New houseboat

R

River Runner

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I went ahead and jumped and bought a new to me houseboat. It is a 92 Gibson (Yes I know, deck problems) 47' Sport Series. This will be the largest boat I have ever piloted. I got her from the original owner with only approximately 250 Hours on each engine. Having piloted an inboard with twin stern drives previous, what handling issues should I be aware of versus the V drives I have now? I am docking on the Ohio river so there is current to deal with at all times. I know there will be other issues I will ask questions about but this is the first. My previous experience was with a 30' Driftercruise with a single outdrive. Previous to that was a 42' Elco with the afore mentioned V drives. I look forward to guidance. Thank you!
 
Learn to maneuver around the docks using just the throttles. Practice a lot.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Phillbo

Learn to maneuver around the docks using just the throttles. Practice a lot.

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What Philbo said. When in tight quarters, keep your hands off the wheel - gearshift and throttles only.
 
OK. That is pretty much what I did with the Inboard stern drive. I had heard that there were some major handling differences between the 2 styles. I know that everything I do will be tight quarters. I am on an inside finger so as soon as I leave the dock I will have to back down the row. Luckily once I am off of the dock it should just be a matter of letting the current drift me back.
 
You may have more windage to deal with. On larger gas inboards I found that I had to use the throttle once in a while to get the effect I was looking for.
 
It'll drive like a house on the water. We've rented 50 footers at Raystown quite often. They are not what I would call "maneuverable". Leave lots of room and practice a lot.
 
Spend a few days practicing around an anchored, large red fish float, you place in the river somewhere reasonably protected. Practice coming up along side the float, practice coming up to the float and practice backing down on the float. After you have mastered that move the float out of the protected area and repeat. The float will give a lot more than a dock and you will soon learn the handling caricaturists of the boat. That boat will slide, due to lack of a real keel. Know you wind and current. Also learn when to just anchor out and wait for better conditions.
 
Gibsons are not a traditional houseboat. They have a cathedral type hull and a fairly big keel and handle more like a "real" boat. With the right power, they will plane fairly easily. My 18 x 80 ft Jamestowner is a house on a barge, but I have had a lot of practice and can handle it.

You might want to go the forum on houseboatmagazine.com. There are some old school Gibson owners over there that can give you plenty of tips. Also, Gibson was just sold to some folks in South Dakota. They are offering repair, parts, and new builds.
 
quote:
Originally posted by easttnboater

Gibsons are not a traditional houseboat. They have a cathedral type hull and a fairly big keel and handle more like a "real" boat. With the right power, they will plane fairly easily. My 18 x 80 ft Jamestowner is a house on a barge, but I have had a lot of practice and can handle it.

You might want to go the forum on houseboatmagazine.com. There are some old school Gibson owners over there that can give you plenty of tips. Also, Gibson was just sold to some folks in South Dakota. They are offering repair, parts, and new builds.

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Thanks for that info. I will look into the new ownership.

I have the benefit of having a very large fuel dock which is not used much in the spring. I will definitely take advantage of it and practice using the open area versus the close confines of the main dock. Our spaces are tight here (VERY) with only 3' fore and aft.
 
I decided it was time to buy a new anchor for the boat since I have yet to find one in all of the searching through the boat I have done. I went online and looked for a Fortress FX-37 anchor. I got lucky and found a deal!!! I placed an order for my new anchor for the amazing price of $2.48 with FREE shipping! How could I go wrong? I just got an e-mail that said my order has shipped. It will be interesting to see if it actually arrives. If it does I will immediately order another.... unless they figure it out and take it down. They can't ship it for that price!
 
quote:
Originally posted by River Runner

I decided it was time to buy a new anchor for the boat since I have yet to find one in all of the searching through the boat I have done. I went online and looked for a Fortress FX-37 anchor. I got lucky and found a deal!!! I placed an order for my new anchor for the amazing price of $2.48 with FREE shipping! How could I go wrong? I just got an e-mail that said my order has shipped. It will be interesting to see if it actually arrives. If it does I will immediately order another.... unless they figure it out and take it down. They can't ship it for that price!

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Monitor that credit card very closely. A common scam is to offer stuff on Amazon or EBay for ridiculously low prices just to get credit card information.
 
Turned out that the order got canceled right after I placed it. Seems that they used a "listing company" that had a computer glitch and posted a whole mess of stuff dirt cheap. I had eBay do an investigation and all is well. I am having my credit card company monitor just in case.
 
Does anyone know how or where you can get wiring diagrams for Gibson Houseboats? I have a number of electrical gremlins that are troubling me. I have done an online search and got nothing.

Thanks!
 
Go onto the other forum that I mentioned before and ask there. I doubt you will be able to find a wiring diagram specific to your boat - each build was a custom build and the wiring varied.
 
I went to the other forum and signed up. I have a password and user name but they still have not approved me to post..... I signed up on the first day that you told me about that site. Seems pretty slow over there.
 
Yeah. It is a small forum. What user name did you use over there? I will ping them for you.
 
Well, it was a success. I took her out for the first time over the weekend. After being tied to the dock for 12 years she traveled up the river over the weekend. I only took it on about a 16 mile round trip but it ran flawlessly! It was a great yet scary feeling leaving the tethers and security of the dock and heading out for the first time. She amazed me at how easily she came up on plane for as big as she is. She wound up to a max of 3300RPM and everything worked great! Kind of hard to pry the smile off my face today! The only issue I'm having is that the remote start for the generator is not working but starts instantly from the controls on the side of the generator. I also will need to tighten up the gland nuts on the prop shafts. They have been sitting too long. Minor issues.
 
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