Recent content by dave907

Will you be cruising in the Summer? SW Florida has a lot of thunderstorms in the Summer. I really recommend having a boat fast enough to get out of the way of storms. Lots of shallow water if you plan on cruising Charlotte Harbor and other inside cruising grounds. I wish I had fully protected...

Dude! That's awesome. No need to check the forecast now! That's a relief. "No significant long-period swell is anticipated to impact the Atlantic waters for the next several years."

It was scary to try, but we were just DONE with the leaks. As it turned out, it worked great. It didn't look too bad (got a tan colored liner that kinda looked "teaky"), and stopped all the leaks for the six years I owned the boat afterwards. One thing I did have going for me that others might...

You already have a stern thruster on a single screw boat: the rudder. Bow thruster is the obvious choice if you have to choose. Cheers! Dave

Teak decks . . . oh man, this is a subject about which books could be written. So, starting with the condensed version: Teak decks often cause leaks. Leaks lead to problems. Thus, if you want to avoid the probability (not the certainty) of problems, avoid teak decks. The longer version: Some...

How much is your draft? At the current lake level of 11'8" the maximum draft for route 1 across (cross lake route) is about 5'7". My guess is you draft less than that. If that's true, I'd totally go with the canals across the state. It's easy. You don't have to worry about weather, and since...

I owned a Bayliner 3870 for about 7 years. Surprisingly, this boat had pockets for the props. It was a great choice for cruising in the shallow waters of SW Florida. If you were sensible and went slowly through shallow bits, the deepest part of the boat was about midship. You could stick the bow...

Put some high temp gasket goop on it, then take a soup can, open it on both ends, make a cut down the side, wrap the soup can around the hose such that the one edge of the slit you've cut slides under the other, and compress the can with several hose clamps. I repaired a large rip in an exhaust...

Cool! Thanks.

It sucks. They call it "Hell's Gate" for a reason. Avoid it if you can. When I brought my first boat to the area from Stuart, FL I ran it up South Matlacha pass and it was a white-knuckle experience. Very windy. Very shallow. Go around the West side of Pine Island and come in from the North...

Steve, "Micksbuddy" is correct on all points. Just to add on. . . I have found that there is a beach at Tween waters that they don't seem to mind if you pull your tender onto. With just a trolling motor I'd not try to motor up to the more Northerly docks. If it's blowing Easterly I would...

15/20 minutes sounds AWESOME. One hour and change to get through the trip captured in the video. Then another 30 minutes at 11 knots to get to the "deep" water North of Matlacha pass. Hence the reason I keep the boat in the Burnt Store Marina during the cruising season. St. James City looks...

All: Thought you all might find this interesting. I keep my boat at my folk's place on a lift in NW Cape Coral in the off season. It takes a LONG time to motor all the way down Matlacha Pass from my marina, and through the canals to their house. This year when we took the boat out for the...

Re: Pine Island Sound Been cruising in that area for about six years now. There is plenty to do and see for a 4-5 day destination. - Captiva: Very nice little party district with live music from multiple bars. You can drink on the street, rent golf carts from YOLO, great sunset view on the...

Here's a post I did on a diesel heater from the Bayliner forum. Hope it helps. Dave Hi All: I recently installed a VVKB Apollo-V2 heater on my 3218. It's a heater that is often used by truck drivers to heat their sleeper cabins when parked. I was a bit worried about this because it's much...