My Brand New CS23 and Intro

[Trent_Boater]

Greetings Gentlemen,

I am super excited to announce the purchase of my first Cobalt, a brand new CS23 with the Volvo V8 in Bayside Blue. I saw this boat at the Toronto boat show last month, and knew I had to have it. What a gorgeous boat. I have had a Chapparal 21 H2O deluxe with the 4.3MPI for 7 years. While I have been very happy with that boat, I know this CS23 is a giant step up in the bow rider world, vs the Chapparal.

My boat will be on the Trent Severn waterway in Ontario, Sparrow Lake Marina to be exact. And with great respect to my American friends the Trent Severn waterway is the finest fresh water boating in the world, simply unmatched. Unlike a lake, it is narrow and never rough no matter how hard the wind blows. It goes on endlessly, stretching from Toronto to Georgian Bay, you can access an incredible number of locations. We have several giant locks, and even North America's only marine railway which will take your boat over a HWY, after picking it up in a submerged rail car for boats. I look forward to taking numerous American visitors out on the new boat this Summer!!

[billk2632]

That is a beautiful boat - love the powder blue! Envious of where you do your boating, there is a guy with a youtube channel "Boating with Boogaboo" He is on Lake Simcoe and takes trips all along the Tent severn Waterway. Lake Norman NC is big and beautiful, but nothing like what you have.

[drtbar]

Wow, that is an amazing lock system. I had never heard of that waterway until now.

[Trent_Boater]

That is a beautiful boat - love the powder blue! Envious of where you do your boating, there is a guy with a youtube channel "Boating with Boogaboo" He is on Lake Simcoe and takes trips all along the Tent severn Waterway. Lake Norman NC is big and beautiful, but nothing like what you have.

I have traversed Lake Simcoe many times, but gosh does it get rough! I used to have my boat at a place called "the narrows" a natural formation of the connection between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. But we got tired of the trips down to the main part of the Trent where I am now. Lake Simcoe does have an amazing spot for boaters, it's called, Lagoon City, a natural sandbar stretching for 3-4 miles. The water is crystal clear, and the bottom is like what you'll find in the Caribbean, soft clean sand. You just pull up and anchor and jump into 2-3 feet of water off the stern. On hot days in July-August the water temperature can reach 80 degrees.

Here is a pic of Lagoon City on a typical Canada Day, July 1st.

[Trent_Boater]

Wow, that is an amazing lock system. I had never heard of that waterway until now.

Here are some additional pics. You can see us all in the big lock at Swift Rapids. You'd be amazed how fast that thing can fill and empty. And all done with gravity, no pumps needed!

[billk2632]

Nice pictures, have seen a lot of that through the Boating With Boogaboo videos. I was a longtime SeaRay owner, but last year I bought a Cobalt R5 and could not be happier with it.

[AsLan7]

Hey T_B. So glad you found us my friend.

Fantastic intro. Love all the pics. What great memories you are making. Thanks for posting.

Welcome aboard mate!

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[Trent_Boater]

Hello Again,

So boat was delivered to Sparrow Lake Ontario, and here is the update. Overall amazing boat! I do love it. The power is incredible compared to my previous V6 Chaparral. It's spacious and luxurious. There have been a few growing pains so far.

1) Delivery person neglected to tell me that in order to start it, you let the key snap back to position two (position one I call it is the resting up and down position, two is one turn to get her to beep three times, three is to turn over the engine), after you hear the starter catch. This caused me an enormous amount of stress and hassle the first few times out. Especially in the lock with everyone watching!!!! The boat would start and instantly die again, and I had no idea why? Of course when it did start it was by accident and I could not tell what I was doing right, vs, doing wrong, or if the boat had a mechanical issue? I made a video showing the dealer what was happening. Of course he replies and tells me, let the key snap back as soon as the starter catches. Oh really? Kind of a critical piece of information the delivery guy left out. How on earth would anyone know that?

2) Annoyingly the latch that holds the anchor bay door keeps giving way under power and waves, so I am driving at high speed and the anchor bay door pops up in the bow. They sent a tech to fix it, but I was out all day Saturday and it's still doing it. So each trip I have to run the bow line back and forth between the cleats to hold it down. So I am going to have to take it apart myself and try a metal shop. Unless someone else has an idea?

3) Speaking of anchors, Cobalt sent this little tiny thing, that would not hold a rubber dinghy! What the heck? I bought my own 28LB anchor and used that all day Saturday, that held her against the wind. So I'll go with that and junk what Cobalt sent.

Other than those three rather annoying issues, she's a great boat.

[NautiWeasel]

Hello Again,

So boat was delivered to Sparrow Lake Ontario, and here is the update. Overall amazing boat! I do love it. The power is incredible compared to my previous V6 Chaparral. It's spacious and luxurious. There have been a few growing pains so far.

1) Delivery person neglected to tell me that in order to start it, you let the key snap back to position two (position one I call it is the resting up and down position, two is one turn to get her to beep three times, three is to turn over the engine), after you hear the starter catch. This caused me an enormous amount of stress and hassle the first few times out. Especially in the lock with everyone watching!!!! The boat would start and instantly die again, and I had no idea why? Of course when it did start it was by accident and I could not tell what I was doing right, vs, doing wrong, or if the boat had a mechanical issue? I made a video showing the dealer what was happening. Of course he replies and tells me, let the key snap back as soon as the starter catches. Oh really? Kind of a critical piece of information the delivery guy left out. How on earth would anyone know that?

I'm glad to hear you're loving your new boat.
As far as the starting thing goes, I was actually very happy ours takes that same procedure to start. I have been used to this same process in my 2015 Silverado over the past 6 years, and didn't think anything of it. I would actually bet you will grow to like it as well. No more days of holding the key in the "start" position to start. I just twist, and let go, and she starts right up. You'll get used to it.

[Snowman8]

Hello Again,

So boat was delivered to Sparrow Lake Ontario, and here is the update. Overall amazing boat! I do love it. The power is incredible compared to my previous V6 Chaparral. It's spacious and luxurious. There have been a few growing pains so far.

1) Delivery person neglected to tell me that in order to start it, you let the key snap back to position two (position one I call it is the resting up and down position, two is one turn to get her to beep three times, three is to turn over the engine), after you hear the starter catch. This caused me an enormous amount of stress and hassle the first few times out. Especially in the lock with everyone watching!!!! The boat would start and instantly die again, and I had no idea why? Of course when it did start it was by accident and I could not tell what I was doing right, vs, doing wrong, or if the boat had a mechanical issue? I made a video showing the dealer what was happening. Of course he replies and tells me, let the key snap back as soon as the starter catches. Oh really? Kind of a critical piece of information the delivery guy left out. How on earth would anyone know that?

2) Annoyingly the latch that holds the anchor bay door keeps giving way under power and waves, so I am driving at high speed and the anchor bay door pops up in the bow. They sent a tech to fix it, but I was out all day Saturday and it's still doing it. So each trip I have to run the bow line back and forth between the cleats to hold it down. So I am going to have to take it apart myself and try a metal shop. Unless someone else has an idea?

3) Speaking of anchors, Cobalt sent this little tiny thing, that would not hold a rubber dinghy! What the heck? I bought my own 28LB anchor and used that all day Saturday, that held her against the wind. So I'll go with that and junk what Cobalt sent.

Other than those three rather annoying issues, she's a great boat.

Glad you are enjoying your new Cobalt!
It sounds like you figured out the key switch, turn one click until you hear the 3 beeps. Then just bump the key to the right until the engine starts to crank then just let go.

It sounds like the anchor locker door is still out of adjustment. Call your dealer and tell them to try again, that’s what warranty is for.

As far as an anchor you definitely don’t need a 28lb anchor to hold a CS model in any conditions. That sounds miserable to pull up! I use an aluminum 4lb Fortress anchor with 6’ of chain to hold an R5 in a river with current. I usually end up with a Cobalt 240 tied to me and sometimes a 25’ Regal tied to us too, all with just my 4lb anchor holding everything. If your anchor isn’t holding you don’t have enough line out, its as simple as that. I’m not sure if you use a length of chain with your previous anchor but that really helps too. There are quite a few on this forum that use Fortress anchors and quite a few that use box anchors.

[Trent_Boater]

I did discover that 6ft of chain between the anchor and the rope is helpful. I wonder why Cobalt doesn't just ship the boat like that to start with? I did buy a bigger Danforth anchor and stopped using the 28lb pound monster, which was not really working anyway.

The start up is fine, no issues, and yes that is handy to just let it start basically on its own with a quick "flick" of the key. Again....they should have told me.

Anchor bay door still flying up, even after they apparently attempted to fix it.

Question: I have always pulled the tube using a rear cleat. The one on the opposite side of the helm. I did this for 7 years with a Chap and never had an issue. Doing research on this issue on line, one finds that there are a hundred opinions on the matter of where to tow a tube from?

I recently bought a rig that has a pulley in the middle of a line that attaches to the two u-hooks on each side. Not tried it yet, does anyone have any thoughts on this great mystery of the universe?

Thanks!

[AsLan7]

You can try it. That was very common in the 70’s. The issue with tubing from that set up is the tendency for the tube to submarine since your line is pulling down slightly (verses at an upward vector). That being said, never pull a tube from a tower due to the extreme load on the line that can be imposed on that tower from the side if the tube does suddenly submerges.

Some folks use an inflatable booster ball on the line that may help you if you go the pulley route. It can help keep the tube from submarining.

.

[Trent_Boater]

Well, I forgot to mention, I also bought that EXACT booster ball as well. Thanks!

I am looking at this rig, and it says it is heavy duty, BUT, the coupling that goes from the pulley to line out to the tube is a piece of metal about 1/4 inch in diameter, and has a flat top in the metal of the pulley. Gosh, is that going to hold two 16 year old male teens? If it snaps it will be a missile back at the tubers. Or am I over thinking this?

[Big Block Power]

Does your boat have the ski tow ring on the transom? Use that.

[Titaniumboy]

We have always towed a tube from the tower. We were also concerned at first whether the tower was sturdy enough for tubing.

So we asked the dealer and the Cobalt factory whether we were doing it wrong. The answer came back that the tower was designed for tube towing. Did they fib to us?