utopia2 maiden voyage

[chunky293]

Hi folks,
Lovely sunny day up here on Sunday 3rd so I said to the missus lets go and christen the boat, I spent a good hour pre checking everything, topped the tubes up with air got all the gear out, parked the car up on the road,hand balled the trailer and boat onto the car,drove to Cullen beach didnt fancy my trailer reversing so I parked up near the ramp hand balled the boat off the trailer which was easier than I thought, lowered it onto its launching wheels wheeled it down the slip reversed it into the sea, got in pulled engine start 3 times and away it roared,put the engine in reverse and away we whent turned around to face out to sea and opened her up to 3rd throttle as It is running in,The engine Parsun 15 hp seemed rather strong and fast.
We were bobbing along nicely So off we set towards Sand end waving at a few freinds that had decided to walk that way.
WE had been out there an hour and I opened her up to half throttle, missus was sat in the front the front end lifted up and we were just crashing into the chop she soon complained of having a sore bum so I dropped the accelration back down to third throttle cant believe how fast we were going on half throttle. really looking forward to getting into top gear.
We then turned around and whent back west up the coast to Portknockie.
Decided wede had enough after 2 hours and headed back to Cullen we were both dry smiling and had a great time .
On the way back in to Cullen all the local kids were waiting on the harbour walls and as we whent past they all jumped into the water and bombed us Whoooshhh we were both drenched to the skin I should have turned straight to starboard at this time to bring it round the harbour wall, but with my eyes full of water and the shock I forgot to turn right so we headed straight into the opposite side wall Crash bang wollop bounced back off the wall and after regaining myself I whent the way I should have done back to the slip way by now 15 yards away from the sea beached the boat and got out pulled the boat onto the sand and it burried itself into the soft wet sand it took ages to get it to the concrete slip but eventually after half hour of humping and grunting we got it onto the trailer and away home.
All in all despite a few problems we had a really fantastic time and cant wait to get her out on the water again ,Im well chuffed with everything the boat handled well the engine behaved and seem to be powerfull enough for me at half throttle must have done 30 miles at least and used about 8 - 10 litres of fuel.
WOW WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!
very happy sibber chunky

[Trickdog]

Congratulations on the maiden voyage! That seems relatively painless for a first outing and the sea conditions look great! SIBs are fantastically versatile and fun little boats and there is not much to match the enjoyment they provide for the costs involved.

Looking at your photos, I would suggest that sitting on the side tubes would be a better option for you both. This allows you to move fore or aft easily to balance the boat, and your wife certainly would not want to be perched up on the bow when running at higher speed. Your launching wheels also look rather small. It may be worth investing in some larger ones if you are intending to haul the boat over soft sand with any regularity.

Enjoy the boating. I have no doubt you will have many more great adventures and hopefully there will be a few more fine days before the summer is over!

[jyasaki]

Agree with Trickdog about seating.

One trick is to have a short length of line with a loop (or better yet, a handle) tied to the opposite side of the boat for the passenger. That gives them something to hang onto and brace against falling overboard backwards (which is actually kind of funny, but generally not found amusing by SO's who end up in the water.)

jky

[codprawn]

Thats a nice looking boat - I agree the wheels are too small though - big and chunky are the best - especially on sand!!!

[chunky293]

Please note the photo of my wife sat on the bow was purely for posing for the photo, whilst under speed she sits on the tool box facing forwards thats in the photo just in front of her
She has now ordered a big chunky cushion off e-bay

I think I will launch from findochety their ramp is better and no wet sand

must admit the wheels were useless in the wet sand though.

Happy sibbing
Chunky