So glad to hear this, Mike!!!! I’m glad your move went smoothly. Please keep us posted. We got a bite and the inspection was done yesterday. So far, so good. Termite inspection is for Tues. :-) Hugs,
So glad to hear that you had a *bite*, Di!! I hope your house will sell soon!! Hope mine will, too… but I’m sure it will take some time. Right now I still have to get it emptied. Take care… and YOU keep us posted, too!! Hugs, MikeH 
— The charter is available at:
Perhaps we could get DirectBoats.com to sponsor Team RBP and then we could all go kick some ass on the pro circuit. I’ll bet you’d be the only entry in the "hydro bike" class… I want them to sponsor an event that I’m hoping to hold on the Deerfield this summer, in which the entrants must run Zoar Gap in anything other than a conventional whitewater craft. Points for artistic merit, time on the carnage clock, maximum destruction, and sheer cojones. I want to enter either the Riviera Lounger Pedal Boat, or a Sailboard WindGlider Craft.
We’ve been hoping for something like this at the Southeastern Slalom and Wildwater Championships (Nantahala River, NC, USA, May 5-6) for years. Gordon Grant once threatened to run the course on an inflatable alligator. As Chief Judge, I can promise you that if 3 of you show up paddling/pedaling _anything_ you’ve got a racing class. OK, Dave on hydrobike, Mary on Riveria Lounger…all we need is someone in a Boston Swan boat and that’s a class. — Steve Cramer
I don’t know. I was kinda partial to the "Hydro Bike". Perhaps we could get DirectBoats.com to sponsor Team RBP and then we could all go kick some ass on the pro circuit. I’ll bet you’d be the only entry in the "hydro bike" class…
I want them to sponsor an event that I’m hoping to hold on the Deerfield this summer, in which the entrants must run Zoar Gap in anything other than a conventional whitewater craft. Points for artistic merit, time on the carnage clock, maximum destruction, and sheer cojones. I want to enter either the Riviera Lounger Pedal Boat, or a Sailboard WindGlider Craft. — :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: "I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart for the joys of the multitude"
Get Factory 2nd boats and save!! The hardest part is choosing between the "Funyak" and the "Water Bee Compact Pedal Boat"! or perhaps the "Pirate Ship Pedal Boat." damn. Dave P
I don’t know. I was kinda partial to the "Hydro Bike". Lori
I don’t know. I was kinda partial to the "Hydro Bike".
Perhaps we could get DirectBoats.com to sponsor Team RBP and then we could all go kick some ass on the pro circuit. I’ll bet you’d be the only entry in the "hydro bike" class… Dave P
Get Factory 2nd boats and save!! The hardest part is choosing between the "Funyak" and the "Water Bee Compact Pedal Boat"! or perhaps the "Pirate Ship Pedal Boat." damn. Dave P
And did you see the kayak stabilizers? They’ve easily got you-know-who’s you-know-whats beat for stability! -Paul
Get Factory 2nd boats and save!!
The hardest part is choosing between the "Funyak" and the "Water Bee Compact Pedal Boat"! or perhaps the "Pirate Ship Pedal Boat." damn. Dave P
Get Factory 2nd boats and save!! Get factory 2nd Canoes, Kayaks, Jon, pedal boats and more at DirectBoats.com We have over 500 different boats to choose from, including a 18′ Center Console fishing boat. All shipped strait from the Factory to your door. www.DirectBoats.com
I’m looking for a used pedal boat. You probably have one sitting around. Why not convert it into useful cash.
I’m looking for a used pedal boat. You probably have one sitting around. Why not convert it into useful cash.
Why not say where you are located? The shipping costs on such a thing would be greater than their value, so you need to find one close to you. Go to a local marina, there are usually a bunch sitting around that look like they haven’t been used in years. Rod McInnis
I’m looking for a used pedal boat. You probably have one sitting around. Why not convert it into useful cash.
Sure, I have one I’d like to convert to useful cash. How about a thousand dollars US? (BTW- I’ll ship anywhere in CONUS) Reg- Mobile
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – writes Just last week: Bought a new (secondhand) boat. Tested it. Engine stalled after 15 mins, I cursed the dealer. Tried EVERYTHING to get it going and in the end called for a tow on the VHF. It was a police boat that towed me back in. The officer offered to have a look and noticed the vent on the fuel tank was closed! He found it amusing anyway… 
For me it’s a tie between: 1. Going skinny dipping from a boat anchored in a 3 kt current. Had I jumped off the back of the boat instead of the front… 2. While striper fishing at night with dozens of other boats, running at high speed to the one place the other boats weren’t. Fortunately, the rocks were just uncovered enough to see them seconds before hitting them. Both these brain cramps occurred during my first season of boating. Your turn. Tom — ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI Nick Smeltzer CNE
I am out in SF bay on a beautiful, no wind, sunny day. In my 14′ cartopper with a 15 Mariner. Getting towards afternoon and I point the bow at a large oil storage tank I use to go back to San Leandro Marina. Doing about 20 MPH with only me in the boat it is drawing about 8" to the bottom of the prop. All the sudden I realize I am seeing clam shells going by. I shut the boat down and am in about 12" of water and there are metal rods sticking up near me. I have line up on the wrong storage tank and have to pole the boat about a 1/4 mile with an oar to get back to deep enough water to run the engine. Draws more water standing still than it did running. If you use landmarks, get the mark right. As to vents closed, I placed the metal tank on top of the fuel hose. Boat runs great until it stops in a place you don’t want to stop, with the wind blowing you into the shallows. Bill
Bought a new (secondhand) boat. Tested it. Engine stalled after 15 mins, I cursed the dealer. Tried EVERYTHING to get it going and in the end called for a tow on the VHF. It was a police boat that towed me back in. The officer offered to have a look and noticed the vent on the fuel tank was closed!
That’s funny. I did the same thing but the engine never quit, it just sucked it practically flat. On and off during the day my fishing partner would say "Doesn’t that left tank look funny" but I ignored him until he just switched tanks on his own.
Teaching my wife how to drive the boat. Not paying attention to where we were headed across the bay. Wife: "What is that out there?" Me: "Seagulls." Wife: "What are they doing?" Me: "Walking! Stop!" Wife pushes the throttle full forward (like it was a brake pedal). Boat grinds to a stop in the muddy (thank god) bottom… Rick Marinelli Soon to be the owner of a ‘99 Cobalt 226
For me it’s a tie between: 1. Going skinny dipping from a boat anchored in a 3 kt current. Had I jumped off
A friend and I took a hunting trip in a 12′ Sears Gamefisher with one of those old Sea King motors on it. The motor used a quart of 30 weight motor oil to a gallon of gas, was way under-rated at 12 HP and would barely stay running. The transom was weak and had been glassed over at least once. Needless to say, the boat was rated for about 7.5 HP. After a day of unsuccessful hunting, we were on our way back, the motor just above idle, me playing with the carb mixture screws trying to get more power out of it. I evidently got the right mix and when I opened the throttle, the motor really showed it’s stuff. The transom could not handle full power and promptly split away at both sides. I was still holding onto the motor, shoved the throttle to idle, pulled the motor and transom back into position before everything went under. I tied the motor in place with the bowline and the two of us proceeded to bail. We idled about 3 more miles back to the launch site with the boat about half full of water; guns, clothes and hunting gear under it all. We gave the boat to a kid fishing at the dock when we got there; I guess it lived on to make someone else’s day. MartyM
Gee, there are so many. Like the time I took some friends out for a "first time" boat ride. I park the truck, run to the boat, start the motor, and my wife asked, why is all that water in the ski storage? I hit the bilge punp, look in the glove box, and sure enough. There it is. I jumped in the water without saying a word. When one of the friends asked what I was doing, I replied "checking the prop". Dad always said, Boy, there’s 2 kinds of folks. Those that have forgot to put in the plug, and those that will forget. I got another one for ya. In 1991,Wellcraft sent us a new 215 Eclipse with a 350 / Volvo Douprop. They told us it was "impossible" to make the boat cavitate. (can you spell challenge?) After a number of hard "lock to lock" turns with trim up at around 35 to 40mph, the service manager decided I was not trying hard enough. He runs WFO, full trim, a little chine walk going on, 54 on the speedo, and he spins the wheel hard right. The boat started to make an ugly hook when he then turns hard port !!! Next thing I know, I am in the floor between the bucket seats, watching a wall of water comming over the transom. That was the first time I ever "swapped ends" in a boat. Glad the boss didn’t see it. Mike G.
So I used the throttle in its backward state (forward for slow, back for fast)
Oh!! it’s not suppsosed to be that way? I set mine that way. Can’t seem to recall it being any other way on the other boats I have driven. My mind must be failing. SA http://www.twow.com/bluefin/mothership.html Updated 11/18/98
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – 1. Pulling someone on a raft behind a Wooster Hellion (similar to those boats you rent at the theme parks), and capsizing the damn thing in the middle of the intercoastal waterway. 2. At age 9, getting into my dads fine scotch while he and his friend were "out of the way" on the flybridge. When docking the boat at the marina, I fell over the bowrail while reaching for the bow lines. Yes, it was winter and the water was REAL cold. 3. Skiing in the winter time, dock-starting without checking for raised nail heads on the dock. Ouch! 4. Skiing in the winter time, when we were ready to stop, we’d have the boat run parallel to shore, and we’d head for the beach so we didn’t have to get in the water. The idea was to release the ski rope, head for the beach, hit the beach and "run" out of the ski simultaneously, at a reasonable speed of course. One error in speed determination left me tumbling in sharp shells one time, one left me 20 yards short of the beach in freezing cold water, and a miscalculation of "approach angle" sent me into the dock once. More ouch’s! 5. Fishing on the bow and stepping into an opened hatch. Doh!!!
Michael, You would do us all a huge favor if you would post just when and where you will be boating… We’ll either stay out of the way or stay home… :) Dennis
Wanted to paint the cover to the throttle/shift lever assembly. Took apart the whole thing, including disconnecting throttle and shift cables, so I could get the cover off and paint it outside the boat. Put it all back together very carefully. Next time I went out, the boat was hard to start. Finally it caught but the engine reved up full, even though the throttle was at idle and the neutal nob pulled out. Slamed into the dock and almost put the boat on top of the dock. Luckily it was a cold day and no one was around. Experimented some more and the farther I pushed on the throttle, the slower the engine would go. The boat was always in gear and there was no reverse. By now I was out away from the dock and afraid to go back lest I be unable to control the boat in those close quarters. So I used the throttle in its backward state (forward for slow, back for fast) and limped to an empty beach. Luckily I had the tool box (don’t leave home without it). Took apart the throttle assmbly and discovered my problem. Dispite being ( I thought) so careful, I had connected the throttle cable to the shift lever and the the shift cable to the throttle lever! Still don’t know how I did that. Anyway, fixed it and the rest of the day was fun for me and the guy I had taken out in my new (used) boat trying to impress. Failed on that account.
Dispite being ( I thought) so careful, I had connected the throttle cable to the shift lever and the the shift cable to the throttle lever! Still don’t know how I did that.
My first boat came with the controls reversed like that. It was hard as hell to get it off of the trailer that first time out 
Dispite being ( I thought) so careful, I had connected the throttle cable to the shift lever and the the shift cable to the throttle lever! Still don’t know how I did that. My first boat came with the controls reversed like that. It was hard as hell to get it off of the trailer that first time out
This sounds like my steering stupidity. The steering in my sea ray when I got it was so stiff that you practically had to wrestle with the steering wheel, even at no-wake speeds, so I took it apart and put in a new cable. The only thing was when I was putting it back together, I put the rack on upsidedown in relation to the pinion that attaches to the steering wheel. I was launching the boat later that afternoon, and I get into the water and I turn the wheel to the left, and what do you know, the boat goes to the right. I’m glad that I was going slow enough to realize what was going on because a guy that I’d assume was a construction worker was sitting just to the right of the ramp waiting to come back in, and I would have hit him otherwise… it was a very interesting experience though, getting to the dock so I could tie up and climb under the dash and re-mount the rack cylinder. Another one: we were out anchored and my girlfriend tied the tube behind the boat to one of the dock lines so she wouldn’t float away, when she got out of the water and brought the tube back in, she forgot to bring the line back in. I never even thought to check, and started the motor. It idled fine, but then when I put it in reverse to pull the anchor, the rope got tangled in the prop and killed the motor. I couldn’t get it started again since there was so much presure on the prop and outdrive that it wouldn’t pop out of gear (Mercruiser Alpha 1) so I used the trolling motor to get back to my marina and after I trailered the boat, I found the rope. This was of course, at the busy point of the day and there were people standing all over the place. Now I always check for lines before starting. – Jason
Anybody ever pull into a nice cove with a guest,(lady), no other boats around, watch a beautiful sunset, get a little more "comfortable" in the rear bench seat, then at the MOST critical moment , the voice of a water patrol officer (female officer) is heard asking from close range, "is everyone ok"? Talk about spoiling the moment… Mike G.
Heading across the bay alone in a 13 foot whaler the water got a bit rough. I walked to the bow and leaned over to better secure the anchor which was flying around. As I bent down to reach the anchor lying in the bow the boat hit a wave and I fell over the bow. I managed to grab the cleat so I didn’t get pulled under the boat. Somehow I managed to get back in and not get chopped to hamburger. dumb, dumb, dumb.
1. Pulling someone on a raft behind a Wooster Hellion (similar to those boats you rent at the theme parks), and capsizing the damn thing in the middle of the intercoastal waterway. 2. At age 9, getting into my dads fine scotch while he and his friend were "out of the way" on the flybridge. When docking the boat at the marina, I fell over the bowrail while reaching for the bow lines. Yes, it was winter and the water was REAL cold. 3. Skiing in the winter time, dock-starting without checking for raised nail heads on the dock. Ouch! 4. Skiing in the winter time, when we were ready to stop, we’d have the boat run parallel to shore, and we’d head for the beach so we didn’t have to get in the water. The idea was to release the ski rope, head for the beach, hit the beach and "run" out of the ski simultaneously, at a reasonable speed of course. One error in speed determination left me tumbling in sharp shells one time, one left me 20 yards short of the beach in freezing cold water, and a miscalculation of "approach angle" sent me into the dock once. More ouch’s! 5. Fishing on the bow and stepping into an opened hatch. Doh!!!
Michael, You would do us all a huge favor if you would post just when and where you will be boating… We’ll either stay out of the way or stay home… :) Dennis
Hee, hee…….Those were the good ole days!! I’m an old fart now, and having been around boats for around 30 years at this point, am much more mature, from a boating perspective that is!!!!!!
As a PASSENGER , we headed out the Appalachicola inlet in a 22′ Boston Whaler around "dark 30". The inlet was running pretty fast and it got worse on the outside, so…the capt. spun the boat around, lined up on the lights of Appalachicola and headed back in thru the inlet. Mind you , it is DARK. I was holding on to the T Top when I looked overboard at the water and wondered about the light brown lilly pads on the water’s surface. The problem was the inlet was 75 yards over to our left. We hit the beach around 35 mph just like the Navy Seals. I measured the transom to be twenty paces from the waters edge. In the morning we discovered the boat was on Federal Land, protected land for the "Snowy Plover". We did get the boat off,but it wasn’t for a couple of days. ps…the Whaler did just fine. The beach had a mild slope
Decided to explore some different areas of the Chesapeake Bay this year and was able to locate several public ramps in out of the way spots. Put in one delightful day about mid way up the Chester River bright and early and spent the entire day on the river and out into the bay. Caught a few here and there, drank a few as well and took way too much sun by the time we headed back around 4 PM. Came back to the dock and discovered that the concrete ramp was TOTALLY OUT OF THE WATER! It turns out that we inadvertently timed putting in at exactly high tide and tried to come out at absolute low tide. The tide chart for the day indicated that the next high would be at 9PM. Fortunately, we had plenty of gas and were able to find a marina that always had plenty of water and would let us get out for 10 bucks – which we took advantage of. Moral of the day: avoid free public ramps – you get what you pay for.
writes Thought of another one. A few months ago I set of and after a while I realised the stern was a little further down than normal. I went back to have a look and realised I hadn’t put the drain plugs in. No bilge pump either.. I don’t think boating agrees with me For me it’s a tie between: 1. Going skinny dipping from a boat anchored in a 3 kt current. Had I jumped off the back of the boat instead of the front… 2. While striper fishing at night with dozens of other boats, running at high speed to the one place the other boats weren’t. Fortunately, the rocks were just uncovered enough to see them seconds before hitting them. Both these brain cramps occurred during my first season of boating. Your turn. Tom
– ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI Nick Smeltzer CNE
Dumbest thing I ever did was to go fishing with a friend of mine a few years ago… We launched from Kahului and intended to spend the day fishing off the north shore of Molokai. There were 4 of us on the boat. One of the other two was an employee of my friend. The 4th person was a customer from Germany… Well, off the north shore of Molokai, it’s kind of choppy.. The boat’s rocking and rolling. The employee, I’ll call him K loses his balance and almost falls overboard. The only thing holding him is his pants gets hung up on the railing… Well, as we continue around the island, we hook up to a Mahi Mahi (dolphin fish). A nice bull. It’s small enough that we can just horse it over into the boat. Instead of staying clear, K tries to keep the fish from flopping around. The trailing hook gets him in the finger… Takes us a few minutes to subdue the fish and cut the leader free. It took the three of us to keep the fish from yanking at K’s finger… We set out for Kaunakakai to find medical help for K. We call 911 on the cell and get 911 on Oahu instead. Finally, we end up calling friends back on Maui to call the ambulance to let them know we’re coming in with an injured person… Well, so far, so good. They can’t remove the hook at the harbor, so he gets a ride to the hospital… It’s now around 4 pm.. We finally get underway again. Leaving the harbor, we set out or lines again and soon catch an ono (wahoo)… Of course, my friend is on the wheel and barking out orders and yelling and flipping out as usual… So what happens, he does a Capt. Queeg and does a 360 right over all the other lines… sigh… We get all that cleared and we get the fish into the cooler and off we go again.. We get a distress call on vhf.. So, we take off our fishing gear and put on our Auxiliary gear and go get the guy.. Turns out it’s a 35′ sampan (wooden displacement boat). Heavy bastard. We get the guy hooked up and the wind comes up… The waves come up… the 3/4 inch double braid is singing… We check the plotter and we’re only making about 2 knots headway against the waves, winds, and current. All we can see around us in white water… Every other wave is blowing over the bow. In the mean time, I can see the guys in the big boat behind us cooking dinner… We had already run out of food… To make a long story short, we finally reach Lahaina at 2 am… The German guy borrows money from us and catches a cab home… The three of us decide to sleep there…. I wake up 30 minutes later covered with mosquitoes… So, if any of you folks should ever come to Maui and find yourself invited to go out with this friend of mine, drop by my house. I’ll lend you my .357 so you can shoot yourself first. Dennis
For me it’s a tie between: 1. Going skinny dipping from a boat anchored in a 3 kt current. Had I jumped off the back of the boat instead of the front… 2. While striper fishing at night with dozens of other boats, running at high speed to the one place the other boats weren’t. Fortunately, the rocks were just uncovered enough to see them seconds before hitting them. Both these brain cramps occurred during my first season of boating. Your turn. Tom
First outing of the season in a 23′ I/O on in-and-out storage. I’m about a mile out into open water when I notice the temp is full hot, although the engine isn’t misbehaving. I also notice the boat seems a bit logy. Back to idle, flip the engine box, and there’s my Merc 188 pumping Lake Michigan into my boat at a wondrous rate. Limp to the fisherman who’s trolling a hundred yards away, borrow screwdriver, and secure water hose to thermostat. Lessons: 1) Check the damned hoses yourself before you go out, no matter who did the winterizing! 2) Don’t EVER set out without the toolbox. 3) Even when they’re trolling across the mouth of one of the busiest channels on Lake Michigan, don’t cuss the fisherman — he may be the one who saves your butt.
let my dad drive it
keep on "upgrading" ‘em……shoulda stayed minimal….ha ha….(inflatable)
writes Just last week: Bought a new (secondhand) boat. Tested it. Engine stalled after 15 mins, I cursed the dealer. Tried EVERYTHING to get it going and in the end called for a tow on the VHF. It was a police boat that towed me back in. The officer offered to have a look and noticed the vent on the fuel tank was closed! He found it amusing anyway… For me it’s a tie between: 1. Going skinny dipping from a boat anchored in a 3 kt current. Had I jumped off the back of the boat instead of the front… 2. While striper fishing at night with dozens of other boats, running at high speed to the one place the other boats weren’t. Fortunately, the rocks were just uncovered enough to see them seconds before hitting them. Both these brain cramps occurred during my first season of boating. Your turn. Tom
– ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI Nick Smeltzer CNE
Besides putting money into it?
Buy it! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – For me it’s a tie between: 1. Going skinny dipping from a boat anchored in a 3 kt current. Had I jumped off the back of the boat instead of the front… 2. While striper fishing at night with dozens of other boats, running at high speed to the one place the other boats weren’t. Fortunately, the rocks were just uncovered enough to see them seconds before hitting them. Both these brain cramps occurred during my first season of boating. Your turn. Tom
For me it’s a tie between: 1. Going skinny dipping from a boat anchored in a 3 kt current. Had I jumped off the back of the boat instead of the front… 2. While striper fishing at night with dozens of other boats, running at high speed to the one place the other boats weren’t. Fortunately, the rocks were just uncovered enough to see them seconds before hitting them. Both these brain cramps occurred during my first season of boating. Your turn. Tom
I SEEN IN THE POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE ABOUT A PEDAL BOAT MADE BY NAUTICRAFT CORP. IN MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN. IS THERE ANYBODY COULD PROVIDE ME A PHONE NUMBER OF THIS COMPANY OR ANY INFORMATION ABOUT. GRATHLY APPRECIATED. HUGO
A PEDAL BOAT MADE BY NAUTICRAFT CORP. IN MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN. IS THERE ANYBODY COULD PROVIDE ME A PHONE NUMBER OF THIS COMPANY OR ANY INFORMATION ABOUT. GRATHLY APPRECIATED. HUGO
I didn’t have an address or web site in Popular Mechanics? Jim
I have already responded to the sender but for anyone else intrested there from Nauticraft Corporation Ph: 616-798-8440, out of Muskegon, MI. If you don’t like to telephone places, goto my web site; http://detroit.freenet.org/sigs/boating from there drift down to "Database", then click on "Boat Manufactures". Sea you, George Norkus Web Captain Michigan Boating (plus) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – A PEDAL BOAT MADE BY NAUTICRAFT CORP. IN MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN. IS THERE ANYBODY COULD PROVIDE ME A PHONE NUMBER OF THIS COMPANY OR ANY INFORMATION ABOUT. GRATHLY APPRECIATED. HUGO I didn’t have an address or web site in Popular Mechanics? Jim
SM/ Yesterday night I was watching Eye Witness Video and they had a video of /an American who crossed the Atlantic from St.John’s Newfoundland (Canada) to /England (can’t remember the exact arrival location) on a pedal boat (whew lo /sentence) in 40 days. SM/ I am left more curious about the technical side of his adventure (no, I’m /not about to do this!!!)…Did anyone have anymore info? Read an article on /it somewhere? How long was his boat? (guess 25?)…Homemade machine? Stephan, I’m guessing that was Dwight Collins. The boat was 24-foot, 850 lb. Built by Eric Goetz in Bristol RI from carbon fibre over cedar planking. And designed by Bruce Kirby BTW. The 1,930 miles (St.John’s NFLD to Plymouth GB) took Dwight 40 days, averaging 18 pedaling hours daily. Apparently the "fuel" was a carbohydrate-loaded diet of cookies, trail mix and high-energy bars. Dwight also carried ni-cads and solar panels for his GPS and radio, although he went for ten days of no communications in a period of sun-less days. He had head winds for the first two weeks, followed by two gales. Laughlin Hughes S2S Toronto ps… this info from the Nov/Dec issue of "Boating Business", the Canadian marine trades mag. Found it with a search for PEDAL in the magazines database/conference here <grin… * OLX 2.2 * Funny, the chart said plenty of depth!
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