McNary FUN and FUBAR...11-19-01

[FEAR NO FISH!]

Went back for vengence last night. Nobody wanted to brave the weather so off I went by myself. It rained and blew from all points on the compass. I continued to use my electric motor although I was on speed 8 out of 10. 10 minutes into my first pass I hung a 17 pound bad a$$ IKE hatchery steelie. Another couple of rips later I hook and land a 12 pound hatchery hen. It was still 40 minutes before midnight so I went back to the launch and had coffee in the truck. About 12:30 I hit it again. Almost in the same place I hooked another fish 15 minutes into my first pass. I had a couple more rips and no hook ups. About 2:30 a barge is coming back across the river from the grain silos. I start manuvering out of his was and notice I don't have much juice left in the batteries. I decide to fire up the big motor to gain some space. The big motor started up and then quit 30 seconds later. Hmmm thats interesting. I retry starting and it dies again. Well I'll just fire up the kicker motor. It starts but dies 20 seconds later. Now thats odd. I finally deduce that I am out of gas. No problem I can still come back on the electric. Not! That baby is out of juice. I am the only boat out there. Time for self rescue. I pull the starter motor battery and the battery I use for my high intesity lights. I swap them into the electric motor and I am able to limp across the river back to the launch. Loading that beast in the wind with no motor is rough. No, thatsa huge ***** . That was a real wake up call to do some maintenance on batteries and fuel. A great beginning and a shatty way to end the night.

[NAUTI-NOTIONS]

Somebdy told me that your 24 volt system was awsome, it just keep going and going and going OOOPPPP's maybe need to add a charge in between goings. glad it wasn't worse, like 100,000 tons of steel meeting 2500 pounds of Aluminium. Ouch,
17# hatchery WOW. smoked fish for everybody on your christmas list.

[GoFish]

Glad to hear that everything worked out all right for you. That story was gettin' scary! Dark, water, tug, no power and all that after those fish beat you up so bad.

[FEAR NO FISH!]

I was almost to the point of rigging
up a sail. I checked my batteries
this morning and found they were low
in water. I added distilled water and
hope the charge builds back up.
Otherwise I will be needing a couple
of new deepcycles. I use this
electric more than most. Between
chasing walleyes all summer and
steelies all fall these babies have
been rode hard and put away wet!
Neglect is not an option. I am going
to step up on the preventitve
maintenance. I ran into trouble after
running the electric at 3 times the
speed I usually do because of the
wind. We've got these fish on the
run. No negotiations until we have
destroyed their terror network! :grin:

[Vinny]

Steve,
Only add water before charging if the level is very low. You don't want to add water until you're done (or almost done charging). The electrolyte in the cells will expand due to the heat from charging.
If you fill the cells (to the full mark) before charging, you run the risk of overflowing the cells and losing electrolyte.

You only assumed that I didn't want to brave the weather last night. No comment.

[Vinny]

Steve,
This morning I was thinking of a couple of things that were said yesterday.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr> It rained and blew from all points on the compass. . . . I am the only boat out there. <hr></blockquote>

("HELLO! MCFLY!") :tongue:

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr> You only assumed that I didn't want to brave the weather last night. No comment. <hr></blockquote>

Got batteries, Fuel, Propane, all that magic stuff?
Whatcha doin' tonight? :smile:

[FEAR NO FISH!]

Hi Vinny,
I am working graveyard tonight and tomorrow night.
I just finished deep frying a turkey here at work.
Dressing, mashed potatoes/gravy,wild rice with portabella mushrooms, green bean salad,
blueberry pie/ice cream, a good crew and boss. It doesn't get much better than that. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! :grin:

[ 11-21-2001: Message edited by: FEAR NO FISH! ]</p>