Bought a 16 Cruiser. Questions.

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pluscount

New member
Picking up a 2007 16 Cruiser with 50hp Honda/5hp kicker at Lake Pend Oreille nest week.

Are there factory manuals for the boat?

Is the current Honda BF50A manual all I need for the engine?

I’m adding a Garmin echoMap 73 CHIRP chart plotter. How would you run the power and transducer cables to the transom?

What size/type of anchor & length of rode recommended for large lake use?

Where to buy name decals?

Since my seamanship skills are rusty to non-existent, and I’m not near where I can take the Coast Guard BS&S course, what online courses should I look at?

Thanks.
 
Welcome aboard--and congratulations!

It is more appropriate that an owner of a 16 answer many of your questions.

here is a list of a number of on line boating courses. Probably the Power Squadron offers some of the best courses, but there is a slight fee.
Commander Bob, has a web site which has a lot of safety hints and educational features, which is free. Many states require a boating certificate, and there are universal courses which are accepted at many of these listed at this site. Although I am exempt because of my age, I take the free courses periodically just to remind myself about the rules and techniques.

I suspect you will be asked abut the depth of the lakes you boat in--a rule of thumb is you want 7 times the depth of the water plus the distance off the water of your bow. If you are anchoring in 20 feet of water, and the bow is 3 feet off the bottom, you would want 161 feet of rode (rope and chain). Many people with modern anchors use a 3:1 ratio--and in some places like AK, where anchorages can be over 100 feet--this is probably prudent.
 
Welcome aboard pluscount,

I have a 2007 CD 16 cruiser too, You can run your transducer cable along the starboard side with control cables to the stern. It will be easier if you use an electricians snake.

Be careful mounting the transducer as the larger transducers will affect the handling of the boat by acting like a trim tab and kick that side up.

The electrical wiring for your Garmin can be run to the fuse block located inside the v-berth on the your control console.


As for your anchor rode I use 3/8" X 150' of twisted nylon anchor line with 10' of 5/16 galvinzed chain, 5/16 shackle and a #13 fluke-style galvanized anchor. You may want to consider a stern anchor as these little boats will swing quite a bit on a single anchor.I use a "Y" configuration and the same sized anchor for the stern.

If the Honda doesn't have something similar to the Stingray Hydrofoil Stablizer, SE Sport Hydrofoil or similar I'd recommend it.


Hope this helps. The 16 Cruiser is a neat little boat. Have fun and be safe. Spuncopper
 
pluscount":1lhi78rh said:
1. Are there factory manuals for the boat?

2. Is the current Honda BF50A manual all I need for the engine?

3. I’m adding a Garmin echoMap 73 CHIRP chart plotter. How would you run the power and transducer cables to the transom?

4. What size/type of anchor & length of rode recommended for large lake use?

5. Where to buy name decals?

6. Since my seamanship skills are rusty to non-existent, and I’m not near where I can take the Coast Guard BS&S course, what online courses should I look at?
Click to expand...

1. Not that I know of. All I have ever seen is a sales brochure and the specifications, both of which are available online. Even if there is a manual, you will probably get better advice (and more of it) by posting here.

2. Depends on how much you know about outboards. My Yamaha manual goes in to great detail about a lot of stuff that I thought was self-evident, but it is great to have for the nitty-gritty details.

3. I ran mine back through the steering cables, out through the transom using a clam shell cover, then stick on conduit to hide the cable. The stick on conduit matches the hull color and has stood up for several years. Check on this site for how to properly prepare the through-transom hole and how to mount a synthetic pad for mounting the transducer. I have pictures of my install in my photo album.

4. Depends on where you intend to anchor and the bottom conditions. My anchor (a 9 lb. Vulcan) is probably overkill for lakes. But I deal with unknown bottoms and currents that reverse 180 while I'm asleep. Your requirements could be anything from a light Danforth with no chain for an occasional lunch hook to something much more substantial. I am also set up to launch the anchor from the cabin to avoid going out on the foredeck when travelling solo.

5. I think this is where I got mine.
https://boatletteringtoyou.com/accessories.aspx
It looks like the same website. I remember that getting the name (port, starboard, transom) and the hull ID numbers was just under the free shipping amount, so I also got the port of call. Pictures in my photo album.

6. Does Idaho have a boater license requirement? If so, taking that course would be a good place to start. I haven't looked at a Chapman on Piloting and Seamanship for years, so I don't know how much has been added in the new-fangled cell phone/chart plotter era, but the basic concepts of seamanship would still apply. Old copies are available used online for <$5 (thriftbooks.com). Some find the reading boring and need to watch a video with a thobbing sound track to hold their attention. If you just want info, Chapman's is good reading.

Mark
 
We just got our first C Dory - a 2004 16ft Angler. We took a Coast Guard class in Vancouver WA. for our Boater Education course. Taking a class is really good if you have the time versus the online method. The interaction and visual aids, not to mention being able to ask questions, was worth the 3 hour drive each way for us.

Check out your Idaho classes here - https://idpr.idaho.gov/reced/Home/Searc ... ption=BOAT
 
Although Idaho does not have a boater "license" requirement, you can get an "Idaho" Boater Education card, which gives you reciprocity with all other states requiring boater ID cards, thru Boat-ed.com. You can access most of the cost for free, but the certification and actual course, with tests etc costs $29.50. I took the Fl course/test years ago and I suspect it is virtually identical to the Idaho test.


Books to have, include the Chapman's Piloting, Seamanship, and Small Boat Handling. I have one from the 50's, which belonged to my father, the 55th edition from 1981, and One more recent edition which I gave to my son.

On line you can download the US CG Navigation Rules: International and Inland, or buy a printed copy. Also there is a very handy free publication from USCG: U.S. Aids to Navigation System. (Sometimes it is not as straight forward as it may seem.
 
As far as books go, the C-Dory book doesn’t tell you much because unlike the larger boats, there really no systems installed by C-Dory. We have no head, no water system, no built in fuel tanks, etc. We carry the info related to the devices we installed, such as the radio, Garmin GPS, and fish finder, and we do keep the Honda book handy. More important to us and what I use more than any books are a few tools, including a VOM, and assorted spare fuses. The Honda is metric and their tool kit has pretty low quality stuff so I added some better wrenches and screwdrivers along with an adjustable wrench, and a good size pair of Channellock pliers. This has been handy several times as our drain plug is a pipe plug instead of a bottle stopper, and it is an odd size.
Since you are in eastern Idaho, you are likely to have some altitude issues. When we went to Yellowstone Lake a couple of years ago, I changed to a 9 pitch prop and was glad I did, as I could still get my RPM.
One other thing to think about is if you take any water into the cockpit, rain or otherwise, because of the balance of the boat,it likely to run forward and soak whatever is under the berth. I had the boat shop here put a short barrier between the seat supports to hold the water in cockpit so bilge pump could get it out.
 
As far as books go, the C-Dory book doesn’t tell you much because unlike the larger boats, there really no systems installed by C-Dory. We have no head, no water system, no built in fuel tanks, etc. We carry the info related to the devices we installed, such as the radio, Garmin GPS, and fish finder, and we do keep the Honda book handy. More important to us and what I use more than any books are a few tools, including a VOM, and assorted spare fuses. The Honda is metric and their tool kit has pretty low quality stuff so I added some better wrenches and screwdrivers along with an adjustable wrench, and a good size pair of Channellock pliers. This has been handy several times as our drain plug is a pipe plug instead of a bottle stopper, and it is an odd size.
Since you are in eastern Idaho, you are likely to have some altitude issues. When we went to Yellowstone Lake a couple of years ago, I changed to a 9 pitch prop and was glad I did, as I could still get my RPM.
One other thing to think about is if you take any water into the cockpit, rain or otherwise, because of the balance of the boat,it likely to run forward and soak whatever is under the berth. I had the boat shop here put a short barrier between the seat supports to hold the water in cockpit so bilge pump could get it out.
 
As far as books go, the C-Dory book doesn’t tell you much because unlike the larger boats, there really no systems installed by C-Dory. We have no head, no water system, no built in fuel tanks, etc. We carry the info related to the devices we installed, such as the radio, Garmin GPS, and fish finder, and we do keep the Honda book handy. More important to us and what I use more than any books are a few tools, including a VOM, and assorted spare fuses. The Honda is metric and their tool kit has pretty low quality stuff so I added some better wrenches and screwdrivers along with an adjustable wrench, and a good size pair of Channellock pliers. This has been handy several times as our drain plug is a pipe plug instead of a bottle stopper, and it is an odd size.
Since you are in eastern Idaho, you are likely to have some altitude issues. When we went to Yellowstone Lake a couple of years ago, I changed to a 9 pitch prop and was glad I did, as I could still get my RPM.
One other thing to think about is if you take any water into the cockpit, rain or otherwise, because of the balance of the boat,it likely to run forward and soak whatever is under the berth. I had the boat shop here put a short barrier between the seat supports to hold the water in cockpit so bilge pump could get it out.
 
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