Morning all.

I see a missed the conversation but I'd move to Coeur d Alene ID in sec if I could. Love the area although many of the areas in ID are being over run with transplants these days.

I too survived the boat show, traffic, and no new boat for me either. Slowest show for us in a long time. We heard others did better than last year. Saturday was busy but wed-fri and sunday was dead slow. It will be an interesting year and it will be interesting to see how the sportsmen show turns out. With poor run forecasts new fishing boat sales might tank. We'll see.

 

Good morning Oregon and everyone everywhere else. 27.1 and clear blue skies here. Have to take the pickup and the Buick to town at 11 this morning.

Rich, we ran across a retired OSP trooper and his wife up there when we were eating lunch. They were looking for a small lake boat in the 18' range. He said they had been to a several boat shows in the past year, but hadn't found what they were looking for. They drove all the way over from Ontario for this show and had plans to go to the show in the Tri-Cities and he named off another one too.. The other two may be off now as they think they may have found what they were looking for at this show. He said they had an appointment today with a salesman at the dealership to make sure they can get the exact boat with the exact options that they want.

To be honest, I really don't understand what they (and perhaps others) may be looking for or why they are having problems finding what they want. If we were in the market to buy a boat, there were so many options there at the show that we would have had no problem getting one with the options we want. To the newbie, novice or inexperienced, perhaps all the choices and options are just overwhelming.

 

Jim..... You and I could buy one of these.....

 

Looked at 3 of those in a couple of different models last summer. WAY to big for Diamond Lake or even Odell Lake, the Fuel Bill is a deal killer, and they REFUSED to include any of the hanger or flight deck "toys".

 

Boaters are an interesting breed. We cater to mostly fishing type vessels and folks that have had several boats, boating veterans if you will. These folks are looking to get something custom made because they are tired of compromise. That's our niche. Trying to explain that to someone who is looking for their first boat is difficult when we are showing custom made boats that are purpose built. We usually just send them down the isle to someone else. I don't mind educating folks on the pros and cons of aluminum and maybe trying to pull out what their use is going to be so maybe I can point them in a direction but some don't even know what they want to do with a boat. Maybe it is a bit overwhelming as all they are hearing is why one brand is best and the guy you just left is junk. HAHA. The "Boat Show" crowd is different than the "Sportsmen Show" crowd that's for sure as there are a lot more novices at the boat show. We sold 5 which is half of what we usually do.

 

Howdy Oregon ..

 

Good afternoon/evening John, Oregon and everyone everywhere else.

We now have the Radiator cleaned out, a new serpentine belt, anti-freeze, oil, oil filter and rotated tires for the Buick.
The pickup has new air, oil and fuel filters, 15 qts. of new oil and the tires rotated.
I'll do the Mazda next week.

I would say it is somewhat overwhelming for the newbies and others still wet behind the ears (whose most experience comes from a rental outboard at one of the lakes or a car topper with a small outboard or electric motor). They get caught up looking at Pontoon boats - Fancy party barges too fancy for fishing & plane jane fishing barges that look dull sitting there next to the fancy ones - glass ski boats, glass fishing boats, metal boats, car toppers, open boats, boats with cuddy cabins, boats with full cabins, weekenders and live aboard.

If I could have two boats, my second boat would be very similar to what you have. That's kind of what I was looking around for after we had decided to replace the 23 foot Fiberform. Warden saw the boat we have now and that settled it. At least there is some compromise to this boat. It has high rails up front so you can fish up there and it has a 3/4 beam width fish box with overboard drain in the transom. If I could have 3 boats, the 3rd would be a Dory and beach permit for Kiwanda. For now I'll just have to be content with bumming Dory rides off of a buddy of mine. I'm not sure which is more fun, catching the fish or seeing how far up the beach we can slide when we bring the Dory back ashore.

I'm sure it can be said about a lot of other lakes, but Detroit and Diamond Lake in the summer can have a lot more fun to them other than just fishing. Watching a lot of the newbies with the new or used boats can be exciting. I've seen several racing for shore because they forgot to put the plug in. Probably the best for summer 2018 was the guy who would stop his boat short of the dock or the shore line, jump overboard and use a rope to pull his boat the rest of the way in.
A close second was the fellow that nearly put the rental pontoon (the rentals are easy to spot and thus you are able to avoid novice operators - for the most part) on the rocks in high wind at the South Shore Day use area at Diamond Lake. He was screaming for help and yelling that the motor had died. A couple of us went to aid him. Before we could get ropes to him, two of the fellows with him jumped overboard to try and push on the pontoons to keep it off of the rocks. You know what happened. They promptly got run over and eventually came up spitting and stuttering on the upwind side. Anyway, we got him secured and kept him off the rocks with just a couple of feet to spare. When we were trying to help him get it started, we realized that the reason it wasn't starting was because the safety key from the kill switch was dangling from his belt loop and not connected. We pushed the button down, put the key in place and the outboard started right up.

 

Good evening All, another fine day on The Oregon Coast.

 

Good evening Chris. We got up to 47 here today. Bright blue skies...we are at a balmy 29 currently.

 

Evening Jim.
Made it to 58° today, currently 45°.

 

Morning all, 30 as I left the compound. Hope to get all the trim done in the bedrooms in the "Princess Palace" when I get home today.

 

Good morning Andy and the Oregon crew. Just a cold, gray bucket of suck down here. Oh, and foggy, also. Just to enhance the misery.

 

Let me know if you work a deal out on one. I'll apply for the flight deck position......LOL

 

Good morning Andy, Pat and those to follow.
Currently 38.5° here and forecast for sun and 55°.