Fifth
Annual Chesapeake Bay Rendezvous
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The club had its fifth annual Chesapeake Bay
Rendezvous at Inner Harbor East in Baltimore. Forty-three
boats and more than 100 people attended this year's Rendezvous,
making it the second best attended Rendezvous ever.
Click here to see the photos taken at the Rendezvous.
My thanks to Sue Shilling for these photos.
If you have photos you would like to have posted on the web
site, please email them to webdude@carverownersclub.com
or snail mail the photos to Carver Owners Club; 2207 Concord
Pike, Suite 412; Wilmington, DE 19803.
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The
Perfect Boat
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| You
may have heard that Patsy and I are selling our home in
Pennsylvania and moving to a boat for the next year or so.
As a result, Patsy and I are in the process of looking
for our next boat. Patsy
has some non-negotiable requirements – Vac-u-Flush or the new
style of Lectra-San heads for one.
I demand radar and an integrated GPS Chartplotter for the
bridge. What would
you like to have on your next boat? How important is that feature to you in the overall scheme of
things? Send me an
email with your suggestions and I’ll put them in the
newsletter
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On-going
Hurricane Problems
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A member reports that Osprey Point and Gratitude Marina in Rock
Hall Maryland are not accepting transients this year because of
damage from Isabel. Maybe next year. |
Soundings
Magazine Article
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Roz and JC Harris, members in New York, are featured along with
their boat in the July edition of Soundings Magazine.
Their story, along with a nice photo of them and their boat,
appears on page 50. |
Garmin
GPS on Computer
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| On my cruise south, I had an opportunity to use some Garmin BlueChart
software on my notebook computer. To catch you up a bit, I have an
old Toshiba notebook computer running Windows XP. I purchased a
Garmin GPS antenna and N-Routs software from Staples ($130) to use in my
car. I also purchased an inverter ($25) so I wouldn't have to rely
on battery power. Then, I bought the Americas BlueChart software and
actvated the Chesapeake Bay region ($108 for the first region and CD's;
$88 for all subsequent regions) that covers the C&D canal through
Tidewater Virginia. I use 3 G-chips to get the some coverage.
The Garmin GPS software was excellent, although it took a little
training to use it. One confusing thing was that the tide and
services feature was considered to be another mapping product, so I had to
switch out of the navigational software to the services software and that
was clumsy. That was really the only drawback. Otherwise, the
level of detail was excellent, I could read the screen during the day on a
bright bridge (a hood for the computer would have made it better and will
soon), and the information was dead on. One of the nicest features
on the services software was the telephone numbers and features of the
marinas nearby.
For less than a thousand, I have a nice computer and excellent
navigational software for water and land. This feature was
especially handy while in Baltimore and we needed to find an office supply
store on land. No problem and a real time saver. |
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Soot Problems
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I mentioned in
the last newsletter that a member contacted us about problems
with soot coming into his boat's interior while underway.
It turns out that the 2000 and 2001 396's with diesel engines
were recalled for that problem. The member was the third
owner of this particular boat and neither of the previous owners
had the repairs made.
The member
contacted Carver, told them of the problem and provided a hull
number. Carver told him that they would take care of
it. Within days, Carver contacted the local dealer, who
contacted the owner to make arrangements for the repair at no
cost to the owner.
Well done,
Carver. The Carver person contacted by the member said
that several recent personnel changes would hopefully improve
the relationship between Carver, its dealers and owners.
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New
Model 33SS
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I don't usually do reviews of
new boat models. Shady Oaks brought a new 33 Super Sport
to the Rendezvous this year and it is a knockout - a great boat
for weekend family cruises.
The helm station is positioned on the mid-bridge, away from
the constant exposure you experience on a forward station.
The interior is very well laid out for cruising, with rails
around the countertops to keep stuff from sliding off while
underway. The cabin has a roomy bed and a good head with a
separate shower. It is nicely done, but not overdone.
This 33SS was powered by two Vortec engines, the same
engines that power the Hummer. I've heard (but don't
necessarily believe) that these gasoline engines will last 4,000
or more hours with proper operation and care.
The 33 SS is not perfect. Some people who looked at it
complained about the height of the bridge from the water, a good
point. The galley could use a bit more storage. Others
mentioned the $250K list price as being a little steep for an
entry boat. It's not
clear why the 33 is a Super Sport, rather than a Mariner or
Voyager since it appears to be the same one level style.
That is, you step into a cockpit and go to the bridge or the
interior.
Overall, the 33 Super Sport
is the best new design I've seen lately. The fit and
finish in the manufacturing is excellent - as good as I've seen
in any boat, including very high end boats.
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Upcoming
Events
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Saturday
Night Out – Scott
Gundaker is planning a Saturday Night Out for February or March
at Peppercorns in Oxford, PA. Obviously, we'll have more
information as we get closer.
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Newsletter
Changes
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One of our goals is to provide good, up-to-date information
about Carver, Californian, and Trojan boats and boating in
general. Sometimes
it takes a couple of months to get information, check it out,
write it up, and distribute the link.
Further, several changes to the Internet over the past
months have made electronic distribution of the newsletter more
difficult. We need
to make some changes in how the newsletter is distributed.
The newsletter contents will continue to be on-line
through Club News. Newsletter
contents are open to the public and this will continue.
When you sign onto the Member Only portion of the web
site a link will appear telling you that new information is
available. Our
intent is to provide more current information and to minimize
the volume of emails you have to process. I
would appreciate any comments you may have about this change.
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This
month's featured Article
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The Club had it's first annual Chesapeake Bay Cruise this year
after the Rendezvous. The weather was hot, but calm for
the most part.
The article also explains why I ran out of gas within sight
of McDaniel and how much I like TowBoat/US, Chesapeake City. |
Club
Store
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| Members continue to discover the great value they
get by shopping for repair and maintenance materials from the
Club Store. Our prices compare favorably with Defender.com
and are less than the better known boating supply stores.
If you need something, contact me for availability and
prices. We drop ship big items, like water heaters and
refrigerators, to your marina or home.
We finally have a reliable source for apparel. If you
would like logo'ed or embroidered items with the club logo or
your own, contact us for pricing. |
| Safe Boating
Dave Bishop, aka webdude@carverownersclub.com
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