Sorry the updates have been slim-

Hey folks! I know everyone who doesn't live in Florida or Southern California (at least in the US) is looking forward to boating again. We have friends in Michigan, so they are so done with winter. I can't blame them.

It's been quite a ride here for me lately. I left a company that I had been with for almost 31 years. That left me working full time to find a new position. The major competition that I sold against for decades made me a great offer, so we worked things out and got going. Many upsides to this gig, but the amount of travel is much more demanding then my last position. I have made it though the transition, and now am back in a schedule where I can relax a little bit from learning all the systems and people. So hopefully now updates will be a bit more frequent.

For those of you who know me, we have a 2001 262 that is in awesome shape. The family loves the boat, and the space it has. With our personal life in a more settled down state, my wife (and best friend) got the new boat bug at the Tulsa boat show. I got the green light to go and work out a deal. We decided on a 2019 R5. My wife's job is to pick out the outside colors and interior colors. I get to pick out the mechanical and performance options. We have placed the deposit, and will be getting a production slot soon. I will keep you updated to the progress of the build, as I get updates from our dealer.

So for the short term I have to get the 262 ready to find a new owner. I am currently having a number of seat cushions redone to match others I have already had updated. Once those aware back from my guy (who I highly recommend), I will have the boat detailed, and ready to sell. I have never needed a trailer, since this boat lives on a covered lift. I do know of an almost new one that my local Cobaalt dealer has for sale.

Anyway, I have rambled on here for a while. I'm really looking forward to this boating season. My grandson will be old enough for his Mom to let him tube with us. I hope you all are as excited as I am to start the season, and lets increase the chatter and provide help to our fellow boaters here, right Shawn and Andrew?

Cheers on this National Drink Wine Day!
Walt

 

Did you end up ordering the R3 or R5? One of my friends has the R3 and another has an R5. They both love them. We were going back and forth between the R5 and R7, and the R7 is about the same size as our 262. We went for the Tahoe Gray interior and sea grass. Hope you like your Cobalt.

 

We have 3 Volvo’s now- 8.1L in the 262, and 2 7.4L in our Carver. Both have been flawless. I can understand if you are in an area where Merc is predominant. But your Cobalt dealer has acces to everything Volvo. I have heard from Cobalt that Volvo vs Merc in new builds is highly biased to Volvo.

As far as the head, we didn’t use it either, but that is a great storage area. We have a set of drawers on our 262 head to hold necessary stuff.

For the engine, we went with the Volvo 350. That will be plenty of power for the type of boating we do.

 

We just got the cushions back for the 262. Now we will be getting it ready for a new owner, so the slip is open for the new R5. Can’t wait!

 

Update- the 262 sold to a nice couple from Oklahoma who needed more room than their 200 offered. This week we confirmed our selections for the new R5, and wrote another check. The boat went into production Tuesday. We plan to go to the factory to see the boat in production, as the factory is only 3 hours away. We’ve been through the factory a couple of times, but this will be a different perspective, as we will be the owners of a boat in production

The weather is breaking, so soon we will be on the water in a new boat. We are so looking forward to it.

 

Hi Rob,
Glad to hear things are working out. We went with the shale side, white bottom and black boot stripe. We chose the Tahoe gray interior, and gray accent stitching. We just found out yesterday that we won’t see the boat until after Memorial Day. The new production schedule of a 4 day workweek must have backed things up.

 

I used J&V located in Gentry, Arkansas. Single man operation.

 

So our boat finally arrived, and the weather and other things have kept us from getting out. We were able to get out today, and took our grandson with us. Tomorrow we start him tubing (assuming his Mom lets us). Should be a fun day. Here are a couple of pictures of the new boat.

 

Thanks Shawn. Yours looks classy as ever. Hopefully you Get to go out this weekend.