Archive for the ‘General Nonsense’ Category
Weather woes
Thursday, July 10th, 2008It is amazing how unstable the weather is this time of year. If you watch the forecasts through out the day over the course of a few days you could literally go bald in a few short days. We have been trying to plan an offshore exploratory trip for weeks now. One day its a go, then the next it is off…oh wait two hours later the forecast is great! What the hell…come on Mother Nature throw us a bone here.
Weather sucks
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008Well, Mark called off the trip to the Hudson again this weekend. I hope this does not turn into a regular thing like it did last year. We went six weeks in a row with crappy weather before we were able to get offshore. It just doesn’t pay to get beat up on the ride out and the ride in and hope you don’t run into a thunder storm are really get your butt kicked.
So now it is on to plan B. We will be heading North early looking for some hold out bass and then on to Monmouth Beach for some fluking. We did our first fluke trip of 2007 the first week of July and had a limit catch so hopefully we can have a repeat in 2008.
Oh happy day!
Friday, March 7th, 2008Indeed it is…launched the boat today after finishing up the installation of the new raw water intake system. The hoses, valves and elbows are all installed and clamped. All that is left is to bond the whole system. That will have to wait…we are launching today!
After the hoses were installed I reinstalled the battery shelves and boxes, all that remains with the electrical system upgrade is to install the new batteries. They are in, just waiting to be picked up from Sun Harbor.
On the shakedown run she ran a little hot. After inspection there was a ton of grass in the heat exchanger and hoses from last season. Now with the sea strainer in place that will all be eliminated. After cleaning the leftovers out she ran great, only getting up to about 165 degrees and the risers ran at a cool 75!
Can’t wait to get back on the water on a regular basis and start catching again. I was so elated with being back in the water that I forgot to take pictures of the completed system, I will take some next week and post them with hopefully pics from my first striper of the season.
Keurig brewer for the boat
Monday, February 11th, 2008I am not sure how many of you have Keurig brewers…we are devote fans. We actaully have two…long story. Anyway, they recently came out with a hotel model, the B130. It does not keep any water in it after brewing and has a very small footprint. Best of all it consumes half the power of thier smallest home brewer. The bad news is that it will not be available for home, boat or RV use until the fall…but it is coming and we can’t wait.
AC Boat Show
Monday, February 11th, 2008I decided to go last minute. A couple of buddies called from the marina and they have free passes from their bosses booths so we mad the trek down. Yeah it sucks that they get away with jacking up the prices of the parking and even charge if you have a diamond or platinum card for the casino.
Ran into Mike and John, Dennis Jr. and of course Shawn and Michelle and Lenny. There was rumors Jeff was there but never saw him. Oh and of course our hard working duck from the Fisherman…Scott.
Got to see the new Shimano Lucanus jigs, pretty cool stuff but at the price they will be for bottom and wreck fishing I can’t see buying them.
I would have thought Joe would have been in the World Cat booth but didn’t find him there.
It seems like most manufacturers are somewhat jumping on the pilothouse bandwagon and offering at least a three side hard enclosure.
The boat that really caught my eye was the new Ocean. Very different layout, pocket in the keel for a transducer, only draws 2.5′ for a 37! Only thing that seemed like it might be an issue on that boat was the deep tinted windows, although the front wasn’t as dark so I guess it would be fine at night, that and I can’t imagine that there is enough insulation and shielding to quiet the turbos on the Yanmars in the salon but they claim there is.
The Contender 38 Express was about the nicest outboard express I saw. It featured trip 350’s but I can’t imagine you can see over the bow too well running. The helm is just forward the cockpit.
I was hoping to see Everglades new 35′ Express but they did not have it at the show…unless I somehow missed it.
Happy New Year!
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008Just want to wish everyone a happy, healthy new year!
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 25th, 2007I hope Santa was good to everyone. He was good to me…although he did not bring a new 4 man offshore life raft he did bring a few new things for the boat. For starters he brought a Fluke mini infra-red thermometer. This will come in really handy in reading surface temps at any speed, especially with my transducer thermometers on the fritz.
I also got a new horn for the hailer and a macerator pump. It will be so nice to not have to climb halfway into the fish box to clean it out anymore. And also not have to remember to put the plug in so the blood, guts, scales and regurgitation does not end up in the bilge.
The 2008 tide and current table books were also under the tree, but not Eldridge this year…somehow left it off my list. I did get some money for Christmas so that will be one thing it is used for.
One of the stocking stuffers that I can’t wait to try out is a new pair of gloves…they are supposed to be waterproof. We will see. I have tried probably two dozen so far that claim to be waterproof and are not. So far the best for warmth and being completely waterproof are the Kenai gloves from Glacier Glove. They are a little bulky and slight pain to take off and on when you need to tie knots. But you hands will never be cold and wet with them.
Merry Christmas!
If you can’t fish, might as well look
Friday, December 21st, 2007Since we are now on the hard and Will be doing repairs, maintenance and improvements till February if we can’t fish or use the boat we might as well look. I will be heading up to the NY National Boat show. I have given up going due to the cost of going and the lack of boats, tackle and accessories. But this year I received two free tickets so I am going to make the trip.
It will actually be good to see some of the new sportfish type boats that should be on display this year. That and what I really want to do is spend some time picking the brains of the safety gears vendors. I am starting to do my research on purchasing a raft and what better time and place than when most of the major manufacturers and bigger vendors of them will be all in one place.
So far I have been fortunate enough to borrow a raft from friends when needed. But I would prefer to have one on the boat always and this year I am going to take that step. The first big decision I made was to go with a canister model that will get mounted on the pilothouse roof. This will serve two purposes. One it will free up precious space in the pilothouse and two it will allow for auto-deployment in the event of a sudden sinking or capsizing.
Lets be realistic, if the boat were to capsize, and in frigid water what would the likely hood of someone getting into the pilothouse to retrieve the raft, exit and deploy it. The canister style makes deployment much easier in more dire situations. I will just have to be careful with placement in preparation to add a radar unit.
For those still in the water, good luck, fish on and stay safe.
