Overboard Boater

First in, last out. Gotta love the center console.

Unless you live in Florida or other points South, now is the time of defrosting, and to think about launching your boat. Here in the Northeast, I always like to take a drive past the marinas and yacht clubs and see which types of boats splash first. Odds are that first boat of spring is going to be a center console. They’re the robins of the boating world. Why? Fishing.

Some of the best fishing is on the margins of good spring and fall weather and anglers are likely to put up with just about anything if the bite is on. You’ll see sailboats lingering on their moorings well into November for the fall racing, but it seems like they follow the leader in spring. After that you get some cruisers and then the runabout/dayboat crowd that plugs in from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Think I’ve got it wrong? Prove me wrong. Send in a time-stamped photo of you and your boat on launch day to editor[AT]overboardboater[dotcom]. I’ll post it here with your permission and maybe, if I like yours best, I’ll send a hat or something.*

*(No promises because then it becomes a contest and I have to put up a 50-page disclaimer and 30-1,000 contest rules, with State eligibility exemptions and whatnot. So no guarantees or anything of the sort.)

Not many boat companies have a history rich enough for a video documentary, but Chris-Craft does. Check out this nine minute video on YouTube.

The NIOSH Estimated Workplace Noises Chart

Take a look at the chart above. It’s from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). As you can see, sustained exposure to 85 dB-A and above ain’t good for you. Now browse through your nearest boating magazine and read through the boat tests–the good ones record dB-A throughout the rpm range. Where does your boat’s noise levels fall?

Nobody thinks about it, but I wrote a Seamanship column on the subject several years ago. It can affect your judgement and level of fatigue during long stretches at the helm.

You can get the numbers on your boat yourself, with the same tool most editors–and boat company technicians–use on boat tests. A digital model from Radio Shack will tell you what you need to know. It costs $50 (www.radioshack.com).

To get the best numbers, set the meter to the “A” weighting and “slow” response setting, which does a better job of averaging the sound level for a steadier read. Stick the microphone close to the helm and have everybody shut up, then record the numbers at 500 rpm increments. You’ll notice that on any open-helm boat, whether you have a stern drive with an insulated engine compartment or a whisper quiet four-stroke outboard, wind noise overtakes engine noise shortly after climbing on plane. And not long after that, the sound level will be above the red line on the NIOSH chart above.

For long distance runs, try headphones or earplugs made for shooting sports, motorcycling, or industrial machinery.  Try something like these inexpensive QuietEar Reusable Plugs.

My dad’s center console is as easy to maintain as any boat in existence. It still has an old carburated 125-hp two stroke outboard, and virtually no gadgets on board to break or go on the fritz. Every spring we pull it from the boat shed, re-attach the battery cables, fire up the engine, and go.

So it was a cause of concern when, after a morning of fishing on the first trip of the season, the engine wouldn’t turn over. Like a driver in an empty parking lot hoping it would miraculously catch, we kept goosing the throttle and turning the key. Then someone said to me, in a smart-ass way, “You’re the boating writer, you figure it out.”

I instructed we take off the cowling. I had my dad turn the key once more. “I see the problem,” I declared. “It’s the Bendix drive.” The drive wasn’t fully engaging, and I’d seen it before in the field, so I of course KNEW it had to be that. A major repair; we’d have to wait for a replacement part. Our fishing weekend was over.

We guided the boat on the trailer and towed it to the nearest marine mechanic, about 30 miles away. I brought up the Bendix drive, knowingly. He took one look at it, then looked at me slightly askew.

He opened a hatch in the back of the boat and looked at the batteries. “You didn’t tighten the wing nuts enough,” he said. “The battery’s arcing.” In our hurry to get on the water, we affixed the cables to the posts and tightened the nuts by hand. He reached into his pocket for some pliers, gave each nut a twist and had my Dad turn the key. It started right up.

He looked at me with a there you go Mr. Boating writer smile and said with a wink, “No charge.”

The point here is, when something goes wrong on your boat, always start with the obvious. It could save you hours of aggravation and, m0re importantly, embarrassment.

Boating is a healthy pastime, right? You’re outdoors, breathing in fresh air, and–if you’re on my boat–eating your weight in processed junk food. I’m usually on a boat for one of two reasons, fishing or otherwise getting recreational. Fiddling around with cooking or food prep is a colossal waste of time. Rip open a bag, pop a top, chomp it down, and be done with it.

Here are the best scientifically proven food products to bring aboard.

PRINGLES: Is there a better boat food? The chips are protected in an ingenious tube so they don’t get smashed beyond edibility when crammed under the console. It keeps the chips from getting soggy and disgusting. If the inventor of the Pringle’s tube found it suitable to be buried in, it’s good enough for my boat.

GOGURTS: No need for bowls, spoons, or napkins to ingest breakfast. Fellow Boatermouth writer Lenny Rudow used to raid his kids’ lunch-food and bring stacks of them on offshore tuna trips to the canyons. [Lenny also invented the famed "boat sandwich," wherein you roll a cold cut in a piece of cheese.] Your hunger is satiated, rather healthily, in seconds.

HARD PRETZELS: The choice of Kevin Falvey, another boating writer, for mako shark trips. Or any trip. You can just throw a box in a locker at the beginning of the season and if they go stale, how can you tell?

BEEF JERKY: Would be the A-One top choice but for the inconsistency between brands and batches. Some come out just right, others worse than shoe leather. But if you get a quality bag of jerky, it hits the spot and fills the protein void left by the other snacks. It takes a long time to chew and can distract from the tedium of trolling.

DRIED MANGO SLICES: They have the veneer of being healthy; they’re derived from one of the three most awesome fresh fruits in existence. But when you read the bag on a lot of packaged mango slices, you’ll see they’re processed with incredible amounts of sugar. And, possibly, sulphur dioxide. Eat a bag and you’ll have boundless energy, I guess because it combines the magic of fruit with the sugar of Mountain Dew and the calories of a Big Mac.

People boated on Crete 130,000 years ago.

Scientists found stone tools on Crete dating back 130,000 years. As this article from the New York Times points out, Crete’s been an island for 5 million years. That means they were dropped from the excrement of very large prehistoric dino-birds that ate some pre-humans, or, more logically, some pre-humans got there by boat.

Potter designed SeaCraft, maybe?

One expected aspect of MIBS 2010, The Great Recession Version, is the scarcity of new models being introduced by the boat companies. One reason for this is understandable–the backlog of inventory left over from the economic meltdown that put people’s plans to buy a boat on hold. You can’t push new until the dealer network clears out the old.

Those willing and able to buy a boat have benefited from this, getting great deals on boats that are essentially brand new but classified as last year’s, or yesteryear’s, models. But that wave may be cresting. A number of builders I spoke with said they have finally sold most of those boats off, with one saying went from have a 120 boat logjam to having fewer than 20 left.

If you’re looking to buy a boat, the lesson here is, strike while the iron is hot. Or if you insist on having the latest and greatest, expect more new builds to start making the scene for 2011.

Groundbreaking news you can only find here.

Taking this photo moments ago is my first official act of the Miami Boat Show. I can live blog this mother straight from my iPhone. Will be shooting grainy phone video, too.

I apologize in advance for typos and accidental autofills. It’s not easy producing real time journalism typing with your thumbs.

One thing I’m curious to check out at this week’s Miami Boat Show is the Affordability Pavilion. The idea is to highlight boats that you can finance with payments costing less than $250 per month. On the surface it seems like a solid attempt to bring new people into boating during this economic downturn. I’m dying to see how it plays out in practice.

The industry is trying hard to keep boating as family entertainment on the radar, using gadgets like this budget planner comparing it to other leisure activities. I did a quick hit contrasting a football game and theme park vacation and this is what I got:

(Click for a larger view.)

Super. The only caveat? The type of boat I really want costs way more than 10 Gs.