Panama City Fl...anyone.......Questions

Whats up guys!,
Well this place is really foreign to me, You cant find a compboat anywhere near here. I know is Salt waterbut the Bay is BUTTER so often. I decided on a I/O Starcraft 2010. I know its not a wake specific but...WHEN IN ROME!!! dont flame this post. This boat has wrap around seating like a Vdrive, a Volvo 5.0 and the research I have done say these are really relible in salt. So until I get near a local fresh lake I will deal with this and add a Moster Tower...So the VLX will have to wait.
My question is , are any of you familiar with the St. Andrews Bay here in PC. All I see is fishing boats w out boards, all the run about dealers are in destin. I just think its weird that with ALL the water around here and NOBODY wakeboards, I cant believe it. Am I missing something? The bay has an avg depth of 12 ft, plenty to ride in. If ANY ONE rides here or has ridden here please give me some info, I dont want to waste my cash on this I/O if theres something I am missing?

(Message edited by goth2o on December 31, 2005)

anyone?

You're not missing anything man, no one wakeboards in PC... except at the lakes. There's one in Lynn Haven that often has wake boats but I've yet to see an inboard in the salt. I haven't lived there in almost 5 years, though.

There are some guys in the Ft. Walton Beach / Destin area that run inboards in the Salt. My buddy has a SSV that we run in salt, my other buddy has a boat similar to the Starcraft that we run in salt. I've seen a couple of Moomba's, an X9, a SANTE, and a Malibu out there as well.

Put it this way, there is way too much awesome water around this area to limit yourself just to fresh water (Which there is not that much of). Get something that you will be comfortable with running in the salt and you will be happy you did. And if you ever get down in the Ft. Walton Beach Area give me a shout and I'm sure you could come out and ride with us...

Aaron

wow aaron you make it seem just like corpus christi

we ride in saltwater and the only inboards here are an ssv, a "couple" of moombas, an X9, a SANTE(my best friend lol) and a malibu

ha! i just thought it was funny how similar it was

Yeah... Out of the thousands of boats that cruise the intercostal and bays in this area I have seen a total of 6 inboards including the one that we ride in... It's not exactly a wakeboarding Mecca, but we get out and drink a lot, err, I mean ride a lot...

Well hell with it, I guess I will be the only ne riding here. kinda bummed about the I/O but for the cash and the area....
ABout the lake in Lynn Haven...I ahve read there are a lot of tree stumps...


AAron, I might take you up on the offer. At least Destin are has runabout boats....ITS all center consoles here....

am i missing something here? if both have closed cooling, and we're not talking about choppy conditions, why would an I/O be any better in salt than an inboard? they both run the cooling water out thru iron exhaust manifolds. deck hardware should be fairly similar.

no different other than the added capabilities of being able to take an i/o over to shell island and party like a rock star and swim with the dolphins. That's not happening too much in an inboard unless there are just prestine conditions. Also, I believe there are major price differences to consider. You can get a fully loaded i/o for $25k. You can't get an entry level inboard for that.

Gary, also check out a board shop up in lynn haven. Can't remember the name (hopefully they're still around) but it was some play on the word "board" (i.e. board stiff or board silly.) They had skate, wake and snow stuff.

ok, so i wasn't missing anything...

You are right about the cooling issue, I know they are the same, but there are many shallow spots I am hearing about ie. sandbars, and I think with an IO you can prop up in situations like that. And as far as cost, I found a loaded IO for 11k, that is almost free and its a 2002. For that money I am barley looking at a late 80s early 90s nautique just to worry about the same issues plus wood rot. So while weghing my options and the abilty to resale when the time is right this seems the better choice.

Gary, just make sure that you're getting at LEAST a 4.3 V6 in that I/O or you'll be real sorry. I agree that I/O is definitely the way to go in Panama City unless you live on a lake.

Scott, the boat has a 5.0 Volvo 220 hp. I tried the 3.0 which equals crap, then the 4.3 was ok. I am going on a sea trial on Sat so I am going to make my desision then. I hope I see other run about around here this summer, but if not I will have all kinds of good water to my self. This Starcraft looks great, I wasnt too familiar with these boat or I/Os for that matter. If you lok at my profile Pic you can see why this is kinda a big deal for me.

Aaron, I will look you guys up. I need a riding crew. Every time I taqlk wake boarding here they look at me like I am a crack dealer....lol, I will PM ya for contact info.

G

Scott, the boat has a 5.0 Volvo 220 hp. I tried the 3.0 which equals crap, then the 4.3 was ok. I am going on a sea trial on Sat so I am going to make my desision then. I hope I see other run about around here this summer, but if not I will have all kinds of good water to my self. This Starcraft looks great, I wasnt too familiar with these boat or I/Os for that matter. If you lok at my profile Pic you can see why this is kinda a big deal for me.

Aaron, I will look you guys up. I need a riding crew. Every time I taqlk wake boarding here they look at me like I am a crack dealer....lol, I will PM ya for contact info.

G

Sounds good Gary... The guys we ride with are all pretty cool and laid back. I just got my new seals for my dry suit which I'm going to put on tonight (maybe) so hopefully we'll be back out riding again soon. Lately the only boating we have done has been late night booze cruises out to the bar (almost as much fun as wakeboarding)... We had three dry suits last year and now everyone of them has at least one blown seal, funny how fixing that stuff doesn't become a priority till it's winter...

Good luck Gary. there's so much to do in the water there in PC, you should have a blast. Check out the pass and go over to shell island, hang with the dolphins, anchor out front of schooners, swim in and have lunch, there's just so much to do. I really miss being there for that reason and that reason alone. everything else sucks about that town, although it is growing rather rapidly.

aaron- gd to know theres some riders around here. hopefully we can hok up soon

Scott whats the pass? wheres schooners? I agree about the area....whats up with the smell? paper mills reak

Hey, the pass is between shell island and st andrews park. It's the "pass" into the bay. Schooners is a little down from St Andrews going towards the pier. It's a "local" beach club, but I haven't been there in a year, so I dunno how local it is anymore. Used to be cool. I actually had to work INSIDE that god awful paper mill for a week once while I was doing contract work. Ugh.

Hey, I like to sneak up in the little bay by the treasure ship, under the bridge. Its tight, but there is smooth water. Another reason people don't have inboards are the shallow depths mixed with sudden rough conditions. A deep Vee outboard or jet is a lot better for those conditions, especially when their primary activity is fishing.

Gary, I ride with Aaron and rode with Scott when he lived in the hood. The best place to ride during the summer when its chop city is the intracoastal waterway between choctawhatchee bay over here and west bay over your way. It has walls of dirt on either side around 100' tall where they dug out the waterway for the barges back in the day. There is so much you can do with that boat "IF AND ONLY IF" it has a decent shape wake. Ive got a 20' monterey with PP, tower... Talk the dealer into a merc high 5 prop 19" pitch should do you great. At least tell them you dont want the stock prop and tell them to credit you for the cheapo aluminum too big, too few blade prop. It will be the first thing you want to swap out.