The Art of Driving a Mastercraft

Just wanted to share with you guys a little booklet I put together for this season to keep on the boat. It pretty much puts good driving in a nutshell to those completely clueless.
Thanks for checking it out!

I don't know about running the blower when the rider is back there......The engine AND the blower should be off!

Big Ed ... I have talked to a few people about this, and everyone has said that you can run the blower the whole time without any risk. I dont see any problem with running it while the rider is preparing on the swim deck.


Roddyrod ...Your digram about weighting the boat is opposite..... in the paragraph, you say move wieght to the washy side, which is correct, but in the picture and green letters, you have it doing the opposite.... just something I noticed!! looks good though.

Do you guys shut off the motor inbetween riders everytime?

dude you should send that one to press, great job

Without any risk to what?



I just don't want to sniff that crap before I ride....

I congratulate you on the creativity! Very nicely done. And I also noticed your instruction on shifting weight because of a washy wake was contradictory to the diagram's instruction.

All in all, good job!

the double up depends on the rider ive found out.

some like a straight up 90* turn and others like more mellow turns.

i just ask my rider normally what they want the double up to do

Nice complete directions. No matter how good the directions, they can't replace experience behind the wheel.

Nice complete directions. No matter how good the directions, they can't replace experience behind the wheel.

i think u should change the title... Not everyone is gonna be drivin a mastercraft... Just an idea... otherwise great directions.

Thanks for the write-up!

Good stuff.. maybe I should print out on show my brother.... or dad... hahhaha they tend to do their "own thing" and like sweet gadual turns that take 3 mins!!

54... yeah, everytime... no need to 1) smoke out my rider 2) CO poisoning kills 3) wastes valuable fuel/ballast.

Thanks John,
When I had an I/O i used to always shut the engine off everytime when switching riders for obvious safety reasons. But when i got an inboard, a friend of mine told me there was no need to shut the engine off. He said that starting and stopping is bad for the ignition and battery. I hardly killed the engine in a day and I noticed i wasted so much fuel! I have been asking around and just about everyone has told me they kill the engine all the time in a day. I have a second battery so that shouldn't be an issue. Thanks just wanted hear what others were doing.

Ed the blower ventilates the bilge, there shouldn't be anything smelly in there, no exhast gases should come out of the bilge unless you have a muffler or exhast manifold leak.

I think Big Ed is refering to the gas fumes, which is the reason for the blower in the 1st place. Depending on your setup(carb or efi) and or age of boat, The blower may or may not be sending fumes to the rider.
Billy I think this was a booklet he put together to keep on his boat which I assume is a Mcraft.

If you fix your picture (green arrow) and post a link I'd buy a laminated copy of one from you for 5 bucks.

I think the boat cops may have something to say about clockwise turns.

bob, thats true. but, its a lot easier to hand a new driver this write-up than to be patient and explain it all. hell, i'd give to the "experienced" drivers too.

Nice animations! I was thinking about a few things that you could add, but they may be topics for a different article. great job!

You friend is wrong about the "no need", 54. You may not have to worry as much about the prop eating you up but last I checked, exhaust still comes out the rear of the boat in almost all cases. You really don't want to be back there while exhaust is spewing out, especially after a run when your body is tired anyways. Sure it's hard on your engine to start and stop it often but it's even harder on your body to be breathing in exhaust fumes.

Saves a lot of hours on your boat by shutting off between riders. A quick guesstimation saved me more than 20 hours/year. It adds up quick. Plus theres no reason to smell the fumes and it eliminates any possible mishaps. One thing we always do is drop the rope in the water before the rider jumps in, then pull it all the way out to make sure there aren't any tangles, then the rider jumps in and is ready to go.

(Message edited by guido on May 17, 2007)

What's a reasonably set up Xstar going for these days?

Mike is right,I am referring to the gas fumes and possible exhaust if the boat is on.


Turn your boat OFF,saves hours and gas and most of all your passengers.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

I fixed the weighting diagram, ooops!

Billy - I kind of wanted to make it personalized to our boat, so thats why I put Mastercraft on it.

Peter - The lake we ride is one of the biggest in Michigan, so there are not traffic rules, and furthermore no boats anywhere near you when we ride in the morning.

I'm making up a final copy and I'll post a pic, and from there I'll consider making up another for you Ron.

Here we go.

Travis needs to chime in on this thread, I know he talked about doing something like this only alot more involved for Mastercraft or just maybe on his own.

54- there was a thread a couple weeks ago bout a guy died in prop behind an inboard, I'm pretty sure the engine was running. Drunk or not, accidents can happen. I'd rather put a little more "wear and tear" on my starter, then on my friends head... - Great job Roddy, for newbie drivers,and others with bad habits that need a little hint.

I stoled your book, hope you dont mind.

On your "up and running" part talking about the wake being "washy" you say more people/ballast to the side of the boat that is washy, but in your pick you show the the opposite. Did I read that right?

Well I'm glad this thread got started, because who knows how long I would've keep my engine running all day. maybe until someone got hurt. Thanks guys.
Jamie,
Its already been pointed out and Roddy is aware.

Wouldn't the "hug the shoreline" and double up drawings both send rollers up and down your line? I thought you never want to drive perpendicular to your line, except on a dub when you can make the waves somewhat cancel each other out in the middle. We often have to hug shorelines to avoid wind and it is very noticeable if you (or more commonly others) fail to abide by that principle.

Andy - thats cool, just put it to good use.

BCH - I realize what your saying, but the lake we ride is so big and empty that sometimes we make huge 'L' shapes and don't have to make a single turn around for a whole set. Thats when we use the turn diagram. Nothings worse than a driver making a huge gradual turn lasting 5 minutes, and not being able to hit a wake jump.

Here's the fixed weighting page for those interested...

If you do print out the book, don't forget the last page. Makes the book IMO

Great tutorial for a soon to be boat owner. However, I can't quite grasp this "hang loose" concept. Could you maybe reintegrate?

Excellent.

You should add pages for:

1) how to follow other boats.
2) how to pass other boats with down riders.

Roddy,

Awesome book!! It's in my boat now too!

Publish this, take it down to your dealer and have them put it on their counter for $10 a copy. It'll probably pay for once-a-week gas money!

awesome i just send it to my boat driver

Great stuff Roddyrod. I'm printing out a copy as well (after I edit the Mastercraft with Moomba).

(Message edited by o2binvallarta on May 22, 2007)