TR-1 autopilot

[peter frederick]

Im just wondering, how many folks here troll with there main engine? and do you use an autopilot?

Pete

Are you trying to advertize during Jens recovery? :depressed:

[Miss B Haven]

Uh Oh - I have a TR-1 (Was called the Nauti-troller back then) on my 24 Bayliner. It was bought in '95 and I wouldn't fish without it now. My 34 has trolling gear and autopilot on the mains so I don't need the TR-1 but still endorse them. Amazing to sit on the transom holding a rod in one hand, a cold one in hte other and be all alone in the middle of Tillimook bay with a 1000 of your best friends. The kicker just going zing-zing zing and the boats going dead straight. You get some amazing looks (who's driving that dang boat !)
PS - this is not a paid adv. I have no vested interest in TR-1. They did get $1300 from me in 95 (price seems to have gone up).

['ZZZZzzzzzz']

Peter:

Click on your profile and check your private messages.

Thanks, Z's-

[Hamachi]

For tuna I troll with my main, (at 9 kts), and for salmon I use my kicker.

I use my autopilot, (I call it my deckhand), alot while tuna trolling. When salmon trolling, I use it occasionally to free my hands.

When I troll for tuna, I usually have the auto-pilot on while I stand on my leanpost, hanging on to my upper rocket-launchers.



That way I'm up as high as possible to scan the area with binoculars, looking for signs of the elusive tuna!

[Pitch Pocket]

Excuse me for asking Hamachi, but don't you get nervous out that far with with an open deck?

[Uglygreen]

I don't, what does a cabin / open have to do with it? For solo fishing an open / center console is the only way to go. My boat (and Hamachi's i'm sure) are very seaworthy craft. Seaworthyness has much more to do with design & reliability, and the preparation, knowledge, and expirience ot the operator than boat size. Comfort is another matter, bring the rain gear in any open boat, but don't assume that safety is a matter of boat size alone. If your boat breaks down and your radio doesnt work, or you dont have a main GPS and a spare with compass and chart as a backup, boat size matters very little.

My 20' open Almar sounder is designed for this type of water. For example, very few boats in this size class (18-24') have a full transom and offshore bracket. Generally you don't see that till 26-28' and up. A full transom can be important in a following sea. My boat has as much or more freeboard than most boats up to 30 feet. Also note that some hardtop glass boats are very top heavy and are more prone to roll in certain situations.

All these things and more play a factor, and Hamachi seems like a serious player who uses his head and follows the oceans rules, which is the most important factor in boat safety by far. I would ride his skiff any time.

Even if he does occasionally obsess on the live bait thing....

UG

[Pitch Pocket]

I have no problem with the ability of an open boat to float, it's the ability to shed water that may fill it. I'd have to assume that the pump(s) on board will handle a swamping wave. With all due respect, doesn't that have something to do with it?

I've taken green water over the top of my SeaSport and the water simply rolls off and the deck is self bailing. I'm not familiar with the boat in the photo, but I think I'd be justifiably concerned if I took a similar wave over the top of it 30 miles out in the ocean.

[ 09-20-2002, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: SjP ]

[Hamachi]

Thanks for answering the open deck question for me, UG. Well said!

My deck is sealed with 4 scuppers on the transom. I also have two 1100 GPH bilge pumps, although the space that they drain is rather small.

As for a swamping wave, my hull is full of two-part foam except for the extreme rear center, which houses my pumps. I did a test, (close to shore, with the engine running and another boat standing by), where I blocked all 4 scuppers open and pulled the plug on my full bait tank. This was with 2 225lb guys in the stern. The water came in only so far and stopped. Positive floatation! Put it in gear and everything ran out.

And UG, as for the live bait thing... I gotta carry SOMETHING in that tank in the stern! :grin:

[Uglygreen]

SjP

I wouldnt be thirty miles out on a day when there was a "swamping wave". Ive been out in 5' of windchop before and there were no swamping waves. It sucked none the less. A very hard ride at anything more than about 15 miles per hour, which I would assume would be the case in any boat less than 30 feet. I have no desire to be on the big blue with more than about 3' wind waves and about 20 knot winds. Open boat or cabin. Swell worries me very little, I dont think many people have been swamped by swell on the open ocean.

Where and when were you taking green water over the bow?

I know where I was - in port.

PS my deck is also self bailing / supposedly -according to the litrature, my boat can roll and will both self right and self bail. I have never tried this particular feature out however.

UG

[Pitch Pocket]

UG, Don't make it sound like water can never fill a boat from the top. I even took water over the top under the Megler bridge about a month ago pushing through about a 6' wind chop. They were so short that we took a few over the windshield that probably would have filled my sled.

An open boat with a good captain and equipment can negotiate most any water I'm sure, and it sounds like you and Hamachi have all of that. My question is not to create an argument, and I'm not questioning anyone's sanity, but I just wonder what would happen in a worst case senario.

I have some experience in the ocean having worked a 45' Alaskan troller and being caught well outside in conditions I would not go out in today. I've seen following seas that were almost faster than our headway riding low with a hold full of fish. I imagine how an open boat would have handled some of those conditions, and I think I'd prefer to have a covered bow and less open deck. Maybe it's just my personal preference.

I've seen things go wrong. Loss of power and a snotty sea in an open boat would make me nervous. I don't think that is unreasonable.

I agree with SjP.

[Uglygreen]

My point is... Know your limitations.

I lived in Sitka Alaska for two years. I worked operating boats of the Forest Service, taking FS crews all over Baranoff, Chichagoff, and Admarilty Islands. Boats from 16' whalers up to 45' crew boats. I was licenced by both the Coast Guard and The Forest Service. I saw snotty weather a plenty on both the Pacific, The Gulf of Alaska, Sitka Sound, and Chatam Straight. I have had unplanned layovers in some remote bay or fijord waiting for weather.

Been there, Done that. Sure you can fill an open boat, a cabin boat, or any other boat, up to and including the Titanic if the conditions are right.

I fish for fun. I dont go out in my skiff in snotty on the ocean. If the ocean is rough, I go hit the Columbia or Cowlitz or somewhere else. I sold a 26' Wellcraft Coastal w/cabin and twin 200 HP OB's to buy the three boats I have now. With the Skiff / Sled / Drift boat combo there is not a piece of water I can not hit. The Wellcraft would have made a great 6 pack charter, which was Dave Rodgers plan for it when I sold it to him about 6 months before he died. I fished that boat in some nasty water, it was do-able, but it still sucked. Sorry, but I think that fishing in 6' chop is no fun, open boat or cabin. When the wind blows on the ocean or in the estuary, I just go somewhere else. URB's, Oversize, Ect...

Your orignal comment was "Excuse me for asking Hamachi, but don't you get nervous out that far with with an open deck?"

If the conditions are good, what the heck difference does the distance out make between an open boat or a cabin boat? If conditions are such that I'm uncomfortable in my boat, you can be sure the conditions suck for fishing in your or any other boat. If the wind waves are 6' its gonna be blowin 25 knots plus and an uncomfortable ride my boat or a 40' charter. And im gonna be fishing somewhere else instead of bangin my kidneys bustin thru 6' wind chop. If the ocean is flat and the wind calm and the forecast good, I'm gonna be there and an open boat makes no difference whatsoever.

As far as losing an engine on a snotty sea, when the wind blows the sail area of the topworks of the boat is more dangerous than the open deck. In a loss of power situation the wind is gonna push you into a following sea much faster than an open boat with little sail area. If the engin isnt runnin the seas are not gonna be over your bow for long. If you were in a situation where breaking waves were coming over your stern, the cabin is going to help little. Your going to need a god awful big sea anchor to keep that bow into the wind.

Im not trying to pick a fight over this, but you might not have thought it all the way thru, I dont get nervous going that far out on an open boat, appearently neither does hamachi, and the reason for it is that the conditions that would make me nervous in my boat are far greater than the conditions that would make me go do something else, not because i'm scared or nervous, just because it isn't any fun, cabin or not.

With the big boat I was either stuck in a moorage situation and limited to one piece of water, or had a major production moving the damn boat around. With the smaller boat I go where the fishin is good. One day might be Tuna from Depoe Bay, the next might be oversize in the Gorge. I catch a lot more fish and have seriously had more fun at less expense after I chose to move to a smaller, easier to handle, easier to fish, easier to trailer, easier to maintain, boat. I carefully thought thru the fishing I wanted to do, and chose a boat that would do it all, and could do it all - solo and safe. Or take a couple buddies with ease.

UG

[Pitch Pocket]

What ever. Sorry I asked. This is obviously a sensitive subject. I'll back off and to each his own. Good fishing.