Where's all the RO's?

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van lafermine

Member
Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
RO Number
29446
Messages
476
Hopefully everyone is out there enjoying their boats! I havnt seen a new post in over a week.
We took delivery of an 09' 4460 almost 2 months ago and are having a blast. I was a little cooncerned with fuel usage but I am pleasantly pleased with the economy of the IPS w/joystick. I am burning far less fuel than I did the last several years on my Silverton 392 diesel. Also she has a fuel flow meter that has taught me alot about cruising at low speed. I was always under the impression that if I cruise 9-10 knots that i would be saving alot of fuel. With this boat if I am cruising rb2@gr5t 10knots I am burning almost what I would at cruise. about 2 miles per gallon. At cruise I am at about 1.2mpg. If I drop her down to 7kts. I am getting almost 4mpg. burning about 2gph. Amazing difference in only a couple mph.
Not going faster than hull speed (sq root of water line, LOA of INWATER part of hull,times 1.33 equals hull speed.)works great as a rule of thumb. I have substantially saved on fuel this yr.
the fuel flow meter also tells me the best spot to cruise at. My optimum is at 3000rpm and 29mph. depending on wind and current it can range a little either way. If you dont have a fuel flow meter you should think about it. I guarantee it will pay for itself in no time. It will definately increase your time on the water instead of the dock.
I am interested to hear how everyone else is doing and are we using our boats this year?
 
I bought my 2001 Regal 2960 back in March of this year and we take it out on Lake Washington almost every weekend. We've done a couple of overnighters (one on the lake and one into Puget Sound) but we'll be heading out on our biggest trip yet this Sunday. Four nights in the San Juan islands! My daughter is 5 and my son is about to turn 4, so I think four nights is about all we'll be able to handle. :)

Although I went on a lot of boat trips as a kids growing up, this is the first boat I've owned (other than a small ski boat in college). The boat is incredible--It does just about everything very well considering it's size. I can't believe how much storage space it has--I actually have room to spare. We don't drink coffee, so I removed the built-in coffee maker in the galley and that added a ton of room for storing all of our dishes, silverware and pots/pans. It came with a cooler mounted on the upper swimstep...but we don't really use it so I store my bbq grill in the cooler. I bought a snow board bag and all the camper canvas fits in it...and I put the bag on the starboard ledge in the mid-cabin. Every item that lives on the boat has a storage spot...I love it!

The boat was in great shape when I bought it...but it still had lots of little things that needed to be fixed or replaced. It's been a great way to learn all of the systems on the boat (as well as how to route wires). We recently replaced the inverter with one that has a remote display (the old one, installed by previous owner, was always on...and wired to the starboard starting battery!)

Although we don't use the 5.0kw Kohler generator very often, it's really nice to have. The boat also came with a Raymarine C80 with radar, gps and fish-finder. I'm hoping I still remember how to enter a route since I've only done it once. :) I'd like to add the engine monitoring stuff to the C80 (with fuel flow) but haven't seen much about how to do this or where to get the sensors, etc.

Overall, I'm really impressed with how Regal builds boats. Hope everyone else is enjoying their Regal!
-Brian
2001 Regal 2960
"Full Circle"
Twin Mercruiser 5.0L, Bravo III
 
Brian,
Thats awesome that you are getting alot of use of your boat this yr. The trip also sounds exciting, I have often wondered what it would be like cruising the NW.
We did a trip this yr, Our first on this boat, for 10 days up and down the Chesapeake Bay. Had an awesome time and the boat ran perfectly. I took delivery on the 3rd of June and already have 70hrs. on her. I use the throttles sparingly and only get up when we have a destination and or time constraint.
I would bet your boat performs very well with T/5.0's. and should be fairly economical to run. Knowing the way boats can be an addiction, I forsee a larger Regal in your future. Just guessing but after 4 days on a 26 you may start to get the bug. Hope it all works out and remember, its about the memories.
Good luck.
 
Brian,
Thats awesome that you are getting alot of use of your boat this yr. The trip also sounds exciting, I have often wondered what it would be like cruising the NW.
We did a trip this yr, Our first on this boat, for 10 days up and down the Chesapeake Bay. Had an awesome time and the boat ran perfectly. I took delivery on the 3rd of June and already have 70hrs. on her. I use the throttles sparingly and only get up when we have a destination and or time constraint.
I would bet your boat performs very well with T/5.0's. and should be fairly economical to run. Knowing the way boats can be an addiction, I forsee a larger Regal in your future. Just guessing but after 4 days on a 26 you may start to get the bug. Hope it all works out and remember, its about the memories.
Good luck.
 
quote:
Originally posted by van lafermine

Just guessing but after 4 days on a 26 you may start to get the bug.
Click to expand...

Don't take away 4 feet from my boat...I'm a 30 footer! :)

However, I've already been researching the next boat...somewhere in the 37-45 range. Kids need to be a little bigger tho. :)

-Brian
2001 Regal 2960
"Full Circle"
Twin Mercruiser 5.0L, Bravo III
 
The bug is easy to get. Started last year with a 2004 24ft Regal then bought a 2007 3060 in Sept. We have loved the boat and spent several long weekends on it already. We are currently thinking about a 3760 for the extra space.

How the heck do you keep from buying bigger boats?????
 
Brian,
Sorry, I transposed the #'s when reading them. You are right 4' is a huge difference. I learned a long time ago, like Rommer said, go bigger than you think you will need. It cost me alot of money over the years. Only keeping a boat a yr. or 2 because we found it wasnt large enough to suit our needs. If I had gone larger in the beginning I may have found what met my needs and kept them longer. However I get the bug every few yrs. anyway and probably would have made changes. For now though, we will stick with the 44'. Although a few weeks ago I spent an afternoon on the new 52' and liked it tremendously. It is quite the machine. Has a real Euro style to it. She is also very economical for the size. Regal says they have a 2 yr. back log on orders but I have heard that none of them want to take delivery at this point. I guess things have really slowed down, even on the larger boats. Hopefully, all the builders will survive this market and things get back to normal in a yr. or so. That said, it makes for a great buyers market. When opportunity knocks, take advantage. Fuel prices seem to have backed off a little and hopefully that will get people back on the water.
 
Yeah, it's a great market for buyers...but I can't even imagine trying to FIND a buyer for my boat (not that I want to sell it this season). A 30 footer was actually my limit to what I felt comfortable with in terms of handling as a first non-ski-boat. With a 3 year old and a 5 year old, I also like the express cruiser layout because I always know where the kids are when I'm at the helm and the only stairs to fall down are the the short flight going into the cabin (each of them has fallen once...hopefully lesson learned).

The majority of our outings have been a day out on the lake with another family along...and the boat has been great. After this 4 day trip, I'm sure we'll be thinking about more cabin space. :)

That's interesting to hear about the 52 Regal orders. I'm currently liking the Cruisers 455 Express Motoryacht.

-Brian
2001 Regal 2960
"Full Circle"
Twin Mercruiser 5.0L, Bravo III
 
For us the 4'itis came pretty quick after buying our 26 footer in 1992. Thankfully it wore off and I still have the 26'. Where I boat and how I use it there is no need for something larger. If I didn't have to be on standby every other week and work every other Saturday, I might be inclined to move up and get a slip on the Bay. It seems each time you look at bigger boats the bigger and more open the rooms are. In a smaller boat storage is an issue. It seems that Brian has taken steps to use the space efficiently. I started that process a few weeks ago and still trying to figure out where to store things. People with smaller boats (18-20') think that I could live on it. I tell them its only a weekeder. It is good for 2-3 days at most.
 
Mandm,
Where do you do your boating? You said the Bay, Which one? Have you gotten alot of use this yr.?
Van
 
The Chesapeake Bay is about 80 miles from home. I boat on the Susquehanna River, Lake Clarke, about 40 miles up from where it enters the Bay. I can be at my boat in about 40 minutes which is nice versus the 90 minute drive to the Chesapeake. Since I boat in the area where I work, I can be on standby and yet use the boat. I get to use it every other weekend and have no worries. The other half of time I have to check my cell phone for messages in case there is a call to run plus I work a regular Saturday shift when I'm on call. Lately it's been slow as for work. Although I am scheduled to 6pm, many times I am headed to the boat at 4pm with all my gear. I used my boat almost every weekend since Memorial Day. The boating season here is very short; June, July, and August. May and September are OK if weather permits. If I had a regulat M-F job, I think I would be boating on the Bay by now. Job first; then boat comes second.
 
Well, we had an awesome trip to the San Juans! The boat performed flawlessly the entire trip. I thought we would have some major meltdowns with the kids...but it wasn't all that bad. I also thought this trip would make me REALLY want a bigger boat soon...but it actually didn't. The cabin only feels cramped if someone is trying to cook something big/fancy. Otherwise, we're mostly in the cockpit (or off the boat doing on-shore activities) We were able to get on the dock (just barely) on Jones Island...but that would not have happened if I was even 4' longer.

At Friday Harbor, I was bow in and my shore power cord was too short (I was actually waiting for this to happen) but they have a West Marine in walking distance so I was able to get a 25' extension. I did have to borrow a hose to fill up our fresh water tank (the one I have on board was much shorter than I thought). Getting in and out of Friday Harbor at the marina was a little stressful, just because so many other boats were coming in and out as well. Fortunately, I did pretty well the entire trip (in terms of docking, etc) and never got into any really bad situations. I did get a nice lesson in currents as we approached the dock in La Conner (on the Swinomish Slew, current was probably 5 knots...and I didn't realize this until I was trying to dock). I ended up going to a spot that was a little more protected from the current. Even leaving La Conner was tricky the next day (current going the other direction...which was the opposite of what I needed).

We saw dolphins, salmon, deer, snakes (a really small one), sea otters, sea lions, crabs, starfish, etc. The kids loved it. The weather was great too...sunny the whole time except one afternoon that was overcast. Smooth water as well--you could have water ski'd across the Strait of Juan De Fuca!

The first night back at our house, my daughter, at bedtime said to me, "Daddy, I miss the boat". :)

A day after we got back, wew took some friends of ours (who also have 2 little kids) out for a day on Lake Washington. It was a great day and my son said that he wants to live on the boat. :)

Hope all the other RO's are enjoying their boats.

-Brian
2001 Regal 2960
"Full Circle"
Twin Mercruiser 5.0L, Bravo III
 
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