Boating for fun, work or fishing

What fish are those? Great pictures.



Owl

 

Crab on hoarders



Owl

 

No more fishing till September. Then all the recent training will pay off. Start September 1st, end when season closes, sometimes a couple days, sometimes a couple weeks.


Owl

 

About to head up to Door County for a 4 day vacation with the boat. 2 other couples will be with us and 1 other boat like our, 25' open bow day boat. We're mooring our 2 boats only a couple hundred feet from the hotel we'll be at. The tall ships are in town that weekend too. Should be pretty cool.

 

Did some more boat prep and packing tonight. Had to fix a zipper for the bimini top, buffed and waxed the boat, wife washed the windows on it. I filled the freshwater tank for the shower and wet bar sink, tightened some screws, wiped the boat down inside and vacuumed it. Also adjusted the latch for the head compartment, nice and tight now, no rattling. Getting the tools set, air compressor, locks for the trailer, etc.

 

Buddy is on vacation at Sebago, last night took his daughter down to the dock to fish and found this the next dock down. Both boats tied to the dock are gone nobody was injured.

 

No injuries = good

Fire = bad

 

spotted owl Nice size Dungeness crab

 

All packed for our boating trip in Door County. Meeting our friends with their truck and boat at 8:15 am to drive up. We'll be launched by 10:30 am. Check-in at the hotel isn't until 4. The water calls. We'll be burning gas and diesel, then just gas.

 

Safe travels and boating Tom

 

Got launched and went out to lake Michigan from the green bay side. Whitecaps and rollers on lake Michigan, so we turned around. It was still a nice cruise. Saw the parade of tall ships. The picture from my bow is showing Sturgeon Bay with our friends Four Winns in it.
The Coast guard station is at the mouth of the channel from lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay
My wife got more pictures of the tall ships. I'll need to get those from her.

My boat and my friends boat are in the sea of boats moored at the marina. Anyone want to play where's Waldo with boats? It's funny because my boat is always on the large side for inland lakes, but here, 25' feels small.

Today we'll go up the bay side and get lunch.

 

Why take 2 boats??

 

1: it’s more FUN

2: maybe should be 1, Safety, the same reason it’s a good idea to have more than one snowmobile, or Jeep, ATV, etc on an outing, always expect the unexpected, even the newest, best maintained vehicle is still designed, built, maintained and operated by man

3: because you Can

4: the same number of people on two boats is more comfortable, less crowded

5: the fewer people, less gear onboard, the boat will handle rough water/weather better. Horkn’s 25’er would be less affected by that than the 17’er’s I am more used to

6: 60 years experience on boats has taught me it’s a good idea

I’m sure others can add to the list


Doug

 

Always good to have redundancy.

 

I have spent a lot of time on boats and around the water, a large percentage of my childhood was on the Columbia River, my parents had a floating home for weekends and vacations, and it was less than 15 minutes from our land home. I wish that I had some digital photos to share, I have a couple 8x10 and 11x14 photos that I will try the picture of a picture thing

My parents were Salmon fishing the Columbia River Bar, Buoy 10, 3 days before I was born, and bought the float and shell for the boathouse when I was 6 months old, I was wearing life preservers before I could walk

I have been around more boats than I could ever name or remember


This is a stolen photo, of a boat identical, to one we had for uses that “Plum Crazy” wasn’t suitable for, it was the first proper powerboat that I was allowed to take out on my own, at around age 13, I had a smaller outboard powered “Dinghy” at around 10-11. We even used this boat for “Boat Logging” to get firewood



This is “Plum Crazy “ We picked her up New at the factory in Gardena, CA two weeks before my Third Birthday, Mom passed her down to me on Father’s Day 2020. Incredible boat to grow up in, but as mentioned, not suited to logging, fishing, crabbing and rough water


This is another stolen photo, that other than ours being Metallic Green, is identical to ours. It had a couple different engines over the years, the most fun, was a 2 cylinder, 50 hp Johnson, that would make the “Lil Green Demon” Scream, as well as many of the passengers who went out with me


This is our “Pack Mule”, she does hauling duty when we boat camp on McGuire Island, and is suitable for near shore fishing and crabbing in the ocean

this was taken probably about a mile-mile and a half off the Nehalem Bar, my “Favorite Deckhand” showing off a Nice Dungeness Crab


Loaded up and headed out for a day of fishing and crabbing on the Nehalem Bay

As mentioned, safety is a Big reason for having multiple boats, especially on Big water like Lake Michigan. Even in well maintained boats, I have seen fuel lines rupture, and the boats burn to the waterline, in those cases, Time is Essential, having another boat less than a minute away, can literally be a Life or Death Difference. It doesn’t happen often, but just once is enough

On Plum Crazy, I had an exhaust hose that appeared perfectly fine blow out, fortunately the blow out was above the water line, but with the through hull exhaust that is partially above/partially below the water line, it could have been a very bad day. I now keep some ziplock bags and zip ties in the boat.

There are all kinds of reasons to have multiple boats, when possible on an outing


Doug

 

With this crowd?

I can’t imagine anyone here having more than one or two chainsaws

Er, Uhm, I mean one or two DOZEN chainsaws


Doug

 

We had a blast yesterday. Getting those props refinished definitely paid off. 52 mph GPS in very calm Green Bay at 5k rpms. I bet if I add trim tabs I could squeak a bit more out. This want at top speed, I have a video, but I'll have to upload it later.

In the Bay at Egg Harbor


We tried to to the pier and walked into town, and had apps and some beverages.
Our friends got a nice picture of us.


I'll post more later.

My friend's nearly new four Winns HD 5 with the 6.2 Mercruiser it's a heavier and thirstier boat. His has more weight though when without people in it. His hits in a few mph less.

 

Got some good reports for Rec. Blue Fin south of Block Island/ Montauk. Looks like we are gonna burn some fuel tomorrow. Sundays are always fishy!