January 2021

January 25, 2021January 25, 2021

Seattle Virtual Boat Show 2021

Scott and I have attended the Seattle Boat Show for the past 20 years. This year the show will be a virtual boat show and quite different thanks to the pandemic. The organizers of the show NMTA, have launched a fantastic website at www.seattleboatshow.com. Here you can buy different ticket levels, which gain you access to many features, including four days of virtual seminars (83 to choose from) January 28 – 31.

This will be the largest virtual boat show in the country and already they have sold tickets in over 40 states. There are over 600 boats featured on the website ranging from $1400 to $3.6million.

Going from 35,000 sq ft

As many of you know, I am head of marketing for Union Marine and the annual boat show is one of my biggest tasks each year. Normally the show takes up over 200,000 sq feet at the convention center at Century Link and my company normally has over 35,000 sq ft of that space.

Like many boat dealers, we are not only doing a virtual boat show, but we’re also hosting an open house at two of our locations in Seattle and Fife. To try and squeeze in a show of this size into two local showrooms is definitely a challenge, but I feel good about our accomplishment.

Hosting a Virtual Boat Show

No other organization has ever put together a show of this size and honestly, none of us know what to expect. One very cool feature of the show, is many dealers chose to do a 3D virtual walk-thru tour of their showrooms. You can see the two virtual boat show displays for Union Marine on our website. These tours are real life videos of our actual show rooms. You can click on specific targets and get information about a brand, including a brand video, build a boat or see our inventory.

The question still remains, how many people will shop virtually versus in-person? Guess we will have to wait and see. Just like a car, everyone loves to touch and see a boat up close and in person. Scott and I put a quick video together to give you an inside peek of the show both in-person and virtually – so check it out below.

This year, we hope to get to the Annapolis and/or Fort Lauderdale shows, so be sure to subscribe to our channel for upcoming episodes.

As always, thank you for following our blog! Be sure to follow us on social media @BoatingJourney too. Next week, we’ll take you on a tour of a brand new Sea Ray L590 Fly Motor Yacht.
Cheers, Scott and Ally

January 18, 2021January 18, 2021

Avoid getting a BIG fine for flying your drone!

A year ago, Scott bought us a DJI Mavic Air drone so we could capture some great footage while boating. One of our favorite YouTube vloggers, Kara and Nate, always include awesome drone footage in each of their videos. In fact, it’s one of the reason’s we follow their channel. Unfortunately, this past year, someone turned them into the FAA and they got into big time trouble. Not only did they not have their Part 107 drone certification, but they filmed in National Parks which is not allowed without the proper permits.

That was a wake up call for us (though we don’t have 2m followers!) Scott discovered that if you want to use any of your drone footage for commercial use (business, real estate OR YouTube videos that are monetized, etc) you need to get the FAA Part 107 drone certification. Plus, you also need to register your drone with the FAA.

Prepping for the test

Scott signed up with Pilot Institute about a month ago for study guides and sample exams. The cost is normally $249 which includes lifetime access to resources, but he was able to get a deal for $149. There is a lot of information and the sample exams really helped him prepare for the actual exam. In fact, he recommends that you NOT take the exam without prepping first.

Some of the interesting things we learned from the institute were:

Before flying, check the city, state and federal rules and regulations. Just because the Federal authority might say it’s okay to fly your drone, the city might not.
Don’t fly over people. For example, you can fly over a football stadium, but only if it’s empty.
You can’t fly at night.

In addition, this training / exam is also used for people who are getting their pilot’s license. So Scott learned a lot about aviation in general. One thing that he learned was what the numbers on a runway represent. Airport runways are numbered according to compass bearings. This means runway numbers are based on the compass with 360 representing north, 90 representing east, 180 representing south, and 270 representing west. Who knew?

Test time

Scott scheduled his drone certification exam with PSI examination services in Bellevue. He selected this company because, while all testing sites charge a fee for taking the exam, many also charge another fee on the day of the exam – PSI did not. The exam was $96 and it had 60 questions. PSI said the testing time would be 2.5 hours, but after taking the sample tests, Scott guessed it would only take him about 20 minutes.

His appointment was for 1:30p and they ask that you arrive 15 minutes early. Since this is FAA regulated they are very strict with their rules. No phones are allowed and you need proper identification with a current address. Unfortunately, after I dropped him off he immediately called me from the office phone, stating his driver’s license had our old address and he needed the car registration to show his new address. After running a quick errand, I returned to pick him up, but it didn’t take him 20 minutes to take the exam. It was more like an hour.

You need to answer 42 out of 60 questions correctly to pass (70%). Did he pass? Drum roll please……Yep, he got 90%!! Woot! Way to go pilot Scott!

Time to officially fly the drone

Since studying, we learned we can’t go to the cool places we’d like to (Myrtle Edwards Park, Alki, Golden Gardens…..) so now where do we go? Well, we picked the dock at Ray’s Boathouse. Sadly, it’s closed right now due to covid and it offered us a dock all to ourselves. Ray’s has a special place in our lives, as we used to walk to it for happy hour when we first starting dating (I lived in Ballard). We can’t wait for them to re-open after the pandemic is over.

The sun was about the set and the sound was perfectly calm. It was the perfect day to fly the drone. Be sure to watch our next YouTube episode to see the footage.

We also figured out how to have the drone follow us – so that will be fun to include in future episodes.

Links and information

Scott certainly did his research and below are the links to various sites that helped him prepare for his Part 107 drone certification:

ONLINE TRAINING

PRACTICE TEST SITES

MORE HELPFUL INFO

As always, thank you for following our blog and our YouTube channel. Now that Spring is around the corner, we are actively searching for another boat and hope to find one by March or April – so stay tuned! Be sure to follow us on social media @BoatingJourney too.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

January 10, 2021January 10, 2021

Check out this 2000 Silverton 392 MY

This Silverton 392 motor yacht has an awesome layout and really could make for a great live aboard. Scott and I toured this yacht at Union Marine back in November and we were very surprised to see how much space it has.

The owners have put in some custom cutting boards in the cockpit above the refrigerator, which allows for great entertaining on the stern. We love how much open space there is in the cockpit for relaxing.

The Fly Bridge

The fly bridge on this Silverton 392 offers great visibility. One thing I noticed right away (and I think it’s a great idea), is the owner put labels everywhere to help who ever is operating the boat.

We also noticed that on the bridge, there were switches for engine fire extinguishers. How cool is that?!

The Silverton 392 Motor Yacht, with its innovative “SideWalk” flybridge steps, offers much improvement in safety, space utilization, and mobility. Never before has going forward been so easy and so safe.

The Interior

Compared to our Bayliner 4087, the salon offered much more space for entertaining. You could easily seat 6 or 8 people around the settee. For relaxing at night, the couch was directly across of the tv and it also has a reversible ottoman.

There is tons of storage space under the couch cushions, plus plenty more in the built-in cabinet under the tv.

With the galley just steps away from the salon, you can easily cook and entertain at the same time. There is a lot of storage space and I love that the stove top and oven are electric. Be sure to watch our YouTube episode, for a closeup tour (link at the end of this blog). For some reason, I hate propane ovens/stoves. I know they are the most practical for cruising, but if you are at the dock with shore power, I’ll take electric any day.

Two staterooms

Unlike our Bayliner 4087 that had three staterooms, this Silverton 392 only has two staterooms. However, someone could sleep on the couch, but that wouldn’t offer any privacy. The forward cabin has a double size bed and has plenty of drawers for storage.

There are two heads on this yacht and each has a VacuFlush toilet. The guest head does have a separate shower stall, which is a major plus. On our Bayliner, you had to use a shower curtain in the bathroom when you showered and things still got wet.

The main stateroom is an aft cabin, much like our Bayliner 4087. I feel this cabin is slightly smaller, but Scott disagrees with me. What do you think? I think that our bed was longer than the Silverton making the room bigger?

About our second boat — Main stateroom on our Bayliner 4087

The main head was a little smaller that I expected, but still offered everything you would need.

The Engine Room

This Silverton 392 MY comes with twin Caterpillar 3116 diesel engines which have a combined 740hp and they only have 150 hours of use! Access to the engine room is in the main salon.

This boat comes with a Kohler Generator and also has an oil change extractor! Super cool, especially if you have ever pumped out your oil manually.

Upgrades also include a WalVac system (a must!!), Inverter and an AB dinghy with a Honda 15hp outboard motor.

Overall Impression

Scott and I were pleasantly surprised by this yacht. It has a great layout, it’s comfortable and comes with many upgrades. While we loved our Bayliner 4087, had we looked at both boats at the same time, chances are we would have picked the Silverton.

Would it make a good liveaboard? Any boat can be a good liveaboard – check out our episode about living on a 32′ Nordic Tug. But in the end, we’re looking for a boat that’s a bit bigger with more storage. If you are looking for a great cruiser for the Northwest, be sure to check out this yacht. You will be impressed.

As always, thank you for following our journey! 2021 has a lot in store for us, including our (hopefully) upcoming bare boat charter on a power catamaran in the British Virgin Islands in April. If we can’t find the perfect liveaboard (or slip to go with it), we may decide to buy a smaller boat just to be able to get back on the water this year. Stay tuned! In the meantime, we hope you all have a fantastic New Year and we hope to see you on the water! See the full tour in the YouTube episode below.

Cheers, Scott and Ally