Couple questions from a new X-Star owner

Okay, finally pulled the trigger and bought an 01 MC X-Star loaded. Now I need to accessorize. I need to buy a bimini (looking at towerbiminis.com right now), fenders, anchor, etc.

Im slipping the boat for the first time this year and am a little worried about the boat thrashing in the slip and getting damaged. Im looking for advice on what type of fenders to buy to help prevent that.

Ive read pretty much to NOT beach an inboard so does anyonehave any recommendations of what type of anchor to use or hullguard, etc. because I will spend alot of time at the beach and want to make sure my boat doesnt float off.

As far as the biminis go, Ive pretty much read to go to towerbiminis.com since I want my bimini to mount to the tower and be as high off the floor as possible (so its out of the way).

Any advice would be appreciated. Im stoked to get out and finally train behind a real boat!!!

First off congrats on purchasing this boat! You will love riding behind this boat...

Let's see to answer your questions if you are leaving a boat in a slip and its not on a lift it will get damaged unless you tie it up in the middle of the slip which is what I do... Tie both sides of the boat to each side of the slip so the boat floats in the middle and can't bang up against either side of the slip... This is the only way to keep it from damaging the rub rails or the gel coat.

Don't beach any boat, it's hard on them! As far as anchors go it depends on where you are located at but I've found that River anchors work the best for me since our lakes have a mud bottom.

Good luck!

Micheal, Get one of those bungie cord anchor buddies they work great. They keep your boat right offshore.

Check out Overtons.com they have all of what you're looking for.

Here's the write up on the Anchor Buddy.

Anchor Buddy Is The Anchor Line That Stretches From 14' to 50'! Anchor Buddy takes the shock out of your anchor line and makes it much easier to anchor offshore. Simply drop anchor about 30' out, proceed to shore, and Anchor Buddy stretches, while your anchor stays set. As you pay out your bow line, Anchor Buddy retracts, anchoring your boat safely offshore. Also works great for anchoring in rough water.

Congrats on the new boat. I love my X-Star and wouldn't trade it for anything.

I agree with Rene on the Anchor Buddy thing. I have one and it works great.

So, from what I read about the anchor buddy, you throw it down (attached to your anchor) when you are 30ft or so from the shore, and then you tie another rope to the front of the boat and tie it to shore so then your boat kind of just sits a little off shore? Wouldnt you be worried about someone driving over your anchor buddy line? Maybe I have this all wrong...

Once the anchor buddy retracts, the line goes almost straight down. If you have a buoy of some sort attached (good idea, especially if you want to come and go, and leave your anchor in the same spot), most people will know that you have a line in the water, and steer clear.

Another boat would have to come within inches of your boat to run over the anchor buddy line. The line goes almost straight down.

All boat stores should carry them for around $29. Go to the boat store and have the sales person show you how they work.

how do you pull your boat back to shore to get on since it's 30ft away?

Go to this website it will explain http://www.anchorbuddy.com/

why dont you beach a boat, weve done it for years and theres no damage on our hull not even a scratch

I used to beach my old SeaRay I/O all the time and never damaged it also. I have heard of a friend of a friend who damaged the engine of his inboard quite a bit from driving onto the shore and the prop got into the sand and burned up. Makes sense. Sand is abrasive and Im sure has potential to scratch the hull, Im sure those that have a solid color hull are more worried about it than those with straight white fiberglass. I paid too much money for my X-Star to risk it I guess so I wont be beaching mine. Im assuming with the anchor buddy I can safely let it sit 5 or 10 ft out so I can still enjoy the stereo, etc. while Im on the beach.

My 2 inexperienced cents.

There's two things I've always worried about when beaching. One, a rock or something else sitting just under the sand/mud with the potential to due some serious gel coat damage, and two, sucking up sand or other debris into the intake. No sense in trying to shorten the life of my impeller.

mb