Renting a boat for a day to explore. Tips?

[rsmlp]

this may be pricey but is a gps unit available? winni is formidable for those unfamiliar with hazards-especially with water level so low.

[noreast]

Originally Posted by rsmlp

this may be pricey but is a gps unit available? winni is formidable for those unfamiliar with hazards-especially with water level so low.

Good suggestion. I know the high end pontoon rentals all come with one. I'm sure there lower versions don't.

[Woodsy]

1. Rent from Anchor Marine! Bob & the staff there are top notch...

2. Get a Bizer map! and study it....

3. Download the Navionics GPS app for your phone and make sure to download the map of the lake...

4. Lots of great places for lunch... depends on what side of the lake you are on at lunchtime.

5. have fun! go swimming!


Woodsy

[Slickcraft]

I would suggest a different day to go exploring. The Friday of Labor Day Weekend can be very busy out there including the usual small percentage of idiot boaters.

A weekday after that weekend would be much better for exploring. Look ahead at the long range forecast for a day with under 10 mph winds, makes for easier poking around.

[radioman]

Ryan, make certain that you have a Safe Boating Cert. and that you understand how the Spar navigation system works Without either, you will not have a good day. BOL

[Rich]

Have someone point out where the Witches are on the map and on the lake, and keep an eye out for them! They can ruin your day faster than most places on the lake.

Then of course, watch the chart and the side of the navaids you pass, it's important!

Thar be Rocks out there!

[WINNOCTURN]

Check out the Cruises offered by the "Mount". Sophie C and Doris E

They have destination points to every basic area of the Lake.

Weirs Beach

Meredith

Alton

Wolfeboro

Alton

Between these three Cruise Boats you can see 80% of the Lake. They also have one of the Crewmembers giving a narrative of where you are and interesting high lights of specific points of the Lake.

It's how my wife and I got hooked on the area.

If you are not an experienced Boater you can be tricked by the "serenity" of this Lake.


Not sure of the size and type of boat you may be able to rent. I would not rent any thing smaller than 20'

Conditions on the Lake can change quickly.



WINNOCTURN (WIN - WINNIPESAUKEE) - (NOCTURN - Prefer being on the Lake at Night)

[feb]

The Sophie C suggestion is a good one, it gets much closer to some islands and I'm sure you can ask questions while you are on it.

Alternatively, maybe ask a marina or two if you can hire someone to give you a guided tour. This would allow everyone to look at the shoreline/properties and not have to worry about any navigational issues.

By the time you get a boating permit, rent the boat, worry about where you are on the lake, gas up the boat and return the boat it will leave less time to accomplish your mission.

Sounds like a perfect task to outsource leaving you to enjoy the ride and the view.

[TiltonBB]

Originally Posted by feb

The Sophie C suggestion is a good one, it gets much closer to some islands and I'm sure you can ask questions while you are on it.

Alternatively, maybe ask a marina or two if you can hire someone to give you a guided tour. This would allow everyone to look at the shoreline/properties and not have to worry about any navigational issues.

By the time you get a boating permit, rent the boat, worry about where you are on the lake, gas up the boat and return the boat it will leave less time to accomplish your mission.

Sounds like a perfect task to outsource leaving you to enjoy the ride and the view.

Make sure if you hire someone they have a NH Commercial Boating Certificate. Anyone operating anything on the water for compensation needs one. Don't let them just grab the "kid" on the dock.

[Descant]

In the original thread, I think you mentioned larger islands: Bear, Rattlesnake and Cow? If that's correct, then that crosses a lot of home port (martinas) off the list of places you want to start from. On a huge island like Bear, there are several home ports depending on which end of the island you might be interested in. Are there any camps for sale there? The idea of asking a Realtor early in the process applies here too. Let your Realtor help plan your route. If you're going to go slow and look at camps, docks, water depth, solar orientation, topography, etc. you could spend most of a day just on one island, allowing time to transit in both directions.

The Sophie C and other tour boats suggestion is superb. But the Sophie doesn't go near Cow or Rattlesnake. She'll give you a great view of Bear and many of the (smaller) Gilford Islands. Did I read somewhere that you have small children? 6-8 hours on a small boat can be a long time, and for all crew members you may need a relief stop even if you don't go to a restaurant for lunch. I've been on the lake all my life, and I still enjoy a ride on the Mount Washington. Check her schedule. You can ride, stop for awhile and get back on for her second tour to take you back to the starting point. Lunch and potty on board. Highly recommend.

The suggestion about going after Labor Day may allow you to negotiate a better rental rate. After Labor Day, weekends are a lot less busy too.

[RyanDe]

Originally Posted by Descant

In the original thread, I think you mentioned larger islands: Bear, Rattlesnake and Cow? If that's correct, then that crosses a lot of home port (martinas) off the list of places you want to start from. On a huge island like Bear, there are several home ports depending on which end of the island you might be interested in. Are there any camps for sale there? The idea of asking a Realtor early in the process applies here too. Let your Realtor help plan your route. If you're going to go slow and look at camps, docks, water depth, solar orientation, topography, etc. you could spend most of a day just on one island, allowing time to transit in both directions.

The Sophie C and other tour boats suggestion is superb. But the Sophie doesn't go near Cow or Rattlesnake. She'll give you a great view of Bear and many of the (smaller) Gilford Islands. Did I read somewhere that you have small children? 6-8 hours on a small boat can be a long time, and for all crew members you may need a relief stop even if you don't go to a restaurant for lunch. I've been on the lake all my life, and I still enjoy a ride on the Mount Washington. Check her schedule. You can ride, stop for awhile and get back on for her second tour to take you back to the starting point. Lunch and potty on board. Highly recommend.

The suggestion about going after Labor Day may allow you to negotiate a better rental rate. After Labor Day, weekends are a lot less busy too.

Yeah, we're interested in the islands but we've only ever been on the shore of the lake so we want to get a feel of the lake to see if we both like it. If that makes sense. Assuming we do we'll start to narrow our search and explore the areas that interest us but our first go around will be a general get to know the late excursion.

We have kids but they're staying home, that's why we're going during the week so we can go alone. I wouldn't want to drag them along at first, too much work.

We're thinking Friday Aug 19th, not a holiday weekend but it should give us a feel for how busy the lake feels on average. We're leaning towards the morning sophie cruise but that's only two hours on the lake which isn't great since we have the entire day and want to make the most of it.

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by RyanDe

...will be a general get to know the late excursion.

We have kids but they're staying home, that's why we're going during the week so we can go alone.

We're thinking Friday Aug 19th, not a holiday weekend but it should give us a feel for how busy the lake feels on average.

Without kids, you'll be able to cover a ton of ground in one day. In my experience, though, that day and the days after (other than Labor Day weekend) are much slower because schools are already starting back. I know because it's the first day of my vacation every year after I finish summer school but before returning the Tuesday after LD.

That being said, so you know, a generality is that the northern part of the lake, from Long Island up, is a much quieter section than the southern, with the Weirs being the busiest/most choppy--I've seen bigger wakes there than on the Broads (open part of the lake).

I would start by picking up a Bizer map ASAP and just looking at it to get a sense of what you're looking to do.

Sent from my XT1528 using Tapatalk

[Fargo]

Go on the morning and afternoon cruise. You'll be able to talk to island people when they drop off mail.

[RyanDe]

So we went out yesterday and it was great. Since we waiting until the last minute (2 days before) to rent a boat the only thing that was available was a 25hp pontoon. It was slow as hell but got us all around the lake which is what we wanted. We got to experience how large the lake is, how the islands look from the different sides, how scary the broads and witches are (they are not) and how to dock at the public docks.

Thanks everyone for the tips and suggestions, we were less nervous because of them! We're not planning our next trip with a faster boat. :-)

We really like bear and cow island but they're probably just a little too far for us drive then boat so we'll probably continue to look at sleeper and rattlesnake since it's an easy ride to west alton marina. We really liked the south west side of Rattlesnake, even when the other side was really choppy that side was nice and calm and easily swimmable. We were surprised at how steep the "backyards" were though, half the houses seem to be built right on the cliff edge.