Nightmares... of a new trawler owner

[Skinny]

Originally Posted by High Wire

The problem for me is always worrying what I forgot to put on the checklist!

Sounds like your checklist needs a checklist

[Rsysol]

We have lived aboard for 1 1/2 years now, most of our conversations go like this:

What's that noise, is it us?
Was that the bilge pump?
Shhhh, I hear something!
Where did that oil slick come from, it is us?
Where did that water come from?

When anchored, add these:

Did we drag?
Was that the anchor alarm?
Did the wind come up?
Why are we pointed in this direction?
Are we closer to shore?
Why did they anchor so close to us overnight?

There are many more, unfortunately it's normal, welcome to the group!

[Forkliftt]

Originally Posted by Rsysol

We have lived aboard for 1 1/2 years now, most of our conversations go like this:

What's that noise, is it us?
Was that the bilge pump?
Shhhh, I hear something!
Where did that oil slick come from, it is us?
Where did that water come from?

When anchored, add these:

Did we drag?
Was that the anchor alarm?
Did the wind come up?
Why are we pointed in this direction?
Are we closer to shore?
Why did they anchor so close to us overnight?

There are many more, unfortunately it's normal, welcome to the group!

Great Post. Welcome aboard!


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's
✌️

[siestakey]

Originally Posted by Rsysol

We have lived aboard for 1 1/2 years now, most of our conversations go like this:

What's that noise, is it us?
Was that the bilge pump?
Shhhh, I hear something!
Where did that oil slick come from, it is us?
Where did that water come from?

When anchored, add these:

Did we drag?
Was that the anchor alarm?
Did the wind come up?
Why are we pointed in this direction?
Are we closer to shore?
Why did they anchor so close to us overnight?

There are many more, unfortunately it's normal, welcome to the group!

Great Post and welcome also

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Welcome and congrats! You are normal and almost completely sane! Next you will be thinking of selling the house and taking the kids and move on board....just to make sure everything is OK.

You will find that you have a lot of great memories to create and adventures to explore!

[Marin]

A lesson-learned on checklists...

I first encountered them when I began working on my pilot ratings and acquired a new list each time I began flying a different plane. So when we decided to make up a checklist for our cruising boat, we decided to pattern it after the aviation lists we were used to. So we put everything on them that we did in to get the boat ready to go, and we did prior to leaving the boat to drive home.

And frankly, it was ridiculous.

The lists, while thorough, were so long they actually discouraged their use. So we re-thought our approach.

The revised lists we came up with contain only the most important items; those that are critical to the preservation of the boat and the fundamental safety of its operation.

So, for example, where we had previously listed all the steps required to get all the nav and com electronics going, we now have: "Electronics- as needed."

But an item that we deem is critical to the safety of the boat-- shutting off the actual tank valve of the propane tank that is feeding the galley before leaving the boat to go home, for example-- remains an individual item on the "leaving the boat" checklist.

So my suggestion is to keep these kinds of checklists as short as you possibly can while retaining the relatively few things that truly are important. Otherwise they'll get so long you'll look for excuses not to use them, at which point you might as well not have them at all.

[cmgreeniv]

I travel, we keep the boat behind the house most of the time. Sometimes at the Marina. I could not get wife to check on boat while I was on the road for a week at a time. The 8 year old would text me, 10 minutes before I got back home, that Mom had just gone down and checked the boat... So I installed a DVR with a wireless link to my house for when its at the house, and it defaults over to a Cellular modem (6.00 per month) when its away from home. Kind of nice, even when i am 2 miles away on the beach, if i have my cell, i can see the 4 cameras currently installed. Its a 8 channel system, and the other 4 cameras are on the list... You can see on the one picture, that is the water level in the lower bilge... I did find it one time at the top, which is only about 40 gallons of water, due to a smoked Rule53s pump. I also have high water alarms, but this is one of those, SHOW ME, type of solutions. Its also nice to check the bilge from the upper helm, and at night from the rear stateroom! I have about 300 in the DVR/cameras, and another 200 in the network equipment, plus 12 to 14 hours to set it all up.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by cmgreeniv

I travel, we keep the boat behind the house most of the time. Sometimes at the Marina. I could not get wife to check on boat while I was on the road for a week at a time. The 8 year old would text me, 10 minutes before I got back home, that Mom had just gone down and checked the boat... So I installed a DVR with a wireless link to my house for when its at the house, and it defaults over to a Cellular modem (6.00 per month) when its away from home. Kind of nice, even when i am 2 miles away on the beach, if i have my cell, i can see the 4 cameras currently installed. Its a 8 channel system, and the other 4 cameras are on the list... You can see on the one picture, that is the water level in the lower bilge... I did find it one time at the top, which is only about 40 gallons of water, due to a smoked Rule53s pump. I also have high water alarms, but this is one of those, SHOW ME, type of solutions. Its also nice to check the bilge from the upper helm, and at night from the rear stateroom! I have about 300 in the DVR/cameras, and another 200 in the network equipment, plus 12 to 14 hours to set it all up.

Similar to our setup. We have alarms set that will text us on most any problem, but there's something about getting a visual. And we can see all the key areas.It's helpful even if your cruising and have just gone to explore for a few hours. And the prices have come down so much that it's easily affordable for most.