Our first boat, any advise?

[davesparks2001]

I joined this forum when I started boat shopping and you guys have been great. After dodging a couple of bullets with info I got from this site we finally have our first boat. It's a 1993 Starcraft Eurostar Elite 191. It's 19'X 8' with a 4.3L and Alpha One outdrive. My marine mechanic said we did pretty good and the only things it seems to need soon is something put on the vinyl interior in places where it's split to keep it from getting worse and a spare tire for the trailer. If anyone has any knowledge or experience with this boat or any other pertinent info for a first time boater I'm all ears. Thanks, Dave

 

[JoLin]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

EDUCATION !

Go to USPS.org and find out about a local chapter and boater education classes. Boating is a great pastime, but you have a responsibility to keeo yourself, your passengers and everyone else out there, safe and undrowned.

BE SAFE - then have fun! Enjoy the boat

 

[5150abf]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Concur, there is alot to learn on the water.

Imagine a 1000 acre parking lot with no markings or signs, people can go as fast or slow as the want in any direction, oh and you have no brakes ,that is close to what it is like on a lake.

Starting out with some good information from a safe boater class would be a real leg up on things, just don't expect others to follow what you learned.

When you go out keep your head on a swivel since water is 360 you need to know what is going on around you at all times.

Remeber to turn your blower on for a couple minutes before you start the engine and don't run the drive trimmed up too much, it is really hard on the universal joints.

Starcraft is an excellent boat, I put them right up there with Lund, you should really enjoy it.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

duct tape, for vinyl, LOL, read beginning boaters > http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=300472

 

[CaptNCamille]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

As my good buddy JoLin, and others have suggested, take a boating safety course. It's invaluable, you don't realize how much you don't know. One of the things you will learn is fueling safety. Everyone off the boat, all hatches & port holes closed, everything including the engine and all electrical off. Shut down your battery(s). No smoking. When fueling, keep the nozzel in contact with the metal inside the fuel fill of your boat (this grounds the nozzel and prevents a build up of static electricity...you know - sparks), Stop filling when you are ALMOST full. You need some room in the tank to allow gasoline to expand in the summer heat. Once you hear the gurgling, like it is almost full, you stop. Before you re-start , do the sniff test for gas vapors, and run your blowers.
Here is a good website with a series of free short videos on basic boating.

 

[CaptNCamille]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Oops sorry
The website is:
http://www.boattest.com/Resources/view_news.aspx?NewsID=2872

 

[xxturbowesxx]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Ill go ahead and say you may want to consider an outboard as a first boat engine.. not really because they are better but usually on older Inboard/outboard(the type you are looking at) when they start to have problems in the outdrive it can cost a ton of money to fix.. If you have a problem with an outboard it tends to be easier to fix and in alot of situations you may spend more on fixing an Inboard/Outboard(I/O) than you would to install a used outboard. They both have advantages but in a boat over 15 years old I/O might not be the way to go.. This will probably open a can of worms but just one guys 2 Cents..

 

[bamadave]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Turboo, why would you tell someone what they should start out in when they have already bought their first boat?

 

[skargo]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Oops sorry
The website is:
http://www.boattest.com/Resources/view_news.aspx?NewsID=2872

Wow, I clicked that site as I was listening to some Iron Maiden on youtube, and now the sound stopped working.

 

[CaptNCamille]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Skargo,
Play the video with Black Sabbath in the background, that should straighten it out.

 

[xxturbowesxx]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Sorry i had 2 tabs open in Mozilla and responded to this post after reading the other.. My post had nothing to do with this thread Sorry :redface:

 

[davesparks2001]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Thanks for the replies. I'll take a safety course and I've already watched about half of the Capt Steve clips. I'll get through them all in short order. Thanks again for the input this is a great resource.

 

[skargo]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Skargo,
Play the video with Black Sabbath in the background, that should straighten it out.

I restarted youtube and all was good again.

 

[davesparks2001]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Bubba, you must have been typing your post while I was typing my last response. I live in Louisville KY and we have a reasonable variety of lakes within a two hour drive. Thanks for the great advise. I had been planning our maiden voyage for this weekend to a small lake about 45 minutes from here but may reconsider as I believe it stays pretty busy. It may be worth more time on the road to get someplace a little quieter for the first time out. Thanks again for the input, I'm really lovin this site.

 

[ElNuevoCapitan]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Hi,

I just bought my second boat which is a 1991 Starcraft Eurostar 1901S. I absolutely love it; only has 100 hrs on the engine and runs better than quite a few of the early 00's I looked at.

 

[gixxerjim]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

I am a newbie to this myself with one full season on our '88 18' Sea Ray. Best advise I can give is do all of your homework and make sure all of your gear is in good working order and organized and accessible before you ever leave the driveway. Knowing where each rope is, not all tangled up and that it is long enough and strong enough for it's purpose, memorizing the routine for docking and trailering etc, that the batteries are fully charged, trailer tires full, lights all working properly, tank is always full at the start of every day, little things like this will make your time on the water less stressful and allow you to focus during operation on being safe and having FUN.

Also run it in the driveway on muffs before going out for the first time to a lake..

If kids are involved make sure you do everything to make it fun for them: music, games, snacks, etc, and drive slooooowww and keep the first trip or two short. You want them to enjoy it right away so that they always want to go; my boys were 3, 4, and 6 last summer and by the end of the summer all we needed to pack was some healthy snacks and juices and the inner tube and everybody was happy!

 

[Willyclay]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

You may want to take an experienced boater with you on the FIRST outing instead of putting all that First Mate stress on your spousal unit. Good luck!

 

[SoTexGuero]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

I joined this forum when I started boat shopping and you guys have been great. After dodging a couple of bullets with info I got from this site we finally have our first boat. It's a 1993 Starcraft Eurostar Elite 191. It's 19'X 8' with a 4.3L and Alpha One outdrive. My marine mechanic said we did pretty good and the only things it seems to need soon is something put on the vinyl interior in places where it's split to keep it from getting worse and a spare tire for the trailer. If anyone has any knowledge or experience with this boat or any other pertinent info for a first time boater I'm all ears. Thanks, Dave

I'm also a newbie to ownership, after too many years of sponging off my friends for lake/river trips. It's so relaxing, encourages wonderful family time and there will be alot of great people you'll meet. Try to avoid all the people talking out their arse. I still hear these infamous words of wisdom from the many of them, "there are 2 days that will be the happiest days of your life....the 1st is buying the boat and the other is selling it." These guys are morons and usually the ones you're wanting to excape from anyways (until they ask for a lake/river trip w/ your boat).

Congrats on your new toy addition.

 

[ElNuevoCapitan]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Since there a couple of Starcraft owners on here, I was wandering if anyone knew the weight of a 1991 1901S Starcraft Eurostar? When I looked this up on NADA it was showing around 1400LBS. Seems that it is heavier then this at 19" with a 4.3L V6.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Our first boat, any advise?

Read his post, your a day late and a dollar short. Besides, outboards are just so fugly...

Hey now. I think my Honda is a Purty motor...