Just bought our first boat - the 2020 AR 210! Any Advice/Lessons Learned?

[Scarab 215]

Welcome Aboard. Congrats, enjoy making family memories!

 

[F.M.]

Congrats. I like that color.

 

[Dean P]

Finally brought home our new AR210 this week! Now just need to get her out on the water! View attachment 117597

Sharp looking! Congrats! Have fun!

 

[ZGhost]

Very nice looking boat, congratulation. Enjoy the summer.
Today 5/2/2020 seems to be a nice day for a lake cruise. Supposed to be sunny and 73F. Might be my first dip of the season.

 

[Looper7]

Congrats that's a GREAT looking boat get her in the water have fun don't forget the drain plug. Best advice I have.

 

[Daren and Heather]

Got her out on the water for the very first time yesterday! Literally the FIRST time I have trailered or launched a boat EVER, and I'm doing it with a brand new boat with my wife and son watching. It was nerve wracking!! It wasn't perfect, but went okay. EXCEPT for one big mistake I made. Even through I did my research and printed a departure checkout list, I was somehow the first one to pull up to the dock so I was rushing. I FORGOT to lock in my cleanout plugs!! I had the engine idling for awhile, and didn't notice anything until I gave it throttle to accelerate away from the dock, engines revved but we weren't moving. I gave it more throttle and the engines revved but we didn't really move. Then I realized something was wrong, shut them off and remembered I forgot to lockin the cleanout plugs. Felt so stupid, this is the time I'm supposed to be breaking in these new engines too!

Good news... I installed the plugs and restarted the engines and everything seemed to work fine the rest of the day. No water in the engine bay or anything. Do you think I possibly did any damage by idling for 5 minutes and revving the engine without the cleanout plugs locked in?

 

[J-RAD]

Nah! You're fine... don't stress it and enjoy. It's pretty hard to screw anything up to bad.

 

[RightStuff]

Congrats on the new boat, always great to see another MN boater on the forum!

What lake(s) are you planning on going to?

 

[Daren and Heather]

Congrats on the new boat, always great to see another MN boater on the forum!

What lake(s) are you planning on going to?

I went on Prior Lake yesterday, planning on sticking around there a lot since it's close and I'm new, then moving onto Minnetonka and trying out other lakes. How about you? Any recommendations on good lakes around the cities?

 

[Gunner]

This works for me because I only have about a 7 minute ride to the ramp and it's one less thing to do when you get to the ramp. Before I even hook the trailer to the truck all plugs are installed in the driveway. Never had an issue doing it this way. Congrats on the new boat.

 

[RightStuff]

I went on Prior Lake yesterday, planning on sticking around there a lot since it's close and I'm new, then moving onto Minnetonka and trying out other lakes. How about you? Any recommendations on good lakes around the cities?

We are on Tonka the most since there just is so much to do on that lake, but it is a busy lake on nice days. Easy to find a quiet spot if you want that, but ramps can get busy/full quickly, so be patient. Early on/early off has worked for us to avoid lines at the ramp and guarantee we have a parking spot.

Waconia is a good lake as well, the public launch on the NE side does get full early. There is a small marina on the town side of the lake that for a couple bucks you can launch/retrieve, that option has worked well for us.

I like Prior, we have friends that live on the lake so we don't bring our boat when we are there but have been on the lake a lot. Fun lake, busy on the weekends and somewhat hard to do water-sports during the busy periods since it's a "skinny" lake, so traffic feels like it's on top of you.

Minnewashta is another nice option. It's a smaller lake, so it's something that we use as an option for week nights if we want to pack some dinner, do some surfing, tubing, etc.

Obviously there are a ton more around here, all have their pros/cons!

 

[Tommy Bierly]

Congratulations!! Enjoy it! Best pieces of advice I saw: 1) slow like a pro, fast like an @$$...take your time
2) don’t approach anything faster than you’re willing to hit it

be safe! Have fun!

 

[Daren and Heather]

We are on Tonka the most since there just is so much to do on that lake, but it is a busy lake on nice days. Easy to find a quiet spot if you want that, but ramps can get busy/full quickly, so be patient. Early on/early off has worked for us to avoid lines at the ramp and guarantee we have a parking spot.

Waconia is a good lake as well, the public launch on the NE side does get full early. There is a small marina on the town side of the lake that for a couple bucks you can launch/retrieve, that option has worked well for us.

I like Prior, we have friends that live on the lake so we don't bring our boat when we are there but have been on the lake a lot. Fun lake, busy on the weekends and somewhat hard to do water-sports during the busy periods since it's a "skinny" lake, so traffic feels like it's on top of you.

Minnewashta is another nice option. It's a smaller lake, so it's something that we use as an option for week nights if we want to pack some dinner, do some surfing, tubing, etc.

Obviously there are a ton more around here, all have their pros/cons!

How is the launch at Minnewashta? Is there usually a line there, and is there a dock?

 

[RightStuff]

The Minnewasta ramp and parking lot is new, they just re-did it in the last yr or two. It has a 2 boat wide ramp and a dock on each side. The biggest issue with that launch is there is a long no-wake channel to get out to the main part of the lake, maybe 5+ mins.

As for a line, I'm sure that depends on timing. During the week nights I've been on the lake there's usually nobody else there. I'm sure there are busy times on the weekends, but with the new parking lot and ramp I'm sure it's better now than it was before they remodeled.

 

[Daren and Heather]

Thanks! That sounds perfect for me right now! I might try out Minnewashta soon, I'm familiar with that lake but never actually boated on it.