Maybe I’m a little late to the party (and I’m sure our marine engineers won’t be long in telling me) but I’ve just heard about FLIP for the first time and it kind of blew my mind. FLIP stands for Floating Instrument Platform and it’s basically a boat that can float horizontally AND vertically! It’s used for scientific research – they tow it out to sea while it’s horizontal and then ‘flip’ it so it’s vertical. Seriously. Check out the video:

I found out about the FLIP boat on a great BBC Four documentary called ‘The Secret Life of Waves’. If are ever spellbound by the waves when you’re out on the water, it’s well worth watching this documentary.

I never thought I’d say it but the FLIP vessel is even more impressive than the perpetually sinking boat.

Now that the sun is beginning to peek its head out again it’s easy to forget how harsh winter was… but sadly some people have a very clear reminder: a cracked engine block! The big freeze caught a lot of people out over the winter and there are more and more of them coming to see us for some sympathy and a solution.

All these sad faces have been getting us down so we’ve decided to do something about it. We bring Good News! We have worked with Mercruiser to reduce the price of replacement engine blocks in order to ease the pain of getting you up and running again.  The prices of Mercruiser Pro-Series Remanufactured Engine Blocks have come down right across the range:

3.0L In-line 4 cylinder long blocks from £1,995               

4.3L V6 long blocks from £2,499

5.0L V8 long blocks from £2,649

5.7L V8 long blocks from £2,879

These engines are the only Mercruiser Factory Assembled Long Blocks available and come complete with a 1 year warranty and full installer support. If you need any more details or just a little bit of sympathy and understanding, contact us, we’ll be delighted to help!

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It’s day 4 and the London Boat Show is in full swing! The stand is even bigger this year and there are some knock-out deals to be had. The show continues until Sunday 16th January so make sure you make it down to the ExCel Centre and come see us on stand J21!

Here’s a complete list of the boats on show:

- Bayliner Bowrider 160 Outboard

- Bayliner Bowrider 180 Outboard

- Bayliner Bowrider 175 GT

- Bayliner 185 Bowrider

- Bayliner 235 Bowrider

- Bayliner 652 Cuddy

- Bayliner 802 Cuddy

- Bayliner 255 Cruiser

- Bayliner 285 Cruiser (Brand New for 2011)

- Bayliner 315 Cruiser

- Bayliner 335 Cruiser

- Trophy 1902 Walkaround

- Trophy 2352 Walkaround

- Trophy 2203 Center Console

You can also see all our stock boats at www.gulfstreamshop.com, and you can call us on 0044 28 7136 8779 (or direct at the show on 0044 7801 076 582) to find out about our exclusive, unadvertised prices that are limited Boat Show Special Deals. Even if you can’t make it to the show, give us a call during the show period (Fri 7th – Sun 16th Jan 2011) to get the show deals. Just to whet your appetite, here’s a preview of the kind of deals on offer:

Maxum 2700 SE Diesel Sports Cruiser: Retail Price £94,995 | Boat Show Special £59,995 | SAVING £35,000

Maxum 2400 SE Diesel Sports Cruiser: Retail Price £79,995 | Boat Show Special £49,995 | SAVING £30,000

Pretty cool, right? We’re excited about these prices and I bet you are too! Give us a call during the show period to lock in your special price.

We don’t get out on the water too much over Christmas in this part of the world but if it wasn’t below freezing we’d totally be up for draping the boat in elaborate Christmas lights for the most awesome spectacle known to man… a boat parade!

The people of Newport Beach, California really know how to do Christmas – watch the video and have your tiny little mind blown. Just when you thought you couldn’t spend any more time on the boat…

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I heard about this and I didn’t believe it so I tracked down the video evidence. What I heard about was a boat made entirely of frozen newspaper (ok, I’m still ‘on board’, I can believe that), fitted with a 150 HP outboard engine (whoa, you’ve lost me…how?!) and able to reach speeds of 23MPH (what?!!). I need to see this with my own eyes…

Who knew, right?!

Seeing as Christmas is just around the corner and we’re gearing up for a special day of deals on Cyber Monday (29th November) we thought we’d put together a short video showing you how to create your wishlist on GulfStreamShop.com

Now go make your wishlist and get ready for Monday’s deals!

Winterising your boat is not the most exciting thing in the world but it is vitally important… you don’t want to be this guy:

To help to you make your preparations at this time of year we have put together a brief winterising checklist – always refer to your owners manual for the manufacturer’s instructions. In the meantime here’s a quick list to get you started:

• Remove the boat from the water, if possible

• Thoroughly wash and clean all areas of the boat and drain all water from it

• Add fuel stabiliser to the fuel tank and then fill it with new fuel

• Run the engine for long enough so that the treated fuel reaches the fuel lines and engine

• Top up the fuel tank – ensuring it is full avoids condensation building up over the winter

• Drain any coolant and replace with antifreeze to prevent ice in the lines

• Flush through any raw water systems with an antifreeze solution and drain the lines afterwards

• Spray the engine with fogging oil to prevent rust build up

• Remove the spark plugs and spray fogging oil into the carburetor and into each cylinder before replacing the spark plugs

• Replace the oil and the oil filters

• Replace the gear lube to ensure no water is left in the area as it can freeze and cause damage

• Examine the prop for any damage

• Cover the boat and store it, preferably indoors

• If your boat is on a trailer put it up on blocks to take the pressure off the tyres

Remember, if you require any specific advice the GulfStream Marine team are always here to take your questions, just email or call us and we’ll be happy to help you out.

Imagine if you saw this pulling into the marina! It’s a creation by French artist, Julien Berthier, who designed the boat to appear to be sinking. He calls it ‘Love-love’ and says it is ”the permanent and mobile image of a wrecked ship that has become a functional and safe leisure object”.

When you see it out of the water it all begins to make sense:

One thing’s for sure, it’ll turn a few heads at the marina:

And just in case you don’t believe that it’s a fully functioning boat (I mean, you’d be forgiven!), watch it in action (be sure to watch until about 1.30 to see it motoring along):

Julien has taken it out on the water in Normandy and London (on the Thames by Canary Wharf)… I’m sure it’s a rare occurrence but the next person to see it on the water and send in a photo wins a spot prize!

Brunswick Marine announced a few months ago that they were discontinuing the Maxum Boat line. It is all in an effort to enable Brunswick to emerge from the economic downturn as a stronger company, but the news left many Maxum owners and aspiring owners very sad. The Maxum brand is close to many hearts in the boating world and it’s not hard to see why, they’re great boats, with high performance and sleek lines. Once the current Maxum stock is sold there will be no more! Brunswick have confirmed that there will be no change to the warranties, parts and dealer support for the remaining new Maxums as this will be handled by the existing Bayliner dealer network.

The Last Maxums…

We’re proud to say that we’ve managed to secure, direct from the Maxum factory, the last 2 european spec, diesel sport cruisers! We’ve got a Maxum 2400 SE in stock and a Maxum 2700 SE is on route to us as we speak.

The Maxum 2400 SE is the ideal small cruiser, boasting Maxum’s active seating design and a spacious below deck cabin, with a fully featured galley, dinette/forward berth; and separate mid-cabin berth areas that sleep four adults and has an enclosed head with a molded shower and sink. With it’s solid contruction and planning hull this boat is ideally suited to both coastal and inland cruising alike.

Click here to see a full spec of the Maxum 2400 SE, including photos. Be sure to join our mailing list to be notified when the 2700 SE arrives at our showroom.

Check out the latest Maxums in this video:

Are you a Maxum owner? Leave a comment to let us know what model you own and what you like about your Maxum!

Welcome to the new blog! Our main site and online chandlery store is at www.gulfstreamshop.com so we’ve created this blog to give you all the info you want on the products you love as well as free guides and advice on everything to do with motor boating, sailing and watersports. I’m sure we’ll throw in a few offers for you too if you’re good!

This site is designed to be  a resource for you so if there’s anything that you have questions about or would like to see an article on please let us know by leaving a message in the comments section at the end of any post. We’ve got a very knowledgable team so you might as well take advantage of them!

Likewise, if there’s something boating-related that you’re passionate about and you’d like to write a guest post about we’d love to hear from you. Teach us what you know! Leave a comment below and we’ll email you back, or you can contact us on twitter.

Image used above: Set sail to the New World by  Guilherme Augusto Oliveira available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence