Driving Long Distance In A 'bu

[Molarbu]

I believe the most efficient speed in these boats is just above planing speed. I would say about 28mph.

[onamission]

We had a group 5 ski boat do the Michigan Inland Waterway, 40 miles and 2 locks each way.

[FlatH20]

we've done a fair bit of distance running on lake CDA in Idaho - never been too far from some fuel - the rough water sucks - late evening surfing and boarding is glassy... just my 02 cents

[MARiley]

i've done however far it is from past-the-no-ski-buoy-on-the-pit-arm at shasta to bridge bay. that's a really long way at 40mph.

[dtb]

Augie, by the distance you described I'm guessing you are coming from way up the osage arm? If that is the case (as you know) you shouldn't have to deal with too much boat traffic for the majority of the ride. If you are coming from Gravois it would be a different story on Saturday. I've done a lot of running around the lake in the Malibu (2000 VLX) and it can be pretty slow going when the chop picks up from all the powerboats & cruisers. I'll be checking out Brostock this weekend too, but our place is much closer to Captain Ron's. We're about 10 miles away. I still may take the Cobalt over there just because it handles the rough water so much better.

If you see a black/tan 2000 VLX or navy/white Cobalt come on over to say hello. FYI, we are leaving the kids with the grandparents for the weekend so we can enjoy the full potential of the Brostock party....

[augie09]

dtb,

Yes we are way way up the osage. I dont' make it below the 60's Mile Markers ever, so I am a little worried about the chop. Hope it's not like bagnel area or we're sunk. We are planning to get tucked away in the no wake zone of brostock and hide from the huge cruisers.

I'll keep an eye out for ya.

We've considered driving down and jumping on our buddies boat, 36' Coral, but decided the 50+ mile cruise will be fun, plus lots of time to board

We to will be leaving the kiddo's with the grandparents...finally a day on the boat for adults!!!!

[augie09]

leaving work in a few minutes to head down, no more pretending I am worknig...pumped to experience brostock

bildge pump may be dead, inspecting it tomorrow, but worst case I can unhook my lines from my fly high sacs and run the jabsco's in reverse to empty the bildge should water get rough. try to bring back some pic's that my wife would of approve of

[augie09]

Thanks everyone for the info. We made the trip by boat instead of trailering and are glad we did. Ended up being roughly 110 miles there and back, little over a full tank of gas, running about 30mph with the 537.

We had awesome water in the morning and I got 2 long sessions in.

Then we got to brostock a little early, had a cluster trying to meet up with buddy and ended up tying up with strangers, had a blast.

Never seen these before, but these lillipad's were everywhere, $500 a pop!!!

The wind picked up to 20mph, felt sorry for the riders having to compete in it, but hey, they're pros..

[Bill_AirJunky]

Cool pics! Looks like it was a great time. Bet the guy trying to walk on the floating people was pretty funny. Looks like those big floating mats are the new toy of the year.

If you guys do this type of rafting up very often, you should check out using the big Hippity Hop type bumpers. Their way cheaper than the real deal & their way bigger so they space the boats out a bit further, which makes the boats not hit as easily when the big wakes come rolling thru. You can find them at a lot of toy stores/departments or Exile Audio has some for very reasonable these days too. I have a pair that look like big baseballs & store them flat, takes me a few minutes to pump them up the handful of times I use them every year.

[augie09]

Cool pics! Looks like it was a great time. Bet the guy trying to walk on the floating people was pretty funny. Looks like those big floating mats are the new toy of the year.

If you guys do this type of rafting up very often, you should check out using the big Hippity Hop type bumpers. Their way cheaper than the real deal & their way bigger so they space the boats out a bit further, which makes the boats not hit as easily when the big wakes come rolling thru. You can find them at a lot of toy stores/departments or Exile Audio has some for very reasonable these days too. I have a pair that look like big baseballs & store them flat, takes me a few minutes to pump them up the handful of times I use them every year.

These would of been perfect.

we did suffer a gouge in our fiberglass from the tige' metal rub rail next to us. That rub rail is screwed in every half foot or so and the screw head I think is what damaged our boat. Wasn't their fault, as that boat owner and I both had 2 fenders a piece between our boats, however 10 boats down the line or so, there was some altercation and the boats untied from each other. well those last 10+ boats weren't anchored, or very poorly so, and the wind took them, thus creating a huge crunch on the back of everyone's boat in our area. Two full size men pushing as hard as possible couldn't stop the crunch between our boats, we tried. We saw both fenders flatten, and these aren't the blow up type and quickly jumped into action trying to create separation. oh well, next time we'll be better prepared for tying up. not somethign we do often. I ended up tying noodles into donuts and put 2 deep between the fenders, which worked the rest of the day. The damage is minimal, could of been much worse though....

We saw an 11 or 12 tige have their entire bimini blow off and sink. Also saw a few boards blow off bimini's and damage boats. One of the boats near us had tied their bow to neighbor's bow using a hand hold inside the playpan instead of the bow eye. When that crunch incidient happend I think it ripped their handle out.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Ouch. the hazards of a raft up, I guess.

I have 2 of the big Taylor boat fenders that are like 8" x 20". Bought them years ago for another boat & have kept them thru each boat because their so expensive (like $80 each). But their huge & fill up the storage in a hurry. Since their so spendy I'm not likely to leave them on a dock if we're coming back later. But the Hippity Hops are so cheap I don't have any issues leaving them on a dock to save my spot, or even loaning them out. Plus they don't take up hardly any space when stored flat. And they inflate to like 15" or 20" in diameter..... might have still had the same issue you had, or it might have given you a few more seconds to jump in there & start pushing the boats apart.

[hethj7]

Cool pics August. Wish we could have made it. Hopefully we get a change in the future. The water looked great in the morning and although I love the kids, a day on the water without them would be nice. I don't get much time behind our boat, but I can't complain too much. The youngest is now 7 weeks old and we've had her on the boat 5 times (including 7 hours yesterday)

[signguy]

Awesome pics Augie! Looks like it was a blast.

And great idea there Bill. I'm definitely going to throw the 2 we have for the kids on the boat. Thx

Edited June 19, 2012 by signguy

[Soon2BV]

We did a 30 mile run down Dale Hollow, from our houseboat to a marina for dinner.

Trip was great, but when we got there the restaurant was closed because they had no hot water!

We cruides about 28 - 30 MPH. that was moving fast enought for a nice breeze and to keep the ride smooth, but not so fast that it was uncomfortable.

[Bill_AirJunky]

And great idea there Bill. I'm definitely going to throw the 2 we have for the kids on the boat. Thx

Hehe, I think you get points if it's the ones with Sponge Bob or Dora the Explorer on them.

[JohnnyDefacto]

nice pics, looks like fun... the guy walking on the people looks to be none other than Bob Soven. Funny guy. Will be able to see more of his shenanigans on MTV soon on the show "wake brothers"

hippity hops!! love them. I bought 4 this year for my boat because of the great reviews they get. I rarely ever use bumpers, so these are nice because they collapse to almost nothing and are very fast to pump up. 4 hops 4 dock lines and 1 pump fit in a really small gym bag.