"Greg" wrote in message
...
I do agree these folks may be calling undue attention to boats. It may be
just
a matter of time before we are all running air pumps and catalytic
converters.


I brought up the subject because after being a chauffeur for my 15 yr old
son and his friends for most of the day, I ran out of time to get the boat
in the water. So, I meandered down to the inlet where Irondequoit Bay meets
Lake Ontario. Every 30 seconds, one of these needle-dick boats came blarping
through the inlet. Even at idle speed, it completely drowned out ALL other
sound. I couldn't hear the guy standing 10 feet away from me, who was
yelling about why these dumb boats aren't illegal.

I couldn't hear the guy standing 10 feet away from me, who was
yelling about why these dumb boats aren't illegal.

I don't think they should be illegal but I do think the folks who own them have
a responsibility to use them in places where they don't unnecessarily bother
people. These are really offshore race boats, take them offshore and enjoy!
Like most things, if people don't use self dicipline the government will step
in and impose law.
My favorite example is the SCUBA industry. In the 60s they took it upon
themselves to regulate themselves and almost a half century later, in a time
where the government has it's big nose in everything remotely dangerous, SCUBA
is still pretty much self regulated.

Those "dumb boats" most likely are illegal. Section 44 of the NYS
Navigation Law appears to restrict the type of operation you are
complaining about.
Of course having a law and enforcing that law are two different animals.
Worse, I never found a significant difference in performance between the
through transom setups and those that exhausted through the outdrive.
If you are talking about a thoroughly tuned racing setup then, sure you
will have a performance advantage with reduced exhaust pressure. But the
average consumer boat? Naw - its just the "look at me" syndrome that
****es people off rather than impressing them.
Good luck and good boating,
Jim


Doug Kanter wrote:
"Greg" wrote in message
...

I do agree these folks may be calling undue attention to boats. It may be

just

a matter of time before we are all running air pumps and catalytic

converters.


I brought up the subject because after being a chauffeur for my 15 yr old
son and his friends for most of the day, I ran out of time to get the boat
in the water. So, I meandered down to the inlet where Irondequoit Bay meets
Lake Ontario. Every 30 seconds, one of these needle-dick boats came blarping
through the inlet. Even at idle speed, it completely drowned out ALL other
sound. I couldn't hear the guy standing 10 feet away from me, who was
yelling about why these dumb boats aren't illegal.

I meandered down to the inlet where Irondequoit Bay meets
Lake Ontario. Every 30 seconds, one of these needle-dick boats came blarping
through the inlet. Even at idle speed, it completely drowned out ALL other
sound. I couldn't hear the guy standing 10 feet away from me, who was
yelling about why these dumb boats aren't illegal.


Out here we call those boats "Convertors" they convert money into noise.

Many states have muffler and/or sound level pressure requirements.
http://www.nasbla.org/pdf/Model%20Ac...ting%20Act.pdf
http://www.nasbla.org/pdf/Nasbla%20Ref%20Guide%205.pdf

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"Greg" wrote in message
...
I do agree these folks may be calling undue attention to boats. It may
be
just
a matter of time before we are all running air pumps and catalytic
converters.


I brought up the subject because after being a chauffeur for my 15 yr old
son and his friends for most of the day, I ran out of time to get the boat
in the water. So, I meandered down to the inlet where Irondequoit Bay
meets
Lake Ontario. Every 30 seconds, one of these needle-dick boats came
blarping
through the inlet. Even at idle speed, it completely drowned out ALL other
sound. I couldn't hear the guy standing 10 feet away from me, who was
yelling about why these dumb boats aren't illegal.

It's just more thoughtless behavior from the ego challenged "look at
me" crowd. There's no reason at all why a pair of 454s has to be
louder than any other well mannered I/O except that the owners prefer
it that way.

Im not sure I agree...

First, a less restictive (louder) exhaust is in fact a performance
enhancment.

And not "all" high-performance boaters are "look at me" people. I have been
building high-performance boat engines for years, and do more so for R&D,
than fun and thrills.

Thus why I go out at the least busy times.

Take care.

--
-Netsock

"It's just about going fast...that's all..."
http://home.insight.rr.com/cgreen/

"Netsock" wrote in message
...
It's just more thoughtless behavior from the ego challenged "look at
me" crowd. There's no reason at all why a pair of 454s has to be
louder than any other well mannered I/O except that the owners prefer
it that way.

Im not sure I agree...

First, a less restictive (louder) exhaust is in fact a performance
enhancment.

And not "all" high-performance boaters are "look at me" people. I have
been
building high-performance boat engines for years, and do more so for R&D,
than fun and thrills.

Thus why I go out at the least busy times.

Take care.

Yeah, but I'll bet you don't start your lawn mower at 7:00 AM, right? If
you come home late, when the whole neighborhood's lights are out, I'd guess
that you lean on your horn as a way of saying hello as you pull into the
driveway. If your car's exhaust develops a leak and gets really loud, but
you can't get to the mechanic for a couple of days, do you try and adjust
your driving needs so as not to **** off the whole neighborhood? Maybe knock
on your neighbor's door and say "Hey...sorry about the noise, it'll be fixed
on Thursday"?

There's a breed of people who just don't get it. Those are the ones we're
talking about here.

Well, you've hit on a sore spot with me. Unmuffled engines might gain
2-5 mph on top end, but at the expense of annoying most people at idle
speeds. Ironically, since the exhaust is aimed away from the offenders
cockpit, it is usually of little to no concern to them or their crew.

Most if not all of these boats can elect to install a diverter which
outputs the exhaust under water at low speeds, but for various reasons
(cost, reliability, desire to be a dickhead, etc) elect not to do so.

In the motorcyle world, I'll buy loud pipes save lives as a arguement,
even if its a weak one. In the boating world, with only a modest gain in
performance, I'm guessing some people just need to "compensate for water
shrinkage", but that's just my opinion.

BTW the the pooor idle performance you've observed is a sacrifice to get
higher RPM at top end through more radical valve timing.

Bob Dimond




In article , "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

Dave: No comments from the peanut gallery.

I'm using the term "speedboats" to describe boats which sound like they have
(and probably do have) a pair of 400+ cubic inch motors in the back? In
order to achieve their purpose (speed), is it absolutely necessary for them
to be as noisy as they are, or are they just designed that way, in the same
way some morons alter their motorcycles because "loud pipes save lives"?
And, when they're idling, why do they sound (and smell) as if the engines
are only firing on half their cylinders?

For Christ sakes you are making it sound like every boat that goes by is a
37' Cigarette Top Gun with twin 502,s running at 7500 RPM. In south Fla we
have our fair share of them but give me a break, its not like the bay is
thundering with the sound of Ocean Racers 24/7!
I don't have one of these boats, wish I could afford one but I still enjoy
seeing them run and yes even hearing them run. I guess many of you are not
race fans, or gear heads that enjoyed working on your cars. The rough idle
is caused by a hot cam, and when at idle the motors are not that loud,
granted they are louder than most, but they are not ear splitting and can
even sound good to some people.
Some of these boats can cruise at over 100 mph which is a pretty impressive
feat, basically that's like breakfast in Bimini and lunch in the Grove.
In the bay there are speed limits which pretty much limit the sound because
they are running just above idle, in manatee zones they are running at idle.
When they go into the inlet to the ocean they throttle up and are out if
earshot in a minute or two. Unless you are in another boat that can stay
with them you wont hear them again.
Seems that all you people are too quick to try to start finding laws to ban
them are they really that much of a problem? A little noise and its time to
call in the feds.
Some of the people in these boats can be jerks, no doubt about that too,
Someone mentioned mufflers on race cars, don't laugh some classes require
mufflers. When racing Mazda Rotaries you definitely need a muffler. Again
some of these boats have them. Which makes me wonder why the big gripe
about the noise? If you figure the total number of boat, then take the
number of go-fasts minus the number of go-fasts with mufflers the percentage
of boats you are complaining about is very small. Which makes me wonder
if envy comes into play here.
As a side note, twin high performance 502's at idle still smell a whole lot
better than any diesel ever would.





"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
I'm using the term "speedboats" to describe boats which sound like they
have
(and probably do have) a pair of 400+ cubic inch motors in the back? In
order to achieve their purpose (speed), is it absolutely necessary for
them
to be as noisy as they are, or are they just designed that way, in the
same
way some morons alter their motorcycles because "loud pipes save lives"?
And, when they're idling, why do they sound (and smell) as if the engines
are only firing on half their cylinders?

On Wed, 4 Aug 2004 00:24:01 -0400, "JGK" wrote:

when at idle the motors are not that loud,
granted they are louder than most, but they are not ear splitting and can
even sound good to some people.

===================================

Total baloney on all counts unless you're already stone deaf. Get
you're hearing tested immediately.