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eing the new kid is tough. If you want to fit in, you have toprove you can run with the crowd. If you’re good, you’ll push even harder so everyone will know you can hold your own. And that very much describes NauticStar, asmall but growing boat company based in Amory, Mississippi, near the Alabama border. Founded in 2002, NauticStar offers bay boats from 18 to 22feet and deck boats of 20, 21 and 23 feet. Like others in theboating ’hood, we wondered what kind of stuff the new kid had — so we hooked up our test gear to its flagship 230 SportDeck and let ’er rip. Our evaluations took place in hot, sunny conditions at Nevada’s Lake Mead, where we ran the boat ineverything from morning glass to an afternoon chop so jar- ringly wicked it could shake the salt off your pretzels.At the end of the session, we were pleasantly surprised.The new kid is OK.
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2 -foot-wide hulldevelop plenty of bow marine lift, and we were able to trim aggres- sively without porpoising.The Bravo 3 was equally sure-footed in turns. Whether wecarved ’em sharp or wide, fast, slow or medium, the counter- rotating wheels kept the NauticStar glued tight. Then again, the water was nearly pure glass, when boats are on their bestbehavior. What else would you expect? We were able to answer that during our afternoon sessionwhen southeasterly winds of 20 to 25 mph roiled up a cauldron of nasty chop. And even though we stuck close to the south shore (to minimize the fetch in which wind waves could build), Mead was streaked with steep and whitecapping two-footers.Ahh... finally! Conditions worth testing in. A FEW HOURS’ DIFFERENCE Mead was dead calm as we ran in from our early photo shoot. With a crew of two, minimal gear and its 63-gallon boat tank all but topped off, the 230 Sport Deck tracked like a semi rolling down grooved pavement. There was no shaking her. Rigged with a 350 Mag MPI and MerCruiser’s redesignedBravo 3 drive (a $6126 upgrade over the base, 220 hp 5.0L MerCruiser/Alpha), the boat responded well to trim. The extra boat blade area of the twin props helped this 8 HOW DID SHE DO? As any skipper will tell you, you can learn more by running a boat for a few minutes in bad weather than you could by spending an entire day with it in bluebird conditions. And so

NauticStar has only been around a couple ofyears, but judging from its 230 Sport Deck,the new kid is OK

Rising

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Story and Photos by Ron Eldridge

T RAILER B OATS M ARCH 2005 47