Where do you boat?
 

Hey everyone! I read all the posts and hard work you sent our administrators through on seeing everyone's model/year boat... Just thought it would be fun to start a topic on where everyone does their boating. (let's not put Ryan and Chris through any troubles adding this to our profiles though:yes_grin:). I'm especially interested in our Australian and coastal boaters... Don't forget to mention your boat and how it handles the waters you traverse.

Here's mine...

We do our boating on a tiny reservoir called Geist. It's about 1900 acres, but only about 15 feet deep or less throughout much of it. It has become home to all the pro athletes, doctors, lawyers, executives of Indianapolis with multi-million dollar homes lining the shores. It's a beautiful place, but it's full of these rich, pretentious a_sholes that don't know how to drive a boat. It's about a mile from my house, so I can't complain too much (or justify towing 30-45 minutes to the next closest lake). One of the good things - during the summer months, this place is one giant party. That's also one of the bad things though:(.

My 21 footer is just right in size for this place. Big enough for many friends, but not too big to ski behind (wake size). Most of the other boats are Mastercrafts, Malibus, Cobalts, and Sea Rays (remember, I said FULL of pretentious a_sholes?!?!). There are even a good number of 25'-28' cruisers (don't ask why on a lake this small... oh yeah, pretentious a_sholes!!!). I guess I shouldn't push it - I bet if Mariah were still in business, the place would be FULL of them, huh?!?!?! There are 2 or 3 original Mariahs, but I haven't met them yet. Might be a couple new ones also. I've met a few great friends with pontoon boats and one with a Crownline.

We would like to travel a few places in the coming years like Dale Hollow, Lake Cumberland, etc. to see what it's like. Right now we're "water locked" because my minivan can't tow long distances like that.

Great topic idea indykoch!! :wink_thumbup:

I boat primarily on the Ohio River, which is my home port during the summer. I store on the trailer, and belong to a marina with a launching service. The boat handles nicely, even following the barge traffic. It seems to be the perfect size for the river. I really don't like to race, just a nice relaxing boat ride for me. However it can get tossed around due to the occasional a$$holes in the 36' Carvers who don't know how to trim their boat properly. The water level usually stays around 32 ft, but when it rains, drift becomes a big issue. But there's plenty of places to drop anchor or even beach the boat and have a great time. There's always raft-ups and concerts going on, so there's always a party somewhere! And there's about a dozen bars & restaurants to tie up to.

My second port is Sandusky Bay which is on Lake Erie, 18NM from Put-In-Bay Island. My best friend harbors his sailboat up there, so I'm up there quite a bit. I absolutely love the area, the bay is around 8ft deep in the deepest point, and the lake averages about 20ft around where we go. The boat handles OK on the lake, the Great Lakes are known for the coastal-like water conditions, swells, and I can never get the boat trimmed right for a comfortable ride. This is the main reason I'd like to add trim tabs so I can control the boat better. But there's all sorts of places to anchor & moor, and there's never a dull moment on the Lake Erie islands. Put-In-Bay is often referred to as "the other Key West". Then there's Kelley's Island, and Pelee Island in Canada extremely close too. Plan on venturing over there sometime as I finally got my passport!

Last year we also towed the boat to Lake Norris in Tennessee. I really enjoyed driving the boat on the lake. I believe these boats were designed as inland lake boats, as it was one of the most smooth and comfortable boating trips I've had. The lake is huge, crystal clear and there's enough room to share the lake with the hundreds of wakeboarders out there. There are tons of rental properties along the lake that come with a dock, and that's what we did. Average depth was reading in the upper 60's.

I plan to try and head to Lake Cumberland in the next year, and possibly Cherokee Lake too, as my girlfriend's dad just bought some property down there he's building a log cabin on.

We boat in the water.... ;)

Our boating is somewhat limited to Georgian Bay (Point Au Baril area), the Trent Severn canal system, Lake Erie (Turkey Point & Long Point Bay) and Lake Ontario (Hamilton thru to Oakville). We've also gone to a small reservoir called Conestogo Lake just north west of Kitchener to test run the boat a couple of times as well as the Grand River from Dunnville down to Lake Erie.

Ok here we go. I boat at mosquito lake its a buzzzzzzzzz:grin_nod::grin_nod:The lake is 7,850 acres and reaches a maximum depth of about 30 feet . It is one of the biggest lakes in ohio. The lake is very good for walleye fishing. I do dock here but it is a 1 hr drive for me but well worth it.

We boat on the water too, but its salty so we float better. :wink_thumbup::rolling_laugh::yes_grin:


After a 1 1/2 hour drive we get to a resort area called Mandurah, it is built on the Indian Ocean south of Perth. There are tonnes of Millionaire homes built along man-made canals, so cruising these canals can be both pleasurable and annoying.
There is a huge open inshore salt water inlet that is great for tubing and skiing plus fishing for a fish we call "flat head" and crabs. Out on the ocean there are some nice bays to plonk the anchor down and swim to the beautiful sandy beaches to relax and sun bathe.
Here is a link to this area - http://www.mymandurah.com/photo_gallery2.html

Plus we also boat very close to home (just a 15 minute drive) onto the magnificent Swan River which runs through all of Perth down to Fremantle into the Indian Ocean. There are heaps of areas designated solely for skiing so we have no problem finding a spot for a great day out. There are activities along the shore somewhere in Perth very often - eg: The Red Bull Air Race, so we park the boat and watch the activities.
Just 20 - 30 minutes off the coast of Fremantle is Rottnest Island.
This place is just amazing - surrounded with beautiful small bays with idealic beaches and the water is crystal clear - great for snorkeling or scuba diving and getting a couple of Crayfish (Lobster) for lunch, mmmmmm yummy. It is a popular summer holiday area for lots of us Sandgropers (a nickname given to Western Australians because of all the sand we have).
Here is a link to a site for Perth - http://www.discoverwest.com.au/weste...lia/perth.html

Being summer right now - we have all this to enjoy and the temperature here in Perth today is 30deg C - 86deg F. With the climate we have here we really can use the boat just about all year round.
Winter doesnt get sooo cold that we just cant use the boat, we just have to pick a nice clear day and wear warm clothes. Of course skiing is out of the question as the water is to cold.
Anybody want a great holiday - come on over, we will show you a great time. :wink_thumbup:

The waters of Palm Harbor, Florida
 

indykoch,

What an excellent topic. So cool to read/see on AUS. We visited there in May 2000 and explored from Melbourne to Sydney via Broken Hill. No boating though and nothing as exciting as Perth. Man... Now we gotta go back. Super post Dudders!

We are 10 minutes from ramps in all directions. East of us is a nice freshwater body called Lake Tarpon, however it is rather small and loaded with mixed traffic, so on a busy day you have to pay attention to your spotter/skier and keep an eye on other skiers, at least 5 fishermen, 2 or 3 hot-rodders and a half dozen jet skiers. Also, it does not have any beaches, so not much relaxing. Anymore I only use it for post maintenance tests runs as it is freshwater and faster clean-up.

Here are our favorite hangouts. We call them our private islands - but we like to share ;o) I have not uploaded any of my images, so I will just link you to an official sites. Since these are barriers they are as beautiful as "Clearwater Beach" without the horrible crowds, and I can actually trailer and boat to the farthest island, faster than I can drive to Clearwater with traffic/parking.

Three Rooker Bar is awesome. It is a bar that has been developing over the years based on hurricane and other activity. It has a super relaxed crowd and lots of beach to just hang out on. St. Joseph's Sound (due East) is our home ramp.

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/vft/rooker/

Just north of there is Anclote Key. It has a light house that is a nice destination - especially if we have guests on board. The beauty of this is that it is a very lightly-managed State Park. It allows primitive camping and fires on the beach. Just call the resident ranger and give him your boat letters. This has a deep channel on north and south ends and on outbound tides you can almost always spot dolphins playing and trying to corner a meal.

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/vft/anclote/
http://www.floridastateparks.org/anc...otoGallery.cfm

The mouth of Tampa Bay is Skyway Channel and Mullet Key. This area is drop-dead gorgeous. You can camp on the water at Ft. Desoto Park and we can walk right out of the pop-up and step into the boat. Just off shore - actually it's a journey of a boat ride as the Intracostal side of Ft. Desoto is very shallow and you have to follow channels forever - is Egmont Key. You can just hang out and explore the island for hours.

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/vft/mullet/
http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_Ft_DeSoto.htm

Our most favorite, however not as often (6 hour drive) is the FL Keys. We make the trip about twice a year, however we have not taken our Shabah as I don't want to pull two toys that far. We just rent a boat there. This is the USAs best attempt at a "Great Barrier Reef” and I would recommend this to any boater that visits FL. Key Largo's John Pennekamp is the best for boating, Bahia Honda is best all around - however it is an additional 2 hours away.

http://www.pennekamppark.com/
http://www.bahiahondapark.com/

For Key Largo, definitely bring/rent a boat if you visit. 30 minutes off shore is a string of reefs in 20-40 feet (6-12 meters) of water. Beautiful water, reefs and water life.

For this stuff, the Shabah 200 is perfect - although there are times when I would love a bigger craft for more people. As far as handling, my only gripe, as I have touched on in other technical posts, is that my config does not have trim tabs and she falls off plane easily at medium speeds. Just need to plan a fix.

Enjoy.

Bill DeWeese

Hi Bill

'tis a nice area you boat in. I have a buddy who lives in St. Pete Beach (after moving there from cold & snowy Toronto a few years back) and he loves the area. He claims livin' there is like being on summer vacation and we went down to spend a few days there a couple of years back. I could get used to that relaxed life style & not havin' to wear long underwear & battery powered socks half the year up here. :rolleyes:

As for Dudders....i always thought any Aussie in the water was crocodile bait. :D
I had a quick look at the Mandurah site though......those homes are outta my league. :( Terri & I are going to make it to Oz one of these years....it's been on our list of places to go for about the last 20 yrs now.

Although I live 1/2mi from our small local lake (East Fork Lake). Most of our boating is on Kentucky and Barkley Lake.
I am a member of a club that ones cabins on the lake so we spend long weekends and vacations there. My kids love the rock quarry where they jump off
40'-50' cliffs. The "Land between the Lakes" offer camping and wild life habitats. Dock side restraints are plentiful.
I also like to boat the Ohio River and lock through to the lakes. Man, I want to go boating now!

I really need to move to the Keys!

The Fla Keys.....now you're talkin' :wink_thumbup:

z275st - I used to take my old Sea Ray 180 down to Kentucky Lake. We used to frequent the Land Between the Lakes OHV park with our Jeeps, and I had a friend who's family had a cabin on the lake. It was in the Johnson's Creek area. Beautiful area down there, the lake was nice and clear, and HUGE, great Jeep trails too! :wink_thumbup:

Georgian Bay is my primary boating venue. I have a slip at a marina that is about halfway up the Bruce Peninsula which is the spit of land which separates Georgian bay from Lake Huron. For a "bay" it's pretty large (almost as big as Lake Ontario) and where I boat it is also very deep; typically 100' to over 200' in most places. It's shoreline is very rocky (or as we refer to it "very coarse sand..." :D ) and the water doesn't get temperate until the middle of the summer. The water is crystal clear though. It's not uncommon to see clear down to 35' or more. There are many shipwrecks that are plainly visible from the surface. The coastal scenery is amazing, and a "busy" day on the water would have you see maybe 1 or 2 other boats within a 5 mile radius of yours... There are many protected inlets and remote shoreline areas which make for great day trip destinations.

Like all of the "mer de la douce" it can get very rough if the wind gets blowin'. 10 to 12 foot waves in a summer storm are not uncommon. However isthmus living has it's perks. I can haul the boat out of the water, drive 10 miles to Lake Huron and drop it in all the warm sandy goodness that exists on the (much shallower) western side of the peninsula.

I've also been out on Lake Ontario in the Toronto area. The water is warmer but it's no match for the scenery and isolation afforded at the upper great lakes.


Mike: I'm surprised you didn't mention Puslinch Lake. I mean you are so close... :rolling_laugh:

Puslinch Lake....yuch. Most of it is less than 3-4ft deep & it is so weed choked that they have to cut pathways thru it in the summer. I haven't taken the Mariah there but i did take my old Stingray for a couple of test runs. They do have one area that is consistently 4 - 6 ft deep where the ski school operates and an area on the other side that gets down to about 15'. Unfortunately you could run that whole stretch in less than 3 mins and you want to make sure you stay in the pathway.

They do have a nice restaurant overlooking the water though!

Great topic, I like to take my boat into the inlet of Daytona Beach. The ramp is about 2 minutes from the house and we like to go to the light house thats in ponce inlet about a 15 minute ride in the boat. Its really quite nice there is about 3 little islands right in the inlet across from the light house everyone pulls up on the islands and its just a big party. There are about 4 or 5 resturants and bars right across from the islands along with a really nice park/forrest right before the light house. They also allow you to camp and cook out on the banks of the park. I also like to take my boat to various lakes that are around. My friends and I like to go to lake dias. The water there is really calm for wakeboarding, kneeboarding, tubing, and skiing. there are a couple of grills set up out there for family and friends and we all just cook out and wakeboard its really nice.
Speeking of the keys my girlfriend and I and a couple of friends were planing on taking our boats down there for and island getaway this coming summer. It is really beautiful down there.I have been down a couple of times before but never with my own boat we always had to pay for a ride around its going to be nice to have my own boat down there this :wink_thumbup:time.

aww.. MikeyT beat me to the " we boat on water " comment ....:wink_thumbup: :D

Basically I do a majority of my boating here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparrow_Lake

My late grandparents started visiting the area since I think the late 1940's. They slowly brought supplies up north to build up the cottage that I'am in today. So I have been spending almost every summer up there since I was a wee lil rug rat.

I have boated onto Lake Couchchiching, however that lake still scares me. Crossing a large body of water, in an 18 foot bowrider on a lake that is prone to random / frequently storms ... riiiiiight. Same goes for Lake Simcoe.

If you check around on the Trips threads on this site, you will see my trip out to the Big Chute Marine Railway.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chute_Marine_Railway


Hmmm, I could probably add more here... but well.. its nearing go home time and I need to get some other things done at work. :wink_thumbup:

We live in Central Lower Michigan

With its short summer boating season, but when you have boating in your blood you do what you can

We have no fewer than 10 lakes all within 20 minutes
Last summer we hit...
Duck, Lime, Clark, Wamplers, Vinyard, Portage, Pleasant, LeAnn, Grass, Center, Round, Vandercook, Bruin

Lime is 3 miles from my driveway to boat launch so we go there alot
it is very small but after work on a weekday we can be on the water half hour after I get out of work

Center and Bruin are like 5 lake chains with channels between
Bruin has lake front camp sites we used over labor day weekend

We boat on Raccoon lake in Indiana, Morse in Indy, Dale Hollow and Center Hill in Tennessee and various lakes in Wisconsin, Vilas County.

We just had our 15th summer with our beloved 18'10" 1993 Barchetta Z.

I boat at scenic Lake Shelbyville IL. It's about 5 min from my house so I spend precious little time getting to the lake and more time on it! I also have a slip at the marina a few min from my house; the boat is in dry storage through the week and goes in the water on Friday and out on sunday!!

Fun times!

well I am new here at this great forum having just purchased a used 1996 Z201 and re building the motor. I have been boating on Lake Winnipesaukee here in NH for the last 24 years in every thing from a 11 foot Snark to a 24' Celebrity 275 Volvo Duo-Prop. This lake is 72 SQ. miles with 282 miles of shore line 5 towns to travel to ( Laconia, Meredith, Center Harbor, Wolfeboro, and Alton Bay) and 274 islands, and it is surrounded by 3 mountain ranges. Weirs Beach where we have an annual Motorcycle event is a mile north of my place which is located on Pagus bay(Lake Pagus) a mile south is Lake port where an other member is located according to the map. Ice out is usually around April 17 or so, that is when the MS Mt Washington(230' cruise boat) can make way from Weirs Beach to Wolfeboro. I usually put in by May 1st and take out around Thanksgiving. I have only had to chop ice twice. LOL But fall is really the best time for me as work slows down and there are not any of the summer renegades left.
http://www.weirsbeach.com/Largejpgs/...erialview.html
My place is in the upper portion of the photo on the left where Pagus bay widens out
The lake was formed by Glaciers and is 212 ft deep at it's deepest. You'll find boats from skiffs to 230' multi million dollar homes clutter the landscape and make it hard for family aires to hold on to family cottages because of inflated taxes. But other than the obvious downfalls of being a beautiful mountain lake with many many things to do and places to go it is by far my favorite place to boat.
I spent 3 years in the south pacific and Hawaii which was great I also boat when in FL east coast Ft La Ti Da area.

I've only had my Talari 180 for a whole month and keep it on its trailer, but over the 60 or so hours this month, I've spent most of it on the Cal-Sag Channel, then some time on the Chicago River, and recently more and more on Lake Michigan. I'm loving how well it handles the 1-2-3 foot waves with all sorts of nasty currents and wind on the lake, and cruising the Cal-Sag at a solid 50mph for an hour is precious.

Re: Where do you boat?
 

We boat mainly in indiana. We recently bought a 2000 shabah 222, but I grew up on the water with my family and friends. In indiana we go to Racoon lake(cecil m harden lake) brookville, monroe. Brookville, and monroe can get pretty choppy. Racoon lake has always been my favorite. Can get pretty busy, but never terrible. I might try morse reservoir because it is close. Other than that, out of state we will go to dale hollow and cumberland.