www.iFourWinns.com

The last couple days have been pretty crazy. The owner of Winnisquam Marine and one of his top techs made a 3000 journey from their home in New Hampshire to Seattle. We spent Thursday working on final delivery stuff and launched. We spent Friday going through all the systems.

For those of you who may or may not know Seattle very well, I have had a slip identified on lake union - right in downtown Seattle. When the boat shipped to Genmar, I partnered with another local ship (Regal dealer, ironically) to take delivery of my boat and provide storage and launch services for me about 40 miles south of Seattle in Tacoma, Washington. Genmar delivered the boat before Christmas (note my other relevant thread).

Over the last 2 weeks, I've been in a chaotic position of orchestrating all the stuff involved with "delivering" my new boat. Oh - and we also had to replace the starboard outdrive due to some cosmetic damage done during shipping. I had to chase down 3 interstate batteries that FW provided coupons for, get the boat opened up from shrink wrap and get it cleaned up, and start getting all the stuff a cruiser needs.

On wed evening, Ed (owner of Winnisquam Marine) and one of his top techs flew into Seattle. They have been staying at la casa de CougarCruiser for the last couple days. after a few hours of short sleep - we were down a the boat by 8:30am. We installed batteries, replaced the outdrive, did a full diagnostics check/fluids check, dry bump start, and visual inspestion of everything possible. Had a quick lunch at 12:45 and started the launch process.

Here is the boat when we pulled it out of the work bay:



I had a 2:30 launch time at a local marina, so we pulled out around 1:30 to make our way to the marina.

There's nothing like the look of your classical slurpee sales guy from the Simpsons when I walk him and tell him "we're going to run pumps 5 and 2, and I'm going to need you to remove the $100 limits on those machines." 168 gallons and god knows how much $ later, the tanks were filled.




Here's a couple pictures from slinging the boat in. It's now 2:30pm


All Night Long is officially wet!


We warmed up the engines and checked fuel valves, looked for leaks, and got the EVC readouts configured to show engine diagnostics. We pulled away from the dock at 3pm and had about 2 hours of daylight to make it 36 miles to the ballard locks in Seattle which allowed us to get from Puget Sound (salt water) to Lake Union (fresh water). We knew we'd be running out of light quick

There were tugboats, ferry's, and a 2008 Vista 318 on the water. That's it.


Getting into the locks in Ballard. Yes, it was after dark at this point. We had to fight a huge debris field which set us back a ton of time of cruising. We were the only boat going through the small locks - which was awesome.


Leaving the locks and getting into downtown Seattle.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Congratulations on the launch- you must be proud! Whats the plan for her now?

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Regards
Beyond the Blue

"If we improve with age I'm now excellent"


Ex 1998 238 Vista 5.0Gi SX DP
Lexus RX300

Nice, sitting here with a broken furnace and 5 degree weather reading your thread just makes me drool. I'd love to be anywhere but here... boating.... How'd she ride? Did you get to the slip okay? What is the weather like out there? Any problems or issues.

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2004 268 Vista "Satisfy My Sol"

Congratulations Looks like you had a great day. How was your trip in the open water? Any pictures of her in her slip.

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348 Vista ( Last Call )
Raystown PA

Cougar, It looks great. It seemed funny to see a boat that big pulling into a gas station.

Best of luck

Bill

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2001 Sundowner 235

Man that must have been an exciting day! Can't wait for more pictures and details. Lay it on us!!

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2008 H210SS Yellow VP 5.7 GXi 320 HP (sold May 2010)
2008 Mercedes ML 320 CDI Diesel

Cougar:
Congrats at getting her wet and home. Hopefully the night time travel wasn't too nerve racking. I love night boating. Should be extra nice for you with radar, something I lack. Many in our boat club won't and will cut a trip short to avoid being on the water at dark at any cost. Two weeks ago wit did an evening dinner trip through downtown Tampa. The family we had with us (boaters) had never been out on Tampa Bay at night. The neon glow of the prop wash amazed them. They thought I had installed underwater lights... nope just all the plankton emitting light after being disturbed by the prop wash.

Cougar, one thing you can do to save a bit on your safety equipment. We in the United State Power Squadron just last week received the new 2009 Inspection decals. If you get her a Vessel Safety Check from your local squadron, even if you fail because you don't have something (new boat), you can take the inspection form into West Marine and get a 10% discount on what you need. If you get those extra flares, extinguisher, PDFs, etc, it can be a bit of savings for you.

Bill:
I get looks all the time at the gas stations. My arch doesn't fold so roofs can be a problem. Many times the roof is tall enough but they put those big square high intensity lights all over the underside which hang down quite a bit. It is a bitch to pull in and then realize you don't have enough clearance and you have to back up. It;a also fun to maneuver through the station twice as I have a tank on each side.

And the $75 limits on cards are so much fun. Getting the gas attendant to turn the pumps on can be an interesting conversation. I always get the ones that won't turn them on in free flow mode to get enough gas to actually fill the tank. I had one look at me with all sincerity and tell me that I might "drive off" if she did and she would be stuck. After picking my jaw up.. I asked her if she though after it took me 5 minutes of maneuvering to get to the pump if me and the 12k# of boat was going to drive off quickly and loose the cops in my get away! She thought yes until the customer behind me just asked her if she was kidding and to just turn the damn pump on for the guy.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Tought to tell but, looks like Ed took Brandon with him to Seattle. He is indeed an excellent tech!
Congratulations! My new 288 won't see water for 3.5 months or so.

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You can't have everything...where would you put it?
Crownline 285 SS
288 V -- sold
278 V -- sold
268 V -- sold
245 S -- sold
214 F -- sold
190 H -- sold

I'll be posting a few more pictures later today or tomorrow...

She's in her slip and plugged into shore power. Got the heat set at 55 - so she'll stay warm. I was wondering if leaving the heat/ac system on would be a bad idea when it's down in the low 30's at night.

Knot Guilty -- yeah - Brandon was the tech that came out for this adventure. We were very fortunate that there wasn't really alot to manage. Swapping the drives wasn't too bad, and the only thing that took some major work was the new canvas because it's so cold. Everything is snapped, but is really "tight". Brandon is a super guy though. Not to mention the guy knows how to drive twins like it's going out of style.

All the ships' systems is an experience. From the power panels to the generator... where and when to flip what breaker -- I definitely didn't have this on our 240 and the cruiser my family had growing up was nowhere this complex.

people wonder why a cruiser costs so much more -- wow. Self explanatory once you figure everything out.

The EVC control is super great! man, no more slamming in and out of gears - its just a click away. I use the neutral beep which totally helps me know where my throttles are. the EVC for gas engines doesn't seem to have a "sync" capability - but it does have some nifty fuel flow stuff.

Maneuvering & docking is probably the toughest challenge for me right now. Not only do you not know the boundaries of a new boat, but then add in the twin engines. I am actually glad I got I/Os rather than inboards - because I can actually whip this boat around like a single engine bowrider. although, I'm trying to move away from that and start to learn the whole twin engine throttle maneuvering model.

The only issue we are really having now is the GPS is working, but I'm not registering any "speed" indication. We figured out how to display the mph at the data bar across the top - but it doesn't seem to be getting or processing the data somehow. However - the gps positioning seems to be working fine. Anybody have any ideas?

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Congrats Cougar. I can't wait to see more pics and here more about it.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

Cougar - well done! What an extraordinary feeling and experience... bravo!

On the GPS, you may very well have selected to display the boat's "speed" which is an option. What you need to select is "SOG" (speed over ground). The 'speed' setting would be a digital reading of your speedometer if you had one and it was tied into the NMEA 2000 network so it make sense that there is no reading. 'SOG' reads your speed as any GPS, as it tracks your movement. I'm guessing it's that simple.

What is the water temperature where you are? Keep in mind that because the heat works on a heat exchange principal, the colder the water, the less efficient the heating system will be. There is a point (that I don't know) at which it won't heat at all.

Again - congrats. I just went down to the frozen Hudson to visit my boat on the hard. It's 2 degrees. But this weekend marks three months 'till splash time. I think I'll make it. Now, back to my regularly scheduled bloody mary.

Cheers!

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Cougar

I was thinking about you yesterday afternoon, wondering how it was going. Glad to hear all went well, and the boat...... awsome.... I definately see a 318 in our futere... if this year there is always next year....

Look forward to more pics....

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Jeff

'14 Cruisers 380 Express "Simon Sez"
Merc 8.2 Mag MPI 380
DTS B3X, (x2) Axius Premier


(SOLD)
'08 V318
Merc 350 Mag MPI 300
DTS Seacore, B3 (x2)

The twins will be a piece of cake to master. The hardest part is fighting the urge to touch the wheel. I have gotten to the point now that once we enter a basin I rarely use the wheel. I maneuver through the basin and into the slip with engines only. I wonder at times how I managed with a single. One hint I can give you with the DPs and the twins, be careful backing because the DPs have such bite in the water and with both engines you will backup fast. I've learned to use only one engine in reverse once I'm in the slip and moving back the last few feet. Using both and you get going backwards pretty fast.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

JValich -- thanks for the tip on the single drive movement - I think you are probably right about that.

I know I'll get the hang of it quick - it's just tough when you're practicing on something that cost so much. Just don't want to damage anything.

I got a little thumbnail from Ed (owner of Winnisquam). Here's a pic of me driving, my wife, and Brandon (the tech from Winnisquam). I'm trying to maneuver the boat while dodging some University of Washington crew team practice. dang kyakers. I hate the Huskies.






Today - the Winnisquam guys traveled home. The admiral and I loaded up all the stuff we didn't deal with -- bedding and cleaning supplies... etc. With a mission to not move the boat, but rather -- move in! We got the bed all made up, stuff found homes, did a full scrub down and trial of a little handheld dirt devil for the carpets.

here's a a picture of the cabin when the admiral spruced up the bed (nice work to her)



While the admiral was working hard, I snapped a couple more:

Boat in her covered slip:


The cabin area all cleaned up:


The admiral went on a dinner mission and came back with quite a feat. Cheers to the first meal on the boat -- pizza, salad, and wine!


If the weather holds up tomorrow - it'll be a docking practice and cruising day! I really wanted to fix the speedo and nav thing - but i couldn't get a gps fix thanks to the metal roof. I'll be tinkering with that one tomorrow as well.

Man - I love a mild winter! let's just hope Seattle stays this way!

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Man does that look nice.

Just a little advice on your docking practice. Just do everything slow. Do not be in a hurry to get her in the slip. Just move the controls a little and wait for it. And make sure your wheel is centered. Then just use your motors. And have fun

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348 Vista ( Last Call )
Raystown PA