I Was The Asshole

I missed a day again. I was beat after the bay thing. As usual I did nothing to prepare for the time on the water, option to wait for the last minute to do things.

So I was pretty tired when I got home. Blah blah blah.

And I also have to fix stuff I broke. Yes, there was boat carnage! I broke stuff. And lost stuff.

It seems that I forgot to lower my VHF radio antenna before trailering home. I also forgot to remove a flag. On the way home the antenna smacked something. I do not know what. Maybe a highway overpass? Maybe a sign? Hapless pelican? UFO?

Well whatever it was it broke about two feet of the fiberglass antenna shell, exposing the antenna element that was just sort of hanging. SHIT! There goes $40. I managed to get a new antenna for about 1/2 the price of a new one or else it would have been more. Closer to $75 or $80.

And where the hell is the flag? The brand new flag I had just obtained? And the wooden flag staff I made for it?

Probably still on the expressway. I hope I did not cause any accidents. The cops have not tracked me down so I guess nobody took down the trailer license plate and reported me for causing property damage or personal injury.

So I had to buy another 8 foot marine VHF antenna. And another flag. And the stuff to make another flag staff.

The bow tie down also gave up. But that can be fixed. I just need to tighten some cable clamps and put some lock-tight on the threads. This will glue the nuts in place preventing them from becoming loose. I should have done this in the first place.

Other than this, the event went off without a hitch.

On the bright side, I now have a broken fiberglass antenna that I can cut the jagged edge off of and create another flag pole out of. Now I have a place to display a divers down flag. I think I have another ratchet antenna mount around here someplace.

I really need to pay more attention to what is going on. I can not afford to buy a new antenna every time I use the boat.

I wondered why people were passing me on the breakdown lane on the highway. Here I was thinking "what an asshole that person is" when in fact two foot wooden poles were flying off the boat. I was the asshole after all!

One thing is for sure - it is not likely I will forget to lower the antenna and stow flags away again!

Winter Weekend

The boat parade thing went pretty well. It was a long day, but I got to cruise the waterways of Fort Lauderdale. This area has over 300 miles of waterway - so no wonder it is called "the Venice of the United States". By the way, those 300+ miles are all deep enough for decent size boats. I am not talking a shallow canal here.

I was not really expecting what I saw. There were more mega yachts than I have ever seen before. Mega yachts were everywhere. If your boat is less than 100 feet, it really does not stand out much. I have found sources that claim 80% of the world's mega yachts are sold from Fort Lauderdale. I know that the world's largest in water boat show is in Fort Lauderdale. The Miami Boat Show is larger, but the Ft. Lauderdale show features more large yachts.

Another cool thing is Port Everglades. Due to Homeland Security restrictions, the Port Of Miami is closed most of the time. At least the Government Cut side is. The cruise ships are there, and if more than one cruise ship is in port the cut is closed.

Port Everglades is on the intra-coastal waterway (ICW). The ICW can not be closed down, so you can still motor through Port Everglades. The exclusion zone for cruise ships is a lot smaller. It has to be. So you can still get pretty close to them. Close enough to see all the rust anyway. People get on those things?

I think there are more cruise ships at Port Everglades than the Port Of Miami.

The photos of the boat parade itself did not turn out so well. They were blury. The new camera is cool because it is waterproof - but it is also crappy because not all the features can be used all the time. If I go to "anti-shake" mode then I can not select the ISO. I can also not select shutter speed. I think the older Sony camera would have taken better photos but I did not bring that camera.

Lets see...what else?? Should I have some photos? OK fine. Here you go!

This is the helm of the boat. You can see part of the steering wheel and the throttle control. On the "dashboard" there is (from left to right) a magnetic compass, a GPS chartplotter, a Humminbird depth sounder, a Sirius satellite radio receiver, and my marine VHF radio. If you click the photo you can see the GPS and sonar unit display, which will tell you my exact location, speed, course over ground, and other stuff. The sonar will tell you the water depth. Through the windshield you can see some ships in Port Everglades.

And then there is this. I created this image for use one some forums as part of a signature line.

Ill have more photos later, as I get them ready. And by "ready" I mean resized, cropped, and uploaded from the camera.

Drift Away

I got the boat tunes installed. Half assed. There is no good place to put the stereo. I could mount it on the side of the center console, but that will look retarded. The place where there was a radio installed is no good because I was thinking the thing may get in the way. I have too many electronic instruments already mounted on the helm, so that will not work either.

So what I did was just left the stereo unit inside the center console. By the 2 cycle oil tank. Where I keep all sorts of other crap like extra life jackets and towels and other stuff. I use this space for dry storage also.

Anyway, that is where the stereo is. It is not connected to any antenna, but I also put in a satellite radio car kit thing. The satellite radio receiver transmits on the FM radio dial, and the signal is strong enough for the stereo to pick it up. So that is how it works. I may connect it to some sort of antenna cable that is in the boat from the original stereo (that was destroyed when a kid was playing with the wash down hose and soaked the unit with sea water) just to see if that thing is still connected to something. But I do not need to.

It sounds great. The 4 speakers are not that big (6.5 inch two way speakers) but the mostly empty and hollow center console makes for a good resonating chamber. I really wish I had 8 or 10 inch two ways in there. Or 6x9s. Or better yet, four 6x9s on a 4x100 channel amp, and then two 12 inch speakers on a 2x200 amp. That would create ripples on the water around the boat, and probably vibrate the engine bolts off. One day maybe.

Buy seriously, it sounds pretty darn good now for not having an amp. The other boat had only two speakers. Now I have 4. Big difference.

I have to decide if I am really going to put up a T-Top. If so, then I can install the stereo in the T-Top electronics box. If not, then I have to find a better place for it. Right now it is not secured to anything, and not really in a good place to control it. So I have to shit or get off the pot here. I may have to end up getting a new unit so that I can flush mount the control head and remote mount the control unit somewhere else out of the way. The stereo I have now is older and more like a standard car stereo. I can not remote mount the guts from the head. That is what I get for ordering a clearance marine stereo for $25. I can sell the thing on E-Bay and get my $25 back.

Anyway - everything seems to be in order for the outing. The boat is hitched up to the truck, the trailer lights work, stuff is loaded on the boat, the stereo is installed so I have rockin boat tunes, and so on.

I want to be floating by 0700. I calculate that most of the idiots who get boats but never bother how to properly use them will not be there that early. Of course they will be out there later, but as long as I am not using the ramp at the same time they are it is all good.

Ill try to remember the camera. I want some photos of the boat in the water. If I can get them without too much risk to the digital camera. Dropping my camera in the salt water (or any water for that matter) would seriously bum me out.