delaney

I would recommend the inflatable ones. i own 2 - had them for 5 years and never an issue. they deflate into backpacks and stow easily in the boat. the hard ones are 100% better for speed but cost more and you have to store away a 10-12' board. i inflate mine to between 13-14 psi and they hold my 225 lb frame easily. wife and i paddle around the lake for exercise - great for balance and your lower body gets a workout from balancing. if you have a permanent place to store away along w/ a kayak, get the hard board. if you plan on taking it on your boat and exploring from there, get the inflatable

that is a very good idea - the mats are great fun and a place to store as well. certainly need a big boat slip to air that out as i see alot of mildew forming on that. great roller idea to get the air out too. $8k option is steep, although what isn't these days, pricing out options on new cars are not much different. looks like that A29 is listed for $279,545 if reading correctly. nearly 10k a foot - assume that is without a trailer as well

all new tech starts out pricey, look at TV's, not too long ago a 60" screen costs thousands, now i can go grocery shopping and pick one up for next to nothing. props are not in such high demand but if the tech is better, manufacturers will offer it and the price will come down - eventually. not sure if i ever want to shell out more money for the 4 props i would need on either this or the conventional - better off taking care of what i have

boaters beach is a real thing - however, it used to be a special "boaters beach" due to the warm water discharge from the power house. it sounds bad, however the water they return to the lake was filtered and was only used as cooling water. the return line created a short river that was easily 90 degrees. early summer boaters would anchor at the mouth of the return when the lake was 60 degrees the river would be in the 80's or more. it was a lot of fun. the power house is closed down now so no warm water. there is still a beach but with the extemely high water, there's not much of any beach along the coast. given the lack of warm water, i would still say the closet and best place is warren dunes, launching in new buffalo

+2 I'm across the lake in Mich. and agree 100% - find a heated storage, in my town heated storage is only about $200 more a year than the shrink wrap and climate controlled at 60 degrees allows for winter work or just not having to deal with sub zero freezes, etc. my first winter with this boat i shrink wrapped and stored outdoors, big mistake. the winter winds caused the shrink wrap to rub a line across the gel coat that cost me $$$ to have fixed that spring. not to mention the risk of critters - i realized that the boat cost way to much $$$ to go cheap on the storage. have been indoor / climate controlled since. plus, i don't have to winterize it w/ antifreeze, just drain the water and use a bit of fogging oil and and do store the AC unit w/ RV fluid, just pump it through the strainer but drain everything else. saves $$ and hopefully saves the rubber stuff on the boat from freezing / thawing year after year.

Boaters beach and Wells Street are the only places they allow boaters to anchor, and to be honest those beaches are surrounded by industry, all other areas are technically off limits. you will be much better off to travel a few miles north to the Warren Dunes in Michigan where they don't harass boaters. there you can enjoy the lake and the dunes. you would launch the boat in New Buffalo and its about a 15-25 min boat ride depending on waves to the dunes at about 30mph. If you choose to stay in NW IN, launch sites are Portage marina, or Michigan City

My son is a NAME major at U of Mich in Ann Arbor. i copied his comments to me below: He thinks that the Phd in charge of the lab worked on it as well and i will post comments from him when my son calls me back I watched the video. Turns out they actually did their hydrodynamics testing here in Ann Arbor in the tank. I think it’s really cool and innovative! My lab manager’s got a Phd in NAME so I’ll ask him about the testing they did on it and see what he thinks about the design as a whole. Maybe even take a look at some of the data. Its SUPER pricey. One model is $4500 and the other is $9000. Compare that to the industry standard of around $300-$500. Ouch

i would opt for Volvo, the shifting is very smooth on their outdrives and for the simple reason of ease of impeller changes. i guess the downside is the lack of reservoir for the drive oil.

i would opt for the arch and have a bimini extension for shade. the arch is a real nice option as you don't have to take it down - i know that bimini tops aren't that big of a pain but the arch provides sun protection and also gives you the future options of have glass extension from the windshield to the arch in colder and windy days. not to mention, that the arch can provide lighting and speaker locations as well

for those sailboat lovers, for both space saving and cost saving Hanse is offering the esail drive. attached to the rudder it offers quiet propulsion and range is great for the day sailor. for longer runs you probably do need a generator, but instead of 2 diesel engines on board, you would only have 1. i have only seen these on the smaller less than 40' sails but i very much like where the technology is going. this is also a great option to retrofit an older sailboat with

i believe your best category of boat is a center console w/ outboards for the salt water and trips you want to make plus has the open bow you like

number of switches depends on if you are putting in dimmable or not. one switch that is on/off with all the lights you want will be very bright. i would guess, a switch for ground lights, one for arch lights, one for UW lights - if you like the accent lighting for cup holders, connect those to the dashboard lights so they are on when the dash lights up, more of a background glow and the other lights can be toggled on or off or dimmed.

if replacing, i would go w/ new tech vs led's from 2013 or earlier, they are all wired the same.

i agree with the comments on this one as well. stay put, as where you are it appears you can attach a spring line to the end of your pier to help with rotation vs against the wall if wind is pushing you into it there isn't a way to use a line to assist.

as you stated, you ran out of time. are you taking a risk? Maybe, maybe not, comments from others on this forum will always go in the worst case, what if?, what if? you ran 12 hours, if you did not notice any oil around your props or out of any of the vents it should be ok. changing in the spring is something i routinely do myself. wait for a warmer day to allow the gear oil to flow. i can tell you from 1st hand experience. if you had a seal give way and allow water in, you would know it. oil will be on your drive especially with only 12 hrs of use. it doesn't just wash off. for water to come in, it must displace the oil because you fill from the bottom and push the air out the vent top. i would rather keep the oil in even if you fear its old vs. draining it and allowing any condensation to get in and corroding or freezing.