SpringTime Get Ready Thread...New Boat owner's look here

[Moki]

If you don't have an Alvie friend for ballast, get one!

[evil0ne]

I'm my own Alvie I guess.

[Tequilasun]

Let me know if this works out for you...I'm still trying to learn after 17+ years of boating.

My wife is an excellent driver, she prefers to lounge though. I have a buddy who is learning, he's a good driver, not quite as attentive as I would like, but I am a control freak.

[jleger98]

Learn to let other's drive the boat so that I can relax a bit more.

I've got a buddy I drag with me to the lake almost every time I go. He LIKES to drive. So I ride and drink beer and only drive when I feel like it.

....I'm a bit of a control freak

Drink more beer. And remember, as long as you launch and load it, there are very few other things to run into if you are paying attention.

[dogbert]

The invention of perfect pass has made it much easier for my kids and the wife to drive the boat. Driving in a straight line is still a challange though. Some day we may have GPS controlled steering for this.

It's call autopilot and, for enough money, it could be yours!

[jleger98]

It's call autopilot and, for enough money, it could be yours!

Does this autopilot come with system collision avoidance to keep you from running into the guy who will inevitably cut you off?

[NICKYPOO]

I definately need to let someone else drive. My wife is an excellent driver, but that's only because she got sick of me telling her what she was doing wrong. Now she does it right. It's just that she doesn't really like to do it. I actually love to drive, but sometimes my fatass works out better in the Alvie spot. "Drop 2 Bills!" (200lbs.) is the call, and all my fat friends know it.

[Tequilasun]

Drink more beer. And remember, as long as you launch and load it, there are very few other things to run into if you are paying attention.

We have sort of a training program, it takes a year or so to complete.

He is a good driver, just heavy handed on the throttle (not good when you are wakeboarding) PP has helped out tremendously with that though.

We get "big water" from time to time here, Cruizer wakes in the main channel, stuff like that. I get the most nervous at those times.

Oh, and backing the boat up or putting it in a slip just kills him. That's part two of our training course...Of course his G/f is out with us too, and she can be Uber paranoid about wreaking the boat, so that sends his nervous level through the roof.

My favorite quote of her's (said to me as I was hauling balls across the lake in big water) "Ok, let's try to keep the 50 thousand dollar boat in the water" I had just flown it over a huge wake, and gotten a bit of air time!

[dogbert]

My favorite quote of her's (said to me as I was hauling balls across the lake in big water) "Ok, let's try to keep the 50 thousand dollar boat in the water" I had just flown it over a huge wake, and gotten a bit of air time!

We banish back seat drivers to the tube...which, come to think of it, is the only useful purpose for a tube.

[evil0ne]

My favorite quote of her's (said to me as I was hauling balls across the lake in big water) "Ok, let's try to keep the 50 thousand dollar boat in the water" I had just flown it over a huge wake, and gotten a bit of air time!

While the backseat driving can be annoying, it is nice that she respects something that's not hers.

[jleger98]

you just gotta put a beer in her mouth then she can't say anything.

yeah, my driver wrecked my port-side rubrail loading it last year, two nights in a row, so now I load it, which is fine. I'd rather do that stuff anyway.

[jleger98]

We banish back seat drivers to the tube...which, come to think of it, is the only useful purpose for a tube.

I would disagree. A tube is the perfect vehicle to wreck some arrogant SOB's attitude. I had a friend of one of one of my crew come on the boat last year and was just starting to piss me off with his I can do this, I can do that crap.

So I blew up the tube and told him that my 7 year old can stay in the tube no matter what I do (which was of couse a lie). So he gets back there and stayed in the tube a total of about 15 secs before he found himself cartwheeling across the water and crashing headlong into someone elses wake.

You MUST have a tube on board if you have new people on your boat.

[dogbert]

I would disagree. A tube is the perfect vehicle to wreck some arrogant SOB's attitude. I had a friend of one of one of my crew come on the boat last year and was just starting to piss me off with his I can do this, I can do that crap.

So I blew up the tube and told him that my 7 year old can stay in the tube no matter what I do (which was of couse a lie). So he gets back there and stayed in the tube a total of about 15 secs before he found himself cartwheeling across the water and crashing headlong into someone elses wake.

You MUST have a tube on board if you have new people on your boat.

Ok, so you found a new use for a tube...maybe that's another thread.

Meanwhile, back to your other suggestion, I vote for tequilla:

[dogbert]

That is, of course, if she's hot.

[Moki]

Not recommended for Alvina?