Boating November/December 2025

I’m writing this in Cadillac, Michigan, on an early morning—the air redolent with the smell of pine. It will come as no surprise to at least some of you that this small town located in the North Woods of Michigan, and sharing its name with a car brand, is packed full with boating history. Today, Highfield Boats USA and Four Winns maintain facilities here, and use Lake Cadillac as a proving ground for new models. The area has been a hotbed of boatbuilding for a long time. The local forests fed the lumber industry which provided the wood that was the raw material for recreational boats in the nascent period of the sport, as well as the source of labor. (The canal connecting the two lakes was dug by lumber…

BOATINGMAG.COM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025 ON BOARD WITH CAPTAIN’S TEST FOR COMPARISON’S SAKE ONLINE THIS MONTH FIRST IMPRESSION Did you grow up on the water? My father was an avid sailor. Growing up, we had a number of sailboats. I learned to handle a boat long before I learned to drive a car, and I spent countless days sailing on Puget Sound with my family. When did you first start hydroplane racing? I was 5 years old in 1963 when I saw my first race. I fell in love with the sights and sounds of the sport. The boats’ bright colors and their flashing roostertails were stunning, and the throaty roar of the engines sounded like music. I immediately started scheming to get my own boat and by 1977 I had my…

(Answers on page 19) 1. What should you do to the engine to help keep your outboard’s fuel injectors clean and free from stale fuel and carbon deposits? A. Run engine with a few drops of Dawn dish soap in the fuel. “Dawn keeps grease out of your way!” B. For your last start-up of the season, first condition the fuel with Gas-Shok or a similar fuel conditioner. Then, while running the engine, inject most of a can of Engine Tuner, Power Tune, Sea Foam or equivalent into the engine’s intakes while running the engine at a fastidle speed. Shut the engine down, wait overnight, then start the engine again and inject the rest of the can into the intakes. C. Nothing. You will harm the engine by injecting anything…

87 THE BURN: The most common gasoline because it’s the least expensive, 87 fuel is fine for most marine outboard and inboard engines. Check your owner’s manual. If your engine requires only 87 gas, spending more on 89 or higher won’t improve your engine’s performance or help you run any faster than it would burning regular 87. THE KNOCK: While any engine can burn 87 and likely be fine, it can cause knocking in engines that require 91 fuel or higher, which could impede overall performance. 89 THE BURN: If your engine experiences knocking from using 87 fuel, jumping up to 89 could solve the problem without resorting to high-performance gasoline, which can cost upwards of a dollar or more per gallon. Consider it a happy medium if 87 isn’t…

With more personal bests and world records than any other water-ski boat in history, the Ski Nautique stands as the most-coveted and best-selling ski boat in the world. Completely redesigned, and significantly lighter than the previous generation, the 2026 Ski Nautique seamlessly integrates ease of use with unprecedented performance. The Ski Nautique incorporates a proprietary method of combining carbon fiber and fiberglass, plus an all-new integrated stringer system that is infused into the hull for a perfect balance of strength and weight. In tandem with the patented Micro Tuner and redesigned Hydro Gate technology, it creates naturally flatter wakes with more support in the troughs, resulting in gains across the range of speeds and line lengths. The Ski Nautiqueisa USA Water Ski-approved tournament tow boat, sanctioned for use in International…

Here is MJM’s new cruiser-sportfisherman hybrid, the 38RS. Based on the MJM 38R cruiser, the 38RS adds fishing functionality. Working with Zurn Yacht Design, MJM created a layout that allows owners to take advantage of the boat’s fishability, according to MJM Yachts President and CEO Natascia Hatch. The versatile MJM 38RS offers an open, aft cockpit with transom doors that expand the fishing area to the swim platform. A 40-gallon livewell with an 800-gph recirculating pump and rounded corners is on centerline. Two insulated fish boxes store your catch. MJM included six rocket launchers on the hardtop, two rod holders on the livewell and four more in the gunwales. A gunwale-mounted, removable bait-prep station is also standard. The 38RS offers the comfort of a 360-degree pilothouse with large, sliding side…