Mark,
I don't know if you have seen it yet but there is a Coot for sale on yachtworld in Anacortes. She looks almost as nice as your Coot How does she handle outside the gate? I love the idea of a steel hull and I imagine you don't have any issues with water intrusion around the windows and doors as they all look like real solid "ship" style water tight hatches. What can you tell us about your coot, it looks like a tough boat to say the least. Thanks, CMA
Haven't been outside of the Gate with the Coot. Presume it handles seas as well as most boats its size. It is strong, however: consider the strength of its doors and windows as well as its low profile. Expect it to handle seas better than its crew.
The blue-hulled (whose saloon arrangement is much different than mine) Cormorant, now for sale, is hull #5. Here shown behind my Coot (hull #6) at the builder's dock in early 2011:
In crossing any of the Great Lakes, you plan carefully to avoid bad weather, wind and waves. Our 60 mile traversing from Oswego, NY, towards Trenton, ON, in June 2014, was absolutely delightful! The picture was taken at the midpoint US/Canadian border.
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Larry
American Tug 34 - Great Laker, and Gold Looper
Home port on the vast unsalted Lake Michigan adventuresofgreatlaker.blogspot.com
We lived previously on a very crowded inland lake. Sundays were nightmares, especially from around noon until about 5. The wakes of boats plus the fact there was generally wind kept things rough. But late afternoon everyone would clear off the lake, even those who had houses and docks on it. And often about 6 or 7 pm the wind would quieten and the lake would be smooth as glass. We'd always get out on it then. Occasionally there would be a couple of hydroplanes out running around too, the only time they could be checked out.
Lake Michigan May 2014, it was glass or close all the way from Chicago to the straights.
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Ron on Northern Lights II
I don't like making plans for the day because the word "premeditated" gets thrown around in the courtroom.
I fished more days last summer in flat water than I have ever even seen flat water. Probably 20 days of glass to a ripple type of water. Occasionally a swell but not much. We could watch tuna eat our chunk baits way deep when the current wasnt running. Its really cool to see a 100 lb yellowfin in cobalt blue water eating at 100 feet, then see him eat the hook bait, then hear the real scream when he feels the hook. Not as cool an hour later when he's doing the "big circles" at 100 feet. Seeing Mahi come out of a weed line like a pack of wolves leaping toward the trolling baits is pretty cool to. The best thing about flat water is that you get to see it all. And, early in the season, in May, I got to swim with a HUGE whaleshark. That was a hoot. I would not have done it in anything but flat water.