Rate your 2022 boating season

[WiskyDan]

All of us who boat in the upper Midwest understand that our season is relatively short and some years are better than others. Since the 2022 boating season is winding down around here I figured I’d ask how the season went for others in our neck of the woods.

If I was grading my season on an A,B,C,D,F scale I would give it a C, maybe a C minus.

Since I travel a lot for work I rarely get on the boat during the week which colors my observations and may not be typical for most. This limits my possible boating days quite a bit and have to hope for good weekends to make owning a boat around here worth it.

May: Pretty chilly - which is normal - but we sometimes get decent days towards the end of the month but not so much this year.

June: Chilly for the first couple of weeks but it was pretty nice the second half of the month.

July: Very nice - we had three great weekends in a row and it looked like it was setting up for a great August.

August: I think we have maybe one good weekend day the whole month which was really disappointing after the great weather we had in July. Mostly wet and/or windy conditions on just about every weekend.

September: We usually get a couple of decent weeks before things turn colder in the middle of the month but we were barely in the 60’s for Labor Day weekend. It’s gotten pretty chilly over the past couple weeks other than a day or two - the boat comes out of the marina tomorrow and off to the Yamaha dealer to be winterized.

So if you had to rate your season on an A,B,C,D,F scale what would it be?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

WI & MN are the closest to SD which is where I’m at.

Weather wise A. Quite a few warm to hot days, plenty of water for most of the season, some irrigation reservoirs got pulled down some but over all great.

Boating A- Only because I didn’t get to go to all the places I wanted, currently at boating day 35 a bit behind from last years final number of 47-I didn’t get to do my Oahe trip which would have added roughly 12 boating days.

Boat A+. Ran great all season, LiFePO batteries worked out great, as did the other modifications I made over winter.

Fishing A. Caught a lot of lakers this year, I targeted them, did a little walleye fishing too.

Water sports C. Was hoping to get the towables out this summer but others were busy doing other things. I give it a C because I think a D or a F would be bad things, just not doing it doesn’t qualify to me as being bad.

 

[906Tony]

Upper Michigan boating season got season off to a cool start as usual. I always make a point to be in the water by may 15, which I did. However the good hot days don’t come until July. Baseball season held us back quite a bit so I think I only put on about 25hrs this season.
One thing I learned about our short boating season, is to try and make the most of every outing. Go new places and don’t always go out just because your guilty the boat isn’t being used enough. Anyway I would give my season a B-.

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Out here it sucked. I suspect it was pay back for the year before. I rate 2022 as a "D". Rarely a hot day, rarely a full sunny day, rarely less than 20 mph winds and even now the water is a bit on the cold side. Of course I'm referring to the weekends. It was always great during the week but crap for weekends. Looking forward to the rest of 2022 for a turnabout and into 2023 for a full re-boot.

 

[Mesa50]

The upstate of South Carolina was not as good this year as last. Colder slower start to the spring season. It was windy a lot of weekends. End of July and August were very overcast, so the water temps never got as warm as last season. I only put about half the hours on the boat compared to last year. It seems like the fall is going to be colder earlier this year as well. Id say it was a “C”.

 

[Madcityami]

Same as @WiskyDan for us on Mendota in Madison. I thought I heard the weather guy say we only had one weekend without precip this summer (usually just one day, but still). Quite a few times where the temp was great but wind sucked.

 

[TimW451]

If I were rating boating season in WI or MN this year I’d say both days were good.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Southeastern Lower Michigan here. My local boating season was a C. Didn't get out to much, had some good times. Maybe 1 or 2 exceptional days, smh. Surounded by water everywhere. Either weather did pan out or really too much going on with Parents health, work and job.

Now taking the boat down to Navarre, FL was AWESOME. That gets an "A" Would definately do it again.

 

[Babin Farms]

I would give my season a C. This has been the fewest hours we’ve put on any boat in one season. Started out with sending one ECM in for repairs and lost a month. Shelbyville was a great trip but the day after we left and went to KY I started having issues with the repaired ECM. Lost more time due to boat being down. All is good now and going to cap the season off with the Starved rock to Peoria run.

 

[bigsapper]

5/10. Had issues with boat service and cleaning in the Spring. By the time we got in the water it was blistering. All summer. Today was the first pleaseant day.

 

[Billtex2000]

Gotta say B+! We had great weather 95% of the time and we had lots of vacation time to use, so spent a lot of time on the water this summer!

 

[RobbieO]

Here in CA the weather has been hot. I’ll rate my season a D. Went up to Pedro in May and fell off the bow my boat in the campground on day 1 and broke my foot. Came back in July for 5 days and it was awesome. Scheduled a week in September but had to cancel due to wifes work schedule. That was it. Put 6-7 hours on the boat this year. Could of done some shorter outings but the lakes are too damn low. Hazards are not marked. See ya next year!

 

[drewkaree]

Straight F this year. The wife claims 3 trips out, I only accept 2. Supposed to drop below freezing Thursday night, and temps should slowly suck, so we're hoping to have a decent weekend next week, we're trying to make a color run up the river, and we'll be pulling out for storage afterwards.

Life has been a kick in the giblets this year

 

[Sean R]

Don't want to rub salt in anyone's wounds but -A down here in Georgia. Have had 36 boat outings this season and counting (I record them on my goggle calendar). Had two buddies come down from MI this summer and two of my nieces. Weather was perfect with ever guest and the boat ran like a rapped ape.

 

[Coult45]

Solid A in central NY. 5th year on the lake, but first summer with a boat we love and the weather was great. So far…75 hours and 935 miles on the Erie Canal, Seneca River, Cross Lake and Cayuga Lake. Huge improvement over last year, when the lake was 6 feet above normal multiple times during the summer, and we all had to pull boats and docks out to minimize damage. Boat and dock will come out of the water next weekend, so hoping for one or two more short trips.

 

[Crob83]

I give mine a C-. About 15-20 outings total, but did not make it down to my property on Norris Lake this year at all. Indiana lakes suck for the most part, and the good ones are not very close....lol. Have two 2K acre reservoirs within about 10 minutes of my house, pretty sick of them tbh. One is so dirty I won't even boat it in anymore, both are $40 to launch on weekends and $20 on weekdays. Good for a quick trip, but houses all around both of them and no good scenic views

 

[84rzv500r]

I'd say A- here in the keys... I didn't get my repower done till just before the 4th of July so I had to suffer the boating in the Seadoo Sporster Temp Boat... but hey it was still better than having to be someone's Boat Bit*h... but still boating nearly every day... water is cooling off... getting close to the lower limit of 80 degrees... below that I have to be drunk to get in... The ratty old AR210 is running like a top even though I have two trashed jet pumps... one has no stator veins in it and the other is sucking air through the midbearing.... and I cant give it full throttle without cavitating the pumps but it runs every day and behaves... New HO Pumps are in the works... Th MR-1's start instantly

 

[84rzv500r]

Solid A in central NY. 5th year on the lake, but first summer with a boat we love and the weather was great. So far…75 hours and 935 miles on the Erie Canal, Seneca River, Cross Lake and Cayuga Lake. Huge improvement over last year, when the lake was 6 feet above normal multiple times during the summer, and we all had to pull boats and docks out to minimize damage. Boat and dock will come out of the water next weekend, so hoping for one or two more short trips.

Grew up in the Elmira-Corning area... Moved to FLA in 2010 when I retired from Corning Glass Works... Never looked Back.. Don't miss June, July, August, and Winter

 

[BlkGS]

C- here.

We had zero outings, but I got the boat back down to FL, and a lot of the post storage cleanup started. Being in FL, it was honestly.probably too hot up until recently to take the boat out anyways.

My goal is to have it cleaned up and ready to enjoy some a little bit in late winter early spring. I doubt we will get much use put of it as the wife is pregnant with baby 2, but maybe mid to late summer trip to NC will be feasible next year.

Or I'll just give up and sell it. I dunno. She'd probably prefer that.

 

[gt5pilot]

Hmmm...hard to say as it's not over yet here, was out three days this week and all day Saturday and Sunday. You can definitely feel the air and water temperature are dropping though, coming back at 21:30 after dinner Friday night was a "brisk" 80 degrees.