Heck, the last post does provide a lot more useful info... the one thing that threw me up front was the comment on Bristol Bay boats.
What comment? I early on mentioned I had significant experience in the Bristol Bay drift-gillnet industry, and the boating elements of it (as opposed to, say, back office support.) This was specifically done to help people make more valid assumptions about my potential level of proficiency in planning and what-not.
I did not go on and on about my experience (initially) because I wanted to keep the content short, but more so because I find that the more people dwell on such things, the more they question their own competence. Often for good reasons. Often enough they are also simply full of sh...t.
I do have years of USCG aviation rescue service in Alaska and knew quite a few commercial fisherman.... while tough little boats, I would not recommend one for cruising.
You must be well aware that there are a ton of people in Alaska who are operating as decision-makers at a level far above their competency. Thus my interest in the standards and protocols of retaining paid crew in the broader marketplaces at the current time. It's also the case that some of the most competent and sensible people I've met in my life have been in command of vessels.
I don't think I said anything about particular boats, and I never put any thought into using one of the 32' (by regulation) fleet for cruising. But the industry in general involves boats of many sizes and purposes.
The USCG was not operational in Bristol Bay when I was fishing there. The cost/benefit and/or hassle factors didn't make it worthwhile I suppose. It was impractical to have most of the fleet follow most of the regulations, so the USCG would have been up against a pretty impossible set of tasks. Surprisingly to me there were relatively few fatal incidents. We (fishers and processors with helicopters) banded together in emergencies and most of the crews were saved when boats did go down. The state enforcement arm (ADFG) had a specific mission and avoided direct participation in operations outside their jurisdiction, but they would sometimes bend the rules a bit in life-and-death situations. I have no idea what has changed in the last quarter-century in this respect. But many/most fishers who operate there also participate in fisheries outside that zone and we probably do have some mutual acquaintances.
Now knowing a bit more, I will answer any specific questions you care to toss out.
I have an entire thread seeking to identify information portals of use to active mariners. So far nobody has posted any. As I find them I may use the thread as something of a personal note-pad for the benefit of anyone else who my have a similar need and interest.
The one site I found with tabular data on ports and services was off-line (or geo-fenced or something.) I had to go to the wayback machine to verify that it did actually contain information of potential efficient use. I don't remember the URL of that information portal or have a sense as to it will be back on-line.
It's possible that high quality information is available, but only to paid subscribers. While I don't particularly like the trend toward locking up all information as intellectual property (especially scientific papers), I don't really mind paying for what I need information-wise when I am on a mission. I want to preview the goods though so I know what I'm buying, or get testimonials from a trusted source.
