Boating BS thread

Hey copper!

Check the oil pan on your engine. kept finding oil in our bilge, and if we left the boat in the driveway with the plug out for a week, there would be a small oil drip spot on the asphalt. pulled the engine, dropped the pan, new seal, filled her back up with oil, and we're good to go. sounds daunting, but pulling an inboard engine out of a boat is waaaayyyyy easier than a vehicle.

 

Anyone have much experience with night boating?

been cruising around harbors since I could reach start the engine on an inflatable dinghy, but I had my first real go at it on the 4th of july. make a 12 mile trip from Annapolis harbor, where we watched the naval academy fire works, back to the ramp 2 rivers south on the Chesapeake bay. water was fairly calm, but it was extremely hazy, so there was no moon light. visibility without lights on was about the length of the boat (20 feet), purely due to how dark it was.

had a very high powered head lamp strapped to the wakeboard tower, and another on my head. combined, they have a total lumen output of a 20'' rigid LED bar. I also strapped my waterproof LED spot light box to the front of the boat. because of the fog, immediate visibility was not great, but the lights make nearby markers, crab trap buoys, and other boats glow from a mile away. the 12 mile trip was about 20 minutes during the day, and about 30 minutes by night. cruised around 22 mph. felt like a lot faster than that in the dark. kind of nerve racking at first, but I really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to doing it again. maybe on a clear night with a full moon though.....

Spot light strapped to the front of the boat


Headlamps off, just nav. lights and the box.
most of the lights in the distance are houses about 5 miles away. the brighter light on the left is a shipping channel marker about a mile away.



Safely back at the ramp around midnight.

 

The first time I went out at night was in idaho on a clear night to look at the stars. Try to start the engine and it had vapor locked.. Luckily we have a kicker motor. But I'm always nervous about hitting a log at night

 

HEEEEEYYYYYYYY buddy long time no talk/see all that good stuff. yeah thats exactly what it is. sometimes it drips out of the drain plug and onto the floor. people i have talked too said it's something you can live with so i will probably do just that. If it were spewing all over the bilge area that would be a different story but it's not so i will probably just stick with it. from what i've read it's some kind of design flaw with the oil pans on the volvo 4.3 i think most of them from that year do this. I'm sure the ethanol gas doesn't help either. I use an additive and it's does help. Anyway I don't go out at night, scared of the dark!!!hahaha

 

Oh yeah i really like that spot light box...what's the run time on your invention?

 

4.5 hours for the spot, or 28.5 hours for the 4 area lighting pods.

Check out the build thread
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ultimate-off-road-utility-light-and-power-station.322666/

 

Oh dang dude I may have to hook that up thanks dude!!

 

That's a cool spot light indeed, but around here you'd get fined heavily for it and possibly a beat down by other boaters. It's illegal to travel with headlights on a boat because you ruin other boaters night vision. Even docking lights on a pontoon boat... if you are under power it's a big no no!

 

Serious? Didn't know it was illegal anywhere

 

Just went through the maryland regulations. Nothing stating that "headlights" are illegal. Just lists the minimum lighting requirements for night boating. And essentially say don't domanythingstupid. Most folks who go out at night have a person or two up front with a handheld spot light. I'm just using a ratchet strap instead of my hand I guess. Would never fave the light upwards or aim it at another boat, but based on what you see around here, and the published regulations, I should be safe from the fines and beat downs.

Are you boating on a lake, Geoff? The handful of lakes I've boated on always seem to have much stricter regulations.

 

thats crazy never heard anything like that...i figure it would be a good way to avoid other boaters especially at night. I know alot of fellas round here that have mounted LED bars to their airboats

 

That's exactly why I grabbed the light box for that trip, all he Florida guys running led bars. Don't know about you, but I can barely see little glow of the minimum requirement lights, but I sure can see an led bar, and you bet your ass if I see one coming my way, I'll now to move over

 

X2

yeah, lots of boats around here have lights mounted on the front at least, some boats out here will light up the bay.

 

We have 2 spots up front and never gotten in trouble.. Maybe it's just in your state?

 

Driving a boat at night or in the fog can be nerve racking. When I was in the Coast Guard I eventually got comfortable enough to run 40-45 knots in the fog to where I couldn't see the bow by only using the radar. Those SAR cases were the worst but at 2am when your staring at the radar going 45 knots down the Mississippi River with all the Tug Boat and Tanker traffic it kept you awake and alert.

 

Got the salmon slayer all ready to go.. Well.. slay some salmon tomorrow

 

That boat is a beast! I dig it

 

Yep I agree

 

Thanks man! Caught 3 this morning, woke up to late. Tomorrow we should be going earlier..

 

maybe your fish saw my cell phone, left it on the back of the boat the other day. it now gonehad to get a new phone and lost some stuff cause the last time i backed up was bout 6 months ago