2 Years in with some minor issues

[THog79]

Hi Everyone,

Looking for some advice on a few things. Bought my 2008 Maxum 1800 SR3 and i'm on my third summer. Loving the boating life so far but running into a few irritations.

1) The cover that has all of the snaps. I find it very time consuming detatching and re-attaching this cover everytime i head out for a spin. The part of the snaps that are attached to the boat are starting to detach and leaving holes in the boat. Any better options for a quick cover?

2)I live on a half salt/half fresh water lake in Canada. I leave the boat in the water for the summer months. The first year there wasn't alot of buildup but last year the amount of barnicles were crazy. Had to get it professionally cleaned, no chemical strong enough that i could use to get them off. Does waxing the boat pre-season help with this? Is there anything else that can be applied to reduce or eliminate this? Is the only option to take the boat out once every few weeks and clean off the bottom? Any options for cleaning while in the water?

3)Docking the boat. I have 3 bouys attached to the boat and then tied to the dock. Over time the letter U from Maxum has come off and some of the other decals are getting scratched. I have seen a few people around the lake with what look like giant fishing poles attached to their docks which look like they keep the boat from rubbing. Any feedback on these or other options? I've seen in some other posts some websites that might have the replacement letters. I'll give that a whirl.

4)Damn rocks in the lake The boat has a built in depth finder which is great for shallow areas, etc but it doesn't help with the giant rock in the middle of the lake. We have alot of lakes in Nova Scotia with random rocks. Had my prop replaced once already. Any advice on sonar devices or anything else that might help with this issue? Through talking to neighbours etc, i am able to avoid most in my lake but i'm looking to branch out and try new spots.

Sorry for the long list of questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Trevor

[TBarCYa]

1) As far as the covers, I really only use mine when I put her away for the winter and during the summer, I'll use a standard 1-piece cover just to keep the debris out. I trailer my boat tho and don't know how well one of these would work if you keep it on the water.

2) For the barnacles, anti-fowling paint should prevent this. It would need to be redone every 1-2 seasons but should be much easier and a lot cheaper than having barnacles professionally removed.

4) Your best bet for the rocks is to get a map of the lake or a GPS and mark the locations of the rocks you know about. Around here, the bait shops near the lakes usually have a map of the lake that shows a good deal of the obstructions since those are the spots fishermen look for.

[shrew]

Hi THog79, welcome to the site. At the risk of repeating some of what has already been said:

1) The snaps can com loose over time and even come out. However, that does seem to be fairly quick. my 97 some are loose, but they are in tact. How are you removing the cover. Grabbing and end and yanking to 'unzip' the snaps? You might need to go around and more carefully pull each snap individually.

2) Bottom Paint. No other solution. If teh boat is trailered, then you can get away with not having it. however, if the boat sits in the water all season, then it needs bottom paint.

3) The key here to keep teh boat from rubbing on anything while it's at the dock. Fenders are great for bumping when docking or temporary tie ups, but permanently rubbing up against fenders is going to leave a 'rub rash' on teh gel coat. If the dock has pilings on the outside of the boat, so the boat sites between the dock and the outside pilings, then tie lines to the pilings to hod teh boat from rubbing on the dock. If not, then the flexible poles are your best option. Otherwise it would be a mooring or haul teh boat with a trailer.

4) Rocks are to be avoided at all costs. If you have an updated chart of the lake, it should show the hazzards to navigation. If not, then you're going to have to rely on experience or local knowledge. I've seen many small lakes where the locals will mark hazzards for the season. Sometimes this is nothing more than an empty detergent bottle on a line with a cinder block. Sometimes you 'just gotta know'. If yo uhave a GPS, yo ucan manually mark the objects.

[ss3964spd]

^ What them thar guys said.

Regarding the docking - I am guessing that by "bouys" (attached to the boat) you mean fenders (bumpers). If you are tieing up next to pilings you can look into installing flexible....shoot - what are the called, bumpers that mount vertically on the piling so that only the rub rail of the boat touches them. Otherwise, you'll have to keep the lines as short as you can without hanging the boat at low tide.

[ss3964spd]

I'll add to the "rocks" answers.

The built in depth finder on a boat isn't completely useless but it reads depth directly below where it is mounted and it cannot see forward. Is ok when running at idle speed when the depth changes in a more gradual fashion but won't help at all with a sudden change. With the rock situation a chart will be about as useful as the depth finder. The chart may show where the rocks are with Lat/Long but you would have to know exactly where the boat is in the water. Granted, you could navigate well away from the area but it's still basically a guess.

Get a GPS, and see if there is a more detailed chart that covers the areas you boat in. Even without the detailed maps you can still mark those rocks on the GPS (if they are not already marked) so you know right where they are every time you go out.

[THog79]

Thanks for all the tips! I found a local place that sells Anti-fouling paint. I had no idea you could get that stuff clear. Always thought it was black. Also good idea with the GPS, i did some online research and do see some forward looking sonar units but they seem quite new and quite expensive. Gonna give the one piece cover a try. Costco has them for a decent price. I don't have any other posts in the water, it's a floating dock and the lake freezes in the winter so nothing permanent in the water. I'm gonig to look into the poles some more, seem to be popular in my area. Thanks again!

[Nimh]

Maybe mooring or docking whips, like these?

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/prod...s&merchID=4005

or this?

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/prod...s&merchID=4005

[shrew]

forward looking sonar is a great development, yet still somewhat limited in it's ability to protect you. There is going to be a limit to how far forward it can read. the speed you're travelling will also come into play. for example.

1 mile = 5280 ft.

25MPH = 132,000 feet/hr.

132,000 ft/hr = 2,200 ft/min.

2,200 ft/min. = 36 ft/second.

Now let's say the forward scanning sonar can see out 300 ft. This gives you approximately 8.3 seconds to react at 25mph. This is predicated on the assumption that you're actually looking at the depth sounder at the exact second the obstruction appears. Even if you chop the throttle, you're going to glide slowly to a stop and still need to react. adn, of course, in an IO, chopping the throttle abruptly could potentially cause a hydrolock sitution if the wake pushes up into the risers as the result of chopping the throttle. Is it better than not knowing, ABSOLUTELY. However I caution it's functionality for your purposes.

I'm sure I've also overlooked variables and didn't triple check the math, so any physicists out there, feel free to criticize/correct me.