so how much crusising do you do?

[jsandy]

Ok so this past weekend was the first weekend were my boat was somewhat "finished" and and my girlfriend and among other people kept pestering the hell out of me to go cruising around, specifically to a sand beach about 20 miles away. I dont want to drive the ole supra that far, call me a pussy or what but i just dont want to push it that hard for that long for the fear of something going wrong. I look at the Supra as a tool used for wakeboarding and minor cruising not a pontoon boat. How does everyone else feel?

[michael hunter]

With the cost of fuel I wouldn't want to go 20 miles by water. Is there a ramp closer to the beach pulling is much cheaper than cruising.

[cadunkle]

I use mine mostly for water sports. Where I usually drop in it's right off the ramp and 1-2 mins through a no wake and I'm at the spot I ride most often. Cruising around for long distances I don't do too often, I just see it as burning money for little gain. If I have a destination it's different, like if I want to run 10 miles south and grab lunch by the city, or whatever.

Though sometimes when I don't have a third to ride I'll drop the boat in and just go burn some gas. One day I must have put at least 70 miles on the boat running from Philly to Trenton and back. One of these days I'll probably take it down through the canal into the Chesapeake bay and do an overnighter down there. Would be a fun way to spend the weekend.

So I don't worry about reliability or anything. I do all the work on my boat myself so I know it pretty well and I trust both my boat and myself. I don't have seatow or anything like that. I do have a few basic tools with me so I have no worries.

Funny you say about a pontoon boat. I feel a lot more comfortable on the open river with tugs, cruisers, tankers, big military ships, etc. in my Saltare than I would feel in a pontoon. 3'-4' rollers from big ships hauling arse are the norm.

[jsandy]

see i feel the same way as michael. i just dont like the idea of the ole 351 just chugg'n along for that far, and the trailer is a pos so untill i find another thats not really an option. the boat has done nothing but run fine since the starter solonoid went out so i have reason to think it would break down but i just worry. and i know atleast 2 dozen people within 5 miles in either direction of my river lot so god forbid anything actually happen it would be easy to get a tow were as out on the river i dont, and its just much bigger. We boat in the shoal creek area of wilson lake in alabama

[dshaff24]

I load the kayaks up and cruise 13 miles one way to where the river enter's the lake.. Anchor and kayak then take them back.. Now I cruise it @ 25-27 mph.. Nothing higher

[haugy]

I normally put about 20 miles each trip on my old Mariah. I love to cruise. Nothing better than rolling down the river on a nice day, with the music on, and a frosty beverage in hand.

With a new to you boat I can understand wanting to make sure it's solid. But you won't know until you push it as well. Kind of like my rockcrawler. I won't know how great it is at climbing until I really try to find it's limits. Since my Saltare needs a ton of work, I will be very detailed in my test runs before I really push it. So I can relate.

If you're boat can't handle a 20 mile cruise, it's not seaworthy. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Your Sunsport should be able to run all day long without one problem. If you had the gas money, you shouldn't have to worry about it running all day long. Sure things will go wrong, they always will. But if you prepare your boat properly, the chance of that happening will be rare, and you will know how to deal with it when it happens.

There are tons of docks along your river. If all else fails you have to swim/paddle it to a nearby dock. But realistically, if you've got all the things updated, maintained, or replaced that need to be, that boat should run all day long in 100 degree heat without a hiccup.

Make sure your electrical system is fully operational with wear points and weaknesses addressed and fixed. (Spark plugs, wires, distributor, points) Make sure your fuel system is fully functional, clean, and has the replacement items changed (fuel filter, carb rebuilt). Make sure your driveline is on good fluids, and straight. (engine oil, tranny oil, bushings solid).

In short, you shouldn't be worried about running all day long if the boat is running right.

[scotthons]

I don't do a whole of lot cruising just for the sake of cruising. It takes about 20 minutes to get to our riding spot. We will stay back there and float most of the day in between sets and then cruise back. Like others have said with the price of gas it's hard to justify taking a couple hour drive. That is just my opinion though.

[jsandy]

boat is up to spec, replaced everything that is considered regular maintenance. i guess i just worry to much

[wotan2525]

Our stretch of river is 26 miles. I would say on more weekends than not we hit both ends of it. Of course -- when gas was only $2/gallon we'd think a lot less about cruising 20 miles for lunch. Now we factor gas cost in. I don't think we go any less, but we usually pile everyone into 1 or 2 boats where in the past we'd take 3 or 4.

We did the flugtag in downtown St. Paul a couple of years ago in a friends boat. I think it was a hair over 80 miles on the day. Fun times but I'm glad we didn't take my boat and I'm sure he wished that he hadn't volunteered to pay for gas!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z_ze2XF9vQ

[jsandy]

O and as for the frosty beverage, that would be great but with one BUI to my name i cant chance it. I was 22 and had about 12 of my closest friends on the boat with me, we were trolling from one line of boats to the other in party cove when the Blue lights and loudspeaker came on. Said he pulled us over for the girls on the sundeck laying out cause they were riding above the rail while a gas motor was engaged. Had all saftey gear and everything on the boat checked out. And of course we were drinking and enjoying the day on the water. And when he steped back on his boat he saw a beer in a coozi in a cup holder and asked me if i had drank any. Of course i said yes as i did'nt see any problem well a sobrity test later i blew a .09 and spent the night in the drunk tank in my wet swim trunks and no shirt. Made for a great 4th of july. Once i was in his custody i made him admit he pulled us over just to check out the girls up close, they were hot

[wotan2525]

O and as for the frosty beverage, that would be great but with one BUI to my name i cant chance it. I was 22 and had about 12 of my closest friends on the boat with me, we were trolling from one line of boats to the other in party cove when the Blue lights and loudspeaker came on. Said he pulled us over for the girls on the sundeck laying out cause they were riding above the rail while a gas motor was engaged. Had all saftey gear and everything on the boat checked out. And of course we were drinking and enjoying the day on the water. And when he steped back on his boat he saw a beer in a coozi in a cup holder and asked me if i had drank any. Of course i said yes as i did'nt see any problem well a sobrity test later i blew a .09 and spent the night in the drunk tank in my wet swim trunks and no shirt. Made for a great 4th of july. Once i was in his custody i made him admit he pulled us over just to check out the girls up close, they were hot

Sucks!! The only CD in my boat (everything else is iPod) has the Bad Boys song on it. I've also got a vinyl sticker that says BIKINI PATROL -- next time I get pulled over, I'm going to slap that on their boat while they're not looking.

[jet]

Dude....who doesnt want to be seen or heard in their Supra!! Make her seaworthy and when your not boarding..use her for having fun and being on the water. Thats like having a fast car and keeping it in the garage. If im loading mine up with 1700 lbs and 3-4 people and run it 1-2-3 times a week it will take a light cruise. Heres what you need. Shiny buffed out Supra/Ice chest/loud music/girls with small bikinis and go!!

[jsandy]

o i've got all the neccesities Jet i just worry about my baby. and and could i please get some pics of your sun deck? i want to build one

[TitanTn]

I like the fact that at least for me, my Saltare is not one-dimensional. I can use it for all kinds of water sports, take it cruising, anchor in a cove for dip, etc. We do a little bit of everything. I would not hesitate to cruise mine all day long (except for the cost of fuel issue).

[docdrs]

We cruise all the time........when ever my wife wants to cruise , I strap on the sky ski and will ride for miles......thats the beauty of skyskiing, waves, wakes are no probs and you can ride like on just the foil effortlessly for miles enjoying the scenery all the while improving your skills..... the more I spend in gas the more fun we have, after insurance ,maintenance, storage ...gas is cheap

[Okie Boarder]

We don't tend to cruise a whole lot. We are usually boarding or parked. Every once in a while we will go for a cruise. Our current lake is pretty small so there isn't much for cruising.

[jet]

jsandy..to be honest Im only 90% done with the sundeck and Im concidering making it larger now to hold more than 600 lbs. I still need to add the hinge, gas shocks and then the leds. I will do a thread on it after I finish it and make it pretty. Cool?

ice chest. Needs 1-more gas shock:
https://forum.supraboats.com/album.php?albumid=86&pictureid=1037

sundeck close up:
https://forum.supraboats.com/album.php?albumid=86&pictureid=1556

[jsandy]

works for me

[beast 496]

As for cruising around, we love it. Our lake is 36 miles circumfrance, that is if you drive in and out of every cove ect. However it is 9 miles long and the bar/resturant is on the opposite side of the lake. So to go to dinner by boat is at minimum 18 mile trip. I love pulling up to the docks with the big block rumbling, stereo playing Buffet feeling good and looking good. That is boating. Al

[riveredge]

after insurance ,maintenance, storage ...gas is cheap

Agreed, and I get off easy with boat costs, don't pay for storage, get dealer pricing on all my parts, and STILL put in $1000 a year for various things, not including gas.

At 2,500 rpm, an "average" ski boat should be doing 3-4 MPG. To cross my 7 mile long lake, then, at cruising speed, is about $8. Well worth it to get to that great spot, calm water, island, party, whatever it is.

See the attachment, it's a review of 4 modern tournament-type ski boats, and has a fuel mileage chart. Good reading...

[rludtke]

One of the Eastern Washington desert locations we used to travel to for long get aways with our Comp and motor home, is Banks lake, which is about 60 miles long. We stayed in a marina campground in Electric city at the northern end of the lake. This lake is a man made irragation lake with a constant supply of water pumped into it from the Coumbia river. The river water is pumped into the lake very near the marina, and it isn't very warm. The marina has a no wake breakwater. We had to commute the boat 10 miles or so every day to get to warmer water and an empty beach. The Supra cruises ok on a plane, once plaining, you can pull the power way back to keep it there. But I burned a lot of gas doing this. I used much more gas commuting then I ever did playing. I carried two full 2 1/2 gallon gas cans to make sure I could return in the afternoon, and I had to use them several times.

For the last several years we have been vacationing at a very small lake in the North Cascades region, which is only used normally for fishing- nobody skiis theere! We set up the motor home right on the beach, and beach the boat right inn front ogf the motorhome. We ski right out in front of our campsite, it's as if we had the lake to ourselves! It's awsome!

I now use far less gas, and get much more play time.

But cruising is fun. We always make a point of taking an evening cruise. Load up the boat with people (and dogs), and several spare beers or Margaritas, and just cruise the perimeter of the lake in idle for some cool down laps and to say hi to the neighbors.

My local lake does not have a public dock, so we use the boat as the kids swim platform. We do a lot of drifting around in the middle of the lake so the kids can swim.

Many years ago I lived on a good sized lake in western washington that was developed with many homes. I didn't have a boat, but my neighbors did. It was fun to use a tow boat to travel to bbq parties elsewhere on the lake.

[rludtke]

As for cruising around, we love it. Our lake is 36 miles circumfrance, that is if you drive in and out of every cove ect. However it is 9 miles long and the bar/resturant is on the opposite side of the lake. So to go to dinner by boat is at minimum 18 mile trip. I love pulling up to the docks with the big block rumbling, stereo playing Buffet feeling good and looking good. That is boating. Al

That is so sweet Al. I am so with you. The strait pipes rumbling at idle just seems to drive Jimmy's point home. Jimmy is the most prominentently played artist in my Supra.

[rdlangston13]

we cruise and drift alot. my girl likes to sit in the bow as i just drive around. usually we only have 3 or 4 of us on the boat so when we all get tired from boarding we drift and swim alot. turn the ole exile system on some randy rogers band or kevin fowler and have a cold one. we cruised all over canyon lake, tx last weekend.

however i hate cruising in choppy water. if its glass cruising is MUCH more fun