My First Boat thread

[njmr2fan]

Since this is my first boat I thought I might make a running thread that I'll update from time to time.

As for me? Ive been enjoying boats for years, like the last 28 years at this writing. My first boat ride was in a 16' Bayliner runabout in 1984 on Lake Hopatcong. I remember the boat being scary small for the 5 of us that were aboard.

My next experience was 1987 with a high school friend who had a rowboat with steering wheel and mercury outboard. We kneeboarded, skurfed, and wakeboarded behind that boat for years until he inherited his dads Aquasport center console when the old man bought a Cobia. I learned to drive on that Aquasport in Barnegat Bay and wanted a boat of my own ever since.

After relocating and living 7 miles from Lake Thurmond (77,000 Acres) I finally bought our first boat.

I watched the video...

Saw the ad in the classifieds...

https://jetboaters.net/threads/2014-ar190-red-for-sale.5878/

Hi All,

Selling my 2014 AR190 with around 30hrs on it. Bought her in 2014 in July. Fresh water use only, (Lake George NY and Hopatcong in NJ). This comes with the galvonized trailer, upgrades Rockford Fosgate speakers, new grey cover, and dual batteries. I love the boat, but looking to upgrade. It's been Dry Stored over the winter at Prospect Point Marina in Hopatcong, NJ.

Asking $25000. Send me a PM with any questions and if interested.



_________________
-Tom

2014 AR190 - Rockford Fosgate 262's, Rockford Fosgate 600W amp, Rockford Fosgate M282 Tower Speakers, Dual Batteries, Faria Depth Sounder with Water Temperature
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And after speaking with Tom I knew this was the boat for me. We talked about maintenance and how he took care of the boat and I was sold. Some friends in NJ took care of the purchase for me and off we went into boat ownership.

This site has been an extreme help. I trolled away reading long into the evenings most night to educate myself on jet boats. I PM'd many owners and got lots of great advice, hopefully I can add some quality content to the discussions Ive been enjoying.

A grateful thank you to everyone whose taken the time to PM me and give advice.
Andy

 

[njmr2fan]

Whats a thread without some photos right?

Like @dansshin ebay purchase of his 212X, I purchased site unseen so this was MY first photo of the boat once I owned it.

Then my first pics seeing it in person.

Oh alright... I took a selfie! So what?

 

[njmr2fan]

800 miles later on a set of new aluminum wheels and radial tires and my new purchase was home in GA!

And a day later was getting its first dip in Lake Thurmond

The next day was spend out with friends tubing, relaxing, and swimming off the back.

And as an added surprise, in todays mail I received my permanent registration numbers and stickers! My kids gave me some registration numbers as a gift. They're so proud that they picked them out. Its the little things for me right now, what can I say?

 

[itsdgm]

Great write up. Glad to see your loving your new ride.

 

[Julian]

Did you HAVE to replace the wheels enroute...or was that an upgrade you chose to make? The latter I hope!

Congrats on the new ride and welcome to the site!

 

[njmr2fan]

I chose to replace the OEM galvanized Bias ply wheels with fancier aluminum wheels wrapped in radials and have 2 spares for the trip. Im going to be a trailering guy since I'm 7 miles from our lake.

 

[dansshin]

@njmr2fan Thanks for dropping me a private message when I first came to this forum and freely sharing your knowledge with me. Looking forward to seeing more pictures and reading this thread. Happy 4th!

 

[njmr2fan]

Absolutely @dansshin, it's been fun watching you get your boat while I got mine. I hope that if you, or any other members, are down around Augusta GA you send me a msg. We have a great lake, (Lake Thurmond 77,000 acres) lots of great restaurants, and lots for kids to do. Come bring your boat and visit.

 

[njmr2fan]

Since we had nothing else to do and we're NOT going to Bimini this week, I decided the next best thing to do was to see if i could get the boat into my garage.

It fit!

 

[njmr2fan]

So after a trip to the lake today I decided to wash the boat and the Edge for tomorrows arrival at the ramps. I had a guy loading in a Rinker behind a Volvo tell me how sharp my Edge and AR were, that dude made my day. He had a beautiful Rinker in Yacht blue and white, not sure what those cost but it sure looked expensive.

Heres a shot of the aluminum rims I bought to change out the factory galvanized ones with.

 

[njmr2fan]

Some pictures of a small island we hung out at.

 

[njmr2fan]

More fun on the boat.

pay no attention to the body in the water.

 

[njmr2fan]

Although she's the smallest, she's not the youngest in our family. Today Hailee joined us on the boat for the first time. We got her an "Outward Hound" PFD from Amazon for $20. Fit is good and it hugs her as tight as you want to cinch it. She seemed a little nervous at first, but as the boys swam near her she seemed okay with being suspended in the water.

 

[njmr2fan]

Upon our return I thought I'd head outside in the heat to clean off the red Georgia Mud from a beach we stopped at. To my surprise my First Mate shows up with bottles of water for him and me and he took to washing the whole boat not just the swim deck!

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Great looking boat and family. Lots of memories being made!

How's the Edge? My wife says that she would like to get one.

 

[njmr2fan]

Great looking boat and family. Lots of memories being made!

How's the Edge? My wife says that she would like to get one.

Thanks @Murf'n'surf . We definitely are racking up hours on this boat, this is our 3rd outing this week and we're going again tomorrow!

We love our Edge. Its the Sport model with the 3.7L Mustang Motor in it. Its also got 3.39 gearing to help with the 22" OEM Wheels. I was worried at first about towing the AR with it, but after speaking with a Ford Tech he laughed and said my biggest worry would be the tire load rating. I switched tires out and this thing hauls with no problem. Granted we're only going 7 miles each way, but its nice to know it can handle the load without giving me the jitters. I haven't had any issues with it over the last 5 years and 50K miles.

 

[njmr2fan]

I'm not a fisherman by any stretch, but since my wife is...and she was interested in getting the boat I figure I can learn. So can the kids. So off we went.

We got nothing! But shared some good family time.

 

[njmr2fan]

So we found another cove, let the kids play on the beach and we just relaxed.

Here's my view from the bench behind the drivers seat just relaxing and counting birds.

Before you knew it, it was 830. Time for driver training in cruise 5.

 

[njmr2fan]

Clicked off a few more acres out of the lake that we can call explored.

 

[Gthunter5]

Clarks hill is a very nice lake. Make a run to Raysville (nothing special but a nice haul) and don't forget to say hello to the folks partying at "Aruba" up from the Dam