Observations and questions from Starcrafttom

[Les Lampman]

Hi, nice to see you again selling boats. So on with a few questions. how many have sold so far? what is the base pricing? and what are your recommendations for power? I got a chance to drive the hell out of Dave's boat at Friday harbor and was very impressed with the speed, handling, turning and general comfort. The boat handled well in the turns and turned flatter then am use to. Turning flatter is a big safety bonus. I never lost site of the port side horizon while in a turn. The boat also did not slide out as easy in a hard turn and did not heal over to the out side of the turn when I did get it to slide. A very stable hull design for a flat bottomed boat.

even with four on board and three on one side I did not seem to need as much trim as I would expect. the boat also rose out of the water evenly with very little bow rise. The steep bow enter cut out a lot of the hull slap from the chop but did not eliminate it. That's just a aspect of a flat hull design that you can never get completely away from but worth the fuel mileage in trade.

The large windows where great and welcomed addition. I would add( and will add to my boat) a center window wiper. There is just to much going on in that field of view to be looking thru water drops.

With the light load and smaller engine I think the boat rode at a down angle to much at slow speeds. I think that using a larger motor and adding storage, in the area opened up by moving the fuel tanks to the sides, will improve the way the boat sits in the water at rest or non planing speeds.

All in all I was impressed with the design and handling of the boat and would not mind spending the day fishing out of it. The placement of the downriggers is going to be a personal choice and depends on the angler. I heard a lot of talk about placing the downrigger aft of the cockpit rear wall in that big flat space and do not think that is would work out well. I do think that adding mount there for storage of the downriggers when they are not in use would be helpful in allowing a better fit for a rear canvas enclosure. but to handle the downrigger while fishing I think they should be placed 1/3 of the way from the rear of the cockpit on the side gunnel's. this way when you are handling them you are standing squarely behind the downrigger with your feet evenly spaced apart. it also allows you to swing the arm forward or aft and still be able to reach the balls and lines. It also clears up a stop for the angler to brace them selves in the corner while fighting a fish and latter for the netter to do the same. if the downriggers are in the back corner and you swing the arms forward you have to reach over the arm to get to the fish or have the arm and ball sticking out at a 90 in the way. same thing if you swing the arms aft from the corner position. now the arm is sticking out behind the boat where you are fighting the fish! good way to lose a fish. but like i said its a personal call on the placement.

Hi Tom,

Thanks very much for your comments. :thup

There is one boat now starting production for a customer and I have other interested parties. Since it's a "pipeline" sort of situation it's hard to tell how many are really "in the works" since it takes us awhile to work through everything with the customer but "eggs hatched" so far is one although we've ordered a boat for ourselves as well (for demo and personal use, not as inventory).

The pricing is on our website; the only reason I don't want to quote it here is because this post will exist for a long time and the pricing will change.

Included in the base price of the boat are wipers on all three front windows; it was about the first thing I changed!

I totally agree on the balance of the boat, Dave's boat actually ended up stern light since he has a light main engine and no kicker motor. I don't think that will be the "norm" anyway since most folks will have a kicker and many will have a 4-stroke main engine.

The first boat is getting a Honda BF115 and after running Dave's boat for awhile I think that's going to be our "recommended" package. The weight of the BF115 won't even phase the boat (I weigh more than the difference between the current engine and the BF115 and I hardly make a difference when I'm all the way aft). Given the weight the boat could handle and the amount of fuel that could be aboard the BF115 with its great torque (it's a 2.4 liter engine) should be a great combination and very fuel efficient...and particularly smooth and quiet (which I love).

We've already made plans to move the fuel fills forward and clear the area just aft of the stern cleats for mounting downriggers, I think they will work fine there since you'll be able to get aft of them in the corner to work/net a fish or grab a pot.

 

[Byrdman]

Yes it is great seeing Les getting back in to some exciting new rigging work particurly on the Marinaut boats. They need a great shop to complete the boat and I think we all have to agree that EQ/Les has provided great work.

Humm.....Looks like EQ has access to some other great deals too! Take a look at their web site.

http://www.eqmarine.com/index.html#Featured Used Boats
Byrdman
www.my246.com

 

[c-ness]

I agree. Les is the one to make the Marinaut work for anyone who wants this boat. A great match, and I hope that they put lots of boats in the water.

 

[marco422]

We've already made plans to move the fuel fills forward and clear the area just aft of the stern cleats for mounting downriggers, I think they will work fine there since you'll be able to get aft of them in the corner to work/net a fish or grab a pot.

Is that a permanent setup or can it be customized for each buyer? I am not a fisherman and I would want the fuel fills outside any camperback that was installed. I love this boat and am watching development carefully as I work out my finances for a purchase in the not-too-distant future...

 

[Les Lampman]

Marco,

Thanks very much for that observation and catch! In fact that statement I made is incorrect. I don't know what was in my tea that morning but it should have said:

The fuel fills are being moved AFT to allow more clearance for downriggers mounted just aft of the stern cleats.

The other reason we're moving the fills aft is to specifically get them aft of where the camper canvas would come across the side decks. So they'll definitely be outside of the camper canvas.

And yes, things like that can be customized by the customer. In fact (at least until I cry "uncle") almost anything on the boat that doesn't involve the molds can be customized.

I might also add (tooting our own horn here) that the M215 we looked at yesterday at Townsend Bay Marine is amazing. As good as Dave's personal M215 is and as much as he likes it the first thing he said to me when I walked into TBM was how much better the new hull is. The glass work is gorgeous, the fit and finish is fantastic, the hull is stronger (you can tell just when pushing on it), the floor pan is bonded in with resin not 5200), and the boat is lighter (by a lot) even with the Mascoat Delta-T insulation coating (which looks killer). We can hardly wait to get it rigged out and in the water for sea trials.

I'll be picking up the hull shell on Monday morning and bringing it over to our Cornet Bay location (at EQ). We'll be in the "build" mode for about two weeks and then in the "rigging" mode for about 1-1/2 weeks. If anyone wants to stop by and see it happening feel free to come by (a phone call ahead of time wouldn't hurt just for planning purposes).

Les