they did. look it up on youtube.

4/22/2012 9:32:22 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGDlBb-642w

The crazy SOB jumps in the water and tags it by hand. Now that's fishing. At least give the fish a fair chance at killing you too.

4/22/2012 9:35:15 PM

I dont know if we'll ever get the boat to lake gaston at the rate this weather keeps up.'

NEED SUN AND 70S PLEASE

4/23/2012 11:14:05 AM

Took the boat out for the first time since October, ran great in oregon inlet and got some bluefish.

4/23/2012 11:27:51 AM

My buddy has hit boat for sale and i'm wondering if i should buy it or not.

Its a 95 stingray 230sx witha 330hp 454 that i converted to EFI for him a while ago.

has 200 hrs on the engine been on ams-oil since break in...

but the dumb fuck left her on the lake un-covered all winter long so it needs to be re-upholstered everywhere but the cuddy.

How much would something like that cost??

4/23/2012 11:35:13 AM

^8-900 bucks depending on if the wood is completely rotten underneath the seats and cushions

4/24/2012 6:21:02 PM

Being a cuddy and not a bowrider you might get away for a grand if you have the seat covers made and do the installation yourself. I'd expect each of the front seats to run you $200 for a bottom and a back. The rear seat will be more. The sun deck will be your big expense. The side panels will add even more if they need to be replaced.

Make sure your upholstery guy uses proper stitches that will hold up in the sun. Normal upholstery stitches will fall apart in a few years time in a marine environment.

It's not terribly difficult to install the new ones, but it is more time consuming than you'd expect. If there is any rotten wood you'll want to replace that while you have the seat skins off. If you're re-using a seat cover you can expect to spend a ridiculous amount of time pulling the staples out. Otherwise just rip em out and hammer them flat. Make sure you keep it intact enough for your upholsterer to use as a template though.

Make sure you use stainless steel staples. An electric staple gun is worth the $30 or whatever. Firing 500 staples with a manual stapler is just a bad idea. If you can find stainless staples to fit in a pneumatic stapler you'll be set, but I couldn't find any in the size I needed the last time I did anything like this.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 8:15 PM. Reason : l]

4/24/2012 8:10:10 PM

btw...A lot of people would be surprised at how well a couple rounds of Starbrite Mildew Stain Remover will clean the seats. Don't scrub; just spray it on and let it sit in the sun. If the vinyl is still supple it might do the trick.

Follow up with a good cleaner/protectant with PTFE.

4/25/2012 1:50:08 PM

Two words: Scrubbing Bubbles.

4/25/2012 1:51:42 PM

Quote :

"Make sure your upholstery guy uses proper stitches "

In other words, nylon, not cotton

4/25/2012 4:03:24 PM

^^clorox clean-up works great as well.

4/25/2012 9:55:22 PM

gotta be careful with bleach on the seats. it'll cause the stitching to deteriorate faster.

4/26/2012 8:02:45 AM

Planning to put in a new steering cable and water pump impeller this weekend.

4/26/2012 12:14:53 PM

just replaced all 8 spark plugs, water separator, fuel filter, and water impellor on mine.....just needs a cleaning and its ready to go

4/26/2012 6:20:58 PM

^ What do you have? I'm rolling floating on a 2002 Malibu Sunsetter this year.

4/26/2012 10:26:22 PM

Steering cable was a bit of a pain. My gas tank was right on top of the rudder, so I had to do all that loosening/tightening by feel. Fishing it through the hull was the worst though. It wouldn't have been as bad without heater hoses and stereo wires running through the same small hole in the floor. It's done though!

Put in a new fuel filter. About to pump out the trans fluid and put in a new water pump impeller.

[Edited on April 28, 2012 at 4:57 PM. Reason : s]

4/28/2012 4:56:32 PM

^^

4/29/2012 9:40:41 AM

Finally got the boat in the water at Lake Gaston this past Sunday. Beautiful day. Water was chilly at 66 degrees, but with a light wetsuit, I was comfortable.

The ballast system is becoming a pain in the ass. Seems like something is breaking on it every couple of months. Had to replace a module over the winter, now one of the Jabsco reversible pumps went as well...

4/30/2012 11:29:47 AM

^^ That's awesome man. I love the lines on those Robalos and you can't beat a Yamaha for reliability.

Ended up installing the steering cable, changing the trans fluid, swapping the water pump impeller, installing an amplifier, and installing two new Duracell AGM batteries in the boat over the weekend. Not bad considering I had zero plans to even work on the boat until about noon on Thursday. Ordered all the parts except the batteries from a company in SC and had them at my door Friday at lunchtime.

My amp was cutting out every 15 seconds or so. It may have been low battery power, but I'm pretty sure those batteries would have shipped fully charged. I did plug my charger in for a couple hours on Sunday before heading home. I'll mess with it the next time I'm up there. In any case, it's a good head start on getting the boat into the condition I want it to be.

[Edited on April 30, 2012 at 5:02 PM. Reason : l]

4/30/2012 4:56:21 PM

I'm about to get tired of the PWC business...thinking about selling my GPR and buying a real boat.

Despite it being my fascination for a while, I don't think I want to tangle with a badass offshore speedboat. I think it would be one of those things I could afford to buy, but not to own...and I feel like it would likely be one pain in the ass after another (even by boat standards)...and God forbid I blow an engine or air it out without pulling the power and smash an outdrive...not to mention that fueling the damned thing would require prodigious amounts of cash that would kinda take the fun out of it.

Furthermore, I don't really have enough use for one here to justify it--there are some good, large rivers...the Pensacola, Perdido, and Mobile Bays, a large sound, and the intracoastal. The bays are large, so I can't get something silly like an STV or Hydrostream lake/river rocket, but I don't need to go all Miami Vice and shit to haul ass across a large bay.


I'm just starting to try to figure out what I want. Hydrostream's Voyager looks like it would be good...80-90+ mph performance with an outboard, but bowrider practicality and a reasonable enough hull that I think it would do fine anywhere but in the ocean (and would probably do OK there on some days here in the Gulf). I don't know if there are any similar boats I should look at.

What I'd really like would be a really fast center console...like a 18-20 footer, with a T-top, but with a bigass outboard and a fast hull and 80-something mph top speed. I don't even know if such a thing exists, though.

6/4/2012 11:49:08 PM

my opinion on this is get a reasonable offshore capable boat and use it predominantly inland.


if you stick with a single i/o no matter how large it is the gph will surprise you... it will probably do better then your gpr because slinging a big prop works better then slinging a big impeller.

Also imho hydro streams go fast well and that's all they do well, you can't ski behind one for shit, they don't even cruise across the lake for shit. I go to smith mountain lake regularly and every morning its not official but from 6am-8 am i call river boat time because everyone with their big block v drive and berkley jet boats are on the lake before anyone who actually makes a wake gets out there.

Its honestly one of my favorite parts of being up there. I love waking up to the sound of a 5000rpm 427/454/502 witha berkley jet trimmed out of the water throwing a giant friggin rooster tail across the lake. but then after 8 am all that stops because none of them can ride on the lake when the sundancers wake up and start motoring their 40' freshwater yachts around.


i've always wanted a nordic heat just because they'll do 75 on about any water condition with no problems and still get 3-4 gph

or an old donzi 28 zx with the 2 377s in it. This would be my ideal boat but gets 30% worse fuel consumption then the heat with the same top speed size and capacity.

6/5/2012 6:48:47 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLRwkrBZzsA&feature=player_embedded

just buy a party barge

6/5/2012 10:51:23 AM

So, after spending 1.5 hours in a Centurion Enzo SV244, I am looking to see if I can get one! absolutely bad ass.

6/5/2012 3:26:39 PM

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/3014377087.html

I'll let you keep it at my place to save on storage fees.
I'll need a key and some usage rights, of course.
But you have to remove the tribal graphics. 1999 was at least 10 years ago. I don't know why these wake boat companies are so slow to catch on.

[Edited on June 5, 2012 at 5:09 PM. Reason : l]

6/5/2012 5:08:21 PM

because wake boarders are slow to catch on??


I don't know.... i love the look ,build quality, and reliability of tow boats but other then towing... they pretty much suck at everything... they don't go fast, they don't ride that well, they use shit tons of fuel and combined with the fact that they're relatively slow that means they get horrible mpg.



This will throw a bigger wake, (2 iron small blocks tend to have plenty aft weight), go faster, ride smoother, use less gph and be almost (90%) as efficient as a wake boarding boat just won't plane as quickly.

6/6/2012 7:56:14 AM

No offense, but you obviously don't know much about wakesurfers or wakeboarders to think that a Donzi would even be a consideration or substitution. A Donzi is a nice boat, but it is an apples to oranges comparison. Both build for different purposes in mind. That boat wouldnt throw shit for a wakesurfing wake, and the last thing I want to do is just burn gas to go up and down a lake.

Wakesurfing is 'the' reason I wanted to own a boat, and a wakeboarding/wakesurfing boat with a V-drive is the only way to go.


[Edited on June 6, 2012 at 9:45 AM. Reason : .]

6/6/2012 9:42:03 AM

^^ So much wrong with that post
- No...Your donzi will not throw a comparable wake. Wake boats these days are shipping from the factory with 2k+ inboard ballast systems. Wedges, wake plates, and hulls designed to make a wake will win that battle every time. Not to mention the boat in your pic doesn't have a wakeboard tower. Tying off to a cleat at the back of the boat isn't going to help your boarding any.
- Nobody with any sense surfs behind an I/O. It's a good way to lose an arm.
- Most wake boats will see ~3.5 MPG at cruising speed with the ballast unloaded. Pretty similar to most similar sized I/Os. You can't trim them out to get the hull out of the water like you can on an I/O, but the hulls are designed with that in mind.


Sure, a 28' Donzi is going to be a smooth ride. Yes, it will blow wake boats away in terms of speed and ability to handle rough water. I love them both, but as Carzin said it's an apples to oranges comparison.

[Edited on June 6, 2012 at 10:06 AM. Reason : s]

6/6/2012 10:05:56 AM

Never mind ... i'm sorry i thought we were still looking for theduke....


you want a tow boat and spend >50% of your time towing someone then fuck yeah get a damned tow boat...

My bad...


[Edited on June 6, 2012 at 11:19 AM. Reason : .]

6/6/2012 11:15:22 AM

It's all a tradeoff. A ski boat does nearly everything I want to do except go fast when it's rough, but a powerboat simply can't be used for surfing and isn't the best for wakeboarding. At some point I want to get a big comfy cruiser with a stabbin' cabin, but my knees and back haven't fully given out yet and my income hasn't caught up with my desires.

6/6/2012 1:10:48 PM

they come out of the hole like no bodies business and when the tanks are empty they're fun to do donuts in too lol

6/6/2012 1:35:44 PM

OK, so, for something that is stupidly fast on the river but will handle enough chop and small waves to comfortably also use it in the bay, I've found the following, all available in the 20-22' range:

Hydrostream Voyager:



Checkmate Pulsare:




Superboat Legend:
(i think all of these are closed bow, though)




...and what I find really the most interesting of all, the Superboat Millennium. They took the 21' hull of the Legend and made a center console out of it. I think they are very tough to find, though, so are there are another REALLY fast small center consoles out there? (say, in the mid-teen to mid-20' range)? The only other fast ones I know of are the big offshore fishing rigs...basically big CC cigarette boats.



[Edited on June 12, 2012 at 12:30 AM. Reason : ]

6/12/2012 12:30:32 AM

paramount 21....without a t top and rigged with a 200 or 225 you are over 65 mph

6/14/2012 3:42:41 AM

How fast do these things go??


are they worth it to not have an i/o ??

IIRC when we had a 2 stroke outboard we had more annual issues.

6/14/2012 8:43:12 AM

^^ http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/boa/3036385712.html

6/14/2012 9:03:19 AM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-Commander-Open-Bow-496-Mag-375HP-Low-75-Hours-Mint-Condition-/290727068977?pt=Power_Motorboats&hash=item43b0af0531#v4-41

6/14/2012 10:03:45 AM

^^^

Just based off of what I've read online, looks like about 80-low 90s for the Voyager and Legend, depending on power, and 70s-80s for the Pulsare and the Millenium (again, depending on power).

6/15/2012 10:56:07 AM

when it comes to jet ski's 2 stroke or 4?

is the extra weight worth the reliability?

6/15/2012 6:35:26 PM

I'm partial to 2-strokes. They might not have quite as good of longevity, but on the other hand, you really are financially fucked if you blow up a 4-stroke. 2-strokes also are loud and have outlandish fuel consumption, and even an uber-2-stroke like mine can't match the modern 4-strokes in power, either stock vs stock or modded vs modded (although you can buy a well-modded 2-stroke that will stomp the stock 300-hp 4-stroke boats for a lot cheaper than you can buy even a stock FI 4-stroke).

The biggest thing, though, is that nobody has made any sporty, nimble, lightweight hulls for years now. There's nothing like a GP1200R/GP1300R, Ultra 150, Sea-Doo XP, etc on the market now...all the new boats are HUGE. A mildly modded GPR might "only" make 200-something hp, but it will still pace the gigantic 300-hp hulls. A big-bore (1390cc) GPR will absolutely crush even the supercharged 4-strokes, even though it still doesn't make quite as much power.

Now, the hot ticket is to put a supercharged Sea-Doo or Yamaha 4-stroke into a GPR hull--that combination makes for an absolute rocket with all the advantages of both, but it costs beaucoup money to do it.


If you aren't looking for a hot-rod water rocket to thrash around on, and you just something to cruise around on, then yeah, a modern 4-stroke is great...but then again, a regular boat would be better.

[Edited on June 15, 2012 at 9:36 PM. Reason : http://www.greenhulk.net]

6/15/2012 9:32:07 PM

yeah i used to read green hulk back when the guy just finished the first (recorded) gxp1300r.

that would be sick and i guess that leads me to get a modded gp1300r and if it blows find a crashed new ski and swap it some winter.

which again won't happen till i can buy a house. stupid laws.

6/15/2012 9:56:11 PM

incidentally, I want to sell my modded GP1300R, and will be up in NC the 2nd/3rd weeks in July.

6/16/2012 12:20:21 AM

At this point in my life if I was buying a sit down ski I'd go ahead and spring for a 4 stroke. In my experience 2-stroke ski engines are just about consumables. Almost everyone I know has been through at least one engine on their ski. That list includes my Sea Doo XP and my Dad's Yamaha XL1200. It's more of an exception to put 100+ hours on a ski and not have to rebuild/replace the engine at least once than it is if you do.

I can think of several skis waiting for engines off the top of my head...The 650sx in my shop, a buddy's 750sx, same friend's 3-seater Sea Doo, 650sx at another friend's house, a Kawasaki 900zxi a few doors down at Lake Gaston. Someone dumped a Tiger Shark hull with no engine in the woods near my place a few years ago.

I'll keep the 2 stroke 800 SX-R I have for a while, but I would not be surprised if it needs a new engine in a couple years even though everything has seemed fine up to this point. I run Amsoil HP Injector oil pre-mixed with gas, but I know these things are far from bullet proof. Especially considering the way they get ridden.

[Edited on June 19, 2012 at 4:43 AM. Reason : ss]

6/19/2012 4:36:06 AM

There's a dude who wants to trade me his boat + cash for my Z06. It's a 1997 Python 24' with a 454 Mercruiser/Bravo drive. Anyone have specific knowledge about these, or have any clue what it's worth in trade? 360 hours on the boat, I think he said.

8/12/2012 1:52:28 PM

I don't know anything about them, but this thread on OSO was a pretty good read.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/south-central-us/172865-python-boats.html

Survey it thoroughly. The stuff you'd have to work on (engines, outdrives, electrical, etc.) should be no problem since it's common stuff between many manufacturers, but a boat like that can take a beating and there is always the possibility of stress cracks in the hull that require a lot of money to fix.

[Edited on August 13, 2012 at 10:18 PM. Reason : l]

8/13/2012 10:14:26 PM

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp?slim=broker&boat_id=2475553&checked_boats=2475553&hosturl=deatonyachtsales&&ywo=deatonyachtsales&&ybw=&units=Feet&access=Public&listing_id=2185&url=

I don't want to sell, but Dad does...and I may as well face it; neither of us has the time or funds to hold on to her. Though I would if I could. Oriental is a great place to go hang out. I'm gonna miss it.

Not like any of you people want to buy a sailboat, but worth a shot. I just replaced the two house batteries (31 AGMs, made by East Penn).

8/14/2012 11:57:54 PM

^ That sucks man. She's a beauty.

8/15/2012 3:41:34 PM

starting a job in wilmington early next year. gonna get to spend a lot more time on the boat.

10/16/2012 7:34:11 AM

^^^ Were you docked at Whitter Creek at some point?? We keep our boat there. Small world.

10/16/2012 11:50:17 AM

anyone have a marine head unit collecting dust on a shelf? need something basic.

11/27/2012 2:50:38 PM

We just ordered our Enzo SV233. We have a 09 Supra 21V Launch for sale. Asking 40k. If anyone is interested, let me know. Haven't published it yet, because we need to get it all cleaned up and finish putting a broken ballast module back.

2/11/2013 12:23:41 PM