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Inside it is very cleverly laid out with a comapct kitchen, banquette dining area, built in sofa bed with opposing console and aft deck. Bedroom is at the bow. Power plant is 2 4.7l V8's that have a Corvette type roar.
He let me drive the boat for a while. It is like driving a mid-1970's Lincoln. To keep it on course you keep you hone in the the compass point. Every wave, tide and wind blows the thing all over, you have to look at the rudder position, depth gauge and radar track all at the same time. The faster you go, the better the rudder responds. When docking it is useless and forward and astern on the 2 props gets it parked. I was a deck hand in docking which looks easy bit it is not. The timing of throwing the line and tying onto the capstan takes a bit of practice.
One thing is other boats, unlike cars that are in land, boats travel every which way. If you are in a T bone course one has to judge wether to slow down or steer in the direction of the boat. Boat can make 24 knots, we did 20 for a few minutes. Travelling at 16 knots on the boat feels like 75 mph in a car.
Some months ago I had the occasion to have the steering whee lof a small airplane in my hands, and it was almost the same experience, but unlike a ship which, hopefully, stays horizontally, the plane can go up and down, as well in every direction. Steering is not easy...
J
I did get more lessons in driving the boat learning to do figure 8's and steering the boat at low speeds using the throttles and transmission. Pivoting uses one engine forward, other reverse. The boat has 2 screws and 2 engines. The rudder is useless below 5 knots.
We did rescue a Yacht with trouble. It was a 1974 Hatteras: 45' long. Small craft rules note that beyond 37' a cabin cruiser becomes a yacht and need a captain's license to drive it.
It was interesting since we docked the cruiser against the yacht and boarded boat to boat. The 2 of them had very different sea motions. The yacht was 3 bedroom with very efficient use of space with lots of built ins. It was clad in teak and diesel powered and had a wonderful scent onboard.
The Hatteras can make 17 knots. At 15 knots it used 40 gallons of diesel fuel and hour and at 10 knots 20. marine diesel is $4 per gallon. To buy a Hatteras of that vintage in good condition is about $375,000.
Regards,
Mike
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