OT - What are you doing right now?

kl8ton

@Sea2Ski
That is what I need to do next time I am in Ft Myers Beach (we go annually).  I like the idea of finding a local guy that is not part of a charter company.  It ends up being $1000-$1200 for a full day of charter fishing, sometimes more.

I have a good story for you about a boat breaking down.

A few years back while staying on Ft Myers Beach, we (BIL, SIL, and myself) chartered a boat for some night fishing.  Shove off 6pm, in bed by midnight. My BIL did not want to kill an entire day fishing as he was only down for 3 or 4 days and had many other things he wanted to do. This was during the Thanksgiving weekend.  

Fishing was great.  We parked over one hole and pulled up plenty of snapper and a few nice groupers.  Time to leave.  Boat will not even crank.  You can hear the starter engage, but not enough battery left crank the diesel over.  The captain somehow drained the starter batteries with the floodlights used for fishing.  This is about 10:30PM.   I would guess 20-30 miles out and we were in 50ft of water.  Captain tried multiple things with various batteries.  He had a pathetic pouch of rusty tools.  His attempts over the next 2 hours resulted in draining the battery enough to where nav/ship to shore radio/lights were no longer functioning.  Nobody had a cell signal except for me.  I could only get a text to go out if i typed it up, hit send, turned off my phone, turned it back on, and its initial startup as it used extra battery to find towers, the text would send.  I was able to get a hold of my wife, who called the captians boss (owner of charter company).  Bottom line, nobody wanted to do this guy a favor because all the boats were prepped for a busy day in the morning with all the Thanksgiving customers coming down.  The water was  dead calm and the moon was bright.  We kept fishing until the fish stopped hitting.  Finally another charter boat captain agreed to help us out.  When he arrived, they tried jump starting our boat.  I felt this was a stupid idea as they daisy chained 4 or 5 jumper cables together from one boat to the other.  (i know how cranky diesels are to jump as I have owned a few diesel trucks with dual batteries).  As expected, jump starting did not work.  The "rescue" boat captain says he brought another battery for us to install since jump starting did nothing.  These batteries can be lifted by one person but they are heavy, and the chop created by the second boat made the handoff challenging.  I would guess the battery to be around 50-70 lbs.  When we got this battery on board, I could see it was swollen in the middle.  I had little faith in this battery.  Without the proper tools and all the corrosion on the terminals and a few other factors that amount to improper maintenance, this battery did not start the boat.  Plan B.  Rescue boat will now tow us in.  

Manually pulling an anchor is extremely challenging.  Once the anchor was up and the two captians secured a tow line, in now choppy water, the towing process began.  All of us on the boat tried to sleep.  About half way back, I wake up and see our tow boat drifting next to us.  The rescue boat captain is yelling at us that he has no power.  Everything shut down.  (Later we found out his alternator died).  

The rescue boat driver calls Sea Tow, as he is a paying member.  After a while Sea Tow shows up on scene.  They realize the paying member has a charter boat (advertising all over it, phone numbers, website, etc).  The contract he has with Sea Tow only covers personal vessels.  Sea tow will not hook up until payment is arranged.  Our captain does not have a penny to his name.  After some calling around and waking people up, they secure a credit card that Sea Tow can charge.  This is a rare job for Sea Tow, two 40 foot boat being towed at the same time.  Pull up anchor again, hook up the train, and we are under way.  As we approach shore, Sea Tow has to drop us because they will not tow double into the intercoastal waterway back to the marina.  Anchor again, wait for SeaTow to bring our rescue boat in and return to us.  He tows us in while we watch the sun rise.  

Sea tow bill for our captian was $900ish.  Our charter was $600.  It is a good story to tell and we can laugh about it now. At the time it was not so funny.

kl8ton

Slows BBQ downtown Grand Rapids

northGAcock

YEMTrey said:

Beautiful day in Chicago. 

I am headed up to Chicago now. Hope it holes on.

Eoin

Out with the faithful hound and it's a beautiful day.

Sea2Ski

Great Story @kl8ton Breakdowns at sea suck. I have have been towed in and limped in on one wheel three times each. Not one of those times was it "Okay".  It just sucks. Four of those times on the boat I am on over the summer.

I try to go the route of finding someone once there as it is usually significantly cheaper. Those three criteria are 1) How picky I am in what I want to catch. 2) I have a wide window of when I can go/have to be back 3) the cost of just booking someone when planning in advance. If it is reasonable, I just book.  Otherwise, I chat people up and see who I feel I can trust. It has to work both ways.

A few weeks ago, I knew I was going there, and I sent 3 emails asking for prices for a inshore, bottom/reef fishing trip, no to little trolling, and interested in catching action. In other words, more interested in catching more smaller fish than just a few larger fish. I was also open to sharing a charter as I only had 3 people. Everyone responded with a 4 hour dock-to-dock trip for  $1200, $1250, and $1300!!!  Really?  No way....  I knew I was going to be flexible on this trip, so I waited. When we got down there, I went to 2 marinas and asked around. One of the boats whom I emailed was there and I asked what the cost was for the next day for the same thing as described above $950! Bam - could have saved $300 right there, but still opted out. I ended up going out with the property managers husband. It worked out well.

Best cost savings I found was when we went to Huatulco Mexico. Got emailed prices of $1000-$1200 for a full day offshore fishing - not bad for big game. Having been there before, I knew I could do better. Arrived, found a local guy while I was just walking around the dock and we ended up going out on his boat. $200 for the day and whatever it was to fill and bait up.  I saw it was a Regulator, and he had pretty good equipment. Fuel was around $200 and $100 in bait. It was a $500 day. We trolled all day with three guys on the boat in total. We caught several tuna (sold a few for pennies at the dock, I think something like $20/fish), and hooked up to a large marlin which we lost just before being leadered. And that was a very fuuuulllll day fishing. Left at 7, came back at 6, and it was only about a 20 min run to the fishing grounds.

Give it a try, and use your gut and brain. It has worked for me in Huatulco, Costa Rica, San Juan WA, FL Keys, Green River WY, and now Turks and Caicos. It did not work in Iceland, Aruba or the Outter Banks.

Color_My_World_Green

lousubcap said:

I'm just guessing that the foam in that cup is not from the ocean.  Enjoy.

That is the best kind on a nice sunny afternoon.

Battleborn

Just got back from a weekend camping trip. Wife wanted to go to Valley of Fire, not my style, but ok. Sites are spacious and there are plenty of things for the kids to do near each site. 

DuckDogDr

Just finished cutting out the pieces to make a wood duck house... Had some trying to nest on my little pond behind my house .. So figured I would give them a long term lease 

Going to put together this afternoon .. (Using dad's antique saw lol)

fishlessman

kl8ton said:

@Sea2Ski
That is what I need to do next time I am in Ft Myers Beach (we go annually).  I like the idea of finding a local guy that is not part of a charter company.  It ends up being $1000-$1200 for a full day of charter fishing, sometimes more.

I have a good story for you about a boat breaking down.

A few years back while staying on Ft Myers Beach, we (BIL, SIL, and myself) chartered a boat for some night fishing.  Shove off 6pm, in bed by midnight. My BIL did not want to kill an entire day fishing as he was only down for 3 or 4 days and had many other things he wanted to do. This was during the Thanksgiving weekend.  

Fishing was great.  We parked over one hole and pulled up plenty of snapper and a few nice groupers.  Time to leave.  Boat will not even crank.  You can hear the starter engage, but not enough battery left crank the diesel over.  The captain somehow drained the starter batteries with the floodlights used for fishing.  This is about 10:30PM.   I would guess 20-30 miles out and we were in 50ft of water.  Captain tried multiple things with various batteries.  He had a pathetic pouch of rusty tools.  His attempts over the next 2 hours resulted in draining the battery enough to where nav/ship to shore radio/lights were no longer functioning.  Nobody had a cell signal except for me.  I could only get a text to go out if i typed it up, hit send, turned off my phone, turned it back on, and its initial startup as it used extra battery to find towers, the text would send.  I was able to get a hold of my wife, who called the captians boss (owner of charter company).  Bottom line, nobody wanted to do this guy a favor because all the boats were prepped for a busy day in the morning with all the Thanksgiving customers coming down.  The water was  dead calm and the moon was bright.  We kept fishing until the fish stopped hitting.  Finally another charter boat captain agreed to help us out.  When he arrived, they tried jump starting our boat.  I felt this was a stupid idea as they daisy chained 4 or 5 jumper cables together from one boat to the other.  (i know how cranky diesels are to jump as I have owned a few diesel trucks with dual batteries).  As expected, jump starting did not work.  The "rescue" boat captain says he brought another battery for us to install since jump starting did nothing.  These batteries can be lifted by one person but they are heavy, and the chop created by the second boat made the handoff challenging.  I would guess the battery to be around 50-70 lbs.  When we got this battery on board, I could see it was swollen in the middle.  I had little faith in this battery.  Without the proper tools and all the corrosion on the terminals and a few other factors that amount to improper maintenance, this battery did not start the boat.  Plan B.  Rescue boat will now tow us in.  

Manually pulling an anchor is extremely challenging.  Once the anchor was up and the two captians secured a tow line, in now choppy water, the towing process began.  All of us on the boat tried to sleep.  About half way back, I wake up and see our tow boat drifting next to us.  The rescue boat captain is yelling at us that he has no power.  Everything shut down.  (Later we found out his alternator died).  

The rescue boat driver calls Sea Tow, as he is a paying member.  After a while Sea Tow shows up on scene.  They realize the paying member has a charter boat (advertising all over it, phone numbers, website, etc).  The contract he has with Sea Tow only covers personal vessels.  Sea tow will not hook up until payment is arranged.  Our captain does not have a penny to his name.  After some calling around and waking people up, they secure a credit card that Sea Tow can charge.  This is a rare job for Sea Tow, two 40 foot boat being towed at the same time.  Pull up anchor again, hook up the train, and we are under way.  As we approach shore, Sea Tow has to drop us because they will not tow double into the intercoastal waterway back to the marina.  Anchor again, wait for SeaTow to bring our rescue boat in and return to us.  He tows us in while we watch the sun rise.  

Sea tow bill for our captian was $900ish.  Our charter was $600.  It is a good story to tell and we can laugh about it now. At the time it was not so funny.

been stuck out a few times, bahama bonefishing, guide has 3 spark plugs rolling in salt water, none fit the engine   ever try and steer a 250 outboard by holding it under power, that works real good up to about 3 miles an hour when your a good 20 out.  had one of the best days on a rubber drift boat though with duct tape all over it, they have problems when you hit barbed wire its the way guides roll

Focker

Convinced pops to pull the cover off the 66, and cruise to the American Legion for a liquid lunch.  "You fly, I buy."  50mph and 2000rpms was the sweet spot, she purrs like a kitten with the new side pipes.

theyolksonyou

Focker said:

Convinced pops to pull the cover off the 66, and cruise to the American Legion for a liquid lunch.  "You fly, I buy."  50mph and 2000rpms was the sweet spot, she purrs like a kitten with the new side pipes.

Sweet ride

Focker

Thanks, was a beautiful ride today.

Hans61

Cherry smoked porterhouse chop. Really like the pellet envy Bbq sauce! 

DoubleEgger

Hans61 said:

Cherry smoked porterhouse chop. Really like the pellet envy Bbq sauce! 

That's my wife's favorite sauce. 

tclamberth

Just polished off dinner. Got some solid leftovers for lunch 

YEMTrey

Just bought my ticket to Chris Robinson Brotherhood in Lexington, KY.  March 25th can't get here soon enough!!

Focker

Found a gently used vintage Le Creuset oval baker, haven't seen many 36s.  $27 after tax.

Very faint silver surface scratch in a few places from metal utensils, doesn't effect enamel in any way.  Nice thing about the enamelware, no stripping or reseasoning.  
Only a quick wash, and it gets placed in the rotation.

A guy at the first place told me about a new store to check out.  
Won't be steppin foot in there again, their #3 small logos are mad rare.

Sea2Ski

Eating shrimp and fries


The view isn't bad either...

nolaegghead

Focker said:

Convinced pops to pull the cover off the 66, and cruise to the American Legion for a liquid lunch.  "You fly, I buy."  50mph and 2000rpms was the sweet spot, she purrs like a kitten with the new side pipes.

Nice.  The only Vettes I like are the 50s and some of the 60s and the newest incarnation.

Focker

nolaegghead said:

Focker said:

Convinced pops to pull the cover off the 66, and cruise to the American Legion for a liquid lunch.  "You fly, I buy."  50mph and 2000rpms was the sweet spot, she purrs like a kitten with the new side pipes.

Nice.  The only Vettes I like are the 50s and some of the 60s and the newest incarnation.

I'm with ya, the C-2s(this one) always were my favorite Vette.  There was a yellow split window next door growing up, thought it looked so cool as a kid.  The convertible takes it up a notch.  Even little things like how the seatbelts lock into the middle console when not in use, the oh **** grip built in top of the dash, and instrumentation, is neat.  It's not a big block, but the 327 4 speed is plenty for him.

WeberWho

nolaegghead said:

Focker said:

Convinced pops to pull the cover off the 66, and cruise to the American Legion for a liquid lunch.  "You fly, I buy."  50mph and 2000rpms was the sweet spot, she purrs like a kitten with the new side pipes.

Nice.  The only Vettes I like are the 50s and some of the 60s and the newest incarnation.

I'd love a new Corvette or any 50's/60's. I'm excited to see if the Corvette is actually going to go mid-engine. I've seen some spy shots but it's all wrapped up and hard to tell. I know the late 90's-2000's Corvettes seem kind of vanilla but the motor sure says something. This guy has over 700,000 miles on his Corvette. He has gone through two transmissions but still the original motor. 

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/c5-corvette-owner-puts-700000-miles-on-his-2000-corvette/

northGAcock

Focker said:

Convinced pops to pull the cover off the 66, and cruise to the American Legion for a liquid lunch.  "You fly, I buy."  50mph and 2000rpms was the sweet spot, she purrs like a kitten with the new side pipes.

Dang..,..beautiful classic right there.

northGAcock

Sea2Ski said:

Eating shrimp and fries


The view isn't bad either...

So jealous of your frequent trips. Beautiful place.

DuckDogDr

Got my new floors delivered today...going to start installing tomorrow 

DoubleEgger

Sitting on an aeroplane listening to Dwight Yoakam cover Purple Rain on the intercom. I like Yoakam but I don't know about this...

Legume

DoubleEgger said:

Sitting on an aeroplane listening to Dwight Yoakam cover Purple Rain on the intercom. I like Yoakam but I don't know about this...

there are some great crossover covers that have been done, but that just doesn't sound like one of them.

tarheelmatt

DoubleEgger said:

Sitting on an aeroplane listening to Dwight Yoakam cover Purple Rain on the intercom. I like Yoakam but I don't know about this...

Seems approritate for your situation and better than Yoakam in some instances.  Man I love that guitar.  

https://youtu.be/jlFXhigvTvM

stonewh

YEMTrey said:

Just bought my ticket to Chris Robinson Brotherhood in Lexington, KY.  March 25th can't get here soon enough!!

Very nice, that will be awesome. I am headed to Orange Beach for Sturgill in May, pretty pumped about that. I saw Stapleton there last year and it was one of the best concerts I have been to, these two guys are killing it. Also to note, they are about the only ones that I will listen to when it comes to "new" country.

Sea2Ski

Getting on a plane and heading home. Gonna hit costco on the way home. 

DuckDogDr

@Sea2Ski where did you vacation at ?