Lake Saint Clair Peeps

Back in the day Dallas had a great inland boat show. 26-50' cruisers, etc. Sea Ray was still making boats I wanted. And now it's a wakeboard, bass boat, tin can boat show. Even the vendor booths, which were my favorite, have gone to nothing and most unrelated to boating.

Friday before last we spent the entire day at the Tampa/St. Pete boat show. It's not Miami or Ft Lauderdale, but it was great. Tons of boats I'd love to have and most in the water. It's now an annual pilgrimage to remind me I should've worked harder when I was younger.
 
.....in fact, fell in love with a 2017 Tiara C44 coupe. Even my wife was getting pretty pumped about it. It's what Sea Ray should still be building.

But in the end, the cost to keep it in shape in the water in SWFL when we'd only use it 6 times a year just doesn't make sense. Maybe when I retire in a couple of years and have more time. Fun to dream though.
 
copb8tx said:
Back in the day Dallas had a great inland boat show. 26-50' cruisers, etc. Sea Ray was still making boats I wanted. And now it's a wakeboard, bass boat, tin can boat show. Even the vendor booths, which were my favorite, have gone to nothing and most unrelated to boating.

Friday before last we spent the entire day at the Tampa/St. Pete boat show. It's not Miami or Ft Lauderdale, but it was great. Tons of boats I'd love to have and most in the water. It's now an annual pilgrimage to remind me I should've worked harder when I was younger.
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Yep, same in St. Louis. Used to be an amazing boat show. Then in 2018 it started to shrink. It got cancelled in 2020 for COVID and has been cancelled every year since. There is a boat show in St. Charles (a suburb of St. Lous and the 1st capital of the state of Missouri) held by the Lake of the Ozarks boat dealers association. There are lots of wake boats and can boats. But there are also Cruisers yachts, Formula, Tiara, Chaparral and Chris Craft there. It is a much smaller venue than the St. Louis convention center but fun just the same. The vendors are very much boating related.

That said, I really want to go to a real in water boat show. Miami seems intimidating, not sure why. Maybe Tampa would be a better place to start.
 
highslice said:
That said, I really want to go to a real in water boat show. Miami seems intimidating, not sure why. Maybe Tampa would be a better place to start.
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Yeah, I think I'll do Fort Lauderdale at least once. But those kind of crowds aren't attractive to me.

You'll love Tampa/St. Pete and their boat show. No mega-yachts but several 60'+ footers and longer. Would be a great long-weekend. Tons to do.
 
I did Miami for a day….. way to spread out but when you got settled down tons to see….
 
copb8tx said:
Yeah, I think I'll do Fort Lauderdale at least once. But those kind of crowds aren't attractive to me.

You'll love Tampa/St. Pete and their boat show. No mega-yachts but several 60'+ footers and longer. Would be a great long-weekend. Tons to do.
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I do love the Tampa/St. Pete area and Sarasota too. So going to that part of FLA for a boat show is an easy call.
 
highslice said:
I do love the Tampa/St. Pete area and Sarasota too. So going to that part of FLA for a boat show is an easy call.
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We lived in Bradenton for 12 years and that was where we wanted to move back to after transferring to DeBary area. DeBary was ok but Bradenton area was way nicer..... even though we had to put up with 1,000's of snowbirds in that area yearly.
 
This was the Scout 400 LXF at the boat show. Really nice but....the price. And, only twins.
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So far I haven't heard anything bad about the 2-speed transmission, dual prop and only lower-unit steering on those things. If the technology turns out to be reliable then I hope to see it move down into small displacement motors as well. Especially the 2-speed transmission. That could really help efficiencies at certain speeds.
 
copb8tx said:
So far I haven't heard anything bad about the 2-speed transmission, dual prop and only lower-unit steering on those things. If the technology turns out to be reliable then I hope to see it move down into small displacement motors as well. Especially the 2-speed transmission. That could really help efficiencies at certain speeds.
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I always wondered why there were no 2 speed transmissions . The velvet drive is almost there already even if it was just a little higher gearing .
 
Hi on another site a guy had three of those motors. He said that he had the lower units hit each other and also said that mercury was no help
 
Jus Cruisin said:
True. I'm used to seeing them with trip 400's. I like the look of the trips but those 600's are sweet. Wonder which combo is the most efficient.
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My buddy was big into offshore and he looked at repowering from 2 to 3 outboards…. He said the drag on the third gained very little speed… he was 40’ and the increase in speed no where justified the cost for 3
 
Ezsteps said:
Big money always hangs out with big money.
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Oh no not true…. My buddy that owned the cig ..sold it and bought this L650….I’m the dinghy beside him
When we go out…. They think I’m poor and always pay…. and you know what?….. I’m fine being poor :)

We are both the same distance from the break wall …. Crazy how big that is in comparison

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Blueone said:
Oh no not true…. My buddy that owned the cig ..sold it and bought this L650….I’m the dinghy beside him
When we go out…. They think I’m poor and always pay…. and you know what?….. I’m fine being poor :)

We are both the same distance from the break wall …. Crazy how big that is in comparison

View attachment 158705
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I know the feeling.....here is my little black 460 beside an L650. LOL
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