Haulover Inlet...

[angus99]

Some of the guys running these boats in post #1 look like they know what they’re doing. Others are likely raising our insurance rates. The Darwin Award, IMHO, goes to the guy with the man-bun letting his passengers ride on the tubes of his RIB without a life jacket in sight.

 

[toocoys]

Some of the guys running these boats in post #1 look like they know what they’re doing.

There's a guy affectionally known as "The Red Legend" in some of these videos. Older fella with a small Whaler that has a red bimini, not sure if its a 13 or 15. He makes it out every time and makes it look like a cake walk.

 

[toocoys]

 

[toocoys]

Here's the red legend... FF to 1:22 and watch this guy show you how its done!

 

[porman]

Watch the video "Boat Crashes Into Sandbar" The first boat on scene is from the Boca Raton Police Dept. and the officer is wearing a white shirt and no PFD. I've also seen police boats from Miami-Dade where the officers didn't have PFD's on.

 

[skyhawk]

I have a deep seated hatred toward pontoons.... I don't even consider them "boats". I think they are phenomenally ugly, and were one of the worst examples of inventions ever made.

ha ha... true...but they are good at what they are for!

 

[dannc]

There's a guy affectionally known as "The Red Legend" in some of these videos. Older fella with a small Whaler that has a red bimini, not sure if its a 13 or 15. He makes it out every time and makes it look like a cake walk.

Need to get my eyes checked...

I read this instead of what was written, "...Older fella with a small Whaler that has a red bikini..."

Cringed a bit, but hey it is South Florida, but then my eyes worked correctly when I reread the sentence. Thank goodness.

Later,
Dan

 

[dannc]

Watch the video "Boat Crashes Into Sandbar" The first boat on scene is from the Boca Raton Police Dept. and the officer is wearing a white shirt and no PFD. I've also seen police boats from Miami-Dade where the officers didn't have PFD's on.

I remember that video. Glad they go that boat off the bar. It was worrisome for awhile.

The Boco Raton officer has something on his belt that was hard to make out and it could have been a belt inflatable PDF. Not sure I would want that myself...

I watched some other videos about the Boca PD marine unit and I did not see an inflatable vest worn over the shirt. I find it hard to believe that their officers are not wearing a vest of some kind and there does seem to be something on their duty belt but I never found a good view of said duty belt.

Later,
Dan

 

[Alaskaflyer]

A lot of LEO's wear inflatable belt PFD's which are type V's with roughly type III performance. Not me, ever

 

[Alaskaflyer]

There's a guy affectionally known as "The Red Legend" in some of these videos. Older fella with a small Whaler that has a red bimini, not sure if its a 13 or 15. He makes it out every time and makes it look like a cake walk.

A former coastie BM perhaps

 

[Miz Trom]

I have a deep seated hatred toward pontoons.... I don't even consider them "boats". I think they are phenomenally ugly, and were one of the worst examples of inventions ever made.

TC - I used to hate them, too, for their sheer ugliness, until a neighbor invited me and my mom out flats fishing on one. Phenomenally comfortable platform for fishing, because of the roomy flat deck.

My 88-year-old mom really liked that pontoon boat, too. It felt safer and much more comfortable for her than my 22-ft cabin cruiser I had back then, again because of the pontoon boat's large flat deck, cushioned seats, and secure railings. Easy to step on and off. With three of us fishing, no one got in anyone's way.

When our fishing was done, I helped our neighbor rinse off the boat with a hose. Easy-peasy. It's a fairly low maintenance boat, too, if you can keep the boat out of the Florida sun when docked.

I've also assisted him with trailering the boat at our local boat ramp. That pontoon boat floated on to her trailer with such ease and grace I almost forgot how ugly she was.

Pontoon boats are not an ocean-going boat by any means, and they are definitely not aesthetically pleasing, but my eyes were opened to some of their advantages. I agree it is the drunken 'tooners who give them a bad name.

Cheerfully,
Mrs. Trombley

 

[Group9]

A couple of years ago, I went to visit a friend in Orange Beach, AL and was surprised to see his deep v center console gone and a pontoon boat in his lift. I asked what happened, and he said, "I finally asked myself, who I kidding, I don't go offshore anymore. All I do, is putter over to Pirate's Cove Yacht Club every Sunday. And, this pontoon beaches well and is a lot easier to get on and off of, than the center consol was." )

 

[Gdavid]

I have gone down the rabbit hole of watching these videos, the boat ramp videos and also the Miami river videos which are largely about the flashy boats and outfits.

One thing that struck me on the Miami river videos is that many of these appear to be operating as charters and I would suspect illegal charters because there are more than 6 passengers and none of the tell tale safety gear of any inspected vessel like 36" railing or gunnel heights, life floats, etc. The passengers appear to have minimal interaction with the captain. If you watch enough, you tend to see the same boats with wildly different crews. I am not referring to the mega yachts, more like 30-45' sea rays and similar mass market vessels that I have never seen set up as inspected vessels. I know there are allowances for 12 passengers in some cases but I think most of these are grandfathered in or operating in limited areas.
Bachelor - bachelorette part's in particular stand out as suspect looking situations, but I could not imagine the arrogance of doing illegal charters right in front of law enforcement, so maybe I am wrong (I am a married man and accustomed to being wrong).

 

[High Wire]

Are they really Bikinis anymore? Bikini top maybe but the bottom half is a fat G-String.

 

[HTurner]

I have gone down the rabbit hole of watching these videos, the boat ramp videos and also the Miami river videos which are largely about the flashy boats and outfits.

One thing that struck me on the Miami river videos is that many of these appear to be operating as charters and I would suspect illegal charters because there are more than 6 passengers and none of the tell tale safety gear of any inspected vessel like 36" railing or gunnel heights, life floats, etc. The passengers appear to have minimal interaction with the captain. If you watch enough, you tend to see the same boats with wildly different crews. I am not referring to the mega yachts, more like 30-45' sea rays and similar mass market vessels that I have never seen set up as inspected vessels. I know there are allowances for 12 passengers in some cases but I think most of these are grandfathered in or operating in limited areas.

I have often wondered the same. For every "family" boat, where it is obvious that only a family is on board, there at least 12 "charters."

 

[dannc]

I have gone down the rabbit hole of watching these videos, the boat ramp videos and also the Miami river videos which are largely about the flashy boats and outfits.

One thing that struck me on the Miami river videos is that many of these appear to be operating as charters and I would suspect illegal charters because there are more than 6 passengers and none of the tell tale safety gear of any inspected vessel like 36" railing or gunnel heights, life floats, etc...

Yep, it is a rabbit hole. And I agree about the charters. Lots of the larger boats have a guy wearing a "uniform" at the helm and I have seen woman taking drink orders. I do wonder how many are legal.

We have seen the USCG doing inspections at the inlet we are using. Along with plenty of state LEO's hanging around. The charter boats we see are pretty obvious and following the regulations. I do wonder how many at Haulover are legal...

Later,
Dan

 

[AlanT]

I have a deep seated hatred toward pontoons.... I don't even consider them "boats". I think they are phenomenally ugly, and were one of the worst examples of inventions ever made.

This year for the first time we have seen pontoon boats in Puget Sound, looking for all the world like they think they are real boats. Very incongruous.
~A

 

[Gdavid]

I have often wondered the same. For every "family" boat, where it is obvious that only a family is on board, there at least 12 "charters."

Yep, it is a rabbit hole. And I agree about the charters. Lots of the larger boats have a guy wearing a "uniform" at the helm and I have seen woman taking drink orders. I do wonder how many are legal.

We have seen the USCG doing inspections at the inlet we are using. Along with plenty of state LEO's hanging around. The charter boats we see are pretty obvious and following the regulations. I do wonder how many at Haulover are legal...

Later,
Dan

Thanks, I figured I wasn't the only one suspicious about this.

 

[dhays]

This year for the first time we have seen pontoon boats in Puget Sound, looking for all the world like they think they are real boats. Very incongruous.
~A

I've noticed the same thing. Under most conditions, they do really well. Fast, stable, seat a lot of folks, good visibility etc... Granted, I wouldn't want to be in one if caught in our lovely current vs wind short seas, but for the typical sunny day outing that those boats are designed for, do work surprisingly well.

 

[toocoys]

This year for the first time we have seen pontoon boats in Puget Sound, looking for all the world like they think they are real boats. Very incongruous.
~A

They'll be populating coves and anchorages with drunken hooligans before you know it. You'll be able to find them by the trails of trash and empty beer cans they leave in the water!

 

[psneeld]

Guess the world is screwed up except for a few here....


https://www.godownsize.com/pontoon-boat-statistics-numbers/



Table of Contents

• Pontoon Boat Statistics and Numbers
  • 1. The Sale of Pontoon Boats Increases by 3% to 4% Each Year
  • 2. About 62,000 Pontoon Boat Sales are Expected Within the United States for the Year 2020
  • 3. Within the Boating Industry, the Pontoon Boat Industry was the Quickest to Recover after the Great Recession
  • 4. The Boomer Generation Buys more Pontoon Boats than Any Other Generation
  • 5. Pontoon Boats make up 20% of the Recreational Boating Market
  • 6. Most Pontoon Boats Fall Within the Range of 21 to 26 Feet
  • 7. Pontoon Boat Layouts Have Become more Modular than in Years Past
  • 8. Pontoon Boats Generally have a Width of About 8 Feet
  • 9. A Pontoon Boat’s Turning Radius is About as Wide as the Boat is Long
  • 10. Renting a Pontoon Boat will Generally Cost you Between $300.00 to $400.00 a Day

 

[OldDan1943]

So many reason not to have a bow rider and Haul Over is one.

 

[psneeld]

Sure you have to be more careful with a bowrider....but speed, trim, loading and a bow cover go a long way in not swamping your boat.

 

[rslifkin]

And not all open bows are created equal. Some will hold a lot of water and either slowly drain or it gets slowly pumped out, while others (often center consoles) self drain quite well.

 

[Group9]

When I use the term “bow rider” I only mean the bow rider ski boats, not deep v off shore center consoles with open bows. Even though, I have seen a few center console bay boats get in trouble in those videos.

I was in a Boston Whaler 17 that got stuffed off a wave like that with two feet of water in it. It made it, but it wouldn’t have taken two of those close together and not had some problems.

 

[psneeld]

Sure some are unsuitable to be in those conditions...but for quite a few, at least in my mind, it is way more about the speed, loading and running trim that results in multiple bow stuffs that shouldn't be happening and is operator error.


The basic boat design would have been OK with those operating parameters adjusted for the conditions.


Any boats "normal operation" often has to be altered in more extreme conditions.

 

[lwarden]

This video of Haulover is my favorite. The girl that goes over was lucky she didn't get hit and the captain should be fined for his dangerous operation of a vessel.

https://youtu.be/N7q8N4wNL8w

 

[ancora]

Compared to jet skies?

The pontoon boats I have seen over the years are mostly behaving. Certainly not worse than any other boat.

Jet skies seem to be almost always misbehaving and seldom doing the right thing. Two jet skies somehow managed to go up the jetty at the inlet we go through. Really not sure how they managed that but it caused a large rescue operation.

Sad think is they jet skies have gotten worse. Which is hard to believe.

Later,
Dan

In San Diego Bay, any jet ski wake jumping is liable to a ticket from the CG as the "vessel" is considered out of control once it leaves the water.

 

[psneeld]

In San Diego Bay, any jet ski wake jumping is liable to a ticket from the CG as the "vessel" is considered out of control once it leaves the water.

I would love to see one case and the transcript on that.


I believe the only relevant law the USCG could invoke is negligent operation and that would have to involve someone other that the jumper to be in danger.


Some states have wake jumping laws (which often the USCG does not have jurisdiction on) that may specify a distance for wake jumping because everything else would be too hard to "measure" as "dangerous" .

 

[dannc]

This video of Haulover is my favorite. The girl that goes over was lucky she didn't get hit and the captain should be fined for his dangerous operation of a vessel.

https://youtu.be/N7q8N4wNL8w

Yeah that was a bad one. There have been quite a few videos where people have almost gone overboard, she just happened to off that boat. What is worse, is the number of people I have seen fall down and fall down hard. I would not be surprised if some of the people ended up at the doctor or at the ER after the boat ride was over due to back injuries.

It is one thing to be on a roller coaster that is designed to keep one safe and completely different to push a boat through these conditions as if it is a roller coaster and people are not secured in place.

Later,
Dan