"Clams Canino" wrote in message
.. .
We had a Vickie for a few years. Nice car, kinda hard on gas, and it
scared
people at night who thought they had a cop behind them. It died of a head
gasket issue and drove itself to the junkyard.

I escaped the "grandpa" stuff because everyone knew it was a "winter car"
to
my 68 Vette. I had a tendency to get BIG 2nd cars, in part as a counter to
the rather spartan living conditions inside the Vette. My favorite of
these
was a '68 Caddy convertable that I had in the very early 80's.


Next time you have an hour to kill and you're around a Ford/Merc dealer, see
if they have a Marauder available for a test drive. It's a REALLY cool car.
But, as you mentioned, everyone you get behind will slow down, which will
drive you nuts. That even used to happen with my '92 white Taurus. The
grille was almost identical to that of the Crown Vics of that time period.
Looked like an unmarked car.

Things are better now with the Tacoma pickup. It's high enough off the
ground that one flash of the brights burns the retinas of the driver in
front of me, and they drive right off the road into the woods.

Jay, I conducted a survey of pontoon boat owners a couple of months ago. 33
owners responded. 17 keep their boats on trailers, the rest in docks or dry
storage.

Wow! Thanks for your effort in finding out how people use their
pontoon boats. Seem like quite a number of people trailer their
pontoon boats.

Pontoon boats have maximum people versatility (lots of people and lots of
activties) and minimal boating versatility (poor speed and maneuvarability,
lack of seaworthiness for bad conditions). In recreational boating, they are
truly a compromise, moreso than most boats.

I see your point. If I get a pontoon boat, I will not want to bring it
out near shore even when the weather is nice and the water is
relatively calm because there will be some waves in the sea even if
the weather is very nice. This limits the use of a pontoon boat in
lakes, bay or in-shore. This means I need to decide whether I will
ever want to bring the boat outside the bay...

Jay Chan

I take my boat to the Keys and other places ...

Where did you go if you don't mind telling me? Did you go to Florida
Bay and try fishing in the flats? How things went?


We are primarily interested in diving the reefs but on calm days I have been
offshore a ways (with other boats) looking for dolphin or whatever other blue
water fish might show up. I have chased a few bonefish around in the Contents
but I am not interested in just fishing to toss them back.
A pontoon is a very stable dive platform.

Gfretwell wrote:

I take my boat to the Keys and other places ...

Where did you go if you don't mind telling me? Did you go to Florida
Bay and try fishing in the flats? How things went?


We are primarily interested in diving the reefs but on calm days I have been
offshore a ways (with other boats) looking for dolphin or whatever other blue
water fish might show up. I have chased a few bonefish around in the Contents
but I am not interested in just fishing to toss them back.
A pontoon is a very stable dive platform.

One of the delights of the Middle Keys is that even the smallest
reasonable boat can get you out to the reef line. Heck, you can wave to
friends on shore from the reefs. Great fishing, too.




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email sent to will *never* get to me.

One of the delights of the Middle Keys is that even the smallest
reasonable boat can get you out to the reef line. Heck, you can wave to
friends on shore from the reefs. Great fishing, too.

Absolutely true. I just wish there weren't so many people who knew.

We are primarily interested in diving the reefs but on calm days I have been
offshore a ways (with other boats) looking for dolphin or whatever other blue
water fish might show up. I have chased a few bonefish around in the Contents
but I am not interested in just fishing to toss them back.
A pontoon is a very stable dive platform.

I am surprised to hear that you used your pontoon boat in the ocean
side of the Keys. The reef must be very near shore in that part of the
Keys, and the water got to be very calm at that day.

Jay Chan

I am surprised to hear that you used your pontoon boat in the ocean
side of the Keys. The reef must be very near shore in that part of the
Keys, and the water got to be very calm at that day.

I would rather be on my pontoon boat than a 16-18' bowrider in this water.

Jay Chan wrote:

We are primarily interested in diving the reefs but on calm days I have been
offshore a ways (with other boats) looking for dolphin or whatever other blue
water fish might show up. I have chased a few bonefish around in the Contents
but I am not interested in just fishing to toss them back.
A pontoon is a very stable dive platform.

I am surprised to hear that you used your pontoon boat in the ocean
side of the Keys. The reef must be very near shore in that part of the
Keys, and the water got to be very calm at that day.

Jay Chan


Depends on where you are on the "ocean side" of the Keys. In some
places, the reefs are almost within range of a frisbee toss.



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email sent to will *never* get to me.

Depends on where you are on the "ocean side" of the Keys. In some
places, the reefs are almost within range of a frisbee toss.

In the Big Pine area we like, the reefs are a tad over 3 miles out. The blue
water is more like 7-8. You see ski boats tied up to the buoys at Looe Key

In the Big Pine area we like, the reefs are a tad over 3 miles out. The blue
water is more like 7-8. You see ski boats tied up to the buoys at Looe Key

Is 3 miles away from shore considered as "very close"? I don't go
near-shore or off-shore that often. Therefore, I don't have a point of
reference as of how far is considered as too far to be safe for small
boats.

Jay Chan