For the last year or so Yanmar engineers and those at ZF
have been working hard to mate ZF’s tried-and-proven Zeus pod drive and joystick system
to Yanmar’s diesel engines from 380-hp to 500-hp. In November Yanmar began shipping
their diesels with Zeus pod drives. This is good news for boat buyers because it meas
they can now have the lightweight, low profile and cost advantages of Yanmar diesel
power and a pod Sdrive/joystick system too. Our head-to-head testing of boats has
repeatedly shown that at best cruise speeds diesel-powered boats are 30% to
49% more fuel efficient when they employ pod drives vs. conventional inboard drives.
This massive fuel savings means not only lower operating costs, but also significantly
more range. Those two benefits, together with the ease of joystick docking, means
that Yanmar diesel power should be seriously considered by anyone. To find out more about this happy marriage, join Capt. Smith as
he fills us in on the details.
Betsey and
John Moller wanted a vessel that they could take on expeditions virtually anywhere
in the world, yet they didn’t want something that looked like an island freighter.
They wanted a long range cruiser that could cross the Pacific, go to the Med, and
also be an elegant raised pilothouse motoryacht that would be at home in the world’s
toniest locations. Learn more about the Hargrave Sea Legend.
With its large bridge deck that sits twelve, the 44 Sojourn can be used for day cruising and entertaining
and Carver says that 12 people can sit here. We'd go for the optional items that would make her an all-weather,
long season cruiser -- the hardtop with full enclosure and the full wet bar with
fridge, ice maker and sink. Join us as Captain Steve takes us through the 44 Sojourn from
Carver.
Cruisers Yachts 360 Express
Cruisers Yachts is known for building boats that fit the upscale market,
so it should be no surprise that the latest and greatest enhancement to the Cruisers
360 Express is the convenience and simplicity of Volvo Penta’s IPS pod drives. This joystick-operated
system means the entire family will be able to enjoy the pleasure
of taking the helm. Come along as Captain Rob explores the
360 Express for 2009.
Doral Intrigue
Doral’s
Intrigue steps up the pressure on her competition for 2009 with the addition of
MerCruiser’s Axius DTS Premier or Axius DTS Basic system. Thirty-three feet
is right where many yachtsmen find themselves beginning the cruising lifestyle and
this boat is a fine way to go cruising. The addition of joystick operation means
just about anyone can operate the helm like a pro. Take a look at the Doral Intrigue.
Rampage 34 Express
The Rampage 34 Express is a
solid fishing machine with a nice cabin and overnight arrangements. You can set
up the deck the way you like with options and you can also option the interior.
If you typically go offshore with several buddies or need a boat that can be a fishing
machine and a family boat too,
you might like
to check out this model. Come aboard the 34 Express from Rampage.
New Boat
New Windy 44 Sports Cruiser
Named “European Boat of the Year”
With over 18 months on the water, joystick-controlled sterndrive boats are now a
proven commodity. Initially, many of you sent emails expressing your concerns
over adding yet another complicated system to the mix -- but now it seems that most cannot
say enough good things about them. Throughout the year we have
taken you behind every aspect of MerCruiser's Axius system to disprove the myth that the system is complicated. Although our first experience was with Axius, we have
also tested boats with a competing system. Bound by a builder-imposed
gag order, we cannot tell you anything about the competing system, but we can tell
you that our recommendation still strongly resides with Axius.
Sign up below to put this system through it paces. While
you are
at it, take some pictures and email us back about your experience.
Jim Viestenz is president of KCS, which owns both Cruisers Yachts and Rampage. He is one of those presidents who cares passionately about the boats his companies
build and about what his customers want. He will be at the Miami Boat Show,
Feb. 12 to
16, and we invite you to stop by and ask him your toughest questions. If you are
in the market for an express cruiser or fishboat you need to find out why they build
boats the way they do. If you own a Cruisers,
Rampage or a competing model, you should let him know what’s on your mind. Click above
on three questions that we asked Jim. You may be surprised at some of his
answers.
It is not often that we get a mash note from one of our
testing captains, but when Capt. Steve saw the Wellcraft 340 Coastal at the New
York Boat Show he fell hard. We don’t know if this is true love or just a passing
infatuation, but in any case he likes the lines of this lady and now wants go out
on a serious mission. He says she is full of clever
little ideas, such as a touch screen electrical panel, a slide-out wine rack, frig
and freezer drawer on the bridge deck, cutting board on the transom, two Pullman
berths in the bow and a mid-cabin sleeping area. After our captains have a close encounter with boats that they test
or review, we ask them to send us a little “de-briefing” note to tell us what we
should know that wasn’t captured on camera. Here is a copy of the remarks we received from Capt. Steve last
week --
Over the years several companies have come out with gyroscopic stabilizing systems
for larger sportboats and motoryachts. With their effectiveness now proven, should
they remain an option or should they become standard equipment? The team at Seakeeper
has shown that you don't need to dedicate a huge amount of space for the system
-- in fact, the
system is so compact that you can retrofit it to existing boats. Tag along as Capt. Steve walks us through the Seakeeper 7000.
Last Wednesday 45,781 unique visitors came to BoatTEST.com – more than can fit
into Boston’s Fenway Park!
Visitor traffic has grown steadily since BoatTEST was founded nine years ago.
Last year BoatTEST had an average of 19,152 visits each day, according
to Webtrends, up 43% from the year before. That’s nearly 7 million visits a year!
Last Wednesday the website had 51,508 visits from 45,781 unique visitors, setting
an all-time one-day record for BoatTEST. That increase in 2008 traffic can be
attributed to word-of-mouth as more and more boaters have discovered the treasure
trove of buyer information available on the site. With about 3,000 videos available
on demand, over a thousand boat and engine tests, data on over 6,000 boats, and more than 100,000 classified boat listings, BoatTEST. is the largest repository of
recreational boating content on the planet. Thank you one and all for helping make BoatTEST so popular.
For most
readers of this newsletter -- no matter where you live in the world -- boating
is not a sport, but rather a way of life. Professor Bill Noble, at Coors University,
reminds us with this photo essay why boats are so thoroughly ingrained into our collective
soul. Taken around the world last summer, these photos chronicle ships from Ancient Greece up to the 18th century taken
around the world last summer. Step into civilization’s salty past --
Two recent accidents have us wondering if anyone remembers what this is for -- or
if it’s even being used. In one incident, a man had to have his legs amputated. In another,
two women were hit. Both accidents had one thing in common: they involved divers.
Were their dive flags handy or just ignored? Put on your mask and follow us.
So you want to be a captain? Get in line. With the bags of money and beating back
groupies with your GPS -- who wouldn’t want to be one? But do you have the right
stuff? Do they crowd around you at the yacht club bar? Do you wear one of those
fancy baseball caps with the scrambled eggs?
Well first you have to get past those Coast Guard guys and their test books. Want
to give it a try? Here are three questions from the Coast Guard License exam. As is usually the case with the Coast Guard, sometimes there is more than one correct
answer. You need to pick the most right.
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."
~Sir Winston Churchill
Ferretti News
Ferretti Yachts
Begins Pre-Owned Certification
Ferretti becomes the first large yacht builder to get into used boat refurb
and certification.
Ferretti Yachts and Mochi Craft announced the launch of a “Platinum Selection” service
program for pre-owned yachts, a program previously only available for newly registered Ferretti
Group boats. The program will be first launched in Italy by the Luxury Yacht Corporation
(LYC), the exclusive Ferretti Yachts and Mochi Craft dealer for the country. The
pre-owned yachts in their portfolio will be supervised and certified by the shipyard
itself. The program will then be extended across the dealer network for all the
Ferretti Group companies. Once refurbishing and certification work have
been completed
under the shipyard's supervision, the yacht can become a “Platinum Selection” pre-owned
model, according to the company. We like the program and we’ll keep you posted if and when
it is rolled out to the rest of the world.
A favorite indoor sport of many boaters these days seems to be searching for unbelievable
deals on used boats. Most people think that there will never be a better time than
now to get a great deal on a used boat. Blood is in the water and deal sharks
are circling, hunting for vulnerable prey that are willing to give up pearls for
the price of a sow’s ear. BoatTEST.com studies indicate that about 65% of the boaters
currently in the market for a boat are searching for used boats and while there
are definitely some great deals to be had, there are also some pitfalls. We’d like
to help our members avoid the turkeys and score the peacocks. Here are some tips for the used boat buyer --
We could not make this stuff up: The folks at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals) are at it again and this time they have trained their mighty political
guns on fish and fishing. They are out to save all the fish of the world by re-programming
our children. Surely, every child will stop daddy from fishing if the fish are called
“sea kittens”. To promote this concept, PETA is embarking on a large scale (or is
it scale-y?) social engineering program to convince children of this before dad can
get to them with the concept that fishing is fun. Moreover, they are also taking
aim at federal and state programs that promote fishing and are urging people to
write to Congress. There’s more to this story -- here kitty kitty.
Programs that
help navigate or obtain information on weather, tides and currents
are some of the better uses for a mobile phone aboard a boat. But there is
a whole family of additional applications that can make your boating experience
easier, safer and more manageable. As mobile phones grow in popularity, there are
applications to help manage lists, maintain a blog, streamline email and perform
web browsing that helps with dozens of other common boating tasks. Read more --
BoatTEST is leveraging its nationwide contacts and world-wide reach with dealers, brokers, builders, and its staff’s decades of
experience in the marine business to offer its members exclusive boat-buying help.
This service is free to BoatTEST members (new sign-up is required) seeking new powerboats 20' or larger and new and used powerboats 30’ and larger. BoatTEST will identify
specific boats meeting buyer criteria that we feel offer exceptional value to members
contemplating purchase prior to August 2009. Already over 100 members have taken
advantage of this service.
To take advantage of BoatTEST.com’s Member Service Boat Buying Program
-- sign up here.
The University of the Aegean’s Dept. of Product & Systems
Design Engineering has created a website called MarineTraffic.com which shows the
way to boating of the future. It currently tracks several thousand AIS transponders
around the world including 225 recreational vessels most of which are megayachts.
But AIS units can be placed in any size boats and, in fact, in the Med all recreational
vessels over a certain size must be equipped with them. Since 2005 the International
Maritime Organization has ruled that all vessels of 300 gross tons or greater and
all passenger vessels must carry AIS transponders. There are services for commercial
shipping, such as AISlive.com which tracks over 25,000 vessels, but increasingly
the benefit to recreational boaters of AIS are becoming apparent. Our guess is that
most cruising yachtsmen with boats 35’ or larger will want to be equipped with AIS
units in the future. So what are the benefits? --
Capt. Steve covers some of the basic rules of the road
in these new lessons which all recreational boaters should be aware of. You’ll learn
about lines of demarcation, traveling at safe speeds, how to determine your risk
of collision, why one should steer clear of large vessels and who has the right
of way. Part 1 is the first installment of a multi-part series on Basic Rules
of the Road. These videos presented this week are part
of Capt. Steve’s USCG-approved boating course called “Smart Boating.” Watch Captain Steve's
video boating lessons every week on BoatTEST.com.
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