Joined the "big boys club"
 

I went to the desert this weekend & bought a 97 312 Formula !!This was the boat belonging to "highbidder" in Scottsdale, Az.

Now I am in the same "boat" as the others that are waiting for their new boats.....man oh man, when's spring gonna get here!!
I can't wait.

Congratulations, "97formula"!! ;)

Welcome to the club. That will be a great boat for you. Hope you have a wonderful first summer with it :D:D

Yeh, this is going to be a big learning experience. This is the 1st twin I have owned, so operation (learning to drive all over again) & maintenance are going to keep me busier than ever. I am rather meticulous "maintainer", so another learning situation.
Changing plugs is going to be a real "arm stretcher" I am sure !

:rolleyes:

Plugs are not so bad. I would suggest you get some one to go with you your first time out. I had a friend that has a tripple engine boat take mine out the first time. The first time you plane off a boat that size you will freek out. So much happens to fast!!! Make sure you have plenty of room and take it slow. Once you get the hang of it you will wonder why you took so long to make the jump :D:D

Jon

My first twin boat I went out ALONE {No rowdy friends helping} I threw a fender in the water @ spent alot of time "docking" to it Way better to learn with soft fender than hard dock!!!!

Thanks for the input....while I was in Arizona, I did "trial" the boat on a small lake outside of Scottsdale. It was fun & you are right about "alot goes on when it comes on plane". I never really appreciated those things until now. Once this thing gets on plane, & with the Prochargers, it accelerates awfully fast for 10,000# !! We are really looking forward to this spring. :)

93,

WAY TO GO on you 97 312 Formula !! I have a 2000 312 and love it. Does not get much better......... well maybe a 35 or a 38:D :D :D

Way to go! Congrats on your new boat. I just bought a 94 303 and, like you, this is also my first twin engine boat. I like birddog's idea of docking next to a floating fender. Have to try that.

Best of luck with your new boat. By the way, what kind of top end do you expect with those procharged engines? Just curious.

Toolman

I am told, the top speed is 80+ true mph. I, of course have not seen that yet as the boat will not even be delivered until April sometime. I did not want to have to winterize it for so short a period. When I bought the boat, it was 69 degrees at home. Today it's 22 degrees and wednesday is forcast to be 17 degrees. March is our worst month for cold weather in Oklahoma. I have seen it get to 15 below zero in March. It is usually for short periods, but long enough to really screw up an engine! I'm naaot im much of a hurry tho', I waited until yesterday to order some new parts for it! ( I made it 9 days!- on a boat I told my wife needed nothing! Oh well......) :rolleyes:
Yes, self training will have to take place on weekdays, when no one is around to witness the screw ups, not that there will be any, but someone may "mistake" something for a screwup! :)

Welcome to the club. You'll like it here.

Twins are a snap! They are easy to dock, and with a little practace you will be so good at it that people will think you're better than you really are.

There are different schools of thought, but I like to use the props and not the steering wheel for docking and backing. Props turning out work better for this. Your boat is big enough that waves won't move it around like they can a smaller boat. Therefore, you can go slow. Engage a drive briefly, then neutral and wait to see what happens to the boat. You'll sledom need any throttle at all. Keep in mind that the props work better in forward than reverse.

People really good at this can litterally (sp?) make their boat move sideways by engaging the props in opposit directions and turning the drives.

And when you can do that my friend>>>>You know you are cool:D :D

I learned to dock with my 252SS in that manner. People would look at me like I was crazy pulling up to a gas dock at right angles, until I would swing the boat sideways & between two other boats tied up at the dock! It's really a cool feeling to be able to do that, and having the patience to learn how is important. Parking is always limited at on the water restaurants here, so it's almost mandantory to learn. However, there are a lot of "crash & bashers" still around. Their boats show it too!. Learning to drive, dock, operate & maintain your boat is part of the overall boating experience. Not enough people (owners) bother to learn these things. It' a shame. :(

I saw a 21 ft boat at a show this year with BOW THRUSTERS on it!!!!! No lie! Im standing there wiping the tears from my eyes from laughfing so hard and the salesman comes up telling me how great it is,Said..all those years of scratching his boat docking and now with this he can dock!!!!!My mother would be proud.....I just walked away Haaaa !!!!!

I have to admit that it is a really cool feeling to be able to get the boat to do what you want, even in a crosswind or bad current. Once I got the hang of it, my 38 got easier to dock than my 28 single, although the technique with DPX's is a little different from Bravos. Formula even replaced the "Thinderchicken" emblem that I destroyed against the dock while I was learning at no charge - great guys.

Anyway - Another good method is to get really l-o-n-g dock lines, get the boat somewhere close, and yell at someone on shore: "Hey - CATCH!!!"...:rolleyes:

Good one Chuck! :D :D :D :D

Sorry, I've been away a couple of days. It seems there was a storm down at the lake & my hydro-hoist tore loose (or loosened) 3 of 4 hinge pin bolts on my level-lift hoist & the lift sank! Luckily, the 2 safety chains were intact so it was easy to recover. No damage other than the missing 3 bolts! Now, it is chained to the dock, so it cannot sink. I was warned by a friend to put safety chains on it to keep it up, but did I listen? Of course not!
I'm just glad I did not have a boat on it, but then it probably would never of happened due to the load factors involved.
Live & learn!:D