Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weather!

[Philster]

Not me! Sunday was sweeeet.

Yeeeeehaw! Pat yourself on the back here if you stretched your boat's legs before Memorial Day (or at least were ready to)!!

Overall, with temps in the mid-80's and no wind, turnout on the waters around Cape May County, NJ was light. Ocean traffic was decent, but the intercoastal waterway and Cape May canal were flat as they were mostly open without many wakes.

Burned off as much of the old fuel as I could and I think the plugs are clean after some low-60's run. The battery is nice and charged after two hours between shut-down/re-start.

All good! I wanna see more of my fellow boaters out there soon! Call me crazy, but I like a fair am't of boat traffic. Well, we have the room for it so I don't mind.

Dolphins were popping and people were hitting the Stripers left and right. I only buzzed one fishing boat who happened to be sitting dead center of the intercoastal water way. Guess they don't know that y'aint allowed to anchor there, because THEY gave ME dirty looks, when they deserved the looks from me. The waterway is narrow and drops from 10 feet to 2 in a matter of inches.

Overall: darn fine day!

 

[seabob4]

Re: Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weathe

Atta boy, Phil! We've been getting the afternoon thunderstorms (and I mean storms) popping up pretty early down here, usually around 1:00, so boating's gotta be done early...

How the new gauges work? Any hiccups?

 

[dingbat]

Re: Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weathe

Late is relative term. Mine has been in the slip for two months.

Put 112 hours on it. Pulled it two weeks ago for Spring cleaning and catch up on some repairs.

 

[Thajeffski]

Re: Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weathe

I was out before Easter

 

[Philster]

Re: Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weathe

Well... My imaginary deadline is Memorial Day Weekend! Based on all the marina activity and chatter from the owners there, they also see a huge push for the holiday.

seabob4, yes, all the gauges are working perfectly, right down to the speedometer! My reg GPS unit went out after I slammed over a large wake, but that's been a loose connection I didn't feel like dealing with (but now have to). :redface:

 

[riptide09]

Re: Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weathe

I made several test runs in April and May. Spent this weekend camping at Salisbury State Reservation. Put in at the boat launch and navigated out into the Atlantic. Saturday we made the run to Gloucester. Sunday we went up as far as Portsmouth. Boat ran great and everything is working.

Coast Guard and Env. Police out in force. They checked all my safety gear at the ramp on Saturday before I left. We were at the mouth of the Merrimack trying our luck at getting some Stripers. There was a beat up center console near by with 7 guys in it. Coast Guard got them for only having 4 life jackets.

Having never boated there before I can say heading out on Saturday it was a little dicey. There are some really good currents where the Merrimack enter the Atlantic and lots of huge boats putting up some good wakes. My little 17' got tossed around some. Sunday was much better having the experience from the day before.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weathe

Would have loved to enjoy the weekend, but wasn't able to get everything buttoned up in time.

Should be launching this upcoming weekend, hoping the weather stays promising.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Again, people are late getting their boats ready + missed great East Coast weathe

I ALMOST missed this weekend due to trailer issues. I stupidly negelcted getting my trailer taken care of the entire time I was restoring my boat over the winter. Fortunately a new axle from Tractor Supply solved my problems last week and I was able to get out briefly on Friday for a shakedown run and then all day on Sunday with friends and family.