wood boat photo

The advantage of controlling the bow position and the location of the bow around the marina in a single engine, single propeller boat is an over-whelming experience the first couple of times you are at the helm of a classic wood boat equipped with a bow thruster. Suddenly, anyone can dock the boat. Even in a cross wind.

Most would think that such an option is disrespecting what was made back when the beauty of wood, leather, and chrome over brass fittings on the water was the only choice for boating. If your boat is to sit on a trailer, I agree. If you want to use your mahogany runabout, I disagree. It is like using a modern bilge pump, converting a 6 volt system to one that uses a 12 volt one, having new PFDs, or a safer, better carburetor in a classic that is used for grand touring around a lake or bay.

Hand built, mahogany wood runabouts or bow riders are now being built by master craftsmen and those boat builders often can be talked into including a bow thruster in a new boat for you. Just think, the ride, the feel, the performance of a bright finished, stained mahogany runabout that is easy to captain. All the style and quality of a good wooden boat with the performance ease, and use-ability of the latest functional boating accessories built in.

Here is a triple cockpit wood boat that also has a no-soak bottom. A reliable, modern engine and operating systems in a classic wood boat. One gets the stares and looks from other boaters and from folks just walking around the marina without the troubles of a 60 year old classic.

2012 wood boat photo

2012 wood boat photo triple cockpit

2012 inboard boat wood classic boat

new indoor showroom of wood boats at lake George

Boat photo three outboard engines on a fish boat

Mercury Marine’s Merc Racing took a 38’ fishing boat to 80 MPH with three 350 horsepower supercharged outboards. These engines also only took 6.5 seconds to go 0 to 30 mph in an acceleration test the same day on the same boat. That is performance.

The props were 151/4” by 26” 4 blade Bravo I Mercury Racing Props (lab finished, which is readily available to the boating public via a request back to Merc Racing through a dealer) and they turned the engines at their WOT rated 6,800 rpms to record that speed. That is 10,600 lbs. (dry weight) of fast fiberglass fishing boat flying across the water faster than many go-fast boats can achieve.

These are stock, two year warranty, engines. Just think for a moment, only 475.5 cubic inches of pump gas marine engines making 1,050 Hp. combined. And that is on a Tournament Fishing Boat with a stepped v-bottom hull shape. This offshore center console really goes good, huh?

The hull shape for this fish boat comes from the lessons learned on a race course. The pad in the bottom at the keel, the placement of the steps to ventilate the water passing under the fish boat, the deadrise, and the longitudinal angles of the surface that the boat runs on are all perfected for speed on the water. Also the notch in the boat bottom and transom bracket style shape at the stern works well with helping to adjust and set the angle that the boat takes across any waves and wind chop.

fish boat with three Mercury outboards for power in the open ocean

2012 express cabin cruiser boat photo

You have to see the newest Regal Express cruiser. Go to a dealer or go to a boat show, but see this boat. She has high style with a very good level of functionality. As a weekend cruiser, she has huge windows and portholes to see out from inside the cabin and a huge (for a cruiser of this length) bed in the owner’s stateroom.

She is 28’ 10” by 8’ 6” and fits under most bridges when on a trailer. Thus, no permit is needed to trailer this fully found cruising yacht. She will take a strong pickup truck to tow its empty 7,585 lbs. weight, however. Figure on a “10,000 lbs. plus” towing load with fuel, batteries, water, boat gear, crew supplies, and trailer included as you would typically would be towing her going down the road.

The owner’s cabin area features the largest bed in her class of trailer-able sleepers. No need to convert a vee seating area into a bed at the end of a day or a week on the water. It is set up and positioned within the cabin area such that the bed linens can stay ready all day long.

This Regal 28 Express is a single engine I/0 boat. You select from a 260 horsepower Mercury Marine Bravo III, a 270 horsepower Duo-Prop, and 300 horsepower with either a Duo-prop or Bravo III outdrive. Since Regal Marine Industries exports so many boats internationally, they also offer a diesel engine choice with a Duo-Prop that is popular in Europe.

2012 Express cabin cruiser at rest boat photo

express cabin cruiser underway boat photo

2012 fiberglass express cabin cruiser queen bed boat photo

Monterey boat photo

The Atlantic City Boat Show hours then are 11 am to 8 pm. They are the best days to see all the boats and boating gear. Figure on all 14 parking lots around the Convention Center being ready to accept your car. Jay Mohr, Tony Bennett, and the Dorin Spivey / Victor Vasquez Super Brawl are on different days.

Back to the power boats and sail boats at the Atlantic City Convention Center, One Convention Center Drive, Atlantic City, NJ 08401. The Show opens Wednesday at 11 AM and goes thru Sunday until 5 PM. Kids 15 and under are free to get in with an accompanying (paying) Adult ticket.

See a big display of Monterey Boats in booth G45. They make bow riders, runabouts, water ski and wakeboard boats, express, and cabin cruisers and have a bow rider / sleeper cabin boat combo that is not to be missed. They are a leading boat brand in the new thinking on how one uses a boat for a weekend of on the water fun. Monterey Boats are on seabuddy’s list of boat builders to see at the show. I really liked the two Monterey Boats that I have had.

Formula boats in booth B23 are also premium boats. They also make a full line of boats to climb aboard, study about, and ask questions on how they fit into your lifestyle.

Grady White boats are award winning fish boats and family boats that go fishing well. They are in booth D30 at the Atlantic City boat Show, starting Wednesday and going on until Sunday, February 5^th, 2012.

2012 boat photo Yamaha outboard

The cleanest engines are the inboard / outboards. They come with Catalytic Converters and other tweaks to get a 4 star rating as compared to a 3 star rating for the outboards. Which means that the outboard engines are the “worst for the environment” engines compared to I/O power packages.

It is surprising that the 2 stroke Evinrude and the newest 4 stroke Yamaha are both equally rated at 3 stars. The I/O engine packages have simply pulled ahead of the outboard packages for 2012 for the cleanest level in environmental boating.

Evinrude makes the lightest outboard engine package at a stated weight of 524 lbs. for a 250 Horsepower engine. It’s a 200 cu. in. two stroke engine. It should be propped to run between 4,500 – 5,800 rpms. Some say it’s the least complicated and has the lowest number of parts. And it may take the least attention and maintenance over a season of use.

Yamaha makes a F250 Offshore outboard that is a four stroke engine. It has a stated weight of 562 lbs. It also has more parts (pretty much all the valves and camshaft parts) than a two stroke. The displacement is 254 cu. in. I cannot tell if the smaller displacement two stroke will be faster in a 0 to 30 mph acceleration test than the bigger cu. in. 4 stroke outboard, but in similar displacement two strokes compared to similar displacement four strokes tests show the two strokes really beating the four stroke.

2012 boat photo evinrude outboard motor

The stern drive I/O is a four stroke 305 cu. in. engine based on a Chevy block that is then made into a marine engine by Volvo – Penta. It has a horsepower of 270 and can come with the efficiency of two propellers on one shaft in its Duo-Prop Stern Drive. This one weights in right at 1,000 lbs.

2012 boat photo volvo penta inboard outboard engine

It is important to note that both the torque and the peak horsepower are at a 1,000 rpms lower than the outboards.

So, a cleaner for the environment drive package. Lower engine rpms needed to get a boat up on plane and at a cruising speed. Some more weight within the power package. The I/O choice of the efficiency of a Duo-Prop outdrive. All of this says that a I/O is the way to go in 2012 for seabuddy.

Classic design Stauter Built wood runabout boat photo

Stauter-Built boats is a classic wood boat that often has used the same design as they have for many years.

classic wood boat photo from stauter built

Most are pure open fishing boats. A few are somewhat decked over and are used as a wooden runabout. All use a antique or modern outboard motor for power. They are light and easy to power as they use a shallow draft, almost flat bottom hull design to get performance from low horsepower outboards.

classic wood runabout boat photo

Take a restored classic wooden boat like I show here. Its powered by an old, antique motor. The photos show the loving attention to keeping an old boat, a good, useful boat that is an antique and classic boat show standout. She is mostly a plywood boat, glued and screwed together to take on most waters.

classic wood fishing boat stauter built

I show another Stauter Built boat from their promotional material. It is 151/2’ long and 51/2’ in its beam. It can take up to a 50 Hp. outboard engine and weights in around 425 lbs. It is a Vee shaped bow to cut through the chop coupled with a fairly flat deadrise across the transom boat design. Not a deep vee offshore racer.

She is intended for the waters around Dauphin Island in the Gulf of Mexico, which is roughly 40 miles south of Mobile, AL.

This new wood fishing boat is called the V-bottom Cedar Point Special by Stauter-Built. She maybe a classic in design, but it is too new in its date of manufacture to be an antique boat.

classic wood boat photo of a open fishing runabout outboard

wood boat photo of stauter built runabout fishing model

Wood power boat photo classic mahogany runabout

This runabout is custom designed by the famous marine architect Charlie Jannace from Delmar, MD (about 50 miles outside of St. Michaels, MD) telephone 410-883-3059 and hand made by the Hugh Saint boat building company in Cape Coral, FL telephone 239-574-1299.

Charlie designs both fiberglass and wood boats for many boat building clients (some for regular production and some one-off (custom) designs. He is a very experienced naval architect. And his boat designs work in the real world!

The Hugh Saint, Inc. boat building company builds in the WEST system of wood and epoxy. They typically use double planking of mahogany wood matching the wood’s grain where its important, encapsulating all that wood in epoxy so water never reaches it. They are not alone in building wood boats in this manner of construction style in today’s world of wood boat building.

mahogany wood cold molded runabout photo

This custom Gentleman’s Racer is 28 ½ ’ long with a 9’ beam. She is a performance boat, but not a race boat. In a gentleman’s racer strength, luxury, and a good, comfortable seating in the cockpit are balanced by sheer speed thrills. A fast, dry ride is important. Absolute top speed is not. Such a boat satisfies its owner, not a broad audience of boat buyers. She is powered by twin “small block” 350 cu. in. chevy gas engines using a v-drive drivetrain system to get the power to the two propellers to push the one off mahogany wood boat. The top speed is simply quoted as 50 mph plus. It gives that speed in luxury and comfort for its owner.

WEST system mahogany wood power boat photo

regal marine bow rider 24

SHOW DATES: January 19–22, 2012

Baltimore Convention Center
1 W Pratt Street (at Charles Street),One block away from the Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD 21201

Show Hours

Thursday, January 19, 2012
11am–9pm

Friday, January 20, 2012
11am–9pm

Saturday, January 21, 2012
10am–9pm

Sunday, January 22, 2012
10am–5pm

Admission

Adult: $10.00 each
15 and younger: FREE with a paid adult admission

This is a great NMMA boat show that should have good weather this year. I always go and check out the free magazine subscription choice that comes with an admission ticket purchase. Often the magazine offer makes the Boat Show a free event. Look for the magazine booth near the entrance, and do not worry, I do not get bothered by sales pitches from the magazine, as I opt out of that box on the magazine form. If they are offering Yachting Magazine, get that one, it is the best way to enjoy boating right now, in my opinion.

Regal should have some fine bow riders and deck boats to look at from Jackson Marine Sales on display at the Baltimore Boat show for you and your family to inspect. Woody Jackson is a long time local boat dealer and continues to do an outstanding job in his sales, service, and marina businesses at the top of the Chesapeake Bay.

Also, take a look at the Chaparral boats and the power boats from Cobalt boats. Both have some “hot” deals that shook up the boaters at the New York Boat Show, earlier this month. The New York Boat Show charges more money to get in than the Baltimore Boat Show does.

8.1 power boat engine from Volvo

Volvo makes an 8.1 gas big block engine for the most torque and horse power for a power boat. Volvo has been a leader in marine pleasure boat power in the USA since 1959.

The 8.1 engine comes with a choice of camshafts that are selected based on where you as a boater want your power. Use 4,200 rpm and above mostly and pick the high Hp cam, use 4,000 rpm and below for almost all your time boating, select the 375-400 Hp engine cam. So, a true “hot rod” boat speed freak boater best uses the high performance camshaft and everyone else should use the regular cam. It is a no brainer, really, as you know going into a boat show if you want the most power you can get out of the engine below 4,000 rpm (even more power than the performance cam at these “below  4,000 rpms” engine speeds). Remember, the 375-400 Hp engine is the “Hole Shot” engine choice for the quickest 0 to 30 mph acceleration tests.

Volvo Penta gas power boat engine

Either the 375 or the 400 Hp engines are rated to run as fast as 4,600 to 4,800 rpms. They just do not develop as much power at those rpms as the Hi-Po camshaft engine.

All of these engines are 8.1 in displacement or big cubic inch engines developed from a Chevy based v-8 engine. They are fuel injected engines using a MPI fuel delivery system. Fresh water cooling and  the drive system is separate choice.

Absolute 43 yacht with Volvo Penta power

power boat underway with Volvo Penta power