Question

Post by **qoutrage** » March 27th, 2005, 7:22 pm

Welcome, striker, to this great online fishing community.
If you haven't thought about it already, consider taking a boaters safety course, as my sidekick and I did a few weeks ago.
The local USCG Aux (St Marks Foltilla?) presents courses fairly often. 'Believe they said the next one is in May.
Or, if you can't make that, at least take an online course.
http://www.boatingbasicsonline.com/
http://www.boatsafe.com/

Post by **RodBow** » March 27th, 2005, 10:49 pm

striker, sounds like a lot of expense and maybe too much worry having that KW - specially for a youngster such as yourself.

You may want to just sell the vessel to me so you don't have to bother with all this stuff!

I could probably trade you a smaller boat that you don't have to worry about all that insurance, electronics and high gas bills, etc. Just let me know and we can make the trade before the magic 68!

Fishin' DC's · Post by **Fishin' DC's** » March 28th, 2005, 3:35 pm

Like Seatrout said, file a float plan and leave it with somebody who is responsible. If you don't make contact with them by the time you indicated, they would have instructions to call the Coast Guard. List the coordinates of where you're planning on traveling during the trip. This gives authorities an idea of where to concentrate their search.

If you lose electrical, and nobody is around to help out, at least somebody will know something's up and send the troops out looking for you, with some idea of where you are.

It took me exactly one time to realize Sea Tow was not a bad thing. Boat broke down 13 miles from the ramp once. It's a lonely feeling out there with nobody around. Good luck and catch 'em up.

nautigator · Post by **nautigator** » March 28th, 2005, 11:58 pm

The tow insurance is a great idea and if you can manage to save your pennies for a while, a decent handheld VHF. My recommendation is to find one that also comes with the ability to snap in a alkaline battery tray. The reason for this is that the batteries will keep for a very long time, but trade them out regularly. Buy the value pack of AAs and put them somewhere dry, like triple wrapped in ziplocks. If you are as bad as I am about remembering to charge the radio, this could save your hiney. Redundancy is what you are looking to have when it comes to safety.