Sundeck Owners please help

Marin,
What beautiful scenery. Hard to beat those pretty coves and mountains, but all those heavy coats and cold wx gear. Each place has it's charm.
We're getting into our boating season now as evidenced by all our Canadian's friends preparing to splash their boats after 8 months on the hard. I'm envious as I'm out of the water for 2 months waiting for blisters to dry.

Hiya,
** Mr. Marin.* Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever?

RT Firefly wrote:

Hiya,
Mr. Marin.* Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever?

Click to expand...

Yes, although I prefer one of the breed's original names which was Little River Duck Dog. Little River is one of the places in Nova Scotia where the breed is said to have originated.* The breed didn't acquire the long tedious name until it was declared the "official dog" of Nova Scotia in the 1940s.*

Albi is named for the city in France where Jean-Francois de La Pérouse was from. Besides being the home of La Pérouse and Toulouse Lautrec, Albi boasts the largest brick building in the world, the Cathedral of Saint Cecillia. We've visited Albi and the cathedral is incredible, even more so on the inside than the outside.* If you ever find yourself in that part of the world, Albi is well worth a visit.

Albi (the dog) reminds of of Albi (the town) every time we look at him if for no other reason than he's the same color

*


-- Edited by Marin on Saturday 20th of November 2010 11:14:18 AM

Awesome pics, Marin, thanks for sharing!

I can only take credit for the picture of Albi (the dog). We didn't have a digital camera when we visited Albi (the town) so those shots are lifted from the web.

My $0.02...
Mine is a 38' FHB. I like diving, crabbing and fishing so I have a 13' whaler with a 35 hp Johnson 2 cycle. Totals about 850# on a Ross Kelly rated at 1000#. That said, we RARELY use the stern swim step. We side tie the dink once it's deployed and not in tow. We use a boarding ladder on the gunnel and it's great for boarding. Our dog is a bit lighter (at 9#) but I could easily see lifting maybe a 50# dog back and forth. As far as docking goes, I find it real easy to dock it by myself. My wife does not like doing the jump so I bring the boat in, get it into position, have my wife take the wheel and I slip over the side with lines in hand - without any jump to a slipery dock.

Regarding the sundeck - friends have one with no inside access from flybridge to lower helm. They have to go outside to get between stations, which in bad seas is not acceptable. That means that they have to stay at the flybridge which, in bad seas has the most violent movement. Personally I would stay away from this design.

Our boat has a 4'3" deep keel. We have full canvas, yet I rarely feel much of an effect from side winds when docking - some but not much (thankfully). Now current - that's another issue.

We have a gas grill on the stern (like most) but we use a 5 gal tank (instead of those 1# tanks). I got a "y" at the tank and have a second hose that runs to a Hr. Heater. With it on high we use our sundeck year round but some evenings when it gets to the low 30's we do find it too cold and have to go below.

Bayliner! Yea, I use to work there up almost to the point where Brunswick bought them out. Keep in mind that they paid their annual bonus based on material savings - think chopper gun here. Usually the guys in the shop became more "bonus consious" after mid year. If it were me and I had to have a Bayliner I'd target boats built between Feburary and August.

Knowing what I now know, if I had the chance to do it all over again I'd get a single engine sedan pilot house trawler with a large generator that could double as a get-home and it would have a bow thruster. It would have no teak or canvas on the outside. And it would have high bullworks. It could either be wood or glass but not both. (Just my opinion)