RUNABOUT
A runabout boat is a small, open motorboat used for day outings only. No facilities for shelter or overnight usage are provided with a runabout. Pressed for the seaworthiness and good looks of a lobsterboat, but admitting defeat in terms of exact duplication, designers of smaller models blended runabout styling with lobsterboat hulls.
Inspired by lobsterboats, fun like a runabout boat, and certainly qualified for commuting at highway speeds. Although a well built, roomy runabout, this model would not enjoy near the success or the longevity that old runabout had. They're small compared to our current idea of a runabout, but still sport the basic attributes of a runabout like for'ard steering and windscreen.
The review is also quite generous on this boat and with its solid side decks it actually looks like a baby version of a bigger runabout, not a dinghy trying to be a runabout. Interestingly enough dealers tell me that this type of runabout boat is now selling quite well this year and I can believe that statement given the fact the price of bigger runabout boats have gone up a fair bit this year.
In this section we test runabouts. We define a runabout as a small boat, used for very short trips, local transportation, and general watersport activities, such as family water-skiing and day cruising on inland waterways.
And so, as we look back over the development of the runabout as we know it today we marvel at the changes which have taken place and wonder what the future holds.
In 1985, Cobalt runabout introduced an engineering achievement that has since become perhaps the most imitated component of performance in the industry. Cobalt runabout boats owners often talk about their boats' remarkable stability in all kinds of water, and the extended running surface Makes that control and stability and responsiveness possible. Simply, more of the hull stays in contact with the water at critical times in the runabout boat's performance.
Cobalt runabout design calls for an all-fiberglass stringer system on virtually every model. Where other runabout manufacturers settle for plywood, Cobalt insists on the strength and longevity of fiberglass. Bonded to the hull with a high-tech fastening medium called Plexus, these stringers are stronger and lighter than traditional wooden stringers and their inevitable rot. A solid composite transom fixed on the runabout adds extra strength at that critical point. At two-plus inches thick, the composite transom absorbs all the torque of the drive system, isolating noise and vibration and ensuring the runabout boat's integrity and longevity.
A cruiser is larger in size than a runabout, and offers more accommodations. The popularity of the runabout seems to increase every year. Most runabouts are made of fiberglass or aluminum and are powered by outboard engines. The runabout can be used for fishing, water skiing, and cruising, it is a jack-of-all-trades. This versatility is what makes the runabout so popular.
Cobalt ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the runabout boat segment. In all segments surveyed, consumers reported approximately three problems for every boat sold, with the highest number of problems reported in the runabout segment, followed by the bass and center console segments, respectively.
A runabout is a small motorized boat holding between four and eight people, well suited to moving about on the water. runabouts can be used for racing, for pleasure activities like fishing and water skiing or as a ship's tender for larger vessels.
Plastic materials are now used extensively in construction of small runabout boats to reduce weight and maximise speed when racing powerboats. The ad also featured a rare photograph of this runabout showing a large rear cockpit design aft of the engine rather than the more familiar forward steering.
Because the thrill of speed on water is keener than on land or in air, the fast runabout, sleek as a wet seal, is featured by mass production boat companies. Cobalt boats ranks again highest in customer satisfaction among owners of large runabouts (craft of 20 to 29 feet) in this year’s J.D. Power and Associates Boat Competitive Information Study. As in all previous years of the study, Cobalt runabout has outperformed other manufacturers of runabouts in both overall satisfaction among owners and in all factors of that satisfaction. In the 2005 J.D. Power and Associates boat study, its results just released today, Cobalt runabout again achieved one of the highest index ratings in the industry as well as in the seven categories of features measured by the study, features ranging from helm function to the propulsion system, from the runabouts’ ride and handling to their maintenance. According to the study, Cobalt runabout receives particularly high marks for design/styling and ride and handling.
Cobalt runabout President Paxson St. Clair identified “value” as the principal determinant of the company’s ongoing ability to satisfy increasingly knowledgeable consumers in the boating marketplace. “We know that, in comparison to the competition, Cobalt owners pay a small premium for their runabouts,” he said, “but we work very hard to ensure that purchase price becomes, over time, a minor consideration in the long-term enjoyment of the runabout. We work to deliver a runabout with essentially no problems in its operation or maintenance, a boat supported throughout its long life by dealers committed to enduring customer satisfaction.”
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