New Boat Advice and trip to Champlain Story

morgointroy

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
RO Number
24543
Messages
12
Hello HRCC,
I am a new member to the BoaterEd board and have been reading your posts for hours now. I am located in Troy NY and currently tow my '88 Glastron SSV 195 Bowrider to the Hudson and Mohawk. After reading your posts you all seem very knowledgeable so I want to first as a couple of questions:

I am 99.9% sure I have found my new boat. It is the 2007 Stingray 240CS Cruiser w/ Merc 5.0 MPI attached to an Alpha 1.
a) has anyone had any experience with this craft or know of any experiences with it?
b) deciding on porta-potti w/ pump-out or marine toilet w/ tank?
c) color, my current boat is faded (actually oxidized mostly) horribly and I have spent hundreds trying to restore it and only getting temporary results. I like the black stripe, but think that all white, or grey stripe would be better for long term. Thoughts?
d) I am looking to put it at Blain's Bay marina below lock E7. Any experience there?

Second I wanted to share my story of travelling from Albany to the Champlain. 2 Summers ago my friend (w/ 22' Chaperall bowrider) and our wives decided to make the trip. We had planned it out, bought the canal corp cruising guide, got all the maps, loaded our boats with provisions, and built a "camper" canvas by hand using our bimini as a frame (we wanted to rough it). Anyway we made it all the way to Schuyler yacht basin before having to take on fuel. Make sure to follow the channel as there is a sandbar that comes off the southern tip of the island. We started out travelling with some large cruisers, but eventually around c3 the lockmaster told us to gun it to the next lock (he called ahead to tell the next lockmaster). We were able to get away from the pack and made locking faster. We spent the first night at lock 12 marina, which was not too bad, the shower was nice in the AM. We took on fuel around 0900 and went up the "river" into the mouth of the lake. Be careful here as it is very foggy and there are a lot of fishermen (we made sure to slow down every time). Once you hit Ft. Ticonderoga the water gets a little choppy and shallow in places, make sure to stay towards the middle of the channel and watch out for a cable powered ferry. Here is where the fun part started. Once we went past the crown point bridge, we had 3 - 4 ft waves due to the north wind (lake champlain is one of the few lakes to have tides due to the wind). Anyway, my buddy's deep v went through no problem, while my ski boat hull launched off the waves and really took extreme concentration to stay angled into the waves while still navigating as the waves are random. We had planned ahead and knew that there is a big wall in the South Basin of Crown Point, but an entrance to the South West side. We anchored in a cove and had lunch then battled back to Ft. Ticonderoga to spend the evening having some well deserved Oat Sodas and spent the night. I highly recommend this place to spend the nice, just moored offshore about a quarter mile in front of the Fort, it is an amazing location to wake up to. The next day we took on fuel and motored back. We ended up spending the night somewhere between Schuylerville and Stillwater. We just found a nice location on the side of the river near shore and both of the boats let out alot of anchor and tied together and called it a night. Nice location for a small boat, beavers and muskrats kept us up all night though. Next day back down to Albany and time for a shower. We have a ton of pictures at http://www.introy.com/champrun/slide/champ.html

Thanks for any advice or comments you have.
 
If you leave a message on Blain's Bay's answering machine they will get back to you about a slip.Linda is there periodically and will set you up with a slip-there shouldn't be any problem with availability as long as you talk to her in the next month or 2.
We've kept our boat there for years,and love it there.It's a very quiet,family friendly atmosphere.
Ell
 
I agree with Boatbum and Pete. I hated the Alpha drives on my boat so much I ripped them both out and went with Bravo drives. The shifting on Alphas is horrible compared with a Bravo drive. If your engine is slightly out of tune it will stall when shifting, lots of fun when docking and shifting into forward and reverse during windy conditions. NOT!

Resale/trade value will be much better with the biggest engine and Bravo drive. Most experienced boaters will run away from Alpha drives. Does not hurt to ask what the upcharge on getting those installed either. If too much, then just go with what you have.
 
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