Recreation special section
Boating story
Water you waiting for? Let’s go boating
By Heidi Howell
Advertising Staff Writer
Warm
weather is just the excuse boat enthusiasts need to get out and
water-ski, wakeboard, cruise, inner tube, parasail and fish.
Favorite
spots to launch and cast in this area include McClure, McSwain, New
Melones, Tulloch and Woodward Reservoirs, Lake Comanche, Lake Don Pedro,
Lake Pardee and the Delta. Fees range from approximately $5 to $20.
If
you’re new to boating, here are some factors to consider when selecting
a vessel. “If you want some family fun – maybe some waterskiing, towing
a tube or even wakeboarding, a family runabout is very popular with
families,” says Steve Hays, sales associate for Boat Country in Escalon
(www.boatcountryusa.com).
“For serious water sport enthusiasts
wanting to get into tournaments, wake boarding or water-skiing, you’ll
need a tournament ski boat or wakeboard boat, which are also becoming
extremely popular,” Hays says.
“For family fun and maybe the bit
older set who are not concerned about speed, you might consider a
pontoon boat, which offers comfort and stability on the water,” Hays
explains. “Pontoon boats tend to be a lot larger than your typical ski
boat or family runabout. They provide a tremendous amount of room, lots
of amenities like couches, places to sleep and portable bathrooms.” Hays
adds that pontoon boats offer the biggest “bang for your buck.”
Other types of recreational boats include bass boats, saltwater boats and other varieties.
Eric
Beck, salesperson for Tracy Boat Sales (www.tracyboatsales.com), says
that when considering a boat purchase, determine what you plan to use it
for and how often, and how you will store it. Hays points out that the
number of people using the boat relates directly to the size of the
boat and how powerful the engine must be. Types of waterways the craft
will be used on, whether bays or rivers, and type of water – fresh or
saltwater – are also factors.
Hays says that boats these days
“can get quite heavy.” He suggests that people consider the tow vehicle
they plan to use, and whether it’s large enough to tow the boat they
plan to purchase. “Some people come in with grandiose ideas of the size
of boat they want, and then they might have much more boat than their
vehicle is capable of handling. Now they have to consider not only
whether they need a bigger boat, but also whether they need a bigger
vehicle to tow the boat.”
Beck clarifies that a number of
options are available, from “Perfect Pass,” which is like cruise
control, to weight board towers --– “similar to a mounted roll bar that
places the rope at a higher point so people can jump higher and do more
tricks.” High-end stereos are also available, as are ballast tanks that
draw the boat deeper into the water to create higher wakes.
Affording
a boat is another matter. Beck explains that because boats are a luxury
item, financing can be somewhat harder to obtain. He says that a lot of
people come in with the notion that because they had no problem being
financed for their car, they can pick up a boat as well. “But the banks
know that if you’re going to default on one, it’s probably going to be
the boat,” Beck says. “That’s why they’re a little more strict and their
interest rates are a little bit higher than for cars.”
“Frequently
people want to spend the least amount of money and they end up buying a
boat that later they’re not happy with because it doesn’t meet their
needs,” Hays says. “That’s where a sales associate can help, to them
find just the right boat.”
© HHWS for The Modesto Bee
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