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Self-Storing Emergency VHF Antenna

In times of emergency, a spare VHF antenna needs to be simple to spot and fast to mount. Shakespeare comes to the rescue with its 5910 Emergency Stowable Whip. Its bright yellow storage tube doubles as part of the mounting system.

The compact 9″ metal tube stows easily until needed. A boat owner simply pre-installs the included mounting clip. If the emergency VHF antenna is called to service, the tube slides securely in the clip as part of the mount. Once fully assembled, the VHF antenna is 16″ long. This system includes 20′ of RG-174 mini coax cable and a pre-installed PL-259 connector for quick and secure use when timing is critical. more...

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The man called ‘Connie’

With American boat manufacturers currently unveiling their ’09 model year range, the thought occurred that for Sea Ray it represents 50-years of recreational boating.

What better excuse than to contact the man called ‘Connie’, Cornelius Nathaniel Ray.

Perhaps the name does not ring a bell?

How about C.N.Ray? Ok, ‘Connie’ Ray? Well, what about C.Ray = Sea Ray?

That’s him, the man who in 1959 established Sea Ray Boats, quite understandably recognised nowadays as an American icon.    more...

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Great Tips While Shopping for a Boat

1. Choose the right boat. Narrow your choices to a short list of boat categories and make short lists of features that you require, features that you would like, and features that you want to stay away from. Take a look at our Boat Selector tool and find the boat that will be right just for you and your family.

2. Visit a boat show and choose the right dealer. Once you have narrowed your category choices down, then the real fun begins. It\’s time to go shopping. Visit a local boat show and board as many boats as you can. Consider all available options.  more...

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Skibsplast 730 HT: Norway’s Mini-Cruiser

I mentioned last week a boat I saw at the Boats Afloat Show. I wrote thusly: “a 23′ powerboat that could be described as the Norwegian version of my little C-Dory.” I can almost hear you saying “What?! That doesn’t look like a C-Dory!” No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t look like most American-designed boats. But it’s a compact, all-weather cabin cruiser, and it packs a lot of cruising features into a small package, much like the C-Dory, Sea Sport, and Arima boats do.  more...

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Cruisers 520 Sports Coupe

I don't remember seeing so many curves since the last time I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Barbara, California, to Big Sur, or the corniche winding above Monte Carlo. Or seeing so much usable space for easy living on anything short of a 60-foot motoryacht.

But here I am on a gorgeous, blue-sky summer afternoon on Lake Michigan, skimming along at an easy 25 knots on the new Cruisers 520 Sports Coupe (view photo gallery) with two other people on board, thinking there was room for many, many more — not only to enjoy the beauty of the day but also to bask in the styling of the boat. more...

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Holland man builds World War I fighter plane in home workshop

When Jason Petroelje first scanned the plans for the Italian World War I fighter plane he hoped to build, this is what greeted him:

"Idrovolante a scafo e galleggiantini laterali, biplano, monomotre, monoposto ..."

Petroelje is Frisian, not Italian. And although he spent a couple of years in post-WWII Italy serving with the U.S. Army, he was hardly an expert at the language.

Ten years later, though, his dream-come-true was launched from the shores of Muskegon County's Little Black Lake and took to the skies for a maiden flight that delighted Petroelje and his friends, family members and onlookers.   more...

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Introducing the Hyper-SubTM by Marion Hyper-Submersible Powerboat Design

Marion Hyper-Submersible Powerboat Design is proud to introduce the Hyper-Sub^TM Submersible Powerboat, a revolutionary new vessel with a design flexible enough to open the seas to industry and to individuals in ways never before thought possible. The Hyper-Sub is the first small craft built with the horsepower, sea-keeping, and range to allow operation on the high seas, which also functions as a self-charging, autonomous, one-atmosphere submarine.    more...

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Boat Testing Basics

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Scout Boats 145 Hybrid

Like mustard and hot dogs, Steve Potts, president of Scout Boats, has brought together two great ideas and produced something better than the sum of its parts.

The Scout Boats 145 Hybrid is a unique new vessel that can operate using either a standard, gas–powered outboard or a pair of electronic motors mounted at its stern. The motors are controlled by a joystick and will cruise at 8 knots for eight hours, according to the company.

The result is a 14 footer that is designed to be fuel efficient and highly maneuverable, and that costs less than $20,000. Within its limitations, the Scout Boats 145 Hybrid just might be the perfect creek cruiser or flats fishing boat.   more...

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Classic boats get new life

NORTHAMPTON - The only thing bright now about Joseph A. McCormack's 1960 Century Arabian motorboat is a few pieces of chrome trim and the sunlight streaming through holes in the stern where the hull has rotted away.

But McCormack, a retired construction supervisor from Greenfield, said he will have her mahogany planking so varnished and smooth a year from now that you will be able to see your face in the hull. He plans to spend about 800 hours restoring the 16-footer.   more...

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Bertram 31 SF

Its neat, its cool, Ray Hunt designed it, and everyone loves it even if they wouldn't own one. And despite the fact that Bertram made 3 additional variants of the 31 hull, when you hear people talking about the Bertram 31, this is it. Possibly the most famous sport fishing boat ever built, continuously in production for 25 years right up to 1986, with the last year dubbed the "Silver Aniversery Edition."  more...

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SportCraft 31 SF

By Pete McDonald

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Seminole Warrior

By Pete McDonald
July 2008

A shallow water boat with deep roots.
The pushpole descends and propels the boat forward so that it glides effortlessly along the flat. The boat silently makes headway as we scan for signs of fish. In the effort to sight and cast to prey, it is easy to overlook one remarkable fact. We are poling in about four inches of water. The bottom of our Seminole flats skiff is floating just above the blades of eel grass bent to accommodate such a low tide. We are able to do this for one reason: Because Ron Hyde wanted to get skinny.   more...

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Bad to the Bone - Moomba Mobius XLV

Moomba has made some big changes for 2008 throughout its very affordable line of tournament inboard boats, but nowhere more than in the flagship 23-foot Mobius XLV, which the company says is “new from the keel up.” That’s true; even the hull shape has been changed, with additional strakes to provide more lift forward for increased wake size and a cleaner lip, as well as smoother rough-water performance.   more...

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How to Decide if Buying an Older Boat is Right for You

by David Pascoe

When we were young, we just loved the idea of buying a new car. But by the time we've owned three or four of them - often without paying off the balance of last one before buying the next - eventually we discover what a tremendous waste of our financial resources this is. When it comes to boats the situation's not much different, except now we're talking about serious money.   more...

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