The Smell of Diesel exhaust in the morning...

Mike - That boat looks soooo nice! or shall I say "Your boat" now!
Are you staying in Norwalk? Keeping the name?
Congrats and good luck selling the 280.
Mark
 
Mike,

Huge congrads!!! Very good move doing this in the right timing. The full camper looks great and I'm sure you'll love it. Share your experience with all new toys, TNT lift for dinghy is very cool. I can imagine how much fun the trip home will be. Give us more pictures. Let us know when you'll be passing by NJ on the way home.
 
Last edited:
Very, Very Nice,

Good choice and good timing for upgrades.

Thanks for stimulating the economy as well.
 
Nice vessel Mike!!

What's your planning for picking her up?

I hope you make some nice video and photo reporting of the trip.

Congrats again with your yacht!

Peter
 
wow.. I'm a bit late on this but too kewl TT !! :thumbsup: Hopefully you want be a member of the Twoboat family long either.
 
Last edited:
Very cool Mike! Best of luck in the new toy!
 
I am SO out of the loop. I just saw this thread a few minutes ago.

Congratulations on the new toy! And the ride home should be an adventure all by itself.

Color me jealous!
 
Wow, I just saw it too, congrats Mike.

What were you trying to say about loose bolts in the bilge anyway? :smt017
 
They are just jealous. Their engines are so loud and smell and smoke and that ugly yellow ugh. So we have a few extra bolts in the bilge. What good mechanic does not end up with extra pieces anyway?
 
Thanks guys.

Here I am screaming through the ditch at idle speed.

59b4210f.jpg
 
Mike,

How is it going from the 280 to the 450 as far as size, maneuverability, docking, etc? Daunting? Easy? Just curious on your thoughts.

Doug
 
SR400DB said:
They are just jealous. Their engines are so loud and smell and smoke and that ugly yellow ugh. So we have a few extra bolts in the bilge. What good mechanic does not end up with extra pieces anyway?
Click to expand...

I had a woman work for me that was a diesel mechanic in the army. At the end of her training she was required to disamssemble and reassemble an engine, and it had to start. She ended up with a pocketful of extra bolts and parts. But the engine started and she passed! Moral of the story from her point of view was that diesels were built with more parts than they needed.:lol:
 
Mike

I was able to make the move from I/O's to inboards fairly easily, however the one item that gave me a problem was the separate controls for the engines and transmissions.

When docking (under stress) I have moved the throttles to switch from forward to reverse or vice versa in attempt to change direction, only to realize that I needed to move the transmission controls, but in my panic I neglected to reduce the throttles back to idle. :wow: :smt018 Fortunately, the engines werent running too fast and I didn’t blow up the transmissions. :smt001

Given that your new monster boat is a big diesel, you will probably never need to touch the throttles while docking so you should be better off.

Good luck. That looks like a very nice boat that is in incredible shape for her age.
 
Last edited:
First impression when you start her up is... wooooh, those engines are a little bigger than my 4.3's.

there's a lot of real estate out there, so you kind of have to think things through a little more. I'm on the working end of the marina where all the dive boats and fishing charter boats are, so I have to keep an eye out for who's coming and going.

She doesn't blow around as much as the 280, so when you stop her, she stays better, even if there's a little breeze. As soon as you put her into gear, you get movement. You don't have to wait like on the 280... in, moves. the hardest part for me coming from I/O's was to just not touch the wheel. All shifter, you don't even need to give her any throttle, just tap her into gear, out of gear.

The scariest part for me was how fast she moves right from the get go. It's also a little more tanker feeling in that when you get moving, it keeps moving. So pulling her out of a piling slip to retrieve the lines off the poles was tap in then out, in then out. real quick. Another thing you have to make sure is that things are untied and not in the way. You catch a fender on a piling as you are pulling out and something is going to break.

When you put them both in forward, you almost instantly cruise at 8mph, but with the longer waterline, there's no wake. I pretty much just went out into the ditch and got the hang of how much turn each engine will give you when in gear. spun her in circles about 30 times both fast and slow. one in forward one in reverse then alternating forward then the other in reverse. very precise in movement, you can either stay in one place or inch around if you want.

After a bunch of that, he felt I had the hang of it so back to the marina we went. As we were approaching I said "there's not much room in the ICW here with all the huge cruisers", he said "well your world is about to get much small in a few seconds". As I turned into the marina, I almost felt claustrophobic with so much boat. I had to pull the nose right up to a sportfish and then back her into the slip. Very very nervous was the only way to describe how I felt. I got her in the first time with no issue. didn't even touch a piling and I only have about a foot and a half on each side. Pulled her out again to find a dive boat coming in. I just tapped her into reverse and boom she stopped. Waited for the dive boat to slip and then out and back I went. Second time the dinghy tube hit a piling. But as you are coming in and you notice things aren't lining up well, you can tap an engine or two into forward and stop.

You kind of need two people on the boat, at least for me, just to keep an eye out. One keeps an eye on the bow, the other on the stern, depending on if we are coming or going. Going out I'm looking at the bow, the admiral keeps an eye on the stern to let me know when things have cleared. coming in she keeps an eye on the bow to make sure I'm not swinging her into anything while I'm looking at the stern to make sure i'm not headed for anything.

I'm sure it gets easier but for right now I've got the shaky hands on the throttles. I'm moving very slow going in and out, and I have an idea when the boats around me are heading out and back so I can take my time.

Sleeping on the boat is a dream. every once in awhile someone will cruise by and throw a wake but the boat doesn't bounce around. You can hear the chine slap long before the boat even moves.

Down south the tide swing is about 3ft so there's not many floating docks, all pilings. I'm not used to that. So every 6 hours or so i'm running around checking the lines at both high and low tides.

Lots and lots to learn. I spent about 3 hours in the ER just crawling around and looking. Overload!!!! so much more stuff and double of everything. two pumps, two this, two that, hoses running here and there, stuff I don't even know what it does.

I brought back a load of manuals to read, I also have a few things to pickup and install the next time I go down.

Just when you think you have the hang of things and feel you have complete control over a boat, I throw myself into the uncomfort zone with this one. It's both exciting and frustrating at the same time. I want to jump in with two feet and just go like I can with the 280 because I know that boat very well. I have to take it slower in this one and learn everything all over again. So in that respect it feels like the first time, absolutely thrilling. When I spool her up and the turbos kick in... I tell you i've got the biggest chubby in south florida.
 
Last edited:
Nice write up Mike, funny thing is you described exactly they way I felt last year the 1st time I out on my 240DA.:grin:

Thanks
 
You'll get use to the "leap" in gear pretty quickly. I hardly notice mine anymore but loved that feeling when I first got it. :grin:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,163
Messages
1,427,599
Members
61,072
Latest member
BoatUtah12
Back
Top