Sarasota slamming adventures

Gordon Daniher's fishing team the "Dirt Draggers" are the most audacious, and hardest working lot I have ever encountered. He had entered the Sarasota Slam fishing tournament in the billfish division, and he had devised an epic plan.

Diel, or no diel?

Is this a big diel, or not? This is the question of the day. What we know is the image was captured in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 150 miles due west of Sarasota Fl. The boat was just on the edge of the continental shelf.

The screen shot was taken in the morning (late February) using a Garmin GSD 26 running on low chirp (sweeping 28kHZ to 60kHz) outputting 3000 watts. The transducer is an Airmar 599LH 25 element in hull unit. You can see the depth. There is a fuzzy broad line at 500'. This is most likely a secondary bottom echo. The line below it, running slightly downhill is our puzzle. The line is about 30' thick. and you are seeing about 11.2 minutes of recorded bottom. The descent rate of the line is 5.3' per minute.

Alluded allision elusive

It's like an itch in a place you can't scratch, and I admit to some level of obsession here. My radar overlay accident story left me somewhat dissatisfied, and I have continued to search for the boat accident mentioned in the rumor. I'm pretty sure there are some truths buried there.

Corroding conversation

There is a conference going on next to me, and I finally have to wander over and listen. The boat had just been pulled, and it's hanging in the slings. The yard supervisor, owner, dealership mechanic, and a couple other hangers-on are in the background. There is a lot gesticulation and finger pointing at both the hole that wan't there 8 weeks ago when the boat came in for a bottom job, and the missing paint. This is a twin engine boat with Volvo dual prop outdrives.

Thank you notes

Sarasota boating news

Sarasota Boating news July round up

Speeders Beware
In an effort to crack down on the epidemic level problem of recklessly speeding boaters leaving wakes behind their boats, local constabulary are testing the use of helicopters equipped with radar guns. With the dramatic expansion of Manatee zone's, most local water speed zones are now confined to 25 mph in the Intercoastal waterway, and idle speeds outside the ICW.

Signage in miles per hours were posted for the Sarasota area because of concerns that "Most boaters here don't understand that nautical mile thing" stated a local official, and we don't either. We just know that we get extra revenue if they are going 25 kts instead of the slower 25 mph. Authorities have been pleased with the results to date.

Wedgie? Really? I'll give you a wedgie all right

This boat builder belonged to a helm design school inspired by drive in movie screen design. Wide and flat is the modus operandi. The problem on this boat is the Furuno NAVnet display is in front of the passengers seat, and the helmsman has to lean over at an awkward angle to see the display. In this little project we are going to make a wedge to give the driver a better view of the display. It should only take a couple of hours to do this with a little pre-planning. Armed with this photo, and I actually had a spare display in the office, off to Delcraft I went. Bob and I chatted a bit, came up with a design, and I left the display with him. A few day later we have a beautiful wedge assembly for less than $140.

Radar overlay heading gyrations

This all started with hearing a rumor about a boat accident, that led to a lawsuit. This caused Raymarine to turn off their system's long existing capability of using GPS generated course over ground data as the radar overlay heading input. This was reinforced by Compass Marine's rant on Panbo that was similar to what I heard.

So I explored the issue, and was initially confused by what I was finding. There is the recently settled patent lawsuit that involved almost all of the big MFD manufacturers. It appeared that since there were aspects of the case that could have involved radar overlay, this could be the culprit. In the end this was not the case, and it was settled by all parties in American GNC's favor.

As for the rumored boat accident, I just couldn't find it. The one that was closest to the described accident was wrapped in somewhat of a mystery. Despite the fact that three souls were airlifted off the vessel, there is zero reference to it in the USCG records. There were lawsuits, but I could find no information regarding them. In the end I had spent way too many hours looking, and I picked up the phone, and called Raymarine.

Yacht certified? Whats that mean?

When I read about the 34' Silverton with 27 souls on board that capsized, my initial reaction was "Clown car". I mean where could you put all of these people on a boat of this size, and what was the boat's rated capacity? It turns out there is no rated capacity for passengers on this vessel. It falls generically into the category of "Yacht Certified", if it was certified at all.

Deep deep deep imaging

It was only a few short years ago if you could find bottom at a thousand feet, you had the best money could buy. Then Chirp happened, and the technology limits are not even fully explored yet. The screen shot of the Garmin GSD 26 sounder module painting bottom at 17,624 feet is just the beginning. To read about this, and see more screen shots, click here to see what Ben Ellison at  Panbo has to say. And read the Garmin Blog about it

Marine troubleshooting

Getting inky

A young mother holds a newborn in a RAF hospital late at night in England. She remembers how vivid and spectacular the stars were that night, and many years later tells her child this. The daughter is intrigued and wants to know what her mother would have seen on the night of her first day. She chased down information on a now long closed air force base. She found pictures of the base hospital, got its orientation, and the lat/long position. The view her mother saw was facing west. An online star almanac was found. Date, time, lat/long and azimuth are fed in, and this is the view of the night sky her mother would have seen. Kate's going to get a tattoo.

Miss Geico offshore racing boat catches fire

The 6000 hp turbine powered 50' Miss Geico caught fire Saturday afternoon during test runs off of Lido Key in Sarasota Fl in preparation for the Sunday Suncoast offshore Powerboat race.

Where do old boats go ?

Where do old boats go is a weighty question. I'm not a religious guy, which I suspect has saved me from a lot of extra guilt in my life. The answer is I really don't know, but I have a theory.

I think they stay with you in your heart and memories. The child will smile as he remembers that wooden ketch surging through blue seas under a crystalline sky. Farewell old boat, you always kept your crew safe, and taught us all how to steer a true course.

Debby Downer

Debby was a downer indeed. The rain started five days ago on a Thursday, and with a vengeance. For four days it never let up, and well over a foot of precipitation fell. Noah was frantically trying to finish his ark, but like all boat projects he was way behind schedule, the site was flooded, and the alligators were hungry and cranky. The radar display was solid dark green with lots of yellows and reds. The alerts were spewing out nonstop on the TV and radio. Brappp, Brappp, Brappp, this is a.... tropical storm, flood, rip tide, thunder storm, tornado, high surf, marine, and four horsemen of the Apocalypse warning. But like all large rains with a name we occasionally get here, life goes on. Banks are open, there is soggy mail in the box, and restaurants are packed with grumpy tourists

Primordial soup

Nothing makes me more nervous than the typical boat's water system. Visions of explosive lumbo trickitis emanating from the lower blowhole, coupled with world class cramps or worse has generally discouraged even my most trivial usage of boat water. I would use it to wash dishes, or take a shower only if there was enough chlorine in it to bleach your hair Jean Harlow white, and sear your nasal cavities. In general, if you haven't make a serious investment in filters, disinfecting systems, and chemicals I think it should never be used for drinking. I know it's an audacious thing to say about your boat's expensive water system, but I think it's the truth. Just look at all the news stories about near death experiences, and severe illness boaters have had after drinking boat water. What? There really aren't any? Why I was sure I would find some. But I didn't, and I know why.

What the..... inverter installation made easy

The first step in doing a DIY inverter install on your boat is to find a 12 VDC source. This is usually a big red wire. A battery switch is a good place to find one. Don't worry at all about it shorting against the common leg of the switch. That thin plastic coating on the handles of the clip is there to insulate them. It looks fine, and is color coordinated. The clip has the appearance of permanence, requires no expensive special ;tools to install it, and has the panache I like to see in a marine electrical installation. You won't need any of those dangerous and unsightly restraints like tie wraps either.

What happened?

Ouch, it's dangling from its hip. A case of being drawn and quartered, gone awry, and it was all done by something, but what? I know most boaters are familiar with rocks, and a few have had some up close and personal experiences with them, me included. But in southwest Florida we don't often see rocks. In place of all those hard objects we just have fluffy white sand that collects on the shores, and a hard packed version that resides in the water. I'm going to apply some marginal journalistic standards here and disclose that my information is second hand from my mechanic friend who was the verbal cell phone based first responder. He dealt with the owner throughout the incident. To protect his identity, I'm going to change his name to Ron White, mostly because he kinda looks just like Ron White. I figure the real Ron White, who actually looks exactly like Ron White won't mind. As the real Ron White says, "I didn't get to where I am today by worryin' about how I would feel tomorrow." I feel the same way, most days anyway.

Suicide terrorist sturgeons threatening Florida.

Florida's governor, and cabinet convened this week in Tallahassee for an emergency closed door meeting to discuss the emerging sturgeon threat. A cabinet official, speaking off the record said, "It's apparent to us that Florida's sturgeons have been infiltrated by some branch of al-Qaeda. Not a single person was injured by a sturgeon in 2010, but we're smart enough to put two plus three together. Osama bin laden was killed in early 2011, and in that same year nearly a dozen sturgeon suicide attacks occurred. This now explains where the sturgeons were over the winter, terrorists training camps."

Entropy working towards disorder on your boat

It's an inexorable process. A new day starts with the rising of the sun. The heat starts to beat down on your boat. The air molecules in the radar dome start to get excited as the temperature increases inside the dome. The air increases in volume. Slowly the higher pressure air starts to escape the dome until the temperature peaks. The sun is now setting, and the temperature inside the dome starts to cool. The pressure inside the dome drops correspondingly. Moist air from the outside now gets pulled into the dome. As the temperature continues to cool, the moisture inside the dome starts to condense on everything inside the dome.

Installing the Spot Hug

This was my first adventure in playing with a Spot Hug. This is a clever system. It lets your friends and family see where you are. It tracks your progress, you can send an SOS message to the Spot monitoring center, and if the boat was stolen, Spot Hug will let you know, and tell you where it is.

I'm going to just deal with the installation of the system, and I will put some specific links to Panbo at the end of this missive where you can read what Ben Ellison has to say about the system.

The contents of the box are below with the exception of the user instructions, and the quick start guide. However what's missing from the box is instructions on how to install the Spot Hug. I have been informed they are working hard on this. So in the interim, you get me, and I will provide a link for a You Tube video by Spot talking a about this.

132 lbs times 8

Uff da, Oy vey, Ay caramba, OMG. They weigh 132 lbs each. There are eight of them, all stacked in in a sturdy, but Machiavellian designed miniature prison located under the main salon. Accessible only via a small hatch, I can't imagine the pain level the original installer must have endured to install them. I can for sure tell you about my pain in removing them. I felt like I had entered one of these "World's Strongest Human" contests. You've seen these shows. Immense men pulling locomotives with their teeth, hoisting huge boulders onto pillars, and carrying cars around. 

The animated Yarn of the Nancy Belle from the BBS

This sort of thing seems to happen every time there is a long weekend. It proves that idle hands are the devil's playground. A little fun with the BBC and the W. S. Gilbert poem "The Yarn of the Nancy Belle." I don't often get to deal with long pig.