Friday 15 February 2013

Riviera 41

RIVIERA REFINED
The Riviera 40 was the boatbuilder’s former top seller, but the new 41 is one of the most sophisticated of its type and looks set to reclaim top billing, writes David Lockwood
Everyone liked the Riviera 40 – a flybridge cruiser that had enough waterline length to be comfortable at sea, ample accommodation and amenities to disappear for a week, and a user-friendly size to drive and maintain. Nearly 300 were sold over six years.
The new 41 has big shoes to fill and, as to be expected, it is more contemporary than the 40. The new model has a naval architect-designed hull courtesy of Frank Mulder, with prop tunnels to reduce shaft angles from 14 degrees to 11 degrees, improving the transfer of power and underwater exhausts. Standard power comes from twin fully electronic, 460hp C7 Caterpillar diesel engines that live in an engine room with fully moulded liner.
There are the latest electronic gizmos, like a neat ($14,224 option) telescopic crane that’s way better than the two-stage davits, a fresh interior with improved finish and seriously big dinette, a cockpit that’s truly mindful of the serious game fisher, and many other refinements.

Engineering improvements

Riviera has invested considerably in the engineering of the new 41. It begins with the underwater hull, built from hand laid GRP with a balsa-cored foredeck and cabin structure. The hull shape is a modified 40 with bigger chines, prop tunnels, a three-quarter keel in the Riviera style, changed strakes and a squared off transom – all to provide more lift.
Compared with the 40, the 41 is 8cm shorter in length overall, courtesy of a new bowsprit with integral anchor, but has a 10cm longer moulded hull length which is what matters most. The 41 is also 3cm wider, 150kg heavier due to more gear and a second head, 8cm shallower on the draft thanks to the prop pockets, and carries 210 litres more fuel (or more again if you choose the optional forward tank). There is the same 460 litres of water with room to fit a desalinator.
With its moulded liner, the engine room makes the 41 more refined from an engineering viewpoint. A new, neater and more easily accessible main breaker panel is at the entrance with all the emergency engine-start switches and override switches back aft where you can get to them in a hot engine room. The wiring is simpler and neater, and the engines easier to service. The coolant bottles, Racor fuel filters (including that for the 9.5kW Onan generator, mounted forward), sea strainers and freshwater tap are all back aft.
Part of the reason for more engine room space is the creation of a huge utility room under the galley floor where a wide hatch and short ladder lead down to a huge amount of storage space. You will also find the hot water service here, all the boat’s main plumbing manifolds, the battery charger, inverter (fitted to this boat for generator-free AC for the LCD television), and, should you choose, an optional washer-dryer.
The AC/DC panel on the 41 is more refined with a residual current device, a digital volt gauge, and a lighting and plumbing plan on a ship’s outline that, at a glance, alerts you to what’s running. Way better than the old warning lights above the saloon windscreen (Riv’ owners will know what I mean).

Designs on the outdoors

While essentially the same size as the 40’s, the cockpit is more mindful of game fishing boats but better protected by the extended flybridge overhang, which, with the seating farther aft, not only ensures a good view of the cockpit but allows for a bigger dinette in the bridge. However, the first thing I noticed when I set foot aboard was the new dot-pattern non-skid (deck) that will be easier to clean than the old moulded pattern.
The boarding platform is smarter too, with an integral grab rail so you can hang off the back (also handy for tying off toys) and the swim ladder has a hatch catch allowing you to reverse without it flipping up. The Plastimo hand-held hot/cold deck shower near the marlin door (which seals better than before) is a neat fitting.
Depending on your boating bent, the mid-transom live-bait tank with double hatches is either a fantastic place to keep slimy mackerel or a useful party icebox or bin for the empties. You should also note the hatches are injection moulded on this boat, thereby saving weight, as is the new flybridge hardtop that aims to be half the weight of the old model. Less weight up top is great on any boat.
The moulded steps in the cockpit leading to the sidedecks are less obtrusive and the walkarounds have been widened to improve access to the bow. The Australian-made, 200kg-lift telescopic ADC crane on this boat is a beauty. It has the scope to put a 3.4m Zodiac RIB with 15hp outboard on the foredeck.
Storage space is generous in the cockpit with side lockers, twin long underfloor fish boxes, including macerator pumps, and a tightish lazarette for access to the steering gear but not much else. There is provision for mounting a game chair if that is your thing, plus new toe-under cutouts so you can lean outboard while fighting fish and get support on your thighs rather than stubbing your big toe.
Back under the flybridge overhang is the usual insulated eutectic cool box – this has been extended outboard so you get more internal volume. The sink is on the opposite side to starboard, behind the outward opening saloon door and designed to maximise saloon space. And there is a remote for the Clarion sound system, plus the usual raw and fresh water taps and dockside connections.

Bigger flybridge

The new ladder and aperture improve access to the flybridge with more floor and living space than before. The forward portside lounge can seat two but the L-shaped lounge opposite is a beauty that can accommodate four adults. Add a small fold-up table for cocktail hour – I’m told Riviera might offer such a thing soon – and go for the optional infill that lets you create a double bed in the bridge.
A new angular dash has been designed so you can mount Palm Beach-style split throttle/gear levers either side of the solid Edson wheel, as is often preferred on serious fishing boats. The module also makes better use of space with plenty of room for flush mounting two 15” electronic screens (one Raymarine C120 and ST6002 autopilot are fitted to this boat).

Indoor living

Things have changed dramatically indoors with contemporary saloon lounges that are lower and squarer than the old curved ones with ruched or pleated infills; a much bigger, raised and dedicated dinette to starboard; lovely high-gloss natural cherrywood joinery, thanks to the new varnishing plant; and a more modern, light and spacious look from cream liners.
The small hard-wearing Amtico floor panel as you step inside the saloon is a good thing to cut down on wear. The saloon door opens outwards so it doesn’t get in the way of the wetbar with combo fridge/icemaker, usefully big servery, bottle locker and drawers, plus the AC/DC panel with generator control.
The L-shaped lounge opposite, finished in cream or bone-coloured leather, can seat four or be used by two as a day lounge or bed. Better still is the optional trundle bed that boosts your sleeping capacity by two. And when it’s raining or mid-winter, that trundle bed makes a great place from which to watch videos. Meanwhile, in the ceiling liner is a pushbutton rod locker so you can carry all your fishing gear aboard without hearing “get those rods off the bed!” – another nice detail.
The windows are deeper, letting in more light, and the huge aft window is actually the same size as that on a 56. There are new blinds and an LCD television stand before the dinette to port. Located on a raised section of Amtico flooring that won’t stain, the dinette is huge and able to comfortably seat four for a real sit-down dinner with great views. The table is on a gas pedestal, so even big blokes will fit under it, and there is the option of an infill to create a daybed or second kiddie’s bed.
The galley opposite is still on a mezzanine level, but it’s only one step instead of two from the saloon allowing better discourse between chef and crew. It also features a massive amount of Corian food-preparation space. Amenities range from a recessed two-burner Ceran hob which will let you cook in pots without worrying about spills, to a convection microwave oven, deep sink with separate filtered drinking-water tap, to a quieter extractor fan and a NovaCool bench-height fridge with separate vertical freezer.

Accommodation

It’s a treat getting two cabins and two heads on a 41-footer – the layout is ideal for living aboard with family and/or friends. I’m not sure how many you want to sleep on your Riviera 41, but with a bed in the bridge, trundle bed in the saloon and infill for the dinette all optional, and the standard accommodation layout as tested, you could sleep 11.
Great to see a fixed or optional opening portlight (for which I would want a reed switch and light on the dash letting me know the port’s been left open) in the standard guests’ cabin. At the time of writing the cabin had two single beds and a transverse pullout overhead berth. At least one Sydney dealer said he would prefer to see just two single berths and no overhead bed, plus an infill to make a double, thereby creating more headroom around the beds.
The communal head/guest’s en suite has a new and improved floor with gutters to maximise drainage, a classy semi-recessed porcelain basin, stylish bathroom fittings and Vacuflush loo. Extractor fans and opening hatches assist with ventilation too. There is a lot more floor space in the owner’s en suite to port, which features a lovely separate shower stall.
The stateroom in the bow has the trademark Riviera Island double bed with innerspring mattress. The new bed has squared off corners making it a tad smaller but easier to get aboard. Storage in the stateroom was in side lockers, a hanging locker and wardrobe, plus drawers and a big space below the lift-up bed.
As ever, there were classy bedding packages using neutral and natural hues, nice man-made suede liners and sophisticated fabrics. The blue LED lights are special at night and, from what I could tell, noise levels inside appear to be reduced when running and, I’m guessing, with the generator going too. Not that these are noisy boats.

Offshore test

The C7 Caterpillar engines have an eagerness, responsiveness and a real throatiness that is music to the ears. Top speed (WOT – 2800rpm) was 29.5 to 30kts depending on tide and wind. So consider this a 30-knot boat or, if you’re like me, a 28-knotter by the time you put a shed full of gear aboard.
Cruising figures at 2200rpm are 19.5 to 20kts for 100ltr/hr on both engines, giving a safe range of 360 nautical miles, with 10 per cent of the fuel supply in reserve. Optimum cruise is around 2450rpm and 23.5 knots for 120lt/hr and a range of about 350-plus nautical miles. At 2600rpm the Riviera 41 was doing 26kts with the Cats consuming 135 litres for a 340 nautical-mile range. So, fast or slow, there’s not that much in it. I’d go fast!
Offshore the boat did, as intended, run flatter and it seemed really nice and smooth with no thumping in the abating conditions. The hull pushes a fair bit of water off its bow, perhaps running a degree too flat, but more fuel will right that (it had just a quarter of a tank of fuel). The spray also tended to stay outboard and not end up on the clears. By the end I came away impressed by the ride.
Looking back, the 40 was Riviera’s biggest-selling boat but that spot is now filled by the more-than-a-million-dollar Riviera 47. But, with the advancements in engines, electronics and ergonomics, the 41 could just regain the top spot.

Specifications Riviera 41 Flybridge Convertible (Platinum)

Construction: GRP hull, cored decks and hardtop
LOA: 14.03m
Beam: 4.57m
Draft: 1.13m
Weight: 13,650kg dry w/std motors
Fuel: 2000lt
Water: 460lt
Holding tank: 150lt
Engines 2 x six-cylinder Caterpillar C7 (fuel injected, turbocharged and aftercooled)
Rated HP: 460 @ 2800rpm
Gearboxes: Twin Disc 1.75:1
Props: Four-blade bronze
Price as Tested $973,414 w/ twin C7 Caterpillar diesel motors and options
Priced From $861,479 w/ twin Caterpillar C7 460hp diesel engines
 
 
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Fishing Fun



Photo Credit: Google Images

Hobie Mirage Sport Fisherman

 

The Hobie Mirage Sport Fisherman was designed for youth and adults who are smaller in stature or the six-footer who's looking for an extremely light-weight pedaling kayak. Move the seat forward and adjust the Mirage Drive to accommodate users as small as four feet. Pedal it, paddle it or sail it … it's the mini-SUV of the Hobie kayak family.

Hobie Mirage Sport Fisherman

Features & Specifications

Hobie Mirage Sport Fisherman

Specifications

  • 9' 7"
  • 19 1/2"
  • 45 lbs. (Add 6.6 lbs. for MirageDrive)
  • 245 lbs.

Fishing Kayak Features

  • Rotomolded Polyethylene Hull with Color-coordinated Molded-in Graphics
  • Color Choices: Ivory Dune and Olive
  • Note: Ivory Dune and Olive Boats Feature Fish Graphics
  • Hobie Mirage Drive Mechanism
  • Spare Rudder Pin In Aft Hatch Lid
  • Steering System with Kick-up “Twist and Stow” Rudder
  • Rear Cargo Storage Area
  • Deluxe Lumbar-support High-profile Plug-in Seatback with Detachable Pack
  • Deluxe Two-piece Paddle
  • Gear Bucket
  • Adjustable Seat Positioning to Accomodate Full Range of Kayakers
  • Scuppers Accept Plug-in Kayak Cart
  • On-Deck Receptacle with Cap for Sail Mast, Dive Flag, etc.
  • Cassette Plug for Drive Well
  • Molded-in Drink Holder
  • Molded-in Fishing Rod Holders with Caps
  • On-hull Paddle Storage
  • Mesh-covered Stowage Pocket
  • Bungee® Tie Down Straps for Rear Cargo Area
  • Padeyes
  • Bow and Stern Carrying Handles
  • PCB Water Bottle

The Mirage Sport Package also includes

  • Two round "Twist and Seal" Storage Hatches
  • Mid-Boat Carrying Grip
  • Molded-in Utility Trays
Hobie Mirage Sport Fisherman - $1699.00



Full Article:   Backyard Boats

Mazoney arif di perairan Pulau Kapas

Oleh Osman Lisut


TEKONG yang bagus ialah mereka mahir dan berilmu pengetahuan menjejak lubuk ikan, mengetahui bacaan arus air, masa sesuai untuk memancing, pakar mengenai laut serta memahami kehendak pelanggan, pemancing. Di samping, mampu memberikan perkhidmatan terbaik dan hasil tangkapan lumayan setiap kali menganjurkan trip memancing.
TEKONG yang bagus ialah mereka mahir dan berilmu pengetahuan menjejak lubuk ikan, mengetahui bacaan arus air, masa sesuai untuk memancing, pakar mengenai laut serta memahami kehendak pelanggan, pemancing. Di samping, mampu memberikan perkhidmatan terbaik dan hasil tangkapan lumayan setiap kali menganjurkan trip memancing.

Bagaimanapun, hasil tangkapan tidak menjadi masalah kepada pemancing kerana mereka faham serta akur setiap rezeki datangnya daripada Allah. Walaupun sudah berusaha untuk mendapatkan hasil tangkapan lumayan, namun kalau yang Esa masih enggan memberinya, pemancing reda.

Pada masa yang sama, tekong yang ramah, bertanggungjawab dan mudah berurusan sering menjadi rebutan kaki pancing, memandangkan mereka lebih senang berkomunikasi sama ada di darat ketika membuat tempahan, mahupun di laut ketika turun memancing.

Bagi Mazoney Mohd, 36, (gambar) berkata, pemancing umpama taukeh di atas bot dan apabila tempahan sudah dibuat, menjadi tanggungjawab tekong membawa mereka ke lubuk yang dikehendaki, di samping menyediakan peralatan tambahan seperti yang dikehendaki.

“Menjadi kebiasaan, saya akan bertanya terlebih dulu apa yang ingin dipancing pelanggan. Saya akan mencadangkan masa dan lokasi yang sesuai. Jika ada pemancing mahupun mereka dibawa ke tempat lain, saya akan mengikutnya.

“Namun, pemancing juga perlu akur dengan nasihat tekong dan mengetahui keadaan air terlebih dulu sebelum menempah bot. Jika tidak, sia-sia saja trip yang disertai dan jangan dipersalahkan saya kerana sebelum ini nasihat sudah diberikan,” katanya.

Mewarisi pengalaman daripada bapanya yang juga seorang nelayan bubu suatu ketika dulu, Tekong Mazoney amat arif mengenai perairan Marang terutama di sekitar Pulau Kapas dan Pulau Gemia yang terkenal dengan spesies aruan tasik, jemuduk, ebek dan kerapu.

Walaupun ikan berkenaan tidaklah bersaiz mega berbanding perairan lain, namun aksi ganas aruan tasik dan ebek sudah cukup meletihkan kaki pancing yang baru-baru berjinak-jinak dalam hobi berkenaan.

Mazoney berkata, walaupun tugasnya sepenuh masa adalah memasang bubu di perairan berkenaan, namun jika ada tempahan atau rakan memintanya membawa kumpulan pemancing, beliau tidak akan menolaknya.

“Itu juga rezeki... kalau hendak harapkan hasil tangkapan bubu kadang kala tidak mencukupi. Lebih-lebih lagi musim tengkujuh di mana nelayan tidak turun ke laut dan menghabiskan masa di rumah memeriksa dan membaiki bubu atau jaring rosak,” katanya.
Selain menggunakan peralatan moden untuk mengesan ikan di dasar laut serta kedalaman air, Mazoney dapat menggunakan gerak rasa dan hati untuk mengesan sesuatu sama ada buruk atau baik yang bakal berlaku. Ini satu rahsia baginya yang tidak boleh dikongsi dengan orang lain.

Beliau berpegang kepada amalan merendah diri dan bertanggungjawab ketika berada di laut. Sikap begini sekali gus memberi kepuasan kepada pemancing dalam semua aspek sambil terus membantu tekong untuk mendapatkan lokasi yang terbaik.

Mereka yang ingin merasai pengalaman memancing di sekitar perairan Marang (Pulau Kapas) boleh menghubungi 019-9637879.


Source:   Joran

What Makes the Trout in Ecuador Look Like Salmon?



Billboards and advertisements depicting huge and beautiful rainbow trout announce to travelers in much of the Ecuadorian Andes that fishing is one reason to come here. Photo by Alastair Bland.
A crisp, clear stream flows out of Cajas National Park on a 20-mile circuitous route down to the town of Cuenca—but few fish live in these wild waters. Yet the Quinuas River Valley it forms is a hot destination for sport fishermen. They come by the hundreds each weekend, mostly from Cuenca, seeking the most popular game fish in the world: the rainbow trout.
“What kind of trout live in here?” I ask a young man who serves me coffee at Cabana del Pescador, the campground where I have stayed the night. I am only curious how locals refer to the species Oncorhynchus mykiss, which is native to North American and Siberian streams that enter the Pacific but has been introduced to virtually all suitable habitat on earth. In Ecuador, the species first arrived in the 1960s.
“Normal trout,” he says.
I aim to catch a few fish today and have them for dinner, but I move on, up the road, looking for a happier place to fish. The pond here is muddy, surrounded by concrete and a chain-link fence. Trouble is, I won’t find much better. This valley, though populated by a few wild trout in the streams and lakes of Cajas National Park, is a busy center of aquaculture. Trout farming is generally considered a clean and sustainable industry, though it isn’t always pretty. For a stretch of seven or eight miles downstream of the park, nearly every roadside farm has a handful of concrete-banked pools on the premises, fed by stream water and swarming with trout about 12 inches long.

The trout ponds at Reina del Cisne restaurant and fishing club. Photo by Alastair Bland
Up the road, after passing a half dozen possible fishing sites, I pull in to one called Reina del Cisne, at kilometer 21. It is a restaurant and sport fishing “club,” as the sign tells visitors. I have coffee—NescafĂ©, as always—inside. When I am finished, I ask if there is an opportunity to fish here, and the teenage waiter beckons me to follow. “It’s 50 cents to rent a pole,” he says. “Then, we weigh the trout, and you pay $2.25 per pound.” The biggest fish in the ponds out back are more than ten pounds, he tells me.
He pulls one rod from a heap of several dozen—a broomstick-like pole with a stout line tied to the end and a silver barbed hook at the tip. He quickly mixes up a bucket of bread dough to use as bait, drops a hunk into a shopping-style woven basket and hands me my tackle.
“What kind of trout are these?” I ask, still fishing for local lingo.
“Salmon trout. They have red meat,” he says. He adds, “Good luck,” and returns to the restaurant.
For an angler who has fished in the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada and Alaska and New Zealand, this is a sad comparison, and I feel a strange desire to either cry or laugh hysterically. This would make a perfect opportunity for kids, but I know what real fishing, in real waters, is. Here, I have three ponds to choose from—two of them rectangular, concrete basins, the other a muddy, oval-shaped pool 30 feet across with grassy banks. I flick a piece of dough into this most natural-appearing of the options. Several trout dart from the murk as the white ball vanishes in an instant. I bait my hook and fling it into the middle of the pond, slightly embarrassed that I am participating in what locals advertise as pesca deportiva—or “sport fishing.” A similar flurry of fish attack and strip the hook. I re-bait and try again and this time hook instantly into a feisty rainbow. I drag it in and onto the bank, whack it cold with a stick and drop it in my basket. One down, and in another five minutes I have a second fish. I could take more but, frankly, this isn’t fun or engaging. A year ago exactly I was cycling around New Zealand, casting flies at wild trout six times this size and immeasurably more thrilling to catch—wary, elusive, picky and beautiful. The challenge of enticing one to strike made success an accomplishment. Best of all was the experience of being there, fish or none, standing in crystal clear waters surrounded by green meadows and the tall peaks of the Southern Alps. Indeed, fishing is largely about interacting with the environment, and if one catches no trout on an expedition into the mountains, something else is still gained.
But no matter how big a fish one may pull from a concrete-lined pond, using dough balls for bait, the experience feels as hollow as shopping in a supermarket. While I’m here, I hope I might tangle with an eight-pounder, but no such beast shows itself. I wonder if perhaps they tell all guests that giant trout live in these ponds to encourage business. But back inside the restaurant, my hosts show me the de-boned meat of a 14-pounder caught the day before. The meat is thick and heavy and a delicious-looking salmon red. I ask what the trout eat. “Natural food,” owner Maria Herrera tells me.

Maria Herrera, in the dining room of her restaurant Reina del Cisne, stands with a young employee and the de-boned meat of a 14-pound trout taken from the stocked fish tanks in back. Photo by Alastair Bland.
Down the road, at kilometer 18, I visit a government-run fish hatchery. I roll down the dirt drive, across the stream on a wooden bridge and up a short rise to the facility. I introduce myself to two men in yellow slickers, ankle deep in a muddy concrete basin full of thrashing foot-long trout. The station director, Lenin Moreno, tells me that more than 8,000 adult fish live here. He and his colleague, Ricardo Mercado, are currently trying to get an exact head count in a tank swarming with, they guess, about 300 fish. They take a break and show me to the laboratoria—the hatchery. In the trays and tanks of this covered, concrete-walled facility, 1.3 million juveniles are produced each year and sold to aquaculture operations in four provinces, Moreno tells me.
Outside, they show me a rectangular basin teeming with huge rainbows, green-backed, red-sided beauties that remind me of the two-foot-long giants of New Zealand. Visitors may come here to buy these trout, Moreno tells me. The fish go for $1.50 per pound.

Five- and six-pound rainbow trout cruise through the waters of a 6- by 30-foot concrete basin at a government trout hatchery and farm at kilometer 18 on the Cuenca-Cajas National Park highway. Photo by Alastair Bland.
I ask if the meat is red like salmon. “No—it’s white,” Moreno tells me. “But at the fish farms they feed the trout pigment.”
This doesn’t surprise me. The rainbow trout I grew up on were generally white-fleshed fish. Only occasionally on family camping trips as we cleaned our catch would we discover with excitement that the trout had natural pink meat, which tends to be richer and fattier than paler flesh. But in Ecuador’s many fish markets, I have not yet seen a trout fillet that wasn’t colored like salmon, and I’ve suspected all along that this attractive color (which I’ll admit has drawn my wallet from my pocket more than once) was artificially induced. I recall seeing the fillet of a trout caught in New Zealand just outside the outflow of a Chinook salmon farm that was clearly affected by such pigment—probably either synthetic astaxanthin or canthaxanthin, both used in most commercial salmon farming operations (and the latter of which may cause retinal damage). The trout had presumably been eating pellet feed that escaped from the salmon pens, and the meat was partially colored, patchy red and white like a tie-dyed shirt. Yuck.
I poached my farm-caught trout in cheap Chilean Sauvignon Blanc at my hostel in Cuenca, just off the main street of Calle Larga. The meal was fine and exactly what I had been aiming for when I plunked that ball of dough into the pond at Reina del Cisne. But the fish didn’t quite taste up to par. Because although pink-fleshed trout are a sure catch in the mountain fishing ponds of Ecuador, something else, less easy to describe, native to places like Montana and British Columbia, may evade you with every fish landed.


Neither native nor wild, these small rainbow trout were pulled from a stocked pond in Ecuador, where the species was introduced in the 1960s. Photo by Alastair Bland.



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