*Words of Wisdom From The Elder

NOTE: Boat is Sold

Updates:

• Oct 24th – added new video at the bottom of full walk around of hull and motors
• Nov 1st – boat is under contract, sale is pending
• Nov 4th – boat sold

COMFORT AND CONVENIENCE

This is my personal boat and I am the second owner. You will not find a cleaner, better rigged 2013 boat that has all the comfort and convenience as this Cape Horn 31XS. The Cape Horn 31xs is built on the tournament proven hull, but designed to add comfort and convenience for you and the people you enjoy the most. One of the driest rides out there in its size.

The boat is fully loaded from top to bottom with a lot of electronics and safety gear, much of it new within the last year. The boat has not been tournament fished nor used commercially as a charter.  The boat has primarily been used for boating to the islands, cruising the bay, cruising to get a bite to eat on the water. Occassionally when the weather is perfect and I’m not traveling we’ll head out to some rigs or reefs to fish.

Here is a shot of us anchored at Horn Island, one of the many barrier islands off of the Mississippi gulf coast.

Motors

The boat is powered by twin Yamaha 300 outboards. These are bullet proof motors known to last over 10,000 hours. These motors have 920 hours on them with the majority of those hours at idle (we do a lot of idling while at the islands or fishing around reefs or rigs). If you aren’t that familiar with boat hours it is roughly equivalent to about 33k miles on a car, which as you know is not a lot. The motors have been flushed after every use and have been professionally maintained by Seven C’s Marine in Biloxi, MS. They are also in warranty until Feb 2018!

Fuel Burn / Cruise / Speed

This 2013 Cape Horn 31XS holds 290 gallons (two 145 gallon tanks) of fuel. An interesting piece of info is after 2013 this model only holds 273 gallons because Cape Horn had to rework the fuel tanks because of new regulations. So if you are looking at current specs they do not match this year/model.

With 290 gallons of fuel the boat has a tremendous range of around 500 miles. This gives you plenty of reach for long cruises or offshore fishing.

Top speed on the boat (that i’ve seen) is 58.6mph. Typical cruise is 40-42mph burning 1.8mpg of fuel. You can dial the boat in to get 2.0mpg if you want to slow cruise around 30. Here are some numbers that I’ve documented (I have photos to back this up):

• 32.2mph at 1.9mpg
• 44.7mph at 1.6mpg
• 50.8mpg at 1.2mpg

Care

The boat has been dry stored all of its life (previous owner kept it dry stored as well) and is super clean and well taken care of. The boat is not bottom painted nor been left to sit weeks in the water. The boat gets a full wash down after taken out of the water from top to bottom. In June of 2016 the boat was fully detailed and will be delivered fully detailed and ready for the next owner.

The boat is dry racked at the marina and is not exposed to the elements. As you see in this video it is also stored with all the hatches left open to cut down on mildew building up in the storage compartments. A trick I learned many years ago. This short video will also allow you to see the full lines of the boat.

Trailer

It comes with a Magic Tilt tandem trailer, 7500lb tandem axles. Since I’ve had the boat I’ve only trailered it a few times. In September of 2015 I had the whole trailer serviced including lights and the hubs. It is ready for a cross country journey or to the nearest boat ramp.

I created a short walk through video of the trailer. I apologize in advanced that I didn’t pull it out of its current location, but it just goes to show how little it is used. About the only time it is moved is to mow around it, which I haven’t done since the early Spring. The trailer measures 40ft long and 8ft 10inches wide. IT IS HUGE!

31XS – EXTRA STORAGE and SEATING

With the same great ride as the legendary 31T, the 31XS has truly redefined offshore comfort. The XS adds more storage and seating while preserving the unsinkable characteristics of the Cape Horn line. Large compartments were added to the XS model front gun whales for all your gear. Removeable front cushions which snap in place allow easy access to the bow of the boat. When fishing they are easily removed. The seat in front of console also doubles as a cooler and there is seating on the 60 gallon live well on the leaning post and also a transom seat.

While cruising you can easily sit 10 people on the boat. When you want to fish, remove the cushions and you have a fantastic fishing platform to cast that also provides super easy access to the bow when anchoring or sight casting on calm days.

Features

• ADVANCED HULL DESIGN
• UNSINKABLE
• LENGTH 31′ 8″
• BEAM 9′ 1″
• DRAFT 22″
• DEADRISE 23 DEGREES
• WEIGHT 5300lbs
• MAX H.P. 700
• FUEL CAPACITY 290 GALLONS
• MAXIMUM LOAD 4000LBS
• 10 YEAR HULL WARRANTY
• LIFETIME TRANSOM WARRANTY
• ALUM TRAILER WITH DISC BRAKES (ALL AXLES), ALUM MAG WHEELS WITH RADIAL TIRES
• HARD TOP WITH ELECTRONICS BOX
• FORWARD SEATING
• REAR TRANSOM SEATING
• (2) SPREADER LIGHTS
• LEANING POST WITH BACKREST
• ELECTRIC TRIM TABS WITH INDICATORS
• S.S. SWIM LADDER
• 1000 GPH BILGE PUMP
• 1250 GPH AUTO BILGE PUMP
• COAMING BOLSTERS
• TILT WHEEL HYD. STEERING
• VACU FLUSH TOILET WITH HOLDING TANK
  • a $2500 addon
• FLUSH MOUNT HARDWARE
• RAW WATER WASHDOWN
• FRESHWATER SYSTEM (20 GALLONS)
• 7’ (700 QUARTS) INSULATED FISH BOX,
• 85 QT. INSULATED DRINK COOLER
• WALK-IN CONSOLE
• LIVEWELL SYSTEM (60/26 GALLONS)
• FLUSH MOUNT ELECTRONICS AREA (13 X 40)
• ROD HOLDERS (26)
  • (2) deep drop added June 2016
• 9 STAINLESS CUP HOLDERS
  • (4) added to rear gunnels June 2016

Electronics and Accessories

• Auto Pilot
  • Garmin GHP 20 Autopilot (New Oct 2016!)
• Radar
  • Garmin 24HD Radar
• Sonar
  • Garmin GSD24
  • Airmar 1k transducer
• Stereo
  • Clarion Radio (supports iphone, has iphone jack)
  • Fusion BT100 bluetooth
• Amps (1600 watts total)
  • 1000 watt JL Audio AMP
  • 600 watt JL Audio AMP
• Speakers
  • (4) 10″ JL Audio subs (2 new Sept 2015, 2 new April 2016)
  • (6) JL Audio speakers
• (2) Head Units
  • 7212 Garmin
  • 5212 Garmin
• Satellite weather
  • Yes with Garmin XM52 (new June 2016)
• Tackle storage
  • Yes, in leaning post on port side
  • Holds 4 plano boxes and has one large pull out drawer
• Helm Cushion (to help knees and back while underway)
  • Yes, Foot cush
• Underwater LED lighting
  • Yes, can also vary color (blue or green) (see pictures)
• Trim tabs
  • Lenco trim tabs
• Batteries and switches
  • (4) batteries total
  • (3) perko switches
  • One battery per motor, (2) for the house
  • Also has isolator, can run either motor to keep house batteries charged
• Outriggers
  • Yes, Revolution outriggers
• EPIRB
  • Yes, ACR (new Sept 2015)
• Anchor and rode included

Additional Pictures

There are other pictures available for viewing online. You can get some higher resolutions by visiting that link.

Walk Through Video

Sometimes it is hard to get a feel for things in pictures so I created a full length walk through video of the boat. In this video I walk you through all the many features of the boat and point out any flaws. Hang in there, I got a little long winded but it should give you a complete feel for the care I’ve put into the boat and how it is rigged.

Outside Hull / Motor Walk Through Video

I was at the marina and had the boat on the maintenance rack a few days ago cleaning some of my gear out of the boat and doing a wash down. Took a full walk around video of the outside hull and motors. I apologize for the wind, it was blowing 30 knots at times. Anyway, enjoy the video!

Why am I selling the boat?

I get this question a lot so I thought I’d post it here. Good question, and fair. The short answer is I’m moving up to a larger boat. This boat will fish 5 comfortably and you can stretch it to 6 depending on the size of those going. I have to leave family and or friends on the dock many trips, just can’t fit everyone so I’m going to move up to a bigger boat. I don’t know what I’ll be looking at for the next purchase but I’m looking forward to shopping and doing some research. If it honestly wasn’t for that I’d be keeping this boat. It is a dry ride, great economy, is fast when you need it, has tons of range, built like a tank and unsinkable, is loaded to the gills with bells and whistles and is comfortable for both fishing and cruising. I really love the boat. My favorite boat of all time and if my circumstances change in the future I wouldn’t hesitate to own another one.

Price: $124,999 – Call or text 601.467.9744

When we lived in Ann Arbor, MI several years ago, our apartment complex wouldn’t let us use a charcoal grill.  Thus, we had to purchase a gas grill.  Being a charcoal guy I was incredibly disappointed.

Fast forward 6-7 years later our $119.00 Wal-mart special gas grill had seen its better days.  Out of gas and needing to replace the burners and more it was time to upgrade.

Using a birthday gift certificate from Sue (Ellen’s mom) and some ad money from the blog I purchased the Brinkmann Profession Stainless Steel Charcoal Grill (model 810-3214-S) as the replacement.  That’s right, charcoal!  I unboxed it last night and put it together on the deck.  I was a bit worried that putting it together was going to take a long time but it didn’t.  Actually I cost myself about 15 minutes or more for not reading the manual.  I thought at first the unit was missing holes in the side of it but later realized I had to turn the pegs on the legs inward.  Here’s a parts screen shot.

And the final product looks like this:

While this is nowhere near the most expensive grill on the planet it has some features that I really like about it:

• It is stainless steel to minimize rust
• It has 540 inches of cooking surface which will basically cook 75lbs of food.  Yeah I think that is plenty!
• Porcelain coated iron cooking grills (minimizes rust)
• Ability to adjust charcoal to different heights
• Easy slide out charcoal tray
• Built-in temperature gauge

All in all I’m satisfied with the quality and Brinkmann is known to make good products and the availability of parts is also a plus.  Tonight I’ll be curing the grill which will take about 4 hours.  After that, it is BBQ time!

Everything is finally in and hooked up and working with the new home theater.  The new Samsung TV arrived last Friday along with the new entertainment furniture.   The speakers arrived on Tuesday, one day ahead of schedule.  It took a lot of maneuvering to get everything situated but things are settling in.   Everything is working really well, especially the Onkyo TX-SR705 receiver.  I took a few pictures so you can see how things are shaping up.  

Xbox 360 in 1080P on 56inch Samsung HL-T5687S.  It looks incredible.  Right now I have the component out of the Xbox plugged directly into the back of the TV.  I originally hooked it up to the receiver but never could get the Xbox to run at 1080P.  Not really sure why.  If anyone knows, I’m all ears.

Here is a shot standing in the back of the room so you can get a better feel for just how large this screen really is.

The only thing still missing is the Comcast HD DVR.  Our area is STILL out of the HD DVR’s with HDMI.  My efforts to hold their children hostage in hopes my HD DVR would be expedited has all been in vein. 

After years of HD envy I finally made the jump to HDTV.  I know it is hard to swallow that a confessed geek like myself doesn’t already own an HDTV.  The reason is I bought my 32inch Sony TV at the worst possible time years ago.  I wasn’t about to run out and buy another one until the prices were lowered.  When I purchased my Sony, at the time anything good started at $5,000.00.  Plus the newer components such as HDMI, 1080P and others were still being tossed around.  So, I waited.

After researching HDTVs for months I decided on the Samsung LED DLP HDTV Model HL-T5687S 56inch (pictured to the right).  This model has a lot of features:

1. 10:000:1 contrast ratio
2. SRS TruSurround XT
3. 3 HDMI Inputs
4. 1080p
5. Slim model (14 inches deep)
6. Built-in Tuners: NTSC/ ATSC / Clear QAM
7. LED – No lamps to replace or color wheel

The biggest feature of this model is I don’t have a lamp to replace and the color wheel (I’ve heard this was noisy).  With LEDs the word on the street is it will start up in about 15 seconds of turning it on.   The funny thing about this whole ordeal is I had to order three TVs to get one. 

Last Thursday night I ordered a 61inch from Amazon.Com because the price on the 61inch dropped to $2149.00.  I patiently awaited for confirmation for my order which didn’t get sent to the vendor it was actually shipping from until late Friday night.  Saturday morning I woke up to check the status of the order and went to the page the TV was on and instead of being sold from some random vendor it was selling directly from Amazon for the same price but with free shipping!  Thus I called the vendor and canceled the order. They just got it anyway and hadn’t even processed it.  As soon as the order was canceled I placed another order for the same 61inch model. 

Some of you are probably thinking at this point, didn’t you order a 56inch though?  The back story is on Saturday, after I placed the second order, the wife and I went to town looking for a new entertainment center to hold this 61inch beast.  We shopped and shopped and shopped and thought we finally found a unit that would really complement the house.  A timeless style we would enjoy for many years (picture to the right).   We drove back home and it hit me. I never measured the height of the TV for the entertainment center.  I kept measuring the width.  I called back to the store and the sales person measured it for me.  It was 37 inches.  The 61inch TV was 37.8!  I’m screwed!

I jumped on Amazon.Com real quick and canceled the 61inch.  Buying a TV this big was starting to become a chore.  I drove back to town to re-measure and see if I could make the 61inch TV work.  I fought a hard battle but in the end I was forced to get the 56inch.   No matter what I tried, the 56inch was the only size that was going to work with the furniture we chose (and no there were no other choices we liked).  Wife was now happy because she loved the furniture, but my manhood lost 5 cool points.  Wife 1, Husband 0. 

I got back home and ordered the 56inch TV which turned out to save me $300.00.  The 56inch was shipping from Amazon for $1849.00 and Free Shipping.  Yeah!  Last night it boarded a plane from Dallas and is probably sitting in the Jackson, Ms airport crying wanting its daddy.

Remember part of the subject?  ……so much to upgrade?  Well it doesn’t stop with just a new TV and entertainment center.  Now that I have HDMI inputs and outputs everywhere, my Sony receiver isn’t going to cut the mustard anymore.  After endless hours of shopping, reviews, feature comparisons, etc.  I settled on the Onkyo TX-SR705 7.1 receiver.

1. 7.1 channel
2. 130 watts per channel
3. 1080p upconversion (big time plus)
4. XM and Sirrius ready
5. WRAT
6. Audyssey MultiEQ XT
7. 3 HDMI inputs

I think it truly is the best bang for the buck out there in mid-range receivers.  Last on the list is the Logitech Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote Control.  This will serve as my magic wand to run this whole setup.  It supports up to 15 components and of course is programmable to 175,000 different components.  I think I’ll be covered 🙂

Sometimes you are forced into buying technology products when you don’t want to but it makes sense at the time. Friday was one of those. It was Ellen’s mother 70th birthday and we of course needed to take pictures. My cell phone has a 1.3 mp camera but let’s face it, that just isn’t good enough. Our current Canon Powershot S230 camera’s battery is on the fritz. So much so that with a full charge it will only take one picture! Since you can’t readily pickup Canon batteries at a nearby store here, we were going to be left with no pictures from her mom’s 70th birthday party. I did some quick research on Friday and decided to head to the nearest store. When I got to the store I decided that all the models I was looking at had the same basic features. It came down to price and “feel”. I settled on the Canon SD630 camera.

I’m not going to bother writing a long review of the camera, there are plenty other places that have done that. Let me just say that I really like the 3.0inch LCD on the back along with the scroll wheel enabled selector. The function selector feels really natural. While it doesn’t do the pictures justest, having the large LCD is awesome. So far the pictures are turning out well.