articfriends

Donna the trip from burt lake to lk huron is quite a jaunt,it takes about 2 hours to get from burt lk to mullet lake on indian river,20 minutes to cross mullet lk(give or take a little depending on if you go directly acrossed and how fast you drive),about 2 hours to get from mullet down the cheboygan river to the locks plus the time to ford the locks and another 10-20 minutes to get out to the big water. We usually stay at the best western or days inn in downtown cheboygan,they both have hotel rooms with slips and sea wall parking (plus your ground floor rooms have sliding glas doors that open facing the docks). We go once or twice a year,1 day we go up river acrossed mullet lake,up indian river and acrossed burt lake,stop for lunch or dinner at one of the restaurants along the water,seems like we put about 65-100 miles on the gps for that trip and it is about 8-10 hours depending on how long we play/race on each lake and how long we stop for lunch or dinner.The second day we usually go down river thru the locks and out into lk huron,around bois blanc island,out to mackinaw bridge and pull into mackinaw island and spend the night on boat at the state docks or get a hotel room if we bring guest with us. the 3 rd day we go to st ignace from mackinaw island for lunch and play in the big water and head back. We usually log 70-120 miles on gps doing that unless water is real rough(our boat is only a 27 ft!). Alot of other boaters make the same trip,mackinaw island is a blast at night once all the tourist leave,we hit a nice restaurant and a few bars,alot of them have live bands or singers. We have seen the black thunder on indian river or out on burt lk for past 4 or 5 years,2 years ago we stood around in the water talking to the other boaters parked in front of burt lk state campground and the guy with the black thunder was anchored there,we b.s'd with him for about 1/2 hour,he showed us the motors in his boat and let us check out his cabin in the boat. Thats when he was telling us it was a major pita for him to go up the river because his boat barely idles and there are ALOT of turns on indian river that were a pita with a boat as big as his. He also told us he launches at burt lk state park and when he wants to go to Mackinaw island he puts boat on the trailer and launches at mouth of the cheboygan river. I remember him telling us he was from waterford or pontiac,somewhere in that vicinity and i thought he said he owned a excavating company but jennifer say's i'm wrong that he said he was a Dr or dentist but it was 2 yrs ago. We asked him why he didn't boat on Lk St clair,he said he doesn't like hauling boat home and didn't have a place to keep it at home,plus he has a beautiful waterfront home up there (looks like a million $ plus place). We go up there usually in july,i will take some good pics and talk to him if he's around and post them for you.We have never been to SOTW in GH but have been to GH about a dozen times boating with our boat,1/2 the time we have went the water has been 3-5's and we weren't able to go out on lk Mi. One of our best trips out there we cruised the shoreline,pulled into the safety harbor going into saugatuck and partied/cooked out on the beach with a few of our friends. Me and Jennifer love those 43 ft black thunders,our next boat is going to be a 35-38 ft,probably a fountain or AT,we will probably never have a 43 ft bt mainly because we like to tow our boat all over(wev'e been to every lk and river in mich you can enjoyably boat on,plus the gulf of mexico,ohio river,fla intercoastal,tennesee river,lk pickwick etc) and can only imagine what a pita it must be towing your boat long distances and finding launches big enough!Smitty

Ms PatriYacht

sorry to make you type so much it can be a pain towing it but we keep it in our driveway and trailer it everywhere.
We have a one ton dually and it pulls it with no problem. We go all over Lake Erie, Lake MI and Lake St Clair.

If you have any interest on riding on our BT we have two spots open for SOTW, we have divided up the costs among 8 of us. Each person is chipping in $250.00 a piece which includes gas. We have some rooms reserved at a small motel I think they are $69.00 a night.
We have done 8 on Poker runs before and doesn't change the speed a bit, we are only mid 70's this year my husband thinks we his engine work it might see 80, does not matter to me.

Horseplay

Smitty, I second what Donna said. Towing a BT isn't a problem. We pull and launch our 46 with no problem. Lake Huron, Michigan, Ontario. Cape Cod. The boat is in Florida for the winter. If you can you should go for a ride at SOTW, you'll be impressed.

Regarding the owner you spoke about. Any high performance engine could give you problems having to idle as much as you say. There engines might be out of tune or running too rich at idle. This would not necessarily be a BT problem. Also, while I know nothing about the Indian River, I've had our boat in some very tight quarters in the mangroves and it handles fine.

Donna, I think we're going to try the Boyne City run. Something different.

Ms PatriYacht

Tim I hear that the Boyne City run is very nice and first class all the way. I believe the lunch stop is in Bay Harbor. I have been tempted, but everyother weekend in July is booked so I think we should sit out. We are setting up a Lake St Clair Fun Poker Run in August, it sounds like it is shaping up nicely.

articfriends

Horseplay,i never mean't to imply the idling problem had anything to do with the boat being a BT,what i got out of this guys story was he didn't know a whole lot about motors and he let a motor builder talk him into cams that were too radical and ended up with a pair of unruly idling motors. They started out as 800sc's and have twin dominator carbs,his main complaint was he had to shift it in and out of gear constantly to keep it idling at no wake speed which made it difficult to control.I showed the guy my fuel injected blown 540 in my boat,he couldn't believe it could idle at 675 in gear and still put out 750 hp! He said the next time his motors were freshened he was taming them down. I am absolutley impressed with the BT 43's and 46's!!!!
Last summer we boated in all the lakes around boyne(lk charlevoix,lk michigan,torch lk,Elk rapids,grand traverse,suttons bay etc)-Absoloutly a beautiful,scenic area!!

articfriends

When is SOTW,we are definately interested in your offer,we have plans to go to New Hampshire to lk winnapasaukee (i think thats how its spelled) the 3rd wk in july. Pm me with details and we'll make plans,thanks,Smitty

articfriends

I just looked at the map,i misspoke when i said we have been to grand haven about a dozen times,we have always launched at public launch on lk Macatawa at Holland and went out on big water from there (had to look at the map,i always mix up the places next to each other),Smitty

Ms PatriYacht

Smitty nice to talk with you, glad you will be joining us on the run I forgot to ask what size SOTW tee shirts you want. Plus you will be getting red PatriYacht shirts to wear on the run, we will not be the fastest but we will be well dressed
Call us when you want to get together for a

39NAS-T

They keep their boat up at Port Sanalic (sp) right. We have a cottage in Lexington and see their boat quite a bit if this is the same one. Tripple with the beefed up bravos???
Hunter

Ms PatriYacht

If you mean Horseplay yes, they have a summer home there.
The paint job is pretty discriptive as well It's for sale though