New England Boat Show
 

Anyone going to the show next week?

https://www.newenglandboatshow.com/

My better half and I decided to go and make a night of it….go to the show on Friday afternoon, dinner at Abe & Louie’s, stay over at the Westin maybe back to the show Saturday morning before heading home….should be fun!

Dan

I think the wife and I are going Saturday evening. Doing the show and then dinner. Not planning on buying anything, but its something to do while the babysitter mans the kids for a night!

Also plan on attending. In the market for a pontoon boat lift. As boat traffic here on Winnisquam has increased. Don’t believe the dock can withstand much more


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I am thinking of going Friday or Saturday. I want to see the Axopar 28 cabin for an island boat. We have been on the 37' version in the BVI and they are pretty slick.

Depending on how big you need, reach out to Tim McDonald at Marine Solutions. He has one for sale now, I believe it is practically new and being sold for one of his customers. It is a Sunstream and had the tritoon supports. Saw it on facebook.

Thanks


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I had never heard of them ... they look very cool!

And they have heat! Pretty neat design. My main concern is whether the 28' will have enough space to efficiently move my herd of pooches safely. It would certainly do well for us. The Eastern works well, but the lack of speed (and heat) is getting to me. When its just me I can run 35mph and be happy, but when I load it up with the family, gear, trash, dogs, and guests I plow along at 17mph if I'm lucky.

If we stay with it I am going to re-prop at least, if not repower to a 200hp.

Wow that is a huge drop in speed! What is your WOT RPM when you are alone going at 35 mph??

I know on my 22 Eastern my max speed is around 38 mph or so with a very light load. When it’s totally loaded down to the max I can still easily get 30 mph out her. Your speed drop seems excessive which would lead me to the prop….

Now for the big question….if you do get that Axopar, how many boats will that make for you over the years?? ��

Dan

Those Axopar-style boats have become hugely popular in mid-coast Maine. Pretty neat looking and I often see them moving along a good clip in rough water, so I'm guessing they ride nicely. Can't help but think the design was inspired by the Dashew FPB series, my dream boat...

The body count is ridiculous...I clearly have a problem. I had a list going at one point years ago and it was upwards of 30. That was a while back...:laugh:

Interesting boat with complimentary write up from Boattest. I like the wealk around cabin. With the twin 200 hp Verados, it looks like about mid 30's for speed and 15 gph. With a 68 gal fuel tank, I wonder if there is additional capacity as an option?. Or, as has been known to happen, I misread the charts.

Most of these in the wild are equipped with singles. A 250 will get high 40’s, a 300 will break 50 (most common power option),
and the 350/400 options go 55 and 60 respectively.

More Horsepower
 

That is a respectable difference by adding a few horsepower. I have a 25 Ft pontoon boat with a 250 Yamaha that when lightly loaded will hit 46 MPH. (No
worries, I didn't do 46 on Winnipesaukee, I know the rules, I'm not that guy) :)

Before it was built, I met the pontoon company manufacturer's representative when he was at the dealership and inquired about getting it with a 300. He recommended against it. They had tested them and it would only add about 3MPH and use more gas.

I thought there was concern about lagging performance when heavily loaded. In the heavily loaded scenario, I would expect twin engines to perform more consistently. I didn't see those sorts of comparisons. Nice boat either way.

I definitely agree. I like top speed, but making sure we can run efficiently with a full load is very important. Unless custom ordered, it seems to be rare to see the 28' in a twin engine format. I'm more of a buy it off the lot type of person so I would probably end up with a high hp single. My Eastern only has a 150hp Yamaha, so I think that going 300+hp on one of these will still do well.

Thinking of making the drive down tomorrow. Any feedback from those that have gone


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Cancelled
 

Unfortunately a family emergency is keeping me from going. Had to cancel all my plans…

Dan

Sorry to hear this, Dan—I hope everything turns out alright. [emoji1696]

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Sorry to hear of your change in plans, Dan. Hope all is OK.\We went "early" 10 am opening and no lines of significance.by a little after noon it was much more crowded, and some long lines at a couple of bars on the display floor prevented access to some vendor booths. It was generally a good show in that most manufacturers had large displays with several samples of various sizes. Not so many displays of PWCs, dinghies, portable docks etc. I miss the wing at the Bayside Expo show where there was an area devoted to vendors, electronics, props, canvas makers etc. If you want replace an engine, generator, add a transom lift or buy a new anchor or add thrusters, you really need to go to FLIBs, Miami or Annapolis.
Based on Codeman's enthusiasm, we made it a point to visit the Axopar booth; 2 x 25', a 28' and a 37'. All very nice and attractive to everybody in our party. I hope he buys one so I can trade him a ride.
All in all, a good day. Sometimes it's just nice to go and caress the fiberglass.

Thanks Chris…

Please stop by this spring at the tiki bar or next week hopefully :D…been too long and we are not getting any younger!

Dan

Sorry to disappoint Chris, we ruled the Axopar out rather quickly.
The 28’ was very narrow down the sides, and the cockpit space was tight. If it was only for humans it would be fine, but we have 5 dogs that travel to the island with us and unless they stayed on the aft deck there is not enough space for them. Certainly not enough in bad weather.

The 37’ is nice, but more than we need. Both as shown were the aft cabin set up, we would want either the open rear deck or aft bench setup. Regardless, I can’t make the 28’ work.

We didn’t see anything to replace the Eastern that was going to be a better fit. Still on the hunt, but it may just be a repower at some point.

We got to the show around 3pm. No valet which sucked, we got stuck in some garage out behind the BECC and Ubered to it.

I recall using the Winnipesaukee Water Taxi to carry 28 people from Meredith to our camp. That was a 31' Eastern built specifically for the taxi job. Not very fast, of course. My 9M Apreamare can carry huge loads without losing much performance, but it only does 30 kts. Nice teak walk around decks with 6"-8" toe rails. My Bernese Mtn dog was always comfortable walking all around in any weather. I have trouble showing pix, but you can find many if you Google Apreamare 9M Cabinato images. Big cockpit, large cabin, galley, head, sleeps four so you can use it as a guest house.

In reality, I think most islanders need 2-3 boats, something for quick, something to haul, a Whaler for the kids and assorted PWC, kayaks SUP, and canoes for guests. Somehow, you don't have to buy these. If you're an islander long enough, they just seem to accumulate.

Don't forget the all weather commuter boat!

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All weather? "It's always sunny on Welch Island" It's true. I saw it on the internet.

If you saw it there then it must be true!!


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I Found It!
 

Codeman,

I found your perfect boat! From the Miami Boat Show going on now, It has six 600 HP Mercs on it! I doubt you would notice any loss of speed! :D:D

Dan

Perfect!

I was thinking of just buying Sassy.. Then I remembered I’m a half mil short, it drafts too much and isn’t all weather.

Draft is a problem for us. We have very shallow water.

We have 3 boats now. Plus all the pwc and paddle toys. Been collecting for a while!

We have 2 berners in our pack of 5 dogs. In fact the last time I was at Dan’s we had just picked them up as puppies. I guess we left a lasting impression! :D

Perfect for a 45mph speed limit! :laugh:

i think 600 merc.s are right around 90,000$ ea wouldn't want to be behind him at gas dock

Only 900 gallons per hour at WOT! :eek:

I think Sassy just tilts the engines up. According to the website, Midnight Express will build whatever you want. No mention of pricing, but I think the gyro stabilizer for rough water is $80K. Less than 3 hours, Miami to Nassau (185 miles).

If I recall correctly the 40' MP boat with jet drives draws 14" at rest and 8" at WOT. I don't know top speed.

Hi Dan! Were you at the Miami Boat Show? If so, what day? My wife and I went on Saturday. What a great time! So many nice boats. We came away liking the Scout 35. Pipe dream, but it's always fun to dream!

Hi Major;

No, I was not there, I was supposed to go but had to cancel as my mom took ill. I then tried to make the NE Boat show which was happening at the same time but had to cancel that as well. Just wasn't in the cards this year...

I have friends down there who went and sent me some pics. Hopefully next year...

Dan

I've never seen one in the northeast, but they're very popular in Miami. I find them very pretty.

New dates
 

I just got an email from Progressive saying the 2024 dates are Jan 10-14. In the past it has been sync'd with February school vacation. MLK Jr day is Monday, Jan. 15 and it seemed odd that the show wouldn't run through the holiday. I didn't see any new dates on the NE Boat show website. Anybody know anything more? Perhaps a dealer on the Forum can clarify?

It's true
 

https://www.newenglandboatshow.com/about

Dates are changed this year.

Dave