Inhoudsopgave van February 2016 - Boating

Installing basic flush-mount stereo speakers on a boat is relatively easy, but there are a few tricks that help to optimize the sound quality and ensure the longest possible life of the speakers. First and foremost, buy marine speakers. Brands such as Boss, Clarion, Fusion, JBL, JL Audio, Jensen, Kicker and Polk offer special flush-mount, coaxial speakers designed for the wet, corrosive environment of a boat, with features that include waterproof cones, sealed magnets, mounting gaskets, stainless-steel hardware and UV- and rustresistant covers. With the exception of a subwoofer, most speakers come in pairs, and most deck boats and runabouts have room for one to three pairs of speakers. Most stereo units have speaker outputs for as many as three to four pairs. Additional speakers and a subwoofer might require…

CENTER-CONSOLE BOATS HAVE ADVANCED from Spartan-like fishing platforms to mini yachts. The new 420 LXF — Scout’s largest model yet — is one of the latest examples, blending angling utility with luxury, classic styling, new construction technology, a stephull, abundant power and sophisticated onboard systems. This model offers cruising comfort and the ability to entertain guests, qualities that make the 420 LXF a top candidate as a yacht tender. It’s available with a heavy-duty towing eye ($3,714) for just that purpose. If you’re looking for a comparison, the new Regulator 41 ($793,325 with quad Yamaha F350s) also integrates comfort with fishing features in that company’s largest boat yet. To ensure structural strength while also keeping the 420 LXF as light as possible, Scout turned to vacuum-infused epoxy-resin construction for the…

WHEN I TESTED THE ORIGINAL Bayliner Element, my first thought was that it would make a great bay-boat platform. Clearly, the powers that be at Bayliner felt that way too because they built the promising and eminently affordable Element F18. It’s a center-console that capitalizes on the Element’s stable M-hull design. The M-hull looks almost like a classic cathedral-style hull, only it carries the sponsons farther aft. It also carries the beam forward. The original intent was to enhance form stability to eliminate some of the rock and roll that turns off many first-time boaters. Isn’t stability one of the most desired traits in a coastal fishing platform? EXTRA POINT The raised 2-inch lip around the bow- and transom-casting platforms keeps fishing gear — and anglers — from sliding off.…

UNSIGHTLY SCABS OF RUST ON CAST-IRON MOTORS ARE A curse that sterndrive engine owners — especially those who boat in salt water — have accepted as a fact of life. But life is changing … for the better. The next-generation gasoline V-8 inboards from Volvo Penta feature corrosion-resistant all-aluminum construction. That means no more rusty spots on the block, heads, oil pan, valve covers, intake manifold or even the exhaust manifolds. It’s an idea that outboard engines have employed for a long time to reduce corrosion and the weight of the power head. Volvo Penta first brought forward all-aluminum marine gas engines with its nextgeneration 4.3-liter V-6 sterndrive motors in late 2014 (available in 200, 240 and 280 hp), but these are the first of the V-8s. Volvo’s new 5.3-liter…

PONTOON PRINCECRAFTJAZZ 180 There’s a rumor floating around that boating is expensive. The builders of the half-dozen boats that follow would beg to differ. Offering a surprising list of amenities, yet never going beyond the $30,000 threshold, they represent some of the best values in the runabout, pontoon, personal-watercraft and fish-boat categories. Want to get in with the 30-and-under crowd? We’ve got some cost-conscious contenders. PWC YAMAHA VX LIMITED ABOUT THIS BOAT: Pontoons don’t have to be the size of a barge to party. Princecraft’s Jazz 180 measures in at only 19 feet 6 inches, yet still offers room for eight passengers on its parallel bow couches, welcoming aft lounge and swivel captain’s chair. Personalize your ’toon with an optional high-back helm seat, upgraded upholstery with piping, sporty fence graphics,…

Make Cents Don’t lose trophies to dull hooks worth pennies. Sharpen all lure hook points now and replace any fish stickers that show rust. Get Fresh Structure lovers, like largemouth bass, stripers, grouper and snook, thrive where dicey bottoms wear on your lines. Trim 30 feet off the braid to start with a fresh lead. It’s best to replace any monofilament lines entirely. Catch Fish, Not Cotton Ratty guides slice lines. Check for chips or grooves, and inspect footers and wraps. Rub a cotton swab around the inside of each guide and replace any that catch fibers. Top Box Assemble specialized lure boxes for your favorite species. Each small, see-through plastic box should include just four to six lures selected to address color, size and working depth. Drag Cleans Use…

WE DECIDED TO MEET FRIENDS IN THE FLORIDA KEYS with our 25-foot center-console to hunt for lobster. While our life jackets were stowed over the helm in an easily accessible, zippered compartment, our throwable cushion was normally stashed in the console below so that it wouldn’t blow off. On this day, we quickly buried it under our dive gear, which we didn’t normally carry on board. We launched the boat at Bahia Honda Key near Marathon and began to lobster in the pass under the Overseas Highway. Our wives manned the boat while we began to drift-dive in a pass under an Overseas Highway bridge, drifting with the tide toward the Atlantic. My buddy and I quickly learned that our dive buoys had been pulled underwater when we stopped to…

A NEW AUTO-TRIMMING DEVICE FOR MERCURY OUTboards and sterndrives, Mercury Active Trim, helps boats plane more quickly, levels the ride, makes driving in snotty water and boat traffic easier, and, according to test reports, delivers fuel savings of 14 to 54 percent. I took it for a ride to see. Healthy Skepticism Active Trim is a computercontrolled automatic-trim system that’s available as a (pretty much) plug-in accessory for most Mercury outboards and sterndrives. Even coming from a racing background where accurate and critical trimming of the outdrive is a way of life, I think it’s worthwhile. But my first thoughts were not positive. Why is this needed? Computerized trim control already exists. But Active Trim is GPS speed-based. Other similar systems are rpm-based. Engine rpm and trim do not always…

EXPERIENCE COUNTS Marine insurance brokers can offer the widest range of finance options for boat buying. Home Base When financing a boat, think about tapping into your home’s value. “You might be paying interest, only at less than prime. That’s really cheap money,” says Rob Messenger, senior vice president of Title Mortgage Solutions (titlemortgage.com). He’s referring to a line of credit against home equity. Typically, 10 years of interest-only payments lead into another 10 years of monthly payments to eliminate the balance. Rates and payments adjust monthly. A second mortgage for a set dollar amount usually fixes the interest rate and payments for 10 or 15 years. Refinancing a first mortgage comes with significant closing costs (which are often absorbed by lenders in other home-equity solutions). Rule of thumb —…

LIKE A CROW, WE’RE ATTRACTED TO SHINY things. Which is why Crownline boats have always caught our eye. Abundant stainless steel, polished to a mirror finish, has always been a Crownline styling signature. And sure enough, from the engine-bay vents to the windshield header, the new 270 SS was gleaming in the morning sun when we walked down the dock for our test. A 27-foot bowrider used to seem really big, but these days it’s almost midsize, and the field is crowded. Crownline seeks separation with a host of luxury features and its patentedand-proven F.A.S.T. Tab running surface. The current bowrider-design focus is on building versatility into the transom area — a simple sun pad over the engine no longer cuts the mustard with boat-show crowds. Crownline makes a good…

WE SAY The new Premier 270 Velocity has a sleek, sporty look that separates it from most of its boxier pontoon compatriots. How did Premier achieve this? By installing fiberglass components fore and aft. The sweptback bow component gives the 270 Velocity a sports-car appearance. Inside the boat, it creates sexy yet sturdy seat bases that provide dry stowage underneath. With the aft fiberglass component, Premier constructed twin lounges with rearfacing backrests so they can serve double duty as sofas or run recliners. All the seats are covered with Premier’s stylish new Heritage fabric. Our test model featured the Atomic Red accent package, which amps up the sports-car feel. Thanks to the PTX package, Premier is justified in nicknaming this boat the Velocity. Not so much for its top-end speed…

T RESTORING A BOAT WITH THE FLIPPING SHIPS CREW By Heather Steinberger he old Forester pontoon boat had been rotting away on a South Carolina farm for 15 years. Nature had taken over, with weeds and bushes growing up around it in the field where, other than to stop bullets fired during its occasional use for target practice, it sat dormant. Still, its owners, Will and Melissa Merritt, were not quite ready to give it up, as the wreck was once a family boat. Given its sentimental value, they decided they’d rather spend their money on a restoration instead of on something new. They had an idea of what they wanted but no idea how to start. So how do you bring a boat like this back from the dead? You call…

These days, we seemingly do everything by app. We listen to music, check the news or download an airline boarding pass. All are just a tap or two away on that magical gadget we call a smartphone. Which got us thinking, maybe we could actually go boating … by app. Make no mistake, we fully intended to have the real-world, outdoor experience, but maybe we could find and rent a boat, plot a course, check the sea and tide conditions, and even book a last-minute marina slip all with the same ease of use that one has to summon an Uber driver. A quick search of the app stores reveal there are certainly candidates to get the job done. Apps have opened up a whole new world of possibilities in…

IN THE SPRING, EAST COAST MARINAS SELLING GULF FUELS WILL OFFER boaters ethanol-free gasoline under the trade name Gulf Marine. Instead of 10-percent ethanol, its clean air additive (“oxygenate”) will be isobutanol at an EPA-approved concentration of 12.5 percent. Readers who have followed previous stories about isobutanol in Boating will recall that this advanced biofuel comes from the same feedstocks (plant material) as ethanol, but that it has greater energy density (30 percent higher Btu value), and, most important for our boat engines, it does not absorb moisture or undergo phase separation. It also does not corrode or damage fuel tanks, fuel lines and engine components. Tests run on waterways and in laboratories over the past five years with the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the American Boat and Yacht Council,…

SPACE IS AT A PREMIUM ABOARD ANY 21-foot bowrider. Sea Ray’s 21 SPX OB maximizes it better than most. Gunwales are slim to increase cockpit space, and an 8-foot-6-inch beam stretches longer than the norm. A gentle arc to the bow widens the forward cockpit, rather than squeezing it to a point. The result is a surprising 12-passenger capacity. Most will find a seat on the main cockpit’s huge L-shaped lounge and broad portside bench. Position the latter’s removable seat back to the rear and you have a forward-facing chaise. Move it one cushion length forward to make a forwardfacing seat behind the port console and an observer seat aft. Or add a filler cushion against the port console to fashion an aft-facing lounge. The filler stows neatly below a…

WE SAY We think it’s about time Yamaha brought out a bay boat. Think of the applications: shallow draft for flats; no prop below the keel to dig up grass flats; and, for the convenience of owners, Yamaha’s one-stop shopping warranty that covers all the components of the boat and power plant. Our test boat boasted a clean transom with no motor rigging to stumble over and no outboard to snag fishing lines. For casting, the transom platform is uninterrupted and so low that it’s like standing on the water. That’s because the jet pump and 1.8-liter engine are completely contained within the hull and under the deck. Yamaha tapped the jet pump to also provide Jet Wash, its version of a raw-water system to clean up after netting bait…

Among the newest open-array marine radar systems to hit the market are Garmin’s most powerful radars to date: the GMR 2524 xHD2 and GMR 2526 xHD2 high-definition radars. Both feature 25 kW transmit power, open-array antennas and a maximum range of 96 nautical miles. The 4-foot GMR 2524 xHD2 and 6-foot GMR 2526 xHD2 are available with Pulse Expansion, which increases the duration of the transmit pulse and boosts the target size for identifying returns at longer ranges. Pulse Expansion will also be available for the existing line of xHD open-array and xHD dome radars with a free software upgrade. The new radars also feature Auto Bird Gain2 , which lets you easily locate flocks of birds, as well as dual range for simultaneous short- and longrange views. Both will…