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As I peered down from my motel window into the sloshy, early-morning darkness, noting how deeply the palm trees in the parking lot were bowing to the whims of the wind-driven deluge, it seemed pretty obvious: testing Rinker's new 350 Express Cruiser before nightfall was gonna be challenging, if it was doable at all.
"We'll call 'er off this morning," I told photographer Jeffery Salter, who was peering into the same remnants of Hurricane Ernesto from his own window some miles off, "and start at noon instead."
The suggestion had merit. I'd just finished talking with Jon Paul Thies of Salty Sam's Marine, the Fort Myers Beach, Florida-based Rinker dealership that was making a brand-new 350 available for our wringout. Based on radar images he'd just seen on TV, Thies was theorizing that a brief window of opportunity might manifest itself, possibly between noon and three o'clock. "As long as your radar gun'll work in light rain," he concluded, "things might work out."
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
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Ah, The Weather Channel. When Salter and I arrived at the marina, my watch registered high noon, and the meteorological miasma had indeed eased off. Through the mist, Salter jumped aboard a zippy chase boat with his gear, and I jumped behind our 350's high-fashion, five-way adjustable Isotta wheel and hit the ignition keys. Thies tossed the lines off and hopped aboard. We were off.
I bonded immediately with the big, beefy MerCruiser DTS single-lever control, using it to pivot the 350 at the mouth of the slip. Detents were easy to feel, a state of affairs that obviated glancing down periodically. The action of the levers themselves was silky smooth—no sticky spots—and when I put the Mercs in gear, the response of our Bravo 3's counter-rotating propsets was so instantaneous, directionally accurate, and oomphy, I never bothered with the optional 3-hp Lewmar bow thruster.
Open-water performance on Estero Bay went as smoothly as the dockside maneuvering had, although I wasn't able to gauge rough-water handling, sea conditions having calmed considerably since earlier in the day. Sightlines from the helm were excellent all around, thanks to both the 350's lofty fore-and-aft-adjustable helm seat (with flip-up bolster) and her well-proportioned, express-style configuration. The average top speed of 40.4 mph I recorded was respectable, tracking was arrow-straight, turns were solid (with no prop blowout, chine hopping, or other forms of dicey behavior), and I noted some serious pizazz coming out of the hole despite an electronic glitch in the starboard engine that nixed smooth, uninterrupted acceleration to top end and thus put the kibosh to the acceleration curve PMY normally publishes with boat-test reports.
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