October 31st, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
By now, most owners of DSC-enabled VHF radios are familiar with the benefits DSC offers, particularly in emergencies. But your DSC radio can do a bunch of other stuff, too, and the sense I get is that most of us don’t use any of these features! With that in mind, I decided to figure out how Group Calling works.
Perhaps you already knew that you could hail a specific vessel if you know her MMSI number. Well, you can hail a whole fleet too…without needing to know the specific names or MMSI numbers of any of the boats. All you need to know is the Group MMSI number that flotilla uses, and each vessel within range will hear your hail. Participating vessels need to have this Group MMSI number programmed into their radios, of course.
So each fleet, club, or flotilla needs to obtain an appropriate Group MMSI number. To receive a unique MMSI number for your vessel, you go to BoatUS and register online, assuming yours is a recreational craft. It’s free. It’s easy. It might help the Coast Guard find you in the event of an emergency. If you want to learn a lot about MMSI numbers in a hurry, check out this page at Marine Computer Systems.
Guess what, though: It’s not at all clear how one obtains a Group MMSI number! One page on the Coast Guard’s Navigation Center website says (more…)
The other day when Tim was working on his foredeck hatch leak on the C-Dory, I suggested some super tape I’ve used for temporary leak protection. Tim got directed to some high-grade duct tape that promises to minimize the horrible, near permanent residue from regular duct tape. I was actually thinking of another product, 3M Preservation Sealing Tape, which costs-an-arm-and-a-small-piece-of-a-leg, like you’d expect of any good, marine-grade product (ahem). Its intended use is to supplement those plastic shrink wrap jobs that some folks use to store or transport boats. 3M claims that it comes off a year later without residue. It’s tough and thicker than most tapes. I’ve left it on surfaces in Mexico for a year, and from experience can say that it eventually crumbles in intense direct sunlight, and will leave a little yellowish stain on white fiberglass. It sticks very well to smooth surfaces and seals pretty well, but it does not stick well on rough surfaces like non-skid. (more…)
October 28th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
I recently acquired a Flex Fold Crab Trap. and my kids love it! I mean, they love playing with it in the living room. The cats don’t love it so much, but for those who want to know, you can trap a Siamese cat in a Flex Fold Crab Trap.
I took the Flex Fold to my boat, a C-Dory 22 Cruiser. This is a small boat with a flat bottom, so it doesn’t have a lot of stowage space. That’s one reason I’m attracted to collapsing crab traps such as the Flex Fold and the Stow-B-Low. I was able to find several spots on the boat where I could stow the Flex Fold completely out of the way. I omitted spaces already dedicated to items I want to keep clean and dry, such as food and clothing. Here are the spots that are left: (more…)
October 27th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
Get ready: eNav, formerly known as the AIS conference, takes place November 13-14, 2007, at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle. So what’s it all about?
“Electronic Navigation and the Application of Information Technology to Short Sea Shipping and Waterborne Commerce.”
October 26th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
As you may know, BoatUS is issuing MMSI numbers, online, for free. Boaters with DSC-enabled VHF radios, like me, are signing up and programming them into our radios, and it’s all great.
Well, it’s great until you learn that if you intend to cruise outside US waters (I do), then you are officially required to register with the FCC. My BoatUS MMSI number is not technically legal to use outside the US. And since my Raymarine radio’s MMSI number can’t be reprogrammed without dismounting the unit and sending it back to Raymarine, I have a strong incentive to just leave it all as is, go cruising, and hope for the best.
See, I can get by fine without using DSC for routine radio communication. I probably won’t have to send a DSC distress signal while I’m in Canada, and if I do, a minor rules violation will be the least of my concerns. So why bother worrying about it at all?
I know, it’s a lazy attitude, but that’s the way I feel. And I’m not alone.
Still, BoatUS is trying to do right by their constituents, and I applaud them for it. Here’s the text of an email I received recently: (more…)
October 25th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
When fishing for deep-water varieties such as rockfish, walleye, black bass, lake trout, or groupers, you can run into a problem if you happen to hook smaller ones; you know…ones you have to throw back. This is because you can’t just “throw ‘em back!”
See, they can suffer from barotrauma—expansion or rupture of air bladders—when they’re brought up from deep waters. Barotrauma can cause stress, injury, and sometimes death. Especially if they float on the surface instead of sinking back down to their normal depth.
Über-fisherman Bill Shelton is not amused. “Ethical fishermen don’t leave floaters!” He sells all kinds of clever gadgets on his website at www.SheltonProducts.com. Among them, you’ll find the Shelton Fish Descender (SFD), a simple device used to decend fish with bloated air bladders back down to depths greater than 30 feet, allowing water pressure to recompress the fish’s air-bladder.
Shelton is all too aware that fisherman may be reluctant to spend extra time on fish they can’t keep anyway, so he’s designed the SFD to be quick and easy to use. With practice, it shouldn’t take much extra time at all, perhaps five or ten seconds per fish released. Here’s how it works: (more…)
October 24th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
Duct tape…it’s great, ain’t it?
Well, it’s great for a while. On a boat in saltwater, it’s good for about a week or two, and then you better remove it and replace it with something more permanent. Otherwise, it gets kinda yucky. It leaves sticky residue behind, and DANG but it can be difficult to remove that crud. If you leave it down for months, it gets even yuckier, very much like the image on the right:
Equal Weathering Exposure
3M Performance Duct Tape with clean removal
Typical duct tape with residue and degradation
But wait, what’s the product on the left? That’s 3M Performance Plus Duct Tape! THIS is duct tape for boaters! 3M makes two significant claims about this product: (more…)
October 20th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
Ben Ellison over at Panbo is reporting that “The FCC has finally granted a waiver so that the various units already approved by the USCG can be sold and used even while further rulemaking takes place.” Apparently, the waiver still requires buy-off from the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC); “a matter of weeks, not months.”
This is news I’ve been waiting for. I don’t know why, but I’ve got kind of a “first kid on my block” bee in my bonnet about Class B AIS. Certainly, I expect the be just about the SMALLEST kid on my block with Class B AIS! Class A AIS is required for boats larger than 300 tons. My boat weighs in at about two tons.
October 17th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
Today the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard released “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower”, a unified maritime strategy signed, for the first time, by all three of the sea services. The tag-line:
Security. Stability. Seapower.
Whatever your feelings about U.S. foreign policy, it makes sense for these services to coordinate their efforts, maximizing effectiveness and efficiency, so I’m all for it. I also appreciate the emphasis on humanitarian assistance and on preventing wars in addition to winning wars. All in all, it sounds like a move in the right direction. These priorities were evident during my recent visit to the Joint Harbor Operations Center.
In fact, my only real reservation stems from (more…)
October 10th, 2007 · by Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor
OK, I’ll admit I was rolling my eyes when I saw this, but face it…I’m a guy. Maybe I just don’t understand. So I asked my wife for some expert advice. “Honey, come take a look at this picture…”
“So, um, if these had been available when we bought your PFD this spring, would you have gotten pink?”
“No question.”
“Oh. OK. Thanks.”
So there you have it. 100% of women surveyed would rather have a pink PFD than a red, blue, or black one.
We’re already outfitted almost exclusively with Mustang PFDs aboard my boat. The kids have their Lil’ Legends vests, and my wife has a fancy new auto-hydrostatic inflatable. The exception: I wear an old Crewsaver Crewfit inflatable from about 1995, before the Coast Guard started approving inflatables. I should probably replace it, but it inflates just fine, and it holds air just fine, and…well…it hasn’t been compelling.
Now my wife says there’s a super-duper-compelling reason for me to update my PFD: I can have her new (black) one, and then she can get a pink one!
