Another offshore adventure story by Bobthebuilder - Story #3 "How I grabbed the pole position"

[Scarab KV]

Not in the same boat but we have been on several poker runs together with our boats. Here is a mini story for you. We are on the Poker Runs America, Sarasota Poker Run. He has the 39 MTI Lubejobs and I am in the 2003 Nor Tech PREDATOR. I was walking the docks after lunch and I see his hatches up and some work apparently being done on his motors. When I enquire, I'm told that they have checked everywhere and they could not find a starter anywhere within 50 miles. I say hey, no problem I carry an extra one. I bring it over to them and Gino just about falls over because even the painted starter matched his purple motors. In a matter of minutes they had him up and running and he finished the run with a smile.

Bob

Thanks. LOL...what were the odds?

[Davidmnc]

Great story Bob. This is the stuff that makes this place the best!

[dykstra]

Awesome and hilarious stories, keep em coming!!

[Scarab KV]

Whole new perspective to "morning wood"

[rockstrmkr]

Yes Yes!!! Funny stories from Bob The Builder!
If it's ok, I'd just like to jump in and tell a Bob adventure that I was a part of.
Bob had recently taken delivery of "Mini-Me"( that's my name for his 38ft Donzi that pretty much matches the Big Nor-Tech Team Predator in colour.
It was a nice day so I was more than happy to join him on a cruise from Marco to Everglades City. If you look on a map you'll notice the 10,000 Islands inbetween and a whole bunch of shoals that are probably not navigatable...Unless you're B.T.B.
As we were leaving Everglades City, it got really overcast and started to rain, and neither Bob nor I wanted to get our hair wet. Going the regular way would have taken us around a few Islands sort of South West through the rain before turning North and heading back towards Marco. But Bob had a better idea: His idea which was immediately implented involved going straight North North West, inbetween Islands with notoriously shallow water...I think his exact words were "Ok then, Hans? Brace yourself, we'll just try this" and he trimmed the boat out, pushed the throttles all the way forward with a big grin, and we hauled a$$ ....Passing the WARNING sign that said something to the effect of "18inches of water" ....I was puckered pretty tight and kept waiting for the boat to impale itself on a sandbank....But alas....we shot through those 18 inches of water for a few miles and I don't think there were any scuff marks on the boat (my underwear? Well, that was a different story)

Having been on the Big boat with Bob from Key West to Cancun, and having not so long ago helped look for shortcuts going from Nassau to Georgetown, all I can say is that all of his boats should be named "No Fear"....Because he sure doesn't have any!!!!!

Looking forward to the next chapter!!!!!
H.

[DAREDEVIL]

Crazy shi* happend to me before ,,,but that picture is just SUPER

[Bobthebuilder]

That was hilarious!!! I wil be laughing about that one for a while.

My 4 year old is really into boats and I have been reading him your adventures for bed time stories on the night you post (better than lightning mcqueen). I even busted out my old powerboat with the cancun story the other night. He will get a kick out of this one for sure!!!

Thanks for sharing the adventures

Ah, the children. I love them and have 3 great kids and I know it is hard to believe that a young man like me could possibly have 5 grandchildren but it's true. You will see by the pics that I am bringing the grandkids up right. They are pictured on the Formula 292 in Muskoka, ON. For some reason my kids will not do these "trips" with me even tho they grew up around boats. They can take it or leave it sort of thing. I think with all they know about my boating adventures, they may feel they are much safer at home. Things like trying to see how close i could get to the top of Niagara Falls in the Niagara River ( not with them ! ) tend to make them shy away. LOL I grew up on the Niagara River on the Canadian side across from Buffalo, NY.

Now here is a safe little story that you can tell your 4 year old that is not scary:

I am almost always honest about the speed of my boats when asked. Most of them pre 2000 had stock power and were not particularly fast but looked fast. With the 419 Formula with trip 502's when I told people it would top out at 75 MPH on a good day they would often look disappointed. One day at the Goodland Bay Marina I am at the boat and an 8 year old boy comes running up to me. " Mister , mister, how fast does your boat go?" "Well, son. This boat goes 120 MPH." His eyes get big and he says, "wow, I knew it would be really fast." He disappears and I go about my business. The next day here is the same kid dragging his dad down the docks toward my boat. He says, " Daddy this is the boat that goes 120 MPH !!" Dad says, ya right and gives me a bit of a disgusted look. I never lied about boat speeds after that ! LOL

Bob

[Bobthebuilder]

Yes Yes!!! Funny stories from Bob The Builder!
If it's ok, I'd just like to jump in and tell a Bob adventure that I was a part of.
Bob had recently taken delivery of "Mini-Me"( that's my name for his 38ft Donzi that pretty much matches the Big Nor-Tech Team Predator in colour.
It was a nice day so I was more than happy to join him on a cruise from Marco to Everglades City. If you look on a map you'll notice the 10,000 Islands inbetween and a whole bunch of shoals that are probably not navigatable...Unless you're B.T.B.
As we were leaving Everglades City, it got really overcast and started to rain, and neither Bob nor I wanted to get our hair wet. Going the regular way would have taken us around a few Islands sort of South West through the rain before turning North and heading back towards Marco. But Bob had a better idea: His idea which was immediately implented involved going straight North North West, inbetween Islands with notoriously shallow water...I think his exact words were "Ok then, Hans? Brace yourself, we'll just try this" and he trimmed the boat out, pushed the throttles all the way forward with a big grin, and we hauled a$$ ....Passing the WARNING sign that said something to the effect of "18inches of water" ....I was puckered pretty tight and kept waiting for the boat to impale itself on a sandbank....But alas....we shot through those 18 inches of water for a few miles and I don't think there were any scuff marks on the boat (my underwear? Well, that was a different story)

Having been on the Big boat with Bob from Key West to Cancun, and having not so long ago helped look for shortcuts going from Nassau to Georgetown, all I can say is that all of his boats should be named "No Fear"....Because he sure doesn't have any!!!!!

Looking forward to the next chapter!!!!!
H.

Hey, Hans. Was wondering if you would chime in. BTW that sign said " Caution, mean water depth 18 in." Too funny. That was just last year. Since you have only known me now for 5 years I thought I had pretty well matured but maybe not quite yet. LOL

On that shortcut we took thru the Islands I knew it could not be done in the Nor Tech but had a good shot at it in the Donzi. You now know why I carry both Sea Tow and Boat US memberships but truth be told I have not had to call the for help for at least 5 years now. That too is why you always see me checking the tides and whether its rising or falling. Since we are story telling tonight instead of doing something useful here is one for you.

I have been boating around Marco now for 20 years and all the water cops know me and the boats. I have never been ticketed for anything, on the water. One time another freind and I were cruising the Islands somewhere we should not have been. Since it was out of the marked channel technically the speed limit is 20 MPH. We pass a cop in the mangroves at about 50 MPH and he gets singled out for a ticket and the cop motions for me to keep going. Too funny.

[Airpacker]

Hey Bob, did you tell Hans about "skinny water" Predator 1 and granite ?

[baywatch]

Ah, the children. I love them and have 3 great kids and I know it is hard to believe that a young man like me could possibly have 5 grandchildren but it's true. You will see by the pics that I am bringing the grandkids up right. They are pictured on the Formula 292 in Muskoka, ON. For some reason my kids will not do these "trips" with me even tho they grew up around boats. They can take it or leave it sort of thing. I think with all they know about my boating adventures, they may feel they are much safer at home. Things like trying to see how close i could get to the top of Niagara Falls in the Niagara River ( not with them ! ) tend to make them shy away. LOL I grew up on the Niagara River on the Canadian side across from Buffalo, NY.

Now here is a safe little story that you can tell your 4 year old that is not scary:

I am almost always honest about the speed of my boats when asked. Most of them pre 2000 had stock power and were not particularly fast but looked fast. With the 419 Formula with trip 502's when I told people it would top out at 75 MPH on a good day they would often look disappointed. One day at the Goodland Bay Marina I am at the boat and an 8 year old boy comes running up to me. " Mister , mister, how fast does your boat go?" "Well, son. This boat goes 120 MPH." His eyes get big and he says, "wow, I knew it would be really fast." He disappears and I go about my business. The next day here is the same kid dragging his dad down the docks toward my boat. He says, " Daddy this is the boat that goes 120 MPH !!" Dad says, ya right and gives me a bit of a disgusted look. I never lied about boat speeds after that ! LOL

Bob

That is a good one!!! We are currently learning why lies (even the little white ones) are bad and will catch up with you. I will definately be able to incooperate this story into my lesson plan.

[Bobthebuilder]

Hey Bob, did you tell Hans about "skinny water" Predator 1 and granite ?

Let see. Would that be the time I killed 3 - B Max drives on a rock in Georgian Bay? Ya, there is a story there alright. That one never even made my list! Everone keeps reminding of so many events that I really should be trying to forget about.

[MarylandMark]

bob another great story.......i noticed all of your stories mention different boats. I would enjoy a summary of your offshore performance boats with a one liner of what was great and not so great about each one and why you moved on. You seemed to have had one from every manufacturer!

+1

[Bobthebuilder]

+1

I will be getting to that a bit later today. I have always beeen careful not to slam any particular brand of boat as they ALL have their strengths and weaknesses. Many feel very passionate about their favorite and what is important what works for them. The last thing I want to do is to set off a firestorm on what is supposed to be a fun thread. As you may know I will put any boat to the test in some pretty adverse conditions. It will be short and I may make a couple of points on each boat as I saw it.

[MarylandMark]

Understandable. I'm a boater, they are all fun- even the broken ones some times.

Just nice to have a 1st hand opinion since you've spent so many hours behind so many boats; not many can do such a comparison from an actual owners prospective.

Teaser- how many boats have you owned? I'm guessing 17 but some how think that may be low by about 6.

[JupiterSunsation]

I will be getting to that a bit later today. I have always beeen careful not to slam any particular brand of boat as they ALL have their strengths and weaknesses. Many feel very passionate about their favorite and what is important what works for them. The last thing I want to do is to set off a firestorm on what is supposed to be a fun thread. As you may know I will put any boat to the test in some pretty adverse conditions. It will be short and I may make a couple of points on each boat as I saw it.

Bob was just looking for strengths and weaknesses.....

Example: 50 NT triple 850's, great boat, fast.....downside rebuilds, fuel consumption.
50 NT diesels- great range, economy......downside not really fast.

Just a one liner as far as your state of mind when moving up/moving on...

[Bobthebuilder]

Bob was just looking for strengths and weaknesses.....

Example: 50 NT triple 850's, great boat, fast.....downside rebuilds, fuel consumption.
50 NT diesels- great range, economy......downside not really fast.

Just a one liner as far as your state of mind when moving up/moving on...

"State of mind" - now there's the scary part !! LOL Have some wrap up things to do tonight for a while since travelling tomorrow but should have it together sometime after 10 PM

[MarylandMark]

I was hoping for paragraphs...

Have a safe trip!

[Bobthebuilder]

I was hoping for paragraphs...

Have a safe trip!

Well Mark, there are your paragraphs. I can only get to the 17 you mentioned if you let me include my kids boats plus my very first boat which was a square stern canoe with 5 HP, kids mini hawk or the like and my "Wetbike". Hope you learn something from all this. LOL
I will have to proof read this later.

Boat # 1 1984 to 1986 - 21 ft Chris Craft Scorpion ; fresh water trailered boat in ON, Canada comments – well it was a start I guess. LOL

#2 1986 to 1987 – 22 ft Sea Ray Pachanga – comments: fresh water cottage boat; boathouse kept. First year out and while a great looking boat did not have enough punch for me. Traded on next years model.

#3 1986 – 1990 Kids get a 13 ft Boston Whaler for cottage boat. Their first boat.

#4 1987 to 2006 – another 22 ft Sea Ray Pachanga for the cottage – had dealer put in a 350 which was not stock power. Great boat to rip around the Muskoka Lakes in. One of my favorites. Later they came out with 454 but I was happy with my set up.

#5 1990 to 2000 – Kids move up to 160 Grew ( licensed by Chris Craft to build in Canada )

#6 1990 – 1991 Ah, my first offshore. 33 ft Fountain Lightning. This was an OK boat for me to get started with and get some offshore experience. It would not be long before I would love to take on “big water” and with a lack of length and it's low freeboard I very soon outgrew this boat. It was fast and stylish back in its day and fun to drive. This boat “ate” a lot of salt water and it quickly took it's toll. I guess that's not Reggie's fault is it ! LOL The brand deserves a lot of respect but I needed to move up to something bigger.

#7 1991 – 1996 38 ft Cigarette Tom Gun I loved my carbon fibre “Gun”. Powered with Hawk 525's and Bravo drives. Not the fastest but respectable and could take bigger power if wanted. It was nicely finished and workmanship I thought was good until I broke the hull on a trip to New Orleans. Went back to factory for repairs that I had to pay for in part. I was introduced to the "Miami Shuffle." Guess it was my fault. LOL It is a boat I can recommend tho and kept me reasonably dry. As it aged and engines and drives were rebuilt, breakdowns became more frequent and after some long idles to get off the water I decided it was time to move up to three engine boat.

#8 1996 – 2001 419 Formula Now this boat was bought with both performance and cruising in mind. I wanted more creature comforts and this boat had it. Again, not a real fast boat but could crush big water and get me there in comfort and style. With trip 502's on a few occasions when I would lose a drive or engine I could run home on plane with no long idles. It was the last non step 419 built before Formula introduced the Fastech stepped hull. I was disappointed they did not tell me it was coming but my boating style may have been better suited to non step anyway. A quality , well built boat that I liked well enough to later buy a 292 Formula for the cottage in 2006. Oh, yes I just remembered that this is the only boat that I ever managed to sink. LOL But that's a story for another time..

#9 2000 to present Kids move up to a Sea Ray 190

#10 2001 – 2003 my first 50 ft Nor Tech Vee Ah, now were in the “big time” !! LOL I have known Trond since 1991 when I met him at the Miami boat show. Each year I would see him at the show and tell him “ someday I will have one of your boats, Trond.” Sometime in 2001, I made a plant visit and I saw this boat in the yard. Terry tells me it was for sale and I was interested. It was a year old and “like new”. I had been considering a new one to be built but reasoned , hey it's half the price and I can get it today and not have to wait. We talked about the fact it had Bravo drives and 750's and we all knew that was borderline. Up until that time, I would only do a few poker runs a year as my boats mostly had stock power and a lot of my boating was “performance cruising”. I decided hey, if I blow a few drives , no big deal with what I'm saving. I bought it that day without a water test as knew about Nor Tech quality and ride and there was no need. Well now that I'm “in the big time” LOL I start doing a lot of poker runs and stepping up the pace of my boating now that I had the hardware. Well a year later after having blown 12 drives and killing 3 more on that rock in Georgian Bay, Trond approaches me and says, we need to talk. LOL He offers to take the boat back, and apply what I had paid for it towards a new one to be built with #6 drives. I did not even have to think about it. All I was out was 100+ grand in drives. LOL I did love that boat tho and other than the drive issues felt it was a great boat and a great company to deal with.

#11 2003 – 2008 my second 50ft Nor Tech Vee Now this baby was something else. Lots of dependable power with trip Nor Tech 850's built by Ron Potter. 100 MPH which was enough for me as it allowed me to do poker runs and some cruising. It was great fun to have a custom boat built just the way you want it. Great people to work with and then they stood behind it. It was a fun poker run boat and could run through any conditions. Eventually it became very expensive to maintain as I racked up the hours and the time between rebuilding of both engines and drives became shorter. With fuel prices climbing I started to think about my next boat and how I could continue to log lots of hours and keep costs under control. That was when I started to think “diesel next'. But then that's another story.

#12 2006 to present 292 Formula for the cottage. Boat house kept. My mini offshore but confined to Ontario's freshwater inland lakes. Quality built and comfortable as previously commented on my 419.

#13 2008 to present my third 50 ft Nor Tech Vee Another great boat that has taken me to far away places !! Some will recognize this as the boat that set a world record between Key West and Cancun. Very dependable with the trip Yanmar diesel 480's and Arneson drives. It was not only fun to build but fun to run as well. Top end is only 76 MPH but I still enjoy doing poker runs as well as trips or just a lunch run. My operating and maintenance are a fraction of what the other boats cost to operate. Like the other NT 50's it will run at speed thru any conditions. I have no plans yet to replace this boat so you have to know I'm happy.

#14 2008 to present 38 Donzi ZR Well I'm not sure that I needed this boat and there is a story on how I ended up having Donzi build it but will leave that for another time. It is a fun boat that I brought to Ontario and can now leave the NT in Florida for the summer months. Build quality is very good and finishes are very nice. Handling is great and very responsive. This boat has 525's but if I were to do it again would go with the 700's package especially if doing a lot of poker runs. Donzi was great to work with even tho they tend to be more production oriented rather than custom like NT. I hope they get their share of the market once the economy gets rolling again. And it will. They have developed a great product line.

[Airpacker]

Let see. Would that be the time I killed 3 - B Max drives on a rock in Georgian Bay? Ya, there is a story there alright. That one never even made my list! Everone keeps reminding of so many events that I really should be trying to forget about.

Yep, thats the one. I remember walking into Raymond's yard and seeing that while waiting on yet another Bravo drive diagnosis of death and thinking............................HOLY F!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thats gonna hurt $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[baywatch]

Thanks for the Chronolocial boat biography Bob!!! That is awesome to see the progression down the line. I am currently waiting for the "someday boat" (pun intended) but hope to one day have a diesel performance.

I think the next story is going to have to be about how you sunk your boat.