While Fathers day wasn't complete without the kids, it was a blast. My friend Todd was nice enough to take Jessica and I out for an offshore fishing trip. When it comes to fishing, Todd and his girlfriend Debbie are pros. We got there around 6:30am (Jess was less than thrilled about getting up that early) Todd had the boat fueled, full of ice and all we needed to bring was ourselves and drinks!
We motored out from Marathon and headed south east headed for the Gulf Stream. According to the bouys the stream was 12 to 15 miles off Sombrero Key light. Now being in a power boat after using a sailboat for so long is kind of like getting in a drag car after driving around a model T. We were able to get out there in no time and began the search for seagrass weed lines. Mahi Mahi like to congregate underneath carpets of floating seagrass. You try and troll along a line of grass with a lure skipping at the surface to get their attention. We didn't have the lines in the water for 10 minutes when the first yell of "Fish On" came and I picked up the reel. After several minutes of fighting and reeling, only to have him strip off yards of line in seconds the old guy got tired and I was able to get him to the boat. The school of other young Mahi stayed with him all the way to the boat and we were surrounded by juvenile Dolphin. Unless you've seen the water in the Gulf Stream there is no way to describe how blue, clear and beautiful it really is.
This guy weighed in around 34lbs and was the biggest one of the day, but overall we landed 9 before being run off the weed line by a band of very nasty storms.
Jess caught a couple herself and I'm pretty sure she was glad she went.
After getting run off we decided to head to the sandbar and enjoy the rest of the day before heading in and starting the job of cleaning those fish.
Jessica really impressed me and cleaned both of hers after some instruction. I swear after almost 15 years she still surprises me constantly.
PROJECTS
I have ordered my solar panels and they will be here Tuesday. I went with 2 140watt Kyocera panels with Blue Sky controller and battery monitor. This is the start of the solar array and will probably be enough for our needs, but I have no doubt I'll be adding more later. This combined with a larger battery bank will allow more days without sun or wind and hopefully reduce or completely eliminate a generator. I also began the task of replacing all the old fans and halogen lights in the boat. These fans drew 1.5 amps and the halogen lights were energy hogs and they generated a ton of heat. I purchased fans by Camfranco that had LED lighting built in and an option of red lighting.
Red lighting is used to preserve night vision while sailing or operating at night. Just a small white light can destroy your night vision and it takes about 30 minutes to regain what you lost. The red light option allows us to have light in the boat to navigate our way around but not lose the ability to see a ship or object when it's dark. I also really like the fact that I replaced just fans with more lighting in the boat. The downside is our boat resembles a floating brothel when they are all lit up. "Roxanne" keeps coming to mind! They do also have a nice warm white light that is great for reading.
Some of the old lights and fans.
New low draw LED
Every single time I removed a fixture I found something different, from electrical tape to one with just twisted wiring and no insulation. Well now I know they are all done correctly which gives me some piece of mind.
Now that the lights are done, fans are installed and we have improved our efficiency with all LED, I move on to the project that at this point in time is highest priority.. Wait for it... ..... Fuel filtration!
Yeah believe me it's not exactly fun being in the bilge area covered in diesel and muck, but it's something that is long overdue. Tuesday I will be getting in my new Racor system of filters, which should remedy the only problems we have had with the engine. A diesel lasts virtually forever if you feed it clean fuel and oil, so this should prevent clogging in the future and also clean the tanks. I'll be posting more on that in a how to type video next week. Until then stay tuned,
Mahalo!
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