How & Where You Boat

[Midnightsun]

Thought this would be a good subject to discuss as we all are in our own world when it comes to boating. Fresh, salt, lakes, rivers, trailers, the possibilities are endless. Would love to here on how others enjoy there boats.

Let me start, been boating almost my entire life in fresh water. Have been in the 1000 islands region for over 20 years now simply because this is what floats my boat.

Water is arguably drinkable and very clear. On the Canadian side there are dozens upon dozens of docks and mooring buoys on Parks Canada run islands available to anyone who is willing to pay the fee either nightly or a seasons pass. In my case my 41 costs around $420 for the season. Maximum continuous stay is 4 nights at the same location. Some islands have garbage and generators are allowed on those islands only. All islands have these amazing outdoor toilets that are cleaned almost every day and I would challenge anyone to say they smell something, nothing at all in fact. Fire wood is available and all islands have fire pits. Some docks are made for a dozen boats with 40' fingers others are more private with room for 1 or 2. Some docks are too small for anything larger than a pocket cruiser.

Here are a few pictures from this summer to give you an idea of what these locations and docks look like. There is no power available on any of them so solar is quite popular in this region. We tend to use the islands/moorings here and there but I would say 50%+ we are at anchor in one of hundreds of locations we are familiar with. Last week it got so hot we decided to head to a marina for a couple of nights to use the AC for a better nights rest, always nice to go to a restaurant here and there for a change of scenery and get some provisions also. A PWC or Dinghy is really nice to have to go exploring or run errands or just to cool down on those hot windless days.

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[pepmyster]

Very well written essay on this. All I have to say is "Ditto". Fell in love with the Thousand Islands just like you did about the same time as you. There is never a dull day here, even if you do the same route over and over, it's just a beautiful feeling. Always a place to go and new bays to discover. Or, re-discover. I agree on the dingy since we love to anchor out a lot. Helps with the exploration part of boating.

[RGrew176]

I bought my first boat when I was 15 years old. I do the vast majority of my boating on Lake Erie and the Detroit River. I've owned 12 boats, 1 jet ski and 3 inflatables. I sold my Carver 3007 Aft Cabin and downsized to a 16' Tahoe but because the motor did not run most of the time I traded in the Tahoe for my 2022 Stingray 182SC last fall at the Metro Beach Boat Show.

This season has been a joy so far. Owning a trailerable boat I have had the opportunity to explore several inland lakes here in Michigan. I hope to continue that quest the balance of this season and into the future. I miss the amenities of owning a full sized cruising boat but I don't miss the expense. My Stingray with its 115 HP Yamaha outboard sips fuel when compared to the Carver.

I do have a couple or three dream boats in mind if I ever won the lottery but chances of that happening are slim. Being out on the waterways in an 18' Stingray or a 30' Carver is a joy I hope to keep going for some time.

[Alanna Mo Cree]

This is a great topic and I hope more people will chime in. I certainly won't be as eloquent, but I'll try to answer the questions of how and where I boat with some interesting stories. Apologies in advance if this is too long-winded.

My first experience was on the deep lakes of northern Wisconsin on a pontoon with a too little horsepower motor. I was probably only ten or so when my dad let me take the boat by myself. I suppose you can't get into too much trouble with a top speed quite a bit less than my age at the time.

When not on the pontoon, I'd be across the lake on the rowboat next to a patch of grass that I swore would have the big bass in it (it didn't). That rowboat was where I first learned the importance of working bilge dewatering equipment. The rowboat was aluminum with questionable heritage. Time adrift was limited by the need to make sure you could row back across the lake before it filled to questionable levels. The high tech solution to try to stay out as long as possible was a milk jug with the bottom cut off to make a somewhat decent bailing bucket.

That love of boating led me to the Navy, where my next boat was fast, black, and never coming back. After a few years on a submarine I went to a submarine tender. By comparison, the tender was slow, gray, and never underway. Both of those were in Norfolk, Virginia, and some of my friends and I would take advantage of the ability to rent a boat and trailer to take out on Back Bay. While anchored out doing a little fishing one time, one of my friends absent mindedly looked at the anchor line tied around one of the cleats. Without saying anything he untied the line and threw it overboard before the rest of us realized what he was doing. We made him dive in to try to find the anchor, but he didn't have any luck. I'm not really sure what he was thinking.

When my time in the Navy was up, I moved to Florida where I've been ever since. The boating here started with water skiing, wakeboarding, and other water sports on a 2000 Crownline 180BR I bought from my brother-in-law. The family had a great time, but we realized we used it for cruising as much or more than for water sports. My wife would create a makeshift cabin of sorts under the port console where my daughter, who was still a baby at the time, would sleep. We were on the boat most weekends, day and night, all over the lakes and rivers of central Florida. That's what led us to go to the boat show and check out the real cruising boats.

We looked at Regal, Sea Ray, and a few other brands. It came down to Regal and either a single engine 2665 or twin 2860. We were able to sea trial both of them on the same day. I was really leaning towards the 2860 until we had to have a couple friends move forward on the boat to get it to trim out and get on plane. We went back to the office and filled out the spec sheet for our brand new 2665. I remember the top engine was an 8.1 liter Volvo. When I said to put that on the boat, the salesman tried to talk me out of it. "I never heard anyone complain about their boat having too much power," I remember saying. That sentiment would come back to haunt me, but first I was going to get a few years of fun. After a couple months, the Regal 2665, the first Alanna Mo Cree, was delivered to us brand new as a 2005 model in late 2004.

The Regal would run close to 50mph in the right conditions and was pretty much an awesome all around boat. We could still do some water sports and now we had a generator, air conditioning, head with shower, microwave, etc. A typical outing would be to trailer it to the lake, go to dinner on the boat, and then anchor out over night. We would go to the gulf around Tampa, Hudson, and north up to Cedar Key. On the Atlantic, we loved to put in at Halifax Harbor marina in Daytona. Somewhere in the attic is a logbook with all of our adventures. Unfortunately I couldn't find it or any way to load pictures since they are on one of those old fashioned CD-thingies.

Headed north on the St. Johns to Jacksonville aboard the Regal, a trip we would take about three or four times a year, I always remember going around a bend where a beautiful Carver was docked. "Some day," I would tell my wife, "if we could ever afford it, I think it would be awesome to have a Carver like that." I knew about Carvers having gotten my boating start in Wisconsin, and I always liked that they had true stairs rather than ladders while offering a huge amount of space for their size. It was the perfect boat for her, and since it both floated and had a motor it was pretty much perfect for me too.

As gas prices got to $5+/gallon, it turned out we really couldn't afford that big, thirsty 8.1L Regal. I may not have ever heard someone complain about having too much power, but I was certainly complaining about horrible fuel economy. It got to a point where we could afford to have the boat or use the boat, but not both. Sadly, I had to sell her.

Too many years went by with always looking but never buying. We came close on a 44' Gibson houseboat, but the seller and I were too far apart. We were mostly interested in trawler style boats with names like Nordhavn, Kadey Krogen, or Fleming, but I knew those were unrealistic given our budget. We probably weren't going to be crossing oceans anyway. We spent a lot of time dreaming about a Great Harbor, and then we discovered Florida Bay Coasters. These last two had great living space, which really appealed to her. Again, both floated and had motors, so appealing to me too.

In the years that we were between boats, one of our favorite things to do on weekends was to stop by a local sandwich shop on the way to the marina in Sanford, then grab a seat looking at the boats while we ate our lunch. I remember pointing out the Mainship, and a Carver, and some other good looking trawlers under the covered dock. We had no idea at the time that the Carver we kept looking at would be ours in a couple years.

We became the proud owners of our 2003 Carver 360 Sport Sedan in February, 2022. Despite being nineteen years old, the new Alanna Mo Cree was in decent shape. It is a great platform for me to scratch the boating itch while having fun modernizing systems. The people on the Mainship, the good looking trawlers, and another Carver, are our dock neighbors and great friends. While we haven't used her underway as much as we would have liked so far, we are close to having everything where we want it as far as the systems go.

The St. Johns river between Lake Monroe in Sanford and its mouth in Jacksonville provides over 100 miles of mostly wilderness cruising. Some of our favorite destinations are Hontoon Island, Palatka, and Jacksonville. We look forward to visiting them on the Carver and bringing back memories of cruises on the Regal while making new memories on our Carver.


Pulling out of the marina headed for Lake Monroe.

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Underway in the St. Johns. Most of the river south of Lake George is wilderness.

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Headed back to Lake Monroe waiting for the railroad bridge.

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Typical cruise configuration. The current gives us about an extra knot of speed going north.

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[Hold'n On II]

'96 370 Voyager. New to us in 2020.

We do our boating in the Pacific Northwest/Salish Sea (AKA Puget Sound/San Juan Islands). There are so many boating options in this region it's ridiculous. Small quaint marina towns, big city marina's. State Parks throughout, hidden coves etc. with a variety of docking, mooring balls and anchorages.

We are based in the Everett WA area 30miles north of Seattle and enjoy quick overnights close to our home port. Often times just dropping the hook where we know we have good bottom and protection. Our longest continuous stretch was this summer to the San Juan islands 6 days, 5 nights either anchored or on a mooring ball.

A few pics for fun

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[probably knott]

Mobile Alabama . We live on fowl river on the west coast of Mobile bay . Most of the time its on the west side of the bay . But we also ride down to the ICW and head east . Gulf Shores on over to Pcola . The farther east the prettier the water gets . But our favorite place is Pirates cove in Elberta Al . The best Bushwacker in the world and the best cheese burger to boot . Come to find out they are the # 2 consumer of malibu rum in the country .
But all in all most hours are spent on our pontoon shrimp boat dragging around the bay . Some very good times had out their