Getting to Know my New Boston Whaler 150 Montauk

It’s amazing how much work there is to do when you get a new boat. First of all, there’s all the thought and research that goes into choosing and ordering the boat. This includes a lot of pencil sharpening to understand all the costs, and soul searching about priorities. It also includes figuring out in advance how to store and transport the boat, which in my case was quite an undertaking. Then there’s boater education and training, which comes both before and after getting the actual boat.

After you get it, you have to study all the manuals to familiarize yourself with everything. You have to create your own detailed checklists of everything you need to do before loading the boat onto the trailer, before driving away, before and after putting it in the water, and then to do all that in reverse. You have to outfit the boat with gear, some of which is required by the Coast Guard, and some of which is just a good idea. For example, I had to figure out my own anchoring solution. Also, they gave me a fire extinguisher but didn’t install it for me. I had to hunt around for the proper mounting bracket and install it myself, which was actually a fun first boat project. My fancy navigation system has a bunch of features disabled until I activate the license. The dealer didn’t do that for me, and the salesman didn’t even know how. My VHF radio has a red “Distress” button that automatically calls the Coast Guard and broadcasts my GPS coordinates. However, that doesn’t work until I get a special code from the FCC to identify my vessel. The salesman didn’t know much about that either.

When you receive a new car, it’s flawless, immaculate, and immediately ready to drive away to fulfill its mission in life. Boats aren’t like that at all. They are mostly hand-built and have a lot more options. There’s just a lot more that you’re expected to do yourself. For many of us, that’s actually part of the appeal.

Although I love the boat, I have a list of gripes about the dealer. Besides ordering the wrong trailer, it wasn’t particularly clean when they gave it to me. They also forgot to put the appropriate temporary licenses for boat and trailer onto the vehicles before sending me home. After I got home, I figured that out and did it myself. The salesman didn’t seem extremely knowledgeable. I’m meeting with their “real” delivery captain (an actual Coast Guard licensed captain) next week, who’ll take me out for more training and hopefully more authoritative answers to my questions.

In the meantime, I’m spending some quality time in the garage with my boat. This place that used to just store junk and was rarely visited is now my favorite place. I cleaned the boat up the way I would have liked to receive it. In the process, I got to study every inch of it and got to know it. Boats are like pets; if you love them they love you back. They don’t text you and tell you that they had a great time but aren’t feeling a connection.