Hey, Skipper, I hope you remembered the throwable life preserver (cushion, etc...)
Ron,
I am ashamed to say that I DID forget the throwable cushion - until yesterday when I came around a corner into a wide place in the river and spotted the USCG with their blue lights flashing, inspecting one boat after another. Then I started thinking long and hard about what I had put aboard and what was "supposed" to be aboard a boat of that length.. That was when "throwable cushion" came to mind! I crept along until the Coasty's stopped a new boat to keep them busy and then slipped by and took the next channel available which runs a couple miles inland to hide in. By the time we came back out, they had taken off for other locales and we were able to complete our cruise unmolested.. We had eight aboard again yesterday, but no benevolent lunch buying Aussies. (More's the pity!) We did get to see several small pods of porpoise fishing for mullet. They swim in tight circles around the fish in very shallow water until the frightened fish leap out of the water hoping to escape. This is what the dolphins have been waiting for and they snap the fish out of the air in the jaws.. It is exciting to watch up close. We also saw Bald Eagles, Ospreys diving for fish and of course manatees. A regular Nature Tour..
As you mentioned and Tom showed by way of videos, catamarans provided with lifting strakes will indeed come up on a plane. I have noticed that some pontoon builders are welding angled aluminum strakes along the sides of the tubes to provide a little lift, but this "Sun Chaser" was not so well equipped. I still consider them to be gas hogs and would suggest anyone with a desire to take all their friends to sea at once for a floating party, to consider a "Hurricane" or similar style boat hull. These craft have a very wide beam and lots of deck space for seating, carried on a modified vee hull which will come up on a plane and provide a reasonably comfortable and efficient ride under calm conditions. . . . However, any rough water will pound you to death with that much flat bottom exposed, like the old original Boston Whalers. To any experience mariner, a boats bottom is it's most critical design factor. Chuck (a.k.a "Hinder" ) is a 'bottom' specialist, who would be better able to explain these features than I.
I was glad to see I hit on a subject of interest yesterday, even if it didn't improve the general readership.. (Although I guess we won't really know that until Chuckster files his "Views" report this morning.)
Boos comments regarding the old standby's of the best days of owning a boat are the day it's purchased followed by the day it's sold, and that boats are no more than well lined depressions in the water into which one must throw vast quantities of their hard earned cash, can obviously be true. But, I feel those cliches can be offset by experience, preventive maintenance and prudent operation. I put something shy of 100 hours each year on my engine and feel that the money I spend on maintenance is the best insurance I can buy. The boat has never let me down and I derive enjoyment from the projects I preform on it. Boating is like many other hobbies, you get out of it, what you put into it..
Happy boating y'all,
Roger
