WELL I FINALLY GOT IT DONE AND I AM READY TO GET OUT THERE FOR A TEST RUN.
Plans are for to be down on 9-27 for the weekend and lots of water time if weather permits.
Sorry for the dupes of pics. A little explanation # 2 Bait tank / fish box showing inlet from copper pick up or a pump. # 3 Transducer mounted to a stern saver block, thanks Nathan, also copper pick up tube for bait tank while running. # 5 Anchor trolley to put anchor rope to bow while anchored.
I know some of you think I am crazy but I have to give it a try. See you out there.
Hey Bill...nice...one question though.....are you able to pull down the boarding "step" if you should get tossed? It is extremely difficult to reboard without having that capability....possible...but difficult, particularly with the sea conditions you'll have if you have been tossed.
From the photos, it looked like something was in the way preventing it from swinging down.
Bill..forgot to mention...hope that the frame for the cooler/bait tank is attached pretty well....you're going to be grabbing it or the cooler "when" (I won't say "if") you get dismounted. There is no way you can reach the grab handle on the back of the seat. My cooler is smaller, and I can just reach over it, with an assist grabbing the frame.
I'll still sell ya my boat, Bill, if it doesn't work out as you expect. One time good deal, today only! That way, you can take Edna with you! Oh wait... maybe that's why you bought the jetski? <snicker>
All kidding aside, looks good. I also wondered about that cooler frame being pvc. Man, stuff breaks on boats for apparently no reason -- stress. On my old boat, I had to have the aluminum console welded back together a couple of times from stress fractures that broke. The sea, she knows how to deal punishment in weird ways, especially to plastic!
Fame is pvc for a trial run on design. I do anticipate some practice on re mounting in deep water. I am thinking about a strap with loops attached under the seat for both sides. Kenny Limitations are a real question here except I just read about a guy landing ?? a 650 lb marlin. I would have to think a catch and release. And yes I can pull down the boarding step but I question how I will be able to use it. I just hope there is no re boarding required!
We will be going down next week so I have a lot of learning to do. Sure hope the weather is nice.
That strap idea might work...as long as you have it shock corded so it's reachable from the water. Once you have something to pull yourself up with (the strap), it's a snap with the boarding step (spring loaded). Practice several times in calm water, cause you know it's going to be interesting wtih a 10+ ft. jetski bobbing/hobby horsing in rough water! Fortunately, your model is pretty stable.
We're all with ya Bill and it's going to be a blast, but you have to look at it like this, and I'm sure Stuart will agree, that anything that can happen, will.
Bill this pipe is going to your pump? If so I would turn the 90 so your not scooping water when your driving. Less restriction on the pipe. Looks cool, you just need a big inner tube with a cooler of ice to pull behind, for the fish and beer.
The pipe is a pick up for use when I am driving. The top of it has a hose connection so I can attache it or a pump to the cooler. It does swivel and also can be pulled up out of the water. My concern is that it may cause turbulence for the transponder while I am underway and make the depth finder not function properly
We're all with ya Bill and it's going to be a blast, but you have to look at it like this, and I'm sure Stuart will agree, that anything that can happen, will.
You, my friend, just said more than a mouthful! If there's one thing I've learned from years of boating and fishing in the Sea of Cortez, no matter how well you plan/prepare, have back up or redundancy, there will always be SOMETHING that happens you had no way of predicting!
:puff:
Stuart
True for all of life and everything we do. At sea or in the air does tend for things to become more significant for sure.
I am moving my boat S to S radio into the RV so at least Edna can hear me if I am not to far out. I will carry a hand held. A big old whip may look a little strange on the ski or may be not. Due to power and range do you think the hand held should be on shore. If I get in trouble it might be better that I have the power so others can at least hear me?
It's been a bunch of years since I stopped carrying a vhf radio on my jetskis....was almost no traffic on there. I understand that the repeaters also were taken down.
For the fisherman types...is there any point in having a VHF to try to get help if you run into problems? How about cell phone coverage out there?
Your best friend at sea in Mexico is still a VHF radio. You can get cell coverage for 10 miles or so out. And yes, the repeaters are still down as far as I know. The Mexican Army forced them off because they said the drug traffickers were using them. Channel 23 seems to be the current channel of favor in RP these days. Used to be 26. Last time I went out, I couldn't even get anyone to acknowledge a radio check in the morning, but did hear some traffic on the channel later in the day.
Your best friend at sea in Mexico is still a VHF radio. You can get cell coverage for 10 miles or so out. And yes, the repeaters are still down as far as I know. The Mexican Army forced them off because they said the drug traffickers were using them. Channel 23 seems to be the current channel of favor in RP these days. Used to be 26. Last time I went out, I couldn't even get anyone to acknowledge a radio check in the morning, but did hear some traffic on the channel later in the day.
Thanks Stuart...that's essentially what I was encountering back when I did carry a VHF radio....no acknowledgements at all. When I did take the run out to Bird Island, I left a VHF with some friends at one of the rv parks....don't know if I would have been able to reach from out there....probably just a "feel good".....
Like I said I plan on Edna monitoring from the 5th wheel. I plan on testing how to set up where each unit will be located. I am thinking the hand held may be better on shore and the bigger unit on the ski. May look a little wild with an antenna taller than the boat is long.
What do you folks think would be best way to set up? On the 5th wheel the antenna would be very high as it will be mounted on top of the roof.
Just use a phone Bill they work fine out in the water att has more range than verizon, even my spare cricket phone works great in town. local service providers work best, and best of luck out there you'll be fine no matter what the hatters say.
If you speak even limited spanish, you can always scan for a channel where two shrimp-captains will be squawking back and forth at each other.
and no- you can not reach RP from Bird Island with VHF - without a repeater between the island and RP. If there was a radio at the Mayan Palace (or Santo Tomas) you could raise one of those locations from the island.
VHF is line of sight from the top of the antenna (approx 12-15 miles on a clear day, assuming the the top of the antenna is 15 feet above the water surface)
Just use a phone Bill they work fine out in the water att has more range than verizon, even my spare cricket phone works great in town. local service providers work best, and best of luck out there you'll be fine no matter what the hatters say.
I agree- we have had better luck calling Penasco by phone from 30 miles out than we have with the VHF.
The VHF needs to be used for finding or reaching anybody in the area if you happen to run into severe difficulty.
What do you folks think would be best way to set up? On the 5th wheel the antenna would be very high as it will be mounted on top of the roof.
If you can give me a measurement to to the top of the antennae on the roof of the trailer, I can calculate the maximum range you would have available with a handheld on the ski...
If you speak even limited spanish, you can always scan for a channel where two shrimp-captains will be squawking back and forth at each other.
and no- you can not reach RP from Bird Island with VHF - without a repeater between the island and RP. If there was a radio at the Mayan Palace (or Santo Tomas) you could raise one of those locations from the island.
VHF is line of sight from the top of the antenna (approx 12-15 miles on a clear day, assuming the the top of the antenna is 15 feet above the water surface)
Back when I made the Bird Island trip, I believe the repeaters were operational....although I'm not sure where they were located....like I said, it was probably more of a "feel good" situation....
Stuart
True for all of life and everything we do. At sea or in the air does tend for things to become more significant for sure.
I am moving my boat S to S radio into the RV so at least Edna can hear me if I am not to far out. I will carry a hand held. A big old whip may look a little strange on the ski or may be not. Due to power and range do you think the hand held should be on shore. If I get in trouble it might be better that I have the power so others can at least hear me?
You could put an extender pole on the base station antenna, it my help with picking up a signal from far away. It works with CB radios.
The radio suggestion by Wahoo is a good bet Motorol Talkabout almost makes your mobile phone seem inadequate - The Red Ferret Journal
Having spent a night adrift by Bird Island years ago these $70.00 35 mile range handhelds would have been the ticket to not having a long, dark and cold night bobbing around in the ocean. Oh, and having an accurate and working fuel sending unit helps as well. :shock:
Oh, and having an accurate and working fuel sending unit helps as well. :shock:
Indeed. After this weekend, I need to change both of my fuel senders. One is now reading constant empty, the other was showing more fuel than what was really there. Ran out of gas on one motor (each motor on my boat has it's own 115 gal. fuel tank; they are independent and that tank can't feed the other motor) just outside the harbor coming back in Saturday. Fortunately, there was enough gas in the other tank to keep the second motor running long enough to get back in the harbor and up on the trailer. Too close for my comfort, even though I monitor how much fuel I put in the boat and how much I've used while fishing. And I'm always religious about putting the same amount of fuel in each tank. Yamaha has a good fuel management system that shows your current burn rate and total burned so far and is generally very accurate. But, sometimes even the best planning goes awry.
I had to replace my sending unit once. Luckily I realized it was bad a few miles before I had to learn the hard way. Put a new one on and it was very inaccurate and had to learn the hard way on that one. Luckily I was just outside the harbor and a banana boat panga assisted me into the harbor. If it is not one thing it is another but I would not trade my boat for anything other than a bigger one!
