Re: topaz
Thanks Brad - Like all I'm envious of the obvious joy Topaz is
bringing to you!
I know you have sent off some picture to Duckworks, but they do not
seem to have been posted yet..
Any chance you could drop a couple to the Bolger pages?? Love to see
it all painted & pretty!!
bringing to you!
I know you have sent off some picture to Duckworks, but they do not
seem to have been posted yet..
Any chance you could drop a couple to the Bolger pages?? Love to see
it all painted & pretty!!
I am posting this with the egroups as there are several who are following
the topaz with interest.
Over the 4th, my wife and I took a trip down from our home on the chain of
lakes which is our home. We live in northern Mi. near Traverse city which
is the home of some of the most beautiful waters and of course is the
center of tourism for downstaters known as fudgies hereabouts. What makes
the 4th interesting, is the number of people who are out there on the
water. Many give meaning to the title of 00's. Owner operators of boats.
Luckily, we had no mishaps even though some were in a real party mood.
We live above the Bellaire dam and had to portage through town and put in
just below the dam to go down the intermediate river. A friend who lives
next to the ramp said we would not make it as the river was to shallow
here. I like challenges. First I pulled it out of my river using my lawn
as a launch. My first impression is, the boat is a piece of cake to launch
and retrieve. My trailer has no guides yet and it still was easy. A small
fishing boat is about as hard. However, my amateur like welds gave way
when cranking the boat back onto the trailer and I will have to beef up the
winch stand.
The first test was getting down the river which is shallow. With the motor
up we navigated without hitting bottom going or returning. The boat can go
anywhere there is knee deep water.
After this river, there is a moderate size lake and another river which
leads to a second lake. This was just plain pretty. The real test with
the wind up was navigating the narrows leaving this lake and entering
torch lake. The topaz was easy to keep under control, my only worry being
the number of boats maneuvering to get into the dockside bar in an area
that is hardly two boats width.
Once on torch lake, we were in our element. Miles of clear aqua water
looking like the Bahamas in clarity. Waves were choppy and the wind was
off our starboard bow made even more confused by the occasional large wake
of a faster boat. The bow always remained buoyant and high and dry. At
moderate speeds or high she was well behaved. What was surprising was how
well it handled a wake from the side. She of course would respond to it,
but dampened the motion very quickly.
We toured the lower end that afternoon, picking up friends, daughter and
grandkid for the fire works that night. Through ten that evening, we had
nine people aboard, two large coolers and assorted gear and still did not
feel crowded. During the works all but two were on the foredeck enjoying
the show. I will confess that the boat is sensitive to weight
distribution. I noted that the group was crowding one side and we were
really listing.
The next day we took another couple down the torch river to Elk Rapids and
would have continued into Lake Michigan except for another dam dam. Elk
lake and the river is a two hour trip and another wonderful lake as it is
very big. This guest was a knowledgeable boater and was very impressed
with the Topaz performance. At any given time, even with the wave action,
there were at least two laying or sitting on the foredeck. This is turning
out to be a wonderful design feature. Jay feels that this boat can go
anywhere you might want to take her within reason. His girlfriend who grew
up with boats remarked on a couple of occasions when I was rafting or
getting into to some tight dockage's at how maneuverable the boat was.
My impression are that as a motor vessel traveling some distance, it is
great. Shutting the back door, keeps what noise the Honda makes down to a
purrr. All you really notice is the nice sounds of water against the hull.
Sailors like myself do not like the sound of motors. I may even go one
step more and completely enclose the honda. A rough estimate is that I
burned about one gallon per hour which included fast hull speed, planing
and a lot of slow river work. Speaking of which, when in a no wake area
like we were, you will go faster than other boats because the boat leaves
little wake anyhow. I am going to set the idle even slower as I kept
having to take it out of gear to avoid running into slower motor boats.
When loading, the narrow hull is sensitive. Sit two on one side and one on
the other, and it will list. Not a problem, but could be when storing
gear. For instance I have two gas tanks, each offset to either side. In
the future, I will keep gas in both and drain them equally. Do we like the
boat, an emphatic yes.
Now to the real neat part. I hope the Bolgers are reading this part. I
would estimate that well over a couple hundred people shouted complements
as to how beautiful the boat was. Ranging from, "there should be more
boats like this on torch lake" to where can I get a boat like that. Many,
many others just waved wildly and gave thumbs up. Quite a number wanted to
know what year the boat was or suggested that it must be a restored
antique. It was fun to admit that it is a year 2000 design. I thought
only older folks would like the design. Haint true, the kids came up and
admired as well as complimented as well. What a response to the design.
One of my guests told her son to stop by our boat when he was on the lake.
Her instructions were, "just look for the classiest boat on torch lake".
He jet skied directly to our boat and having never seen it before. This is
a beautiful boat to own and a great way to draw attention if you are into
that sort of thing. Of course, I had my equally beautiful wife in a bikini
on the front to help. Happy boating, Brad and Connie
the topaz with interest.
Over the 4th, my wife and I took a trip down from our home on the chain of
lakes which is our home. We live in northern Mi. near Traverse city which
is the home of some of the most beautiful waters and of course is the
center of tourism for downstaters known as fudgies hereabouts. What makes
the 4th interesting, is the number of people who are out there on the
water. Many give meaning to the title of 00's. Owner operators of boats.
Luckily, we had no mishaps even though some were in a real party mood.
We live above the Bellaire dam and had to portage through town and put in
just below the dam to go down the intermediate river. A friend who lives
next to the ramp said we would not make it as the river was to shallow
here. I like challenges. First I pulled it out of my river using my lawn
as a launch. My first impression is, the boat is a piece of cake to launch
and retrieve. My trailer has no guides yet and it still was easy. A small
fishing boat is about as hard. However, my amateur like welds gave way
when cranking the boat back onto the trailer and I will have to beef up the
winch stand.
The first test was getting down the river which is shallow. With the motor
up we navigated without hitting bottom going or returning. The boat can go
anywhere there is knee deep water.
After this river, there is a moderate size lake and another river which
leads to a second lake. This was just plain pretty. The real test with
the wind up was navigating the narrows leaving this lake and entering
torch lake. The topaz was easy to keep under control, my only worry being
the number of boats maneuvering to get into the dockside bar in an area
that is hardly two boats width.
Once on torch lake, we were in our element. Miles of clear aqua water
looking like the Bahamas in clarity. Waves were choppy and the wind was
off our starboard bow made even more confused by the occasional large wake
of a faster boat. The bow always remained buoyant and high and dry. At
moderate speeds or high she was well behaved. What was surprising was how
well it handled a wake from the side. She of course would respond to it,
but dampened the motion very quickly.
We toured the lower end that afternoon, picking up friends, daughter and
grandkid for the fire works that night. Through ten that evening, we had
nine people aboard, two large coolers and assorted gear and still did not
feel crowded. During the works all but two were on the foredeck enjoying
the show. I will confess that the boat is sensitive to weight
distribution. I noted that the group was crowding one side and we were
really listing.
The next day we took another couple down the torch river to Elk Rapids and
would have continued into Lake Michigan except for another dam dam. Elk
lake and the river is a two hour trip and another wonderful lake as it is
very big. This guest was a knowledgeable boater and was very impressed
with the Topaz performance. At any given time, even with the wave action,
there were at least two laying or sitting on the foredeck. This is turning
out to be a wonderful design feature. Jay feels that this boat can go
anywhere you might want to take her within reason. His girlfriend who grew
up with boats remarked on a couple of occasions when I was rafting or
getting into to some tight dockage's at how maneuverable the boat was.
My impression are that as a motor vessel traveling some distance, it is
great. Shutting the back door, keeps what noise the Honda makes down to a
purrr. All you really notice is the nice sounds of water against the hull.
Sailors like myself do not like the sound of motors. I may even go one
step more and completely enclose the honda. A rough estimate is that I
burned about one gallon per hour which included fast hull speed, planing
and a lot of slow river work. Speaking of which, when in a no wake area
like we were, you will go faster than other boats because the boat leaves
little wake anyhow. I am going to set the idle even slower as I kept
having to take it out of gear to avoid running into slower motor boats.
When loading, the narrow hull is sensitive. Sit two on one side and one on
the other, and it will list. Not a problem, but could be when storing
gear. For instance I have two gas tanks, each offset to either side. In
the future, I will keep gas in both and drain them equally. Do we like the
boat, an emphatic yes.
Now to the real neat part. I hope the Bolgers are reading this part. I
would estimate that well over a couple hundred people shouted complements
as to how beautiful the boat was. Ranging from, "there should be more
boats like this on torch lake" to where can I get a boat like that. Many,
many others just waved wildly and gave thumbs up. Quite a number wanted to
know what year the boat was or suggested that it must be a restored
antique. It was fun to admit that it is a year 2000 design. I thought
only older folks would like the design. Haint true, the kids came up and
admired as well as complimented as well. What a response to the design.
One of my guests told her son to stop by our boat when he was on the lake.
Her instructions were, "just look for the classiest boat on torch lake".
He jet skied directly to our boat and having never seen it before. This is
a beautiful boat to own and a great way to draw attention if you are into
that sort of thing. Of course, I had my equally beautiful wife in a bikini
on the front to help. Happy boating, Brad and Connie