New Boat, No Name Yet

Thanks! I'll see how these work and if not, I'll check out the CE Smith ones. These also came from Amazon.

 

Woohoo! Loren is installing my bait tank as I type this.

He should be done this week and NEXT WEEK, my work schedule allows me to fish even a few hours per day. Gotta do some dry runs before Mexico.

 

Had to stop by the boat to install new Garmin updates: lo and behold, there's already ANOTHER new update I haven't downloaded to my SD cards. I just installed version 15.10 and Garmin just released version 16.0.

Yeesh.

Couldn't help but sneak a peek at the tank in progress. It's gonna be awesome!

 

Today's the day Loren finishes the bait tank install! He called yesterday and said he just needs to finish the caulking.

apparently, when he opened the tube to do so yesterday, he saw he had purchased the black color. No bueno.

He's finishing up with the white caulking.

Can't wait to take her out next week and test out the system!

 

Loren finished the tank today! Still has that sour caulk smell.

 

Talk about your double entendres.

 

I'm glad you noticed!

 

Woohoo for my fall work schedule!

I went out for a couple hours today (literally less than 2 hours) just to run the new bait tank. I was so excited that I forgot to measure the fill time; it was around several minutes but I'll get a more accurate read on Wednesday.

There's still leftover fiberglass dust but Loren cleaned most of it out when he installed the tank. I spent some time scooping out some of the "dirty water" even as I knew the pump would turnover the debris. I didn't end up buying any bait as it felt like a waste of money if I wasn't even going to use the bait. If I get out early enough next time, I'll buy half a scoop.

I also installed the (third) new set of rod holders I ordered and this time, thank God, they fit. I started mounting them already and will order 4 more, making 12 holders on the existing t-top.

I'm paying close attention to the weather, conditions and fish locations this week.

 

I don't think I've posted a pic of the console since Advanced Marine installed my Garmin units and the Simrad radio. Here's a pic from yesterday's outing.

 

On my previous boat, I kept the fire extinguisher in the bow storage compartment, left to roll around or butt up against random stuff. I didn't think that was safe nor accessible especially during a fire onboard scenario. I also don't like the idea of keeping the extinguisher inside the main console storage as that's an enclosed space next to electrical equipment.

I saw a post on a boating group that used an extinguisher strap intended for Jeep roll bars. The user mounted his extinguisher to the leaning post, which is the most accessible location imo.

So I ordered this item from Amazon and it's coming today. I opted for the red color as I think it's the appropriate color for an emergency item.

 

Been prepping gear for this weekend's offshore trip. So excited!

Here are a couple of my tackle boxes.

 

I saw Kurt's post and was reminded that I can connect my AIS equipped radio to my Garmin MFDs. Nothing like seeing those triangular ship marks on the big screen rather than the itty bitty one on the radio. Also helps to follow, I mean avoid, the big fishing ships during a hot bite.

I don't recall if these connections are already in place so I got a couple pieces of equipment just in case.

 

Welp.

We went out today for the inaugural offshore trip for Chips N Guac. The boat herself handled just fine, but the fishing trip was a skunk.

I just knew that after weeks of massive tonnage along the US/Mexican border, this weekend would be when all the fanfare died. Yup.

We started off from Mission Bay, headed to the 182 with vigilant eyes along the way. It was a cloudy day for the most part, and water temps hung around 69 - 72 degrees. Water was choppy with some nice patches in between. We worked hard and boxed the area just north of the border, ending at the North 9 Mile Bank.

We saw tons of birds but marks were hard to come by. Officially, I only saw one set of marks close to The Corner but the fish wouldn't bite our offerings.

I'll try again in a few weeks, and hopefully the conditions improve at that time. Boo for no bloody decks for her inaugural trip.

 

So of course it happened on the third trip with the boat (I should've listened to my gut and printed a reminder card).

When we got home, we noticed that the 8 foot antenna was broken at the base AND I remarked how I didn't remember putting it down. So I'm sure we hit the darn thing somewhere as the base was broken.

I ordered a new Digital Antenna, but this time I went shorter and purchased the 4 foot version. Maybe this will hold up better (my 8 foot antenna kept falling down if I didn't secure it with a cord). I don't think I'm going to lose much in terms of radio coverage based on the billion threads I've read about it.

 

VHF is line of sight. You just lowered your antenna 4 feet. Figure it out. I always raise my 8 footers another 4 feet.

 

I hear ya. I'm of the same opinion too. I don't have the energy to paste the (supposed) mathematics of the additional gain of 4 feet. Hell, there's even explanations for why 8 feet doesn't work as well under sea conditions (something about not staying more parallel to the water surface and how a shorter antenna maintains better conal angle).

This is a comfort decision since the 8 footer was a bitch so far. I will test the 4 footer and see how I like it.

Since it's installed on a t top, even the 4 footer is much taller than the antenna on my previous center console. By that account, I am still at a higher line of sight than ever before. And my previous center console did just fine with the radio over 30 miles offshore.

 

Its more than just how high it is, a 4 foot antenna has a 4db gain and 8 foot is 6db gain. You loose distance with lower gain.

So if you where to add a 4 foot extension it still would not match an 8 footer

I have two 8” digitals on my cabin and they work great

https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Selecting-a-VHF-Antenna

 

Understood.

There are some who would argue that lower gain antennas are actually more effective on smaller boats. Something about narrow vs wide beam width. But as mentioned, I don't have the energy.

 

Loren installed my replacement antenna today.

Despite my short discussion about a 4 footer vs an 8 footer, I went with the 8 foot antenna in case a couple extra miles makes the difference when I really need it the most. I'm hoping he also fixed the antenna mount so that it doesn't easily go down like a Tri Delt freshman during Welcome Week.

I also connected my VHF to the NMEA 2000 backbone and hoping I did it correctly. I can't check for AIS connectivity since the boat's on land and too far from the nearest boats.

 

Took out the Chips N Guac for a couple hours today. It was mostly a shakedown, local run in preparation for this Sunday. I'm going offshore for the second time and wanted everything to be copacetic.

I didn't get on the water until 10:30am and the both the wind and current were up. It didn't make for too much fun and I spent a good amount of time just messing with the electronics. For some reason, I can't get the AIS from my Simrad radio to show up onto my Garmin units.

I was back at dock by 1pm and gave her a good washdown. Time to prep for Sunday.