My new Mobius LS - and a (horror) story
We picked up our new Pride & Joy on Friday. Waterski Boats Dallas made everything painless and it went as smooth as any big purchase we've ever made. They took us out for a checkout ride and then we headed down to our local lake and drove around for another two hours breaking it in.
On Saturday we took some friends out and floated around and pulled a tube. Then the fun began. The wind went from 4-5 to 25+ and I started stressing about docking to let my friends out. My fears were not quite right. It was way WORSE than I thought it would be. First off, the marina was crowded and secondly the wind was blowing right down the docking area. Now I'm used to my Sea Ray 195 with the I/O. The Moomba, as most of you know, behaves so much differently. First off, I went in way too hot and kissed the side of the dock quite nicely (no damage). When we got everyone safely off the boat I attempted to turn around in a tight area that was closed on one end. This is where things got ugly. I couldn't turn left and reversing wasn't much better. I started drifting towards the fishing dock which had two nice big steel brackets that stuck out 3 feet from the dock. I yelled at a couple of people on the dock to help me and they positioned themselves to keep me from hitting anything. With their help, I made it out of there unscathed. Needless to say I was incredibly embarrassed and, well, I was actually shaking a bit because I was pretty damn scared. I beat myself up for the rest of the day reliving that nightmare. I didn't sleep well, either.
So, I woke up this morning and googled some stuff and I think I now understand what to do. I'd driven inboards before, but, I realized I'd never docked one. Now that I think I understand I'm starting to let up on myself. For those that have any extra advice to share, PLEASE DO.
Anyway, we love the boat and I look forward to many years of fun on it.
Here's a couple of pics I took when we got it home on Friday.
http://www.juddemerson.com/mobius/mobius_starboard.jpg
http://www.juddemerson.com/mobius/mobius_port.jpg