Took Her Out For A Day Trip
Posted: June 19th, 2016, 3:37 am
The boat club I am a member of is spending the weekend at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon Ohio near Toledo. Being that I work on Friday I decided to head there on Saturday. Other than launch day this is my first time leaving the dock this season. After spending about $3800 on the boat so far this year I thought it was time to get some usage.
It was a beautiful day although a bit windy. I did have some help getting her out from the dock. I backed away from my dock about 2:45 PM. I motored out into the channel and towards Lake Erie. Once out on the lake I throttled up to 3200 RPM. The boat came up on plane and I was running about 19 MPH according to my new GPS. My destination was about 13 miles away across Maumee Bay.
This was my first time going to that particular marina. I had to motor a curved route to avoid some shallow rocky areas. I pulled into Maumee Bay Marina at 3:25 PM about a 40 minute trip. The detailing on the new Garmin GPS is awesome and quite full of information. It allowed me to run a route avoiding areas I needed to stay away from.
The more time I spend with this boat the more I like it. I do miss the higher cruising speed of my Bayliner but the view from the flybridge makes up for the slower cruising speed. I do not hear any engine noise only the sound of the exhaust. Its quiet enough for me to actually hear my VHF radio.
I docked with assistance from the dock people in slip 9 at the marina. Several members of the club were surprised to see me as they did not know I was coming. Of course several of them wanted to see the boat. I took time to give each of them a tour. We have several different boat brands represented in our club from Bayliners and Sea Rays, Carvers and RInkers, Tiaras and Ocean Yachts. Everyone gave me the thumbs up on my Carver and they all were impressed with the room and storage available on a 30" boat. It was a boat club function that was one of our food functions that we have during the season. In other words dinner was on the club. Maumee Bay State Park marina charged me $6.00 for 4 hours which I thought to be a very reasonable fee.
At 7:25 PM I pulled away from the dock and headed back out into the lake. Even though there was a breeze the wave height on the lake was less than a foot. Because we are at the start of our annual mayfly hatch I wanted to be back in my dock before it got dark. I experimented with a couple of throttle settings. 2000 RPM gave me just under 10 MPH. Noting the time I throttled back up to 3200 RPM so I could get back home before the sun set.
I made it back to the entrance to Bolles Harbor and throttled down as I entered the harbor. I slowly motored towards my dock. The wind was still blowing out of the east and away from my dock. I'm thinking this is going to be a bit challenging. Suddenly as I neared my dock the winds died off completely so I looked like a pro as I pivoted into my dock. As I was tying my lines to secure the boat the winds started blowing again harder than before. The boating gods must have been looking down at me and made it easier for me to pull into position dockside. Thank you to the powers that be. It was 8:35 PM a 65 minute trip home.
I took a couple of pics. I should have taken more but I was enjoying the trip so much that I just did not think of pics till I got back. Next time more pics.
This is my ancient tech depth sounder. Still works most of the time and will probably be replaced next year.
Crossing Maumee Bay (Lake Erie) towards Bolles Harbor and home.
All in all a perfect ending to a perfect day.
It was a beautiful day although a bit windy. I did have some help getting her out from the dock. I backed away from my dock about 2:45 PM. I motored out into the channel and towards Lake Erie. Once out on the lake I throttled up to 3200 RPM. The boat came up on plane and I was running about 19 MPH according to my new GPS. My destination was about 13 miles away across Maumee Bay.
This was my first time going to that particular marina. I had to motor a curved route to avoid some shallow rocky areas. I pulled into Maumee Bay Marina at 3:25 PM about a 40 minute trip. The detailing on the new Garmin GPS is awesome and quite full of information. It allowed me to run a route avoiding areas I needed to stay away from.
The more time I spend with this boat the more I like it. I do miss the higher cruising speed of my Bayliner but the view from the flybridge makes up for the slower cruising speed. I do not hear any engine noise only the sound of the exhaust. Its quiet enough for me to actually hear my VHF radio.
I docked with assistance from the dock people in slip 9 at the marina. Several members of the club were surprised to see me as they did not know I was coming. Of course several of them wanted to see the boat. I took time to give each of them a tour. We have several different boat brands represented in our club from Bayliners and Sea Rays, Carvers and RInkers, Tiaras and Ocean Yachts. Everyone gave me the thumbs up on my Carver and they all were impressed with the room and storage available on a 30" boat. It was a boat club function that was one of our food functions that we have during the season. In other words dinner was on the club. Maumee Bay State Park marina charged me $6.00 for 4 hours which I thought to be a very reasonable fee.
At 7:25 PM I pulled away from the dock and headed back out into the lake. Even though there was a breeze the wave height on the lake was less than a foot. Because we are at the start of our annual mayfly hatch I wanted to be back in my dock before it got dark. I experimented with a couple of throttle settings. 2000 RPM gave me just under 10 MPH. Noting the time I throttled back up to 3200 RPM so I could get back home before the sun set.
I made it back to the entrance to Bolles Harbor and throttled down as I entered the harbor. I slowly motored towards my dock. The wind was still blowing out of the east and away from my dock. I'm thinking this is going to be a bit challenging. Suddenly as I neared my dock the winds died off completely so I looked like a pro as I pivoted into my dock. As I was tying my lines to secure the boat the winds started blowing again harder than before. The boating gods must have been looking down at me and made it easier for me to pull into position dockside. Thank you to the powers that be. It was 8:35 PM a 65 minute trip home.
I took a couple of pics. I should have taken more but I was enjoying the trip so much that I just did not think of pics till I got back. Next time more pics.
This is my ancient tech depth sounder. Still works most of the time and will probably be replaced next year.
Crossing Maumee Bay (Lake Erie) towards Bolles Harbor and home.
All in all a perfect ending to a perfect day.