It's Wednesday January 9th and today is the day I have been waiting on for over a year. There is a buzz amongst the boating locals here in Havasu and on the forums about the new DCB M-41, and the fact that it's on it's way here right now. We have all seen some build pics of the boat, but getting some really good overall shots of the boat have been next to impossible, and DCB hasn't exactly been "forthcoming" with photo's and updates on their new flagship. Hell I even found myself checking out there new inside out section of their website periodically to see if there was any updates that I had missed.
I got the call from Tony C that the boat would be arriving in Havasu today, and going straight to Ron's Custom Detail to get cleaned up from the trip. This would be my first opportunity to lay eyes on it in person, get some pics of it for the site, and check out the little details that you aren't going to get by seeing it at a boat show, or going for a quick test ride. Unfortunately I wasn't sure on the ETA, and I actually found out on RDP that the boat was down at Ron's Custom detail... LOL By the time I got there the boat had already been backed into the bay making full length shots next to impossible.
What I did get though is a great first impression of the boat, and a couple of the cool little features you probably wouldn't notice if you were to just walk up to it. I also got the answer to the question that everybody keeps asking.. "How the hell do you get in and out of the boat on the water?"
Let me go ahead and state the obvious here, the boat is Massive! I want to hit on that one more time to re-emphasize that, an M-35 is massive on the trailer, this thing is MASSIVE.. Up close and personal it's actually kind of hard to see the boat because damn near everything is overhead, and you can't see the "lines" unless your back from it a bit which was difficult in the bay of RCD.
I immediately went up the 6' ladder with the skill and grace of a jungle cat, and pulled a one handed hop over the side of the windshield landing on both of my feet with the pose that few comic book characters could pull off correctly. At least that's how it looked in my mind anyways, judging by the concerned look on Tony and Dave's face it probably didn't play out like that, but that's neither here nor there, we're here to discuss the boat, not my ninja (or lack there of) skills.
This is the first DCB I have seen that is a complete "glass cockpit." There is no gauges to be seen anywhere, even the trademark GPS speedo's on the backs of the seats are missing. There are 3 giant Garmin screens on the dash and two smaller ones on each side of those as well as two more on the rear of the front seats. At first I was thinking "those aren't for me" but that was quickly alleviated when I saw how bright they were (easily seen in the sun) and the sheer amount of information you can pull from each one, gauges just can't compete with this program. I'll get more into that in a future article on the pro's and cons.
The screens lighting off displaying various information
So on the trailer some of the "trick shit" that you wouldn't normally notice is the keys for this boat are actually in the glove box. You put the keys in and turn them to the on position and from there you close the glove box and have no need to open it again. There are two push buttons ahead of the throttles to start the engines, and simply push them again to turn them off. The boat is also equipped with a "remote" to lift the hatches wireless that was also stowed in the glove box. There was also a ship to shore radio located in the glove box with the antenna cleverly hidden up in the cabin behind the fender storage.
The white remote in the back of the glove box is the remote to raise the hatches.
On the rear of the boat I noticed a couple of round chrome pieces that turned out to be external switches for lifting the hatch. Love the fact that they are low profile and you don't even notice them at first unless you are looking for them. I also love the new diamond "non skid" pattern they are implementing into the billet. My humble opinion even though it wouldn't look as good, I'd keep the functionality of the non skid and run it through the "M" as well.
The switch plate was nice and simple and kept to the basics. This would be my preference if I was building one, I've driven boats with 30+ switches for every light or every single little function, and at night trying to figure out what does what can be a pain to the point where you just start flipping switches until you hit the one you want.
To answer the big question "How do you get in and out of the boat?" Well apparently there is a carbon fiber ladder being built right now for the boat that will be stored either in the engine bay or up under the deck (I didn't get a definitive answer on where). It will simple pop into a couple of quick pin style holes which will make it exceptionally easy to get in and out. I actually favor this idea because while I generally wear a cape if I don't have it on me, it can be difficult to climb up #6, or in this case # 8 drives to get back into most of these hot rods.
RD
I got the call from Tony C that the boat would be arriving in Havasu today, and going straight to Ron's Custom Detail to get cleaned up from the trip. This would be my first opportunity to lay eyes on it in person, get some pics of it for the site, and check out the little details that you aren't going to get by seeing it at a boat show, or going for a quick test ride. Unfortunately I wasn't sure on the ETA, and I actually found out on RDP that the boat was down at Ron's Custom detail... LOL By the time I got there the boat had already been backed into the bay making full length shots next to impossible.
What I did get though is a great first impression of the boat, and a couple of the cool little features you probably wouldn't notice if you were to just walk up to it. I also got the answer to the question that everybody keeps asking.. "How the hell do you get in and out of the boat on the water?"
Let me go ahead and state the obvious here, the boat is Massive! I want to hit on that one more time to re-emphasize that, an M-35 is massive on the trailer, this thing is MASSIVE.. Up close and personal it's actually kind of hard to see the boat because damn near everything is overhead, and you can't see the "lines" unless your back from it a bit which was difficult in the bay of RCD.
I immediately went up the 6' ladder with the skill and grace of a jungle cat, and pulled a one handed hop over the side of the windshield landing on both of my feet with the pose that few comic book characters could pull off correctly. At least that's how it looked in my mind anyways, judging by the concerned look on Tony and Dave's face it probably didn't play out like that, but that's neither here nor there, we're here to discuss the boat, not my ninja (or lack there of) skills.
This is the first DCB I have seen that is a complete "glass cockpit." There is no gauges to be seen anywhere, even the trademark GPS speedo's on the backs of the seats are missing. There are 3 giant Garmin screens on the dash and two smaller ones on each side of those as well as two more on the rear of the front seats. At first I was thinking "those aren't for me" but that was quickly alleviated when I saw how bright they were (easily seen in the sun) and the sheer amount of information you can pull from each one, gauges just can't compete with this program. I'll get more into that in a future article on the pro's and cons.
The screens lighting off displaying various information
So on the trailer some of the "trick shit" that you wouldn't normally notice is the keys for this boat are actually in the glove box. You put the keys in and turn them to the on position and from there you close the glove box and have no need to open it again. There are two push buttons ahead of the throttles to start the engines, and simply push them again to turn them off. The boat is also equipped with a "remote" to lift the hatches wireless that was also stowed in the glove box. There was also a ship to shore radio located in the glove box with the antenna cleverly hidden up in the cabin behind the fender storage.
The white remote in the back of the glove box is the remote to raise the hatches.
On the rear of the boat I noticed a couple of round chrome pieces that turned out to be external switches for lifting the hatch. Love the fact that they are low profile and you don't even notice them at first unless you are looking for them. I also love the new diamond "non skid" pattern they are implementing into the billet. My humble opinion even though it wouldn't look as good, I'd keep the functionality of the non skid and run it through the "M" as well.
The switch plate was nice and simple and kept to the basics. This would be my preference if I was building one, I've driven boats with 30+ switches for every light or every single little function, and at night trying to figure out what does what can be a pain to the point where you just start flipping switches until you hit the one you want.
To answer the big question "How do you get in and out of the boat?" Well apparently there is a carbon fiber ladder being built right now for the boat that will be stored either in the engine bay or up under the deck (I didn't get a definitive answer on where). It will simple pop into a couple of quick pin style holes which will make it exceptionally easy to get in and out. I actually favor this idea because while I generally wear a cape if I don't have it on me, it can be difficult to climb up #6, or in this case # 8 drives to get back into most of these hot rods.
RD
