Although I found the staff at Hell's Gate Watercraft Rentals and Bluff Creek Marina to be friendly, the experience myself and my party had on Possum Kingdom Lake was not very pleasant for the three hours we rented. We had chosen to rent the 2011 Galaxy from them, and the boat appeared to be in good shape upon arrival. The deckhand went through his checklist, started the boat, warned us to keep it running, and mentioned the kill switch that would stop the engine. He sent us on our way, and we proceeded past the no wake zone to throttle up.
At full throttle, this inboard/outboard ski/wakeboard boat was able to reach about 10mph, as measure by a GPS device we brought with us. This was necessary because the speedometer did not work. In addition, the boat suffered rather bad steering lag, where the boat would respond to the wheel about 1-2 seconds after turning the steering wheel. I eventually overcame this by compensating, but I've never experienced a boat with such loose steering.
So the entire three hours was spent under these conditions, with laggy steering, extremely sluggish performance and eventually persistent backfiring from the engine, which was only remedied by running at a lower throttle, resulting in even lower speed of about 7mph. Despite attempts to trim the motor and throttle slowly, we never were able to get much out of this boat. It was very disappointing, really, as this was the first time on PK for several in the party, and we were not able to see as much of the lake as we would have liked.
Additionally, we had some trouble on the north end of the lake, specifically the north side of the Peninsula. I inadvertently stepped on the lanyard that connects to the kill switch, which of course killed the engine. No big deal, right? Unfortunately, the throttle on this boat is either broken, worn or just plain tricky, because although it appeared to be in neutral, it was in fact engaged. After a couple of tries to restart it, I immediately called the number on the sticker in the boat for help, the same number I had called for the rental. As no one answered, I had to leave a message, hoping for a callback with some advice while we tried to start the boat.
My call was never returned, and after about 20 minutes of drifting towards some rather ominous rocks on the northern shore of the Peninsula, and a phone call to a friend, we were able to discover that the throttle was in fact not in neutral. It required some "jiggling" to get it into place, then the engine started up. We were about 30 feet or maybe two minutes from the rocks at that time.
We carried on out our reduced speed for the rest of our time, returning to find the deckhand waiting for us. I explained all of the trouble, and that I'd left a message and never received a call back. He explained that the boat's behavior did not sound normal, and that it should have reached much higher speeds, but that he'd report it to management. He then pumped 26 gallons of fuel into the boat, at a lakeside cost of $101 dollars.
I paid it off, adding to the $308 already spent, then left on my two hour drive home. During this time, I decided it might be worth asking for a 50% credit on the costs, and so I detailed all of the above to the management in an email, followed by a phone call after not hearing back for a couple of days. I was rather surprised to hear that their investigation of all of this found no issues with the boat, and they essentially state that they have delivered the service I paid for.
I differ of course, and I would urge others to reconsider using this service, as their are several others around the lake, one of which I have used without problems (Naylor By the Water, as well as the state park store, which no longer rents boats). I do not think it is unreasonable to request a 50% credit in light of such a poor experience. Sadly, Hell's Gate Watercraft Rentals and the affiliated Bluff Creek Marina seem to feel otherwise. Do beware of these facts, and consider another rental service for your day on the very beautiful Possum Kingdom lake. read more
