Close up of our broken EZ-Steer bracket. Here's the rub: we never used it, it shows no signs of ever being hit or damaged. It just broke. We recommend pursuing other options for linking the kicker motor to the main engine steering, although we think that the models with rounded corners may not have the same problem that we experienced. Please note, too, that this could be a one-off failure and that others may not have experienced the same issues as we did.
- C-Nile
- Aug 18, 2012
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Town of Wickford, located on the shore of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The town is beautiful, its friendly inhabitants take great pride in maintaining their yards and gardens, benches for weary visitors abound, and it has many fine shops and restaurants. We stayed at Brewer Wickford Cove Marina, which is very well maintained and convenient for transients, with less than a 1/2 mile walk to the center of town. We highly recommend visiting this historic town, regardless of whether you are a transient boater or wish to take a car trip.
- C-Nile
- Aug 18, 2012
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The Betty Ann arriving at its new home in Connecticut at Port Niantic. What great lines! Note: If the port window looks kind of odd, it's because it is a piece of plexiglass taped to the hull with white shrinkwrap tape. While Les was trailering our boat cross country, a passing vehicle threw up a stone, which crashed through 3/8" tempered glass! What are the odds of that happening, and to such robust glass? So it's going to be a few weeks before the glass is replaced.
- C-Nile
- Apr 21, 2012
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Our strategy at La Conner to avoid the remanants of that hurricane in September 2011-- nestle ourselves between large boats. Can you find us? O.K. -- we were dwarfed by larger boats, but bigger is not better -- only bigger. The boat in front us was owned by a wonderful couple, and afforded their entire family plenty of room. However, their engine was not powerful enough to make it through Deception pass against the tide like we can. We can go anywhere. There is a niche for everyone in boating. We like having some of the conveniences of a large boat, but the power to take us just about anywhere safely (within reason), superior fuel economy, and shallow draft operation to navigate our rivers and gunkholes on the East Coast.
- C-Nile
- Feb 5, 2012
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Secure place to stand while using the flush port. I found it surprisingly easy and convenient to flush the motor. It's as easy as unscrewing the flush port fitting and attaching it to a garden hose. Even at my weight of 250 pounds, the area I stood upon was very solid. One thing that really makes a difference, too, is Les' placing the combination filler and vent cap downwind and outside of the camper back.
- C-Nile
- Feb 5, 2012
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The below left picture (taken by Les) shows our Marinaut 215 with Bimini top only, that is not as aesthetically pleasing as with the full camper back configuration as shown at the bottom right. The above left picture shows my Scion XB, which has a tremendous storage capacity. The above right hand picture shows my first boat: Porta-Bote 10.5' with 4 HP 4S kicker. While my Scion XB is wonderful in function it lacks, in my opinion, aesthetics. The Marinaut 215, in my opinion, strikes an excellent balance of function and aesthetics, which is the point I'm trying to make.
- C-Nile
- Feb 3, 2012
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Betty and Our Marinaut at La Conner. Please take a look at the front, starboard window. It is so wide, that I can easily hang out the window to set the midships fender and docking line to the dock cleat. It's not just my arm -- I can comfortably hang the entire upper part of my body out the window to set the line and fender. This has greatly made docking easier. What a great design! Shown also are the privacy, snap-on canvas curtains in the front windows
- C-Nile
- Oct 18, 2011
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