First Impressions 2021 252 SE

[swatski]

Swatski is lying to us......... Those pics are from Lake Powell not Lake Mead. Although he has been to Mead (obviously by his sig pic)

Yeah. I totally spaced... I meant to respond to @Calphor in the other thread.
Sorry! I'll move the post.

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[J-RAD]

Yeeeeeeees! Should be done!

Powell or Mead might persuade me to join.

 

[dzeppos]

Both are great. Mead is obviously easier from SoCal - 4 hours vs 8-9 hours to lake Powell. What’s great about lake mead is you are 15- 20 minutes from civilization if you need anything (including marine shops, Yamaha boar dealer, a city etc..plenty of hotel options 15-20 minute away ...). Powell - is like being on the moon. Gorgeous, breath taking - and not of the meek - you are totally on your own out there - but that makes it so amazing. Both are large enough to get lost out there and not to worry about crowds or too many boaters. Powell is probably the most incredible lake in the world. Take a look from this summers trip we did.

 

[swatski]

^^^^ EXACTLY!

Powell is simply awesome.
But I agree, one can get in trouble pretty quickly; exploring some the far flung corners is not trivial; good navigation and redundancies are important; spare fuel, twin motors, and foremost - a really good chartplotter, those are some helpful essentials.
For example, we went into some places where there literally was no turning back, and you can be 100 mile from civilization with no cell phone signal, lol:


But then, you have some of those places to yourselves!


It is a magical place.


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[anmut]

^^^^ EXACTLY!

Powell is simply awesome.
But I agree, one can get in trouble pretty quickly; exploring some the far flung corners is not trivial; good navigation and redundancies are important; spare fuel, twin motors, and foremost - a really good chartplotter, those are some helpful essentials.
For example, we went into some places where there literally was no turning back, and you can be 100 mile from civilization with no cell phone signal, lol:
View attachment 138082

But then, you have some of those places to yourselves!
View attachment 138083

It is a magical place.
View attachment 138084

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That looks amazing - how deep is it there? Are you able to toss an anchor? Any worry about carbon dioxide fumes from running a boat in an enclosed area like that?

 

[HangOutdoors]

I would absolutely love to go there...... That looks incredible. No one wants to tow the boat across country to do it

 

[Calphor]

It depends on where you are. In a slot canyon like that you may have 50+ feet of water under the hull, or just a couple, it really depends. Powell might be in the middle of no where, but the beauty keeps me going back every year and the scale is breath taking. A couple of pictures from my 2019 trip to make the point. The boat in the middle of the slot canyon gives you a sense of scale. And the sunsets on the lake are always spectacular, unless there is a monsoon storm rolling through and then it is spectacular for other reasons.
If you ever go there and run up-lake, always stop at Dangling Rope Marina. It is mid-way between Wahweap and Bullfrog Marinas (about 40 miles from the Dam) and the ice cream is always worth the stop!

 

[HangOutdoors]

What is the water clarity and temperature like?

 

[swatski]

That looks amazing - how deep is it there? Are you able to toss an anchor? Any worry about carbon dioxide fumes from running a boat in an enclosed area like that?

There are places where you could anchor but in general it is very deep and steep up and down, 200ft+ and it just drops, depends on water level. And that's why really good maps that adjust for water level are essential - as @sysinu pointed out it can go up or down 100+ft during a season - so you are looking at a completely different canyon in those more narrow spots.
Hitting a "white whale" (a submerged rock) is a constant danger in those canyons if not watching the water and your chartplotter, like a hawk.

In most places there you will unlikely feel confined to space though, lol:




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[Calphor]

The water is pretty clear and the water temp in August is in the high 70s to low 80s for the first 8-10 feet. Below that layer it gets cold fast. There is nothing better than soaking in the water in the afternoon, just don’t forget the sunscreen!

 

[swatski]

Any worry about carbon dioxide fumes from running a boat in an enclosed area like that?

It didn't really occur to me, we keep the motors off when swimming.

I found this clip that shows a bit better what it feels like to run some of the more narrow canyons; again - water level changes everything there.
It's an amazing experience but I wouldn't do it on the first day there, really not for faint of heart, lol.
Need a steady hand on steering and throttles:

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[Julian]

Hey all, here it is on Day 1 of meeting our new 252 SE at Lake Mead - out by Las Vegas. I'm a veteran driver, both military and leisure, first time owner!

She's already got a few hours on it and just working to hit 10, so I can get break in service done, then really let her rip.

1. She's nimble for being a meaty boat.
2. She get's on plane incredibly quick.
3. I was running a lot of high RPMs (550 mile shoreline lake and only roughly 50-80 boats out based the ramp's traffic - winter time traffic) and covered 37 miles with only 12% consumption of fuel - roughly 4.4 miles per gallon - don't know if this is good or bad.
4. She's noisy at high RPMs, moderate at cruise.
5. She looks premium, but I can tell a good number of the finishes are kind of cheaped out plastic trim. Vinyl is very pretty, but I can see it being exceptionally high maintenance due to all of the white.
6. I'm learning a TON being here with all of you fine boaters and look forward to learning much more!

View attachment 137940

We need more photos!!!!

(you'll be thankfull for that white vinyl when the sun it at its hotest!) I've found mine is pretty easy to keep clean. In fact the only part of my vinyl that is noticeably dirty is the dark vinyl where someone got sun screen on it!

 

[TwoSips]

Here's a few more!

 

[J-RAD]

A couple of my favorite Lake Powell shots.
- Iceberg Canyon

We camped in a in tent in my mouth of the cavern on the right for several days. My parents Four Winns and our sun shades on the beach.

Rainbow Bridge

World's largest natural arch

 

[dzeppos]

Love the pictures. I would agree there is deep water in the canyons. - I too went into Slot canyon - coolest experience ever. Dangling rope was a great stop for ice cream.
However, I had a crazy experience in a padre bay - there was a reef at about 24' depth - i was exploring for a place to dock the houseboat on Day 3. I had just done some wake surfing with kids and had 800 lbs transom bag on the port side, and the yamaha wake wedge cruising at about 8-10 mph. All of sudden 500 feet from land - i saw that it got really shallow out of nowhere like 80 feet to 3 feet and then - BAM - heard the loudest scariest sound ever. I immediately killed the engine. After seeking nothing filling or leaking i slowly started to make my way back to my house boat. Noticed that reverse was a bit stuck - (this is a sign of a pebble jamming up the gates or worse - like the prior year - that the engine mount came off and cracked the nozzle - another story)
Thankfully, I took a look underwater - what actually hit wasn't the hull.

I have cobra fangs (Magnum AK) with JB thrusters. The cobra fang on the starboard side actually hangs lower than the hull line when you have an 800lb transom bag before you plane 10mph. That hit and bent upwards the fin. (per Cobra - the aluminum bends up to give so that the fin didn't damage anything)- Well, not entirely true - because the tie rods caused it to cracked the mount to the AK (which holds it to the Hull)
Thankfully - didn't cause a no leak. We didn't even see this until 2 weeks later when my mechanic replaced the AK fin and mount.
- so that ran me $800 to fix but thankfully - no leak.

When this all happened, so many things went through my mind. So with Powell - you can't assume the depth, and like Swatski said - redundancies are key. Also - for us- bring strong young people to help with anchoring houseboats - and heavy lifting - but its the best trip ever!

 

[anmut]

Here's a few more!
View attachment 138099

OMG you're killing me with those itty bitty fenders and that brand new black hull, man! Here, https://www.amazon.com/Goplus-Marine-Fender-Ribbed-Inflatable/dp/B081Z6RZZ5/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=large+boat+fenders&qid=1607109436&sr=8-9, buy yourself a Christmas Gift!!

 

[TwoSips]

OMG you're killing me with those itty bitty fenders and that brand new black hull, man! Here, https://www.amazon.com/Goplus-Marine-Fender-Ribbed-Inflatable/dp/B081Z6RZZ5/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=large+boat+fenders&qid=1607109436&sr=8-9, buy yourself a Christmas Gift!!

HA! It's what the dealer gave us as a "welcome aboard gift"

I have 3 Mission Sentry's on order - pricey, but from what I'm reading and seeing, next gen/level fendering! BTW, these guys have it the lowest ANYWHERE.

Mission Sentry Boat Fender

Free Shipping & Lowest Price Guarantee! The Mission Sentry Boat Fender is in stock now.

www.evo.com

 

[anmut]

HA! It's what the dealer gave us as a "welcome aboard gift"

I have 3 Mission Sentry's on order - pricey, but from what I'm reading and seeing, next gen/level fendering! BTW, these guys have it the lowest ANYWHERE.

Mission Sentry Boat Fender

Free Shipping & Lowest Price Guarantee! The Mission Sentry Boat Fender is in stock now.

www.evo.com

Those are nice! I have the ones in my link and they've never failed me - in fact when my boat was tied to my brothers 23' i/o last summer and they both broke away from the dock during a storm, drifted and beached themselves for the night, we found both boats were still tied together and there was zero damage on that side.

 

[Calphor]

A few more for your viewing pleasure. This one is in the canyon coming from Rainbow Bridge.

In Padre Bay.

And the obligatory Dam shot.

 

[swatski]

@TwoSips your boat is gorgeous! I love the new lines, it maybe the most proportionately built boat in the entire YJB fleet, yet.

BTW- thanks for being a good sport, letting us bomb your thread with pics of boating in your neighborhood waters!
You know, we are just mostly really envious.

Did someone say Rainbow Bridge?? lol


What a place
I would be there every weekend if I could! and your new boat is just PERFECT for that lake, no dragging a lower is a huge plus.