Newbie from Spokane, Washington

runningstix

New Member
Mar 12, 2012
17
Spokane, WA
Boat Info
190 Cuddy Cabin 1999
Engines
4.3 Alpha 1 Mercruiser 190hp
Hello all,

My wife and I purchased our first boat this past weekend. We picked up a 1999 190 Cuddy Cabin.

We have been looking for a boat since last August when we relocated from Denver to Spokane. Fitting our budget and finding a well cared for boat turned out to be a challenge. I think in the end we found a gem, and it should make for a great first boat.

We are expecting our first child in June and are anxious for summer to arrive.

Here are some photos until we can take some out on the water!

boat1.jpg


boat11.jpg


boat5.jpg


boat6.jpg


boat7.jpg


boat12.jpg
 
stix, welcome to CSR. Where are you going to use it up there? Lake Pend Orielle, Coeur D'Alene? You have lots of great places to choose from, or if you want a different boating experience, tow that beauty down to the Tri Cities and join us on the Columbia.
 
stix, welcome to CSR. Where are you going to use it up there? Lake Pend Orielle, Coeur D'Alene? You have lots of great places to choose from, or if you want a different boating experience, tow that beauty down to the Tri Cities and join us on the Columbia.

Thanks, this year we will probably stay pretty close to home until we get a feel how the newborn reacts to being out on the water. In my head it will be mostly out on Lake Coeur d'Alene.
 
Great looking boat. Welcome to the club. The wife and I had our (at the time) 6 month old little girl out last July and she loved every second of it. We're are looking forward to this year, as she can understand a lot more now. Best of luck to you both with the baby and the new toy.
 
Welcome to the Sea Ray family AND having Trudeau's take care of your boat! They do a great job! I just moved FROM Spokane after living there since 1998. I'd recommend staying AWAY from lake Couer d' Alene until you are more comfortable with it and how it reacts. You don't want to scare the rest of your crew! I'd suggest going up to Lake Pend Oreille, launching at Farragut and going south toward Buttonhook bay! That's a protected bay that won't have a lot of nuts out there like CDA will! Once you are accustomed to launching and loading and feel comfortable with it, then you can head to the crowds on CDA! You'll know what I'm talking about. They are WORSE between Memorial Day and Labor day and the launch at the resort is crowded. Launching at Farragut is a much more pleasant experience! Priest Lake is another great place to go and was my favorite once the water was swimming temp (59.5 degrees!).
 
Nice Boat
We are in North Spokane and just traded up from a 16' Sea Swirl to a longer Sea Ray cruiser. We love Lake Pend Orielle. Lake Pend Orielle, to me is kind of laid back. We really like the Huckleberry daiquiri's at Hope and now I have graduated to double vodka and grapefruit juice. LOL Also a couple of good BBQ joints and then there is also Sandpoint for differant Huckleberry Daiquiris and down the Pend Orielle river to Willow bay? which has good Huckleberry Daiquiris. LOL We really enjoy it up there. Also we were new to boating 5 years ago and it has really taken over our lives. Cant wait for spring to take our boat out.
I hope you try it out and maybe we will see you. I will be the one with a big smile on my face, and a cup in my hand, Oh and a chrome steering wheel in the other
 
Welcome aboard. The 190 with the 4.3 is a great boat. Especially for around here.
 
Welcome to CSR... very nice/clean looking. Boat you have. Congrats on all occasions !
 
Welcome aboard. My youngest child was a baby when we got our first Sea Ray many years ago. Now he's the best first mate I could hope for, a great help when docking and runs around in the tender like a pro. I can only hope you get to enjoy the same experiences with your family. Nice looking boat - enjoy!!
 
Welcome to the Sea Ray family AND having Trudeau's take care of your boat! They do a great job! I just moved FROM Spokane after living there since 1998. I'd recommend staying AWAY from lake Couer d' Alene until you are more comfortable with it and how it reacts. You don't want to scare the rest of your crew! I'd suggest going up to Lake Pend Oreille, launching at Farragut and going south toward Buttonhook bay! That's a protected bay that won't have a lot of nuts out there like CDA will! Once you are accustomed to launching and loading and feel comfortable with it, then you can head to the crowds on CDA! You'll know what I'm talking about. They are WORSE between Memorial Day and Labor day and the launch at the resort is crowded. Launching at Farragut is a much more pleasant experience! Priest Lake is another great place to go and was my favorite once the water was swimming temp (59.5 degrees!).

Thanks for the heads up! I assumed CDA would be a nut house, and completely agree I wont be going there until we are comfortable with the entire process of launching and loading. Friends of my wife live on Long Lake and have a private ramp for the neighborhood that is never used and have offered us use to practice as well. I appreciate the advice on Lake Pend Oreille and specific locations! Not quite knowing this area too well, this is very helpful! Lots of lakes to check out!
 
Welcome to the club and welcome to Spokane... As you can already tell we have so many great choices to boat around here. My personal favorite is Lake Roosevelt. Try putting in at Porcupine Bay or Fort Spokane. The Columbia River is truly awesome!
 
Picked up the boat on Saturday and took her out on Liberty Lake to practice Launching/Loading before the madhouse season starts. It was a very stressful day to say the least.

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Here's a crappy cell phone pic of my wife out on the water
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stix, y'all gotta quit doing those burnouts with the boat in tow. It just doesn't look good!

How did it go with the maneuvering around in the parking lot and on the ramp? Am I correct in assuming from that second picture that you handled the truck/trailer and she backed the boat off the trailer? Nice to see her having enough self-reliance (also called "huevos") to drive the boat alone on the choppy waters. You two are going to make a good boating couple.

BTW, have you taken a boating safety course yet? If you're young enough to be having new babies you're definitely in the age brackets where a boating safety card is mandatory to operate on WA waters. I think there's a grace period where you can get away without having one, but that may be as little as 60 days. Oh, and make sure you have current flares and all the other required stuff on board. You can buy a lot of gas for what one of those tickets costs for not having the required stuff.
 
Congrats on the new boat and the baby! Exciting times! Enjoy!
 
stix, y'all gotta quit doing those burnouts with the boat in tow. It just doesn't look good!

How did it go with the maneuvering around in the parking lot and on the ramp? Am I correct in assuming from that second picture that you handled the truck/trailer and she backed the boat off the trailer? Nice to see her having enough self-reliance (also called "huevos") to drive the boat alone on the choppy waters. You two are going to make a good boating couple.

BTW, have you taken a boating safety course yet? If you're young enough to be having new babies you're definitely in the age brackets where a boating safety card is mandatory to operate on WA waters. I think there's a grace period where you can get away without having one, but that may be as little as 60 days. Oh, and make sure you have current flares and all the other required stuff on board. You can buy a lot of gas for what one of those tickets costs for not having the required stuff.

Maneuvering went ok in the parking lot, I left feeling pretty confident. It trailered nice and driving it went very smooth. Once we got to the lake I would say it took my a good 20 times of going back and forth til I managed to get the boat in the water. We purposely picked a crappy day so we wouldn't be holding anyone up. We were the only ones on the lake so that went well.

Finally got in the water and had time to just relax, we went for a small ride where we maxed out at 25mph because of the rough waters it was hurting my 8 month pregnant wife. So we just cruised at about 10mph after that. Shut her down and enjoyed being on the water. Then we messed around with the top and organized the boat as we wanted it.

Getting it back on the trailer was the worse part as it was horrible windy. We managed, and off we went to storage where I got more comfortable with backing into tight spaces. getting much better at this point.

You are accurate as I handled the truck/trailer and she backed it off. She did good having never handled a boat before. She was pretty mad at me when I jumped off the boat when it came time to trailer, but we've got to learn somehow.

We have both taken boaters safety and successfully passed the course, I get captain rights as I beat her by 1 question :) We got our Washington cards Monday prior to our outing. We also made sure to check Idaho, Washington, and Federal regulations and stocked our boat with the required items. We have a safety check scheduled for later this month with the coast guard auxiliary that our boaters safety course was through!

Thanks for looking out for us though!

I believe we will be hitting the water this weekend again, I want to head to priest lake but we're playing it by year.
 
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Stix, sounds like you're getting your ducks all lined up for a safe and fun boating season. That's the best way to do it. IMHO if you keep the safety of the people in your boat at the forefront of your mind you'll have much better luck at having a long, safe and fun boating lifestyle.

GFC
 
Welcome to Spokane & the Inland Northwest. That is a beautiful boat, she looks like she is in great shape, congrats. Welcome to CSR, it has been an incredible resource for me. There are alot of very knowledgeable people,that a very friendly & helpful on CSR. I boat on CDA lake exclusively. I would suggest that if you are going to CDA Lake. Launch your boat at BLM boat launch on Blackwell Island. That was always my preference. If you need any help feel free to PM me. Have fun & enjoy your new boat.
 

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