New Guy on the Forum

[honeybadger]

Welcome aboard ! i spend about 4 hours a week walking a local boat yard less than a mile from my house. Always checking out the hull shapes keel sizes and how the chines and stern below the water line is shaped. There is as much to boating that involves quick fixes and navigation as there is about radio use and what to do when things go bad real fast! check list i think are great as a lifer in the USMC we had check list for everything. Knowing how your boat will handle is key in "not being that person" single engine, Twins, Bow or stern thrusters, Windless, Davits or tow your dingy, There are 10,000 questions and 3 times the answers alot of it is personal taste or years of boating that sets the tone for the answer. I think the USCG course and being on boats alot of them will give you more info than anything. good luck and your not a Captain untill you 1- clip the dock leaving your slip,2-Run aground reaching for that chart you dropped,3-drop your $500 phone overboard when deploying the anchor ! ( Fair winds and rising tides)

[JAT]

Well, I guess I be a Captain.... I recently sorta clipped a coupla pilings leaving a dock... I've been aground at least once.... and I have donated a phone to Neptune....maybe not a $500 one....

[Baggiolini]

Jumping onto what Marin said, in my opinion, when single handing, smaller is better. I had a hell of a time single handing my Californian 42lrc but my PT35 is a joy when I am alone. Thus far, I have been able to put her anywhere I wanted to go.

[honeybadger]

JAT i did a good one about 4 years ago coming in late from dinner. Had wind and tide killing me trying to back into my slip on the 3rd try i was lined up juiced it hard aft and my ex was standing on the swim step ? thinking she was going to jump off and catch a line, So i am backing it down hard and once i was clear dropped the throttle slipped her in Fwd shot the fuel to her again and " guess what the shift cable end snapped off no warning" so then i was really hauling azz back into the slip. I looked back to see what i was going to crush beside my swim platform and before i could speak I slamed the dock launched the ex wife onto the dock at warp speed she made the dock jumped onto the sea wall then lost her footing on the wet grass and did a burn in hard. Then i looked and nothing was broken on the boat the wife was yelling at me but the docks were swaying and creaking and boats were rocking, Quickly i switched all the lights off shut her down and jumped over quick tie off and told everyone stay in the salon for a few mins. Ex wife #3 was hot over that for a week

[Moonstruck]

Originally Posted by honeybadger

JAT i did a good one about 4 years ago coming in late from dinner. Had wind and tide killing me trying to back into my slip on the 3rd try i was lined up juiced it hard aft and my ex was standing on the swim step ? thinking she was going to jump off and catch a line, So i am backing it down hard and once i was clear dropped the throttle slipped her in Fwd shot the fuel to her again and " guess what the shift cable end snapped off no warning" so then i was really hauling azz back into the slip. I looked back to see what i was going to crush beside my swim platform and before i could speak I slamed the dock launched the ex wife onto the dock at warp speed she made the dock jumped onto the sea wall then lost her footing on the wet grass and did a burn in hard. Then i looked and nothing was broken on the boat the wife was yelling at me but the docks were swaying and creaking and boats were rocking, Quickly i switched all the lights off shut her down and jumped over quick tie off and told everyone stay in the salon for a few mins. Ex wife #3 was hot over that fora week

HoneyBadger, for the life of me, I just can't figure out why you have problems with women.

[MilShooter]

Originally Posted by honeybadger

Welcome aboard ! i spend about 4 hours a week walking a local boat yard less than a mile from my house. Always checking out the hull shapes keel sizes and how the chines and stern below the water line is shaped.
<SNIPPED>
your not a Captain untill you 1- clip the dock leaving your slip,2-Run aground reaching for that chart you dropped,3-drop your $500 phone overboard when deploying the anchor ! ( Fair winds and rising tides)

Thanks for the welcome. Before I had a freak accident that changed my life, I also like to walk the boat yards. There, I gained an appreciation of hull designs, especially the chines (if any) and the keel. I just liked the look of the hulls that were more rounded, without chines, and a full keel that just about enveloped the prop shaft, prop, and rudder. More recently, I began a search for boats that had these features and found that, in general, they were more expensive than the flatter-bottomed boats or they were sailboats/motor sailers.

In addition to satisfying the criteria above to be a captain, I've also lost two pairs of prescription sun glasses overboard and I actually sunk my boat once. After its sinking, it sat on a rocky bottom of the shore for 12 hours before the Coast Guard arrived with a functioning pump that allowed us to refloat the boat. They had come earlier, but brought a non-functioning pump. The hull repairs of about 1,000 holes in the fiberglass cost me dearly to repair and I lost all electronics and the outboard. After drying the hull (heat lamps for 2 weeks), I repaired the holes myself and repowered the boat with used twin outboards. My Dad was quite amused at all of this and never quite understood why I needed to be on the water. It seems clear to me that you either have this desire or you don't. For those with the affliction, nothing else will suffice.

During the first outing after the sinking, I engaged the dock at the marina fuel pump and destroyed my bow rail on a piling when a wave came at exactly the wrong moment. Heck, with my calamities, I might be a master mariner...

Your mileage may vary...

[skipperdude]

I have several cell phones and sunglasses in permanent storage under my boat.

I haven't run aground by accident yet.

Sveral times to check out the hull and replace zincs.

Gotta be carefull. a pointy rock could ruin your whole day.

SD