New power troller looking for advice

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mattakfish
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by mattakfish »

By the way, regarding safety-first, I've decided to make pfd's mandatory for me and any crew while on deck. I purchased mustang hydrostatic-inflator vests w/harness for us. Expensive, but I've used mine every trip since I got it. At first I thought it would get in the way, but after a while, I forgot I was wearing it to the point that I even kept it on even in the wheelhouse! The only issue is that there is a manual inflator tab that hangs off one side and could get hung up on stray lines......I think i will be able to fix that with some quick-release vecro.
Taking the AMSEA drill instructor course and getting a CG safety exam next weekend!
Matt on the F/V Aurora
Salty
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Salty »

I took the AMSEA drill instructor course soon after they started offering them. Good stuff.

Another thing to think about it, even though I have not got around to it, is having a waterproof hand held VHF or cell phone or both on you. That way if you fall overboard you can call for help. In my lifetime I am sure some guys would have made it if they could have called for help.

Thinking forward it might helpful eventually to have a hand held waterproof wireless controller for your autopilot and throttle/clutch with you too. Then you could steer the boat back to you. Then in my case I would need a wireless controller for the winch and boom so I could lower a line over to hoist my carcass back onto the boat.
Thorne Isl.
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Thorne Isl. »

I have been considering having one of these on my inflator vest.

http://www.lfsmarineoutdoor.com/acr-res ... -2880.html
Once and Future
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Once and Future »

Now those two previous suggestions are worth their devices' weight in gold. I am going to act on that! Isn't it amazing that this is something so obvious and sensible and yet I didn't think of it on my own. Beauty of a forum! I was just visualizing again today what it would look like if I went overboard fishing alone and had to watch the stern of my boat slowly trolling away from me (at about the speed of sound)...
lone eagle
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by lone eagle »

My first year in trolling that actually happened twice, but on the bright side I haven't heard of any since. I know that's definitely not the way I want to go...
Abundance
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Abundance »

My Dad tells me the story of a guy he knew who fell overboard in Cross Sound. He managed to grab ahold of his floatbag and strap himself to it with his belt. He stayed that way until his boat ran on the beach and people took notice. It was too late and he died of exposure on the way back to town. A waterproof radio or an engine kill switch might have saved him. I have a couple of nice noninvasive life jackets on board and am getting a lot more obsessive about using them since I got a friends son as a deckhand this summer. Whether I make it or not doesn't seem as bad as having to tell my friend that I turned around and his kid wasn't on deck anymore.
Garrett Hagen, F/V Abundance
Once and Future
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Once and Future »

Even with the kill switch, imagine how hard it would be to catch back up to the boat with any current, wind, or waves.
Journey
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Journey »

AMSEA had some brochures for a wireless kill switch. If the device becomes submerged, or if the remote gets a certain distance from the boat, the engine dies and an alarm sounds. The pamphlet also said you could strap one on to your kids to keep track of them at the beach. :) I don't remember the company.
Laura
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Kelper »

Pretty good stuff guys. I fish by myself, so this has always been in the back of my mind. So do guys ever tow rafts or anything like that when fishing solo?
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Kodiakrain »

Salty wrote:I took the AMSEA drill instructor course soon after they started offering them. Good stuff.

Another thing to think about it, even though I have not got around to it, is having a waterproof hand held VHF or cell phone or both on you. That way if you fall overboard you can call for help. In my lifetime I am sure some guys would have made it if they could have called for help.

Thinking forward it might helpful eventually to have a hand held waterproof wireless controller for your autopilot and throttle/clutch with you too. Then you could steer the boat back to you. Then in my case I would need a wireless controller for the winch and boom so I could lower a line over to hoist my carcass back onto the boat.
That's a great concept,...the Remote Autopilot Controller, in Waterproof, attached to your vest,...Brilliant

I like the idea of the SOSpenders, but then if fishing alone, I've thought, wouldn't that just prolong the despair ??
and as for the average Crewmans, "Level of Competence" to actually steer around and pick me up, without running me over,... Well,..

I've opted for skipping all that, and Just Not Fall Over,...tho Yes, I do realize that is a bit idealistic

I had a Brand New Waterproof VHF, sitting in it's cradle, right there on the dash,...fully charged, and was one of the last things I remember seeing
as I dealt with all that is happening when losing a boat to a storm once,...
I looked right at that VHF, and never thought of it again, until off the boat, in a raft, drifting in Bad November Weather
was a long time before the CG found me on the EPIRB signal,...and I did think of that Waterproof VHF a lot during that time

"Shoulda had that ziptied to my suit somehow,...cause sitting in that cradle, was a discouraging thought
My baseline approach,..."If Anyone Thinks He Knows Anything,...He Knows Nothing Yet, As He Ought To Know,..."
Salty
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Salty »

When I used to do a radio interview show I had the opportunity to interview CG pilots and rescue swimmers who were involved in rescues. There is at least something right in this country when somehow those kind of people end up in positions to save our sorry asses.

One time after the interview I was visiting with one of them and he mentioned how nice it was in one case when the guy could talk them right in with the hand held.
Think of those guys that went overboard off of Kruzof last year where one guy ended up on Pt. Amelia and the other one was in a tote. With hand held VHF's they could have talked the CG or other vessels right in on em.
They have all kinds of waterproof containers for various cell phones. I think I will get one.

This whole forum experience would be more than worth it if through our posts here one fisherman is saved or helped to survive.
Thorne Isl.
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by Thorne Isl. »

We should not have to lose people fishing. Education and implementation of the knowledge through drills even alone, can help one make it hopefully through the experience.
Amsea drill conductor course is good. You get to go out in the bay/harbor and experience how to, real time. Ever have to right a survival raft? Jump off a vessel in a survival suit? It is a interesting course and I recommend the course to all.
mattakfish
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Re: New power troller looking for advice

Post by mattakfish »

I've carried a small standard horizon submersible vhf on me ever since I started hand trolling. I keep it on my belt or in a pocket with a lanyard clipped to whatever attachment point I have on my clothing.... (belt loop, button hole, d-ring etc) It clips perfectly to my mustang vest. It was not expensive ($100) and it will at least give you a chance to call for help. The lanyard is important because you are likely to have trouble holding on to it after a while in the water. A floating submersible would be even better! Also, the name of the company that makes the remote kill switch is autotether. I looked into it. Looks great but from what I can tell, you'd have to have one of those standard red kill buttons (like on outboards, where it cuts the engine when you pull out the emergency lanyard) For an old engine with old controls like mine (671....you pull a string to kill the fuel), I would have to install an electric kill switch and rig it up with a relay that kills the fuel when its activated. I think it could work. I think they also make one that's just an alarm. You wear the unit on your belt, and an alarm goes off on the boat if you fall overboard......but you'd need to have someone else on the boat to hear it and help, of course.
Matt on the F/V Aurora
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