Who Still Has A Boat In??
 

With this incredible weather we are having and the beautiful weekend outlook, I was just curious who still has a boat in the water and will be using it this weekend?

I know one of my island neighbors still has his in. I may have to see if he is up for a visit to the island and have a glass of wine or two!

Have fun if you go out!

Dan

we're still back and forth to the island!
 

The Eastern got pulled at the end of November, but we still have the Alumacraft in until we can't break through the ice...

It has been spectacular out on the water with beautiful weather!

Ice-In? what's that?!?! -PIG

Pulled my 16'-40hp outboard boat out about a week ago, and am chicken to lower a small sailboat down the embankment ramp, and go sailing with this December warm-up because flipp'n a sailboat with no other boats out there to help could be a very chilly problem. One would have to be crazy to go sailing out there, alone, this time of year.

There are some locations in Connecticut, and Long Island, and Delaware where small sailboats actually go sailing in the winter, and call it frostbite sailing or something, but it's not done on Lake Winnipesaukee. A safety motorboat would be very helpful to accompany frostbite sailing.

So, when will the lake freeze over this year ..... it usually freezes on about January 7.

http://www.unionleader.com/Divers-fi...Concord-kayker .....wonder if this deceased 68-year old man was wearing a pfd because one can supposedly survive 15-minutes in 34-degree water if you have a determined attitude, and do not swallow water going down the wrong pipe in the initial plunge and drown.

Is it correctly spelled 'kayker' or kayaker?

Suggest you google "Concord resident dies while kayaking in Turkey Pond, his favorite place" to read a lengthy article about John Stapler, age 68, a retired Lieutenant Colonel, US Army. One of his children says he did not wear a pfd, "he was stubborn."

I know that I don't always use a pfd because it is bulky and overly warm, so I use a swimmer's belt moved up to just under my armpits, and the swimmer's belt is better for swimming than a pfd because it centers your buoyancy, and can easily be re-positioned for balance and buoyancy, and tightened while in the water ... just like a fat belt.

Holy crap .....what a tragedy!

My boats really want to go out on the water.

My ambition to arrange this is not quite equal to the task.

In February, I shall regret this.

I still have a boat in the water...

been a good "off season" on Lockes this year :) still have the pontoon boat in. looks like a few more weeks before it gets traded in for my sled

Who Still Has a Boat In
 

You guys are killing me!
Enjoy it whilst you can.

Still in as of Sunday
 

Marina may pull the boat out any time before Christmas. I'm up for a little cruise this weekend weather permitting unless the marina pull the boat out!

With all you guys and gals enjoying the lake and your island residences still, I'm thinking I need to get a small boat with a tiller motor on it for late season opportunities like this. After the big boats have been put away in storage, it sure would be nice to visit the island when its this nice out late in the season! Maybe some kind of small Aluminum deep v hull that I can simply store in my garage on a trailer and put in and out when I need...try to keep it as simple as possible...Hmmm another boat?? :eek:

Dan

I agree...
 

I keep thinking that a small center console, 12-14 ft, with a 25 hp motor, and trailer. Easy drop in and pull out, and nice for a putt putt cruise late in the season, or early in the season before ice out.

I like the way you think, I Shoot 308!!!

Something like this maybe?... http://www.bostonwhaler.com/Page.asp...110-Sport.aspx

Or maybe their 15' Montauk for the windshield??

Sounds like a reason for a trip to the boat show!!:):)

Dan

One word:

Hovercraft.

Santa has failed me every year...
 

A hovercraft would be a dream, but so far Santa hasn't brought it down the chimney... maybe I need a bigger chimney?

I was close to buying my neighbors old 14' Boston Whaler for "off season" because it would be a little more comfortable than the Alumacraft. But, stayed with the 1960 Alumacraft because it does very well as an ice-breaker, and I was worried the fiberglass would get torn up plowing through ice.

Looking like another beautiful weekend ahead! -PIG

I bought a 15' Montauk with a 60HP merc this summer. It is a perfect second boat for the island. I have been towing it up every weekend since I pulled the big boat and working on the camp out on the lsland. I'm out here right now and the lake is pristine as the fog is finaly lifting off the water. It was IFR for the trip out this morning. Back to the boat, it is the nicest 15' boat that I have ever been in. Stable, dry, easy for my wife to take to town from the island, and nothing to tow back and forth off season until the ice is in.
Check them out!
Dan

Thanks for the info! Does that model have a self bailing hull?? I would really want a self bailing hull where it would be staying out at the island. I don't want to rely on batteries and bilge pumps, seen too many sink at the dock after a couple days of rain. I know my old Outrage Whaler had a self draining hull...guess I should of kept that boat!!

Dan

Yes the boat is self bailing. I leave it on a mooring at the island with the bilge pump off and the plug out. Let it rain all week no problem with a sunken boat or a dead battery.

Is there a Cat 3 approach to get you in? ;)

I have an Edgewater 140cc powered by a 50 hp Merc two smoke.

I can vouch for its self bailing capability.

While I was keeping the boat in FL I tested the "unsinkable" attribute.

With my wife and three kids hanging on, I intentionally put the bow into a 6' wake left from a dinner cruise boat.

The entire hull was floaded, up to the gunnels, with 85* water.

In a matter of ten minutes the water had completely drained out and we were sitting high and well, not so dry.

On my boat the center console is glassed in as an integral part of the deck liner. No water infiltrated the console.

With some boats, you must be careful not to break the hull in a rough sea. With the Edgewater and Whalers, the humans will break first!

This was more like an old ADF timed approach

We sold our Montauk last summer when we bought the Eastern. Now with the Eastern up on timbers in the covered slip we really miss having the Whaler for Nov/Dec boating. Great second boat for the island.

BTW, Dave Ewing sold the boat for us to someone that has a camp on Rattlesnake. Bow# NH 1814BM.

That would be us that bought your boat! I bought it for my wife Jacki for her birthday. It is a beutiful boat and you can rest assured she got a good home. Park her in my heated barn right next to the Grady when not in the water. I have admired the Easterns for a long time. David is always trying to get me to sell the Grady and buy one. They are a beutiful boat. I wish you the best of luck with your new boat!
Stop by Rattlesnake and say hi anytime!
Dan

I thought that might have been the case. My wife bought the Montauk new; it being something that she was comfortable driving. Now that we have the Eastern she found that she is comfortable driving that where she was not comfortable driving the inboard. And the Whaler saw very little use the past 2 years.

Photo is my daughter learning to drive with my wife standing behind her. The Whaler is a great boat for that. It is also very capable of handling rough water.

I'm sure that you will be able to enjoy it for many years.

I would answered that the boat is not self bailing as it does not have scuppers like the sport model. It has a small well with a bilge pump and a plug in the bottom of the well. So all the years that we had that boat at Welch I ran down batteries running the pump on auto until ishoot308 gave me a solar charger.

I did know that the Whaler has flotation under the floor but it never occurred to me to just pull the plug and see what happened. Well of course it is the unsinkable boat and now I guess that the well will fill and then that is about it. Now if only I had learned that 9 years ago!

Well isn't this a wonderful forum story!! Such a small world. I know your boat well as Slick is my neighbor and you bought a nice boat!

Dan

The boat is perfect for the use we have at the island.
as a matter of fact, I just got home (Atkinson) with the boat in tow, after working all day on the island.
When the plug is removed from the boat the water comes up to the top of the small bilge in the back. Of course once you board the boat the plug has to go back in or the water level rises. We put the plug in, hit the pump, and away we go for the weekend. Great Boat!!
It's nice to know where the boat came from. Hopefuly we can meet some day. I also am looking forward to meeting Dan (Ishoot) one of these days. It truly is a small world!!
Dan

Boston Whaler
 

I have two Boston Whalers, both 1988, Montauk that I will never sell and a 13ft sport that I would trade for ??????. Any takers??? MOXIE

Boston Whaler
 

I have to chime in here, picked up a used 16' Dauntless with a 90 4 Stroke 2 years ago. Love the boat, I always thought it was hype but Whalers are everything and more. I leave it on the mooring without worry and when the weekend comes it's used to take the kids Skiing, scoot over to the neighbors, make trash runs and as a taxi for the neighborhood cookout's. The only problem is the price for a new 18".....ouch

Late season boat
 

For ishoot308, who brought us the Latvian ice cafrousel: the arctic airboat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l7h4dVD35Q

All Registered
 

Anticipating island access to continue for at least another several days I sent my boat registrations in as soon as I received them in the mail. I already have my 2016 stickers back from the state. I seems as though the dealers that do registrations don't get their stickers until spring so if you need your boat registered right away, I would recommend sending your renewal directly to the state for a quick turn around. (seems like an oxymoron I know)
Merry Christmas!!

Seconded. I don't like waiting till the last minute and although my boats out till spring the stickers and paperwork already came in! Now just to wait, and wait, and wait:(.

I purchased my boat registrations and stickers in Concord at the state offices last week. They are red this year.

Resistration in mail?
 

Last year I'd received my registration form in the mail by this time, and I see on this thread, others have received it this year. I haven't received it yet... is that unusual?

I just got mine on Monday

I got mine a couple of weeks ago, I seem to recall it coming sometime in January in the past. It doesn't seem to follow a clear pattern.

Anyone going tubing today?

On the facebook group someone was talking about going waterskiing behind a jetski today. Looks like they pulled it off.

Wake Boarding!
 

Two of my neighbor friends on Welch Island went wake boarding yesterday!! :eek::eek:

Enjoy it while it lasts!!!

Dan

I've been kayaking regularly still... Life vest under a sweatshirt and its perfect out on the lake this time of year. Still seeing bass boats out each morning too

Skiing on Winnipesaukee TODAY! Christmas 2015 behind a Black and Gray Magnum Missile
 

Skiing on Christmas day behind a Black Magnum Missile

+ 1 For taking the unconventional route on Christmas Day in New England.

Really a once in a lifetime opportunity to do this on the 25th of December, wouldn't be the same id you did it on the 24th 26th .... 27th ect.

OK so I wasn't able to be island bound on Christmas day, does the day after count?

....... hmmmmmmm?
 

.....hmmmmmm? ...... don't know what to do ......should I actually and finally get up off my butt and go remove my 30' olde aluminum dock, and 450-lb boat lift up and out of the lake .....or should I go put the boat back into the water and back on the boat lift .... it's got an outboard so's just like boating in Alaska....an outboard can be used right up until the lake ices over, and even after that like an ice breaker through about 1" of ice ........so's with the weather ahead looking to be pretty mild and no ice present ..... it's a real head scratcher ... like what a-should I do here?

Registering the boat for 2016 costs about $60, so's by registering it in January, as opposed to April, I definitely get to stretch my boat registration dollar, or something? And, all open water fishing is closed until April 1, but there's always just cruising around the lake, gawking at the unoccupied mega-million dollar mcmansions, soaking up that low light, afternoon winter sun, and being totally bored out on the water ....arrgggghhh? It's too bad this lake has no cash crop that requires a boat; you know, something like gold mining, or lobstering, clamming, crabbing, or yikes! .....even fishing ...... ?

One could cruise the water, down past Weirs Beach and the summer dock for the M.S. Mount Washington .......take it all in ......and wonder why Weirs Beach is such a wasteland of business and tourist inactivity from about Sept 5 to May 28, every year? So much tourist potential .....and so much nothing happening?

Now there's a guy with too much time on his hands !


(but we all know that)
.

Boat in water
 

Yesterday, at breakfast, in Wolfeboro, at the Downtown Grille, several of us saw a very large barge pass by the Broads end of Wolfeboro Bay heading north. It appeared as if there were several large items on the barge.

Today, several boats were in Wolfeboro Bay, maybe something to do with one of the marinas.

So, the question is not, "Ice out?!", but rather, "Ice in?!"

I flew over the lake today and the only activity I saw was a barge near Long Island

Just about every day, in the middle of the day, there's one boat out there which looks to be a 21' Trophy sport fisherman with a large green stripe above the waterline ... just cruising around ... plus a construction barge or two as well.

Could be, the weather will flip-flop, and it will drop down into the deep freeze from Jan 15 - March 15 .... anything is possible?

Yes, it is time for me to go attack that dock ...... arrgghhh .....arrrggghhh....arrgghhhhh!

Winter Crusin'
 

Perhaps the boat and barge belong to the Island Service Company. They work on the islands all year long. 🐻

Last Day
 

I launched my Whaler at Rattlesnake Landing yesterday and worked out on the island for a few hours. It was a speculator day out there with calm water and 100% sunshine. I didn't see another soul around. That will be it for me, I think. If the boat ramp gets snow on it this weekend, I will not take the chance of sliding down the ramp and launching the truck too.....

Praying for ICE

Dan

we're still here :)
 

Keeping the Alumacraft in the water until ice-in (if there is an ice-in)... here's a shot of Forum brother Misty Blue coming over to the island for his annual "first boat ride of the New Year" (this year on 01-02-2016).

Just hoping that either we don't get ice and we can use the boat... or we get enough ice to use the ATV to get across... Santa still didn't bring me that hovercraft to use with the in-between stage of ice/no-ice...

-PIG

Wow.....although it looks cold out there I'm jealous!

.... looking for a heater that is safe to use?
 

Down at the Wal-Mart, I have seen these small portable, propane powered heaters in with the camping equipment. It looks like a round heater gizmo attached to the top of a propane tank, same size small tank as what is used with a torch.

Thanking about next winter, or next spring or sometime for boating in cold temps; could these heaters be used safely in an 18' outboard boat, center console, with a stand-up Sunbrella enclosure around the center console and the tee-top.....or is it just too dangerous to be using a propane heater on an outboard boat that has a 20-gal tank forward of the center console, and a 2-stroke 75-hp outboard. The tank vents thru a black poly tube thru the side of the hull, ahead of the center console.

Could be its better to just go with a big thermos of hot chocolate, and some warm clothes.

I have that heater for my garage. I'd be very hesitant to be using it on a boat with the wind and waves. But I'm sure you could rig up an electric one off the console.

Saw this weather cam and someone is out on Bear Island. http://www.wunderground.com/webcams/...02/1/show.html

That view is looking at Shep Brown's marina towards the right. Over the past couple-three days, there's been varying amounts of ice floating around there, where it's today all open water. The ice com-eth and go-eth?