February 27, 2005
Welcome Home Suzuki 250 4-Stroke!
So, Wilson and I were pretty much sold on the E-Tec from Evinrude. We went to the Miami Boat Show looking to find a dealer willing to wheel and deal on the new 'Rude. We spent a good part of the day on Sunday talking to the Evinrude folks. On Monday we decided to make our purchase. However, on the way to the Evinrude dealer's pavilion, we happened by the Suzuki area. We were stopped dead in our tracks by Craig Clements, a Suzuki dealer with Travis Boating out of Stuart. After showing us a cut-away of a big Suzuki 4-stroke, taking us for a spin with Suzuki senior engineer David Greenwood in a DF250 Suzuki equipped CC and hitting us with a price that couldn't be beat, we were sold. We'll take delivery in the next few weeks over at Travis Boating's Clearwater store.
The Suzuki utilizes a chain rather than belts. That was one of the unique features we really liked about this engine. It seems a lot less likely that a chain will break as opposed to a belt.
Posted by captain at 05:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 26, 2005
Thanks Florida Sportsman!
Well, it looks like the folks over at Florida Sportsman did not intentionally delete a post about ClassicAquasport.com as first reported a few weeks ago. We appreciate their help in getting the word out to Aquasport owners and others interested in this great brand. Thanks FS!
Posted by captain at 01:14 PM | TrackBack
"The Patrick" - Self Leveling Radar Mount
Wandering around the Miami boat show, I wondered aloud to Wilson why the various marine radar manufacturers don't incorporate some sort of mechanism to adjust the angle of the mount that the radar sits on. A few minutes later we stumbled upon a small booth manned by the soft spoken Capt. Pat Caudle out of Post Isabel, Texas. It seems Capt. Pat wondered the same thing a year or so ago when he developed The Patrick Level, a remotely controlled self leveling radar mount.
The Patrick Level allows users to adjust the antenna angle regardless of the running angle of your boat by the simple use of an up/down switch. Since radar is by line of sight, this will maximize the aquisition of targets that radar is designed to detect. The device consists of a standard mount modified with a hinge, which is raised or lowered using a Lenco trim tab actuator. The Patrick Level gets my vote for innovation of the year!
Posted by captain at 09:57 AM | TrackBack
February 23, 2005
Back From Boat Show - Wallet Empty!
Wilson and I returned from the Miami International Boat Show on Monday. We spent two full days at the Miami Beach Convention Center and the Sealine Marina. We never made it over to the sailing area or the large yacht brokerage show (which I believe is not officially associated with the main show). It would have taken at least three days and possibly four to see everything.
At any rate, it was a hell of an experience. I'm more accustomed to the smallish Tampa boat show and St. Pete, so Miami was a real eye-opener. Makes you wonder where all of these people get all of this money! I mean, here we were, just a couple of guys trying to outfit a 23' center console, and we left there spending cash like it was growing on trees.
My next few blog posts will detail some of the purchases we made, including a 250HP Suzuki 4-stroke engine and Raymarine nav package with the E-Series multifunction display, a 24 mile 2kw radar, GPS, Fishfinder, autopilot, and Navionics navigation card.
Posted by captain at 03:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 19, 2005
Photo Gallery Launched!
Thanks to the tireless dedication of several of our employees from my "real" company, we've been able to get the photo gallery section of ClassicAquasport.com up and running sooner than expected Check out just one of the many beauties that have been posted so far.
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Posted by captain at 06:11 PM | TrackBack
Miami International Boat Show
Wilson and I are headed to Miami in the morning to catch the last 2 days of the Miami International Boat Show. I've never been, but Wilson has gone a couple of times. I'm sure it will be impressive, if not a little depressing, since my eyes are much bigger than my wallet! Our primary mission, other than drooling over the megayachts, is to outfit our 1975 23' Mako that we (primarily Wilson, I'm just the cabin boy) are restoring. We need to investigate and/or buy an outboard (leaning toward the E-TEC), plotter/fishfinder/radar (maybe the Raymarine C-Series), auto pilot, and probably some other goodies. We'll be posting to the blog and forum while in Miami and I'll make sure to upload lots of pictures to the photo gallery.
Posted by captain at 01:54 PM | TrackBack
February 13, 2005
The Hull Truth - Thanks!
Well, it looks like the folks over at The Hull Truth have not deleted the post about ClassicAquasport.com as first reported a few days ago. We appreciate their help in getting the word out to Aquasport owners and others interested in this great brand. Thanks THT!
Posted by captain at 08:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 10, 2005
The Hull Truth & Florida Sportsman
It has come to our attention that The Hull Truth and Florida Sportsman have decided to prohibit any mention of ClassicAquasport.com in their forums. Many members of The Hull Truth and Florida Sportsman are owners of classic Aquasports. It is unfortunate that these two fine web sites have taken this stance. I can only hope that they will reconsider, as there is no reason why all of these boating and fishing sites cannot work together for the mutual benefit of our respective members. As I mentioned in our forums, we will continue to provide links to both THT and FS, as we believe our users find those sites useful and informative.
Posted by captain at 04:32 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
February 09, 2005
Experimenting with Gelcoat - 23' Mako
Wilson and I spent Monday afternoon spraying prairie yellow Gelcoat from Fiberglass Coatings Inc. on our 1975 23' Mako, which is profiled over at ClassicMako.com. I purchased a half interest in Wilson's Mako a couple of months ago. He has done the lion's share of the difficult work, and I've luckily come in just in time for the fun stuff. We also added Duratec Polyester Clear Hi-Gloss Additive to the mix and the finished product turned out very nice. We still need to do a little sanding and buffing, but overall we are very pleased. The Duratec seemed to work quite well.
Don't worry fellow Aquasport fans, once we finish our experimentation with the guinea pig Mako, we'll get to work on my 1976 Aquasport 222. I'd prefer to make some mistakes on the Mako rather than the Classic Aquasport!
Posted by captain at 03:03 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 08, 2005
Welcome to the ClassicAquasport.com blog!
We hope you enjoy the new site that we launched today. This is the blog section of the site. If you need some help understanding what a blog is and how it works, simply click on the link titled "Blog Help" under the calendar on the left.
There are a lot more features to come, including a photo gallery page to upload your pictures and a page where you can purchase some cool ClassicAquasport.com gear (t-shirts, hats, stickers, etc). Please be patient with us as we make this the premier site for Aquasport fans! Stay tuned!
A shout out to my good friend and a great Florida wrongful death lawyer I know, Bob Carroll, on his newly launched blog.
Posted by captain at 03:14 PM | TrackBack
What the hell is a blog?
It's a new lure. Just kidding. I'm sure some of you have heard of blogs, some of you even know what they are, but many of you have no clue and would probably rather not find out. Too bad, cause' I'm going to blog like crazy ("blog" can be used as a noun or verb) here on classicaquasport.com.
Essentially, a blog is just a personal journal displayed on a web site. Typically, the "blogger," ie, me, Captain, posts a new entry every now and then (daily, weekly, hourly, whatever). The blog posting can consist of anything, Aquasport ramblings, fishing reports, what my dog ate for dinner, etc, etc. That being said, I'll try to keep the focus on fishing and Aquasport related topics.
You'll notice that there is a "comments" feature below. By clicking on that link, you can post a comment to my blog. For instance, you can call me an idiot or a genius or anything in between. You can agree or disagree with my opinion. You too can say anything (w/i reason and common courtesy of course). If the banter back and forth between the blog posting and the comments gets going on a particular topic, then I'll probably encourage the conversation to continue over on the forum.
While forums and blogs are similar, because of their dynamic nature, forums encourage more rapid fire communication, and blogs are more of a platform to voice an opinion. Just bear with us as we learn together how to blog. Wilson will also have posting abilities on this blog.
Posted by captain at 11:07 AM | Comments (1)
February 07, 2005
What's that orange "XML" icon?
OK, this is really cool, but you'll have to bear with me on the explaining. The XML feature allows you to "subscribe" to the classicaquasport.com blog. This isn't the typical subscription that you'd find in a magazine. To start with, it's free. But the really neat feature is that anytime a new post is added to the classicaquasport.com blog, as a subscriber, you are automatically notified. In other words, you don't have to keep visiting the site to see if we've posted anything new.
OK, so how do you "subscribe?" First, you'll need what is called a "news aggregator" or "RSS reader." I prefer one called NewsGator. I think it costs about $30 to download, and if you use Outlook, it integrates very nicely. There are many other aggregators out there, many of them free, but I use my Outlook so much that NewsGator's integration with that application is unbeatable in my opinion.
So, once you download and install NewsGator, you can right-click on the orange XML icon. Then choose "Subscribe in NewsGator." That's it. Now, whenever I add a new post to the classicaquasport.com blog, you'll receive an email notification. There are literally thousands of sites out there that have this XML (also known as RSS) feature. Once you get the hang of this, you'll never have to proactively visit a site again to see if it has changed. Instead, all of the new information will be "pushed" to your desktop.
Posted by captain at 01:12 PM | Comments (1)
Fiberglass work is a joke compared to this!
Les Lathrop's story in Sunday's St. Petersburg Times of refurbishing a 1946 39' Abaco "Smack" sailboat makes the couple of days I've spent sanding down fairing putty seem like child's play. Les has been working on the boat for several years and has at least a couple of more to go. It's all wood, and the search for the best timbers has been painstaking. You've got to admire the passion of people like Les.
Posted by captain at 10:13 AM | TrackBack
February 06, 2005
What's all of this on the left?
Just a way of organizing my blog posts. The actual blog posts are in the middle of the screen and are listed in chronological order. On the left, the calendar highlights days that I created a blog post. Each post is assigned to one or more topical categories. It's a little confusing looking right now b/c I only have a few posts. But, once I get several dozen up, you'll see how the archiving tools on the left help you find old posts.
Posted by captain at 01:54 PM
February 04, 2005
Restoration job - 1972 Formula 23'3"
This afternoon I came across a blog detailing the painstaking bottom up restoration of a 1972 Formula 23'3" in North Carolina. They plan to bolt twin outboards on that sucker and throw in a 107 gallon gas tank. Sounds like she's going to be a lady killer.
Posted by captain at 10:18 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Just a few boats ... and cops ...
It's a lot of fun to watch Sea Ray and Bayliner owners crash into one another during Gasparilla in Tampa. I did see a bunch of good looking restored Aquasports though. Note that they were navigating with great care and skill.
The law enforcement presence was huge as usual. Seems like they could have spent their time more effectively rather than boarding over 800 vessels that day and citing about 70. I personally witnessed about 10 stops. Sure looked like they were stopping any and everyone who was on the water that day. I guess they forgot about that concept we lawyers call "probable cause."
Posted by captain at 12:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Please abolish the USCG Auxiliary!
I know I'm probably going to piss someone off here, but isn't the USCG Auxiliary more of a liability than an asset? I mean, do we really need geriatric boaters who probably have lost their DMV licenses for operating automobiles b/c of their age directing us on the water? A typical experience with the Auxiliary goes as follows:
Off in the distance a Bayliner approaches, USCG Auxiliary flags and pennants flying in copious numbers. The vessel is usually operated by a crew of eight, usually four men and their wives, all donning life vests. As they approach, a holier-than-thou attitude can be detected. As I'm in Florida, most Auxiliary members seems to be recently transplanted New Yorkers with little local knowledge. The ship's captain will invariably try to come alongside my very shallow draft 222 lying in less than 12" of water. The captain, unaware of the depth, will proceed to foul his props on the I/O he operates. As I laugh, the crew, frustrated and embarrassed, motors away.
Posted by captain at 11:46 AM | TrackBack
February 03, 2005
Good ole' boys don't like new-fangled technique
As Pete over at Fishing Jones first posted a few days ago, the controversy over jig versus live bait fishing for tarpon in Boca Grand pass continues on. The Boca Beacon asserts that an exhaustive three year study comparing the mortality rates of tarpon caught on live bait to those landed on jigs, may have been swayed by bias in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
This controversy has been raging for years. Live bait fishermen in Boca Grande pass pioneered the fishery decades ago. However, in the last 10-15 years, anglers using jigs have had great success in landing tarpon in the pass. This has angered the old guard live bait crowd, as they claim the aggressive techniques and boats (generally outboards) used by the jiggers disrupt the natural flow of the pass and the fish that call it home.
The jiggers on the other hand claim that the live baiters are just suffering from a case of sour grapes, refusing to bring their techniques into the 21st century. I'm undecided on the impact that jig fishing has on the tarpon fishery in Boca Grande. However, I have also personally been on the receiving end of some of the old schoolers in Boca who for all intents and purposes tend to think they own the waters of the pass. And, if you ain't doing things their way, then you're just doing things wrong.
Several years ago, a live bait charter captain ran up on me while I was fighting a tarpon just outside the pass (in an area known as "The Pan"). In a maneuver to position his boat and client in a favorable location vis-à-vis the pod, he intentionally ran over my taught line and proceeded to reach into the water, lift my line (w/ tarpon attached), place it in his mouth, and bite the mono until it broke. Needless to say, not a very friendly bunch!
Posted by captain at 08:56 PM | TrackBack
Boca Grande multiplier at work?
We do a lot of fishing in southwest Florida, particularly in the Boca Grande area. Often a 10 pound Snook morphs to 20 pounds after several drinks. We call this phenomenon the "Boca Grande Multiplier Effect." It's basically just a form of "fish-tale'ing."
These guys may have brought the art of the fish tale to the next level. See the link below. Let me know if you think it's for real.
Posted by captain at 06:20 PM | TrackBack
So I'll probably lose my job...
Not really, but if I don't devote some time to my real job (read, not work on boats and this website:), things might go downhill. In the real world I'm a lawyer. Lawyers have to bill hours to make any money. I can't bill hours while sanding fairing putty! I also can't bill while posting to this blog!
Posted by captain at 10:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack