Rain City
Crew Member
Yes! Scotty sent me some for $47. Next day delivery. Great guys.
The New Adventure Begins!
- Thread starter Rain City
- Start date
Rain City
Crew Member
Whelp, first night in the books. Forecast was junk for Sunday so we ended up waiting it out as long as possible. We also shifted the plan and headed to plumpers cove for a little bit easier of a run. Met a buddy there with his two daughters, his buddy and that guys daughter. They were all on "H1" (the aluminum cat). Well the ride over was just garbage. Your classic 25 NW meeting some swirling water coming out of Howe Sound combining into a washing machine with kids screaming and greeners coming over the bow. The boat handled it ok. She cuts nicer than the commander did so it wasn't as slappy. But she likes to get wet, real wet. Wipers worked overtime and annoyingly they miss about an 18" chunk right in the middle of window. So that thing becomes an even bigger source of glare. One thing that's on my to-do list is adding some weatherstripping and cabinet bumpers all over the place. All of that fancy sliding glass really likes to make noises in the waves thay make your cheeks pucker. We rounded the North Side of Bowen though and all was good from there. First thing I did when I docked was wash the windows. That's #1 for those of you that are counting. I have the over under set at 100.5 times that I'll be doing that each season. I'm going to need more rags and windex on board.
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Rain City
Crew Member
While we were cooking dinner at Plumpers and the sun had long gone, I kept hearing a screaming coming from the water. It was joined by the sound of, what I thought was, a seadoo doing donuts. I thought it was strange to be out in that weather and light. I was grilling steaks so had my attention pretty focused on that. But as the strange feeling of someone being out there was getting stronger, a man from the sail boat beside us came walking over and calmly said "can someone please help, I think my daughter is in the water". Just then I remembered seeing his teen daughter taking off on their tender solo with a fishing rod and knew exactly what happened. I don't remember what happened in the next 2 minutes but I was somehow out of our slip and racing out toward the out of control dingy. I arrived just as two other boats did and they were pulling the girl out of the water. Another guy was trying to ram the inflateable with his own while it was bucking around. I made sure that they had her safely on board and headed back. 30 minutes later and nobody had come back to drop the poor girl off. I was in shock. They were all still fighting with tender and trying to tow it back, I guess. I couldn't give this poor couple an answer as to why it was taking the people so long to bring the girl in. Eventually they did and everyone went on with their nights somehow. My heart was still racing at the thought of how I would have felt with one of my own daughters being in that situation. I couldn't get over any of it:
Why wasn't she wearing a kill switch cord?
Why was he so calm in finding help?
Why didn't he come with me?
Why did they wait so long to bring her in?
Why did that other idiot even bother trying to save the out of control tender? It was doing tight circles and would have eventually run out of gas.
Why didn't I listen to my gut when I heard the screams?
Why didn't I make sure she made it back to the dock right away?
The next morning the couple came over and thanked me again for trying to help. I could tell then that they were still in shock. I still am.
Why wasn't she wearing a kill switch cord?
Why was he so calm in finding help?
Why didn't he come with me?
Why did they wait so long to bring her in?
Why did that other idiot even bother trying to save the out of control tender? It was doing tight circles and would have eventually run out of gas.
Why didn't I listen to my gut when I heard the screams?
Why didn't I make sure she made it back to the dock right away?
The next morning the couple came over and thanked me again for trying to help. I could tell then that they were still in shock. I still am.
Rain City
Crew Member
Burnt! Apparently while I was gone there was a bit of commotion at the dock. I thought I turned the grill off on my buddies boat, but I actually turned it on HIGH! My buddy walked down the ramp as someone was running to his boat with a fire extinguisher. Thankfully he stopped them from further ruining my dinner and he pulled the steaks off.
Pineapple Express
Well-Known Member
Good for you for trying to help. That must've been a stressful situation for all involved...low light, somebody in the water, out of control boat. Crazy
scott craven
Well-Known Member
Betting he was trying to prevent it from running over the girl in the water.
A prop gash might have finished her.
kaelc
Crew Member
Crazy. Good on all of you for going for the rescue. Did a radio mayday go out? How’s the ladder on your boat? I still don’t have a great way to get an adult out of the water.
I need to throw a good wool blanket on my boat and keep a thermos hot water ready to transfer into a heated water bottle.
Reminds me when I was young and dumb, beer in hand leaving the tiller and running to the front of the tinny to get the bow down to tow my buddy on skis. Kill switch cords are there for a reason. I need to work on training my son to run the boat and take even less risks with both my kids on the water.
I need to throw a good wool blanket on my boat and keep a thermos hot water ready to transfer into a heated water bottle.
Reminds me when I was young and dumb, beer in hand leaving the tiller and running to the front of the tinny to get the bow down to tow my buddy on skis. Kill switch cords are there for a reason. I need to work on training my son to run the boat and take even less risks with both my kids on the water.
Gong Show
Well-Known Member
I do not like that product or anything in their lineup if you have window wipers.
Kettle with warmish water, washcloth and squeegee. Super easy and fast, no smearing. Windex and paper towel for the inside.
Back in the day while night fishing, the windows needed to be perfect.
Dirty windows is just as bad as running around with bumpers out. Not professional.
Rain City
Crew Member
She was already in the boat by then and it seemed like they were waiting for him to deal with it. I don't want to dog the guy for trying to help I guess. But seemed like an unnecessary risk at that point.
As I’m getting older, I notice that many people have a flawed sense of urgency for things that are directly related to their safety. Somehow, our brains fail to sort out the priorities when things get really messed up. Some call it stress, I like to call it unpreparedness. Good on you for helping the kid and her family. May the good karma bring you more steaks and prawns!
Rain City
Crew Member
Ok so back to the boat. Things that didn't work:
- Heat stopped working in the middle of the night because the batteries died. Odd because there's a Victron shunt that showed 89% by morning. I have no idea how anything is wired but it has two Rolls AGMs that are allegedly from 05/21. There's a house and start on the panel as well as a combiner which I used to get the starboard side going again. The owner clearly had no idea how anything worked when he explained what he had done.
- Stove crapped out right away, I think it is the thermocouple. Had to make my coffee with a big water bottle holding the gas switch down.
- Bbq wouldn't get hot or stay lit. Could be an adjustment needed on the vents or I may just replace it altogether. It's a small and cheap feeling Kuuma. That's why I was grilling on my buddies boat.
- Table dropped down into a bed but I can't find the filler cushions anywhere. Owner said he may have lost them now. Great. I patched together some other ones that were left over from the back lounger. Worked fine, I had a terrible sleep as usual.
- We ran out of water in the morning. That's on us I guess. Another Commander spoiling that we'll need to get used to.
The things that were great!:
- We had plenty of sleeping room. The Queen island berth fits all three girls. As was expected it would need to.
- Lighting throughout is great. Not too bright. But bright on the deck when needed.
- Table is a good size and flipping the seat from forward facing to dining is easy.
- The bow thruster is wicked lol.
- The boat runs great. On the way back from Entrance Island I actually had it trimmed up and out quite a bit and got the RPMs to 6000 at 36knots! Hard to drop back down to 4400 after that.
- Standing while driving is a thing on this boat! It has a bolster and a flip up floor for your feet. I just never imagined it would be a nice driving position. But after fighting to be comfortable with the ***** seat and control positions I decided to give it a shot. VOILA, it's super comfortable and has great visibility. I was even able to lean back and stretch my back on the seat. The open seat even leaves a standing spot for the kids to come hang with me.
- And my personal favorite, the side door. What a beauty. I managed to fish for an hour solo before the wife and kids had enough. Nobody slept particularly well. I managed to hook up and reel in 5 undersized lings from the helm. Once I felt a bite it was easy (and safe) to walk out the side and back to the deck while reeling. The rails are at my hip so I didn't feel likeI was going over at all. What a fun new thing this is.
- Heat stopped working in the middle of the night because the batteries died. Odd because there's a Victron shunt that showed 89% by morning. I have no idea how anything is wired but it has two Rolls AGMs that are allegedly from 05/21. There's a house and start on the panel as well as a combiner which I used to get the starboard side going again. The owner clearly had no idea how anything worked when he explained what he had done.
- Stove crapped out right away, I think it is the thermocouple. Had to make my coffee with a big water bottle holding the gas switch down.
- Bbq wouldn't get hot or stay lit. Could be an adjustment needed on the vents or I may just replace it altogether. It's a small and cheap feeling Kuuma. That's why I was grilling on my buddies boat.
- Table dropped down into a bed but I can't find the filler cushions anywhere. Owner said he may have lost them now. Great. I patched together some other ones that were left over from the back lounger. Worked fine, I had a terrible sleep as usual.
- We ran out of water in the morning. That's on us I guess. Another Commander spoiling that we'll need to get used to.
The things that were great!:
- We had plenty of sleeping room. The Queen island berth fits all three girls. As was expected it would need to.
- Lighting throughout is great. Not too bright. But bright on the deck when needed.
- Table is a good size and flipping the seat from forward facing to dining is easy.
- The bow thruster is wicked lol.
- The boat runs great. On the way back from Entrance Island I actually had it trimmed up and out quite a bit and got the RPMs to 6000 at 36knots! Hard to drop back down to 4400 after that.
- Standing while driving is a thing on this boat! It has a bolster and a flip up floor for your feet. I just never imagined it would be a nice driving position. But after fighting to be comfortable with the ***** seat and control positions I decided to give it a shot. VOILA, it's super comfortable and has great visibility. I was even able to lean back and stretch my back on the seat. The open seat even leaves a standing spot for the kids to come hang with me.
- And my personal favorite, the side door. What a beauty. I managed to fish for an hour solo before the wife and kids had enough. Nobody slept particularly well. I managed to hook up and reel in 5 undersized lings from the helm. Once I felt a bite it was easy (and safe) to walk out the side and back to the deck while reeling. The rails are at my hip so I didn't feel likeI was going over at all. What a fun new thing this is.
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
reminds me when i was at a friends cabin outside of pender harbor. One of the nabour went out in a skiff, hit a log and capsized. One of the neighbors heard the the sound of the prop out of the water and went out to investigate. They found him clinging to the capsized skiff for dear life, may of been a different outcome if the neighbor never head the noise and went out into the straight to investigate.
zurk
Well-Known Member
aquapel coating on the windshield will cut down on the wiper time. the victron shunt is just an estimate. and mostly a bad one based on the parameters you feed it. which is why my lifepo4 always shows a different charge state than my victron BMV712 does. i use my BMV to measure 30% SOC as zero which is good to not get stuck on the water. marine beanbags work instead of cushions and dont need to be sized correctly. at least your shakedown cruise was much less eventful than mine. no fatalities/near death experiences on the water is always a good thing.
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kaelc
Crew Member
Wicked! The side door shot reminds me of passing down the rod from the bow over the cabin with a 100lb halibut on, you will love the walk around for jogging but the side door is like fishing **** to me
My heater Wallas is pretty sensitive to voltage but mostly for starting. Litime offered me a couple 100ah lifepo4 batteries to try but I asked them for a larger one, having the Bluetooth app for a battery makes a lot of sense as does self heating.
Glad the light and the bed are nice and the main systems worked out, mainly the engines and fuel!
Thunder21
Well-Known Member
Cool boat. I really like that walk around and the side doors. That would be great for Hali fishing or for cut plugging up in Rivers inlet. Could run 2 bow rods and 2 out back.
There is no perfect boat but I think with the way fishing regulations have gone it’s smart to have more of a crossover family/fishing boat than a dedicated fishing rig.
There is no perfect boat but I think with the way fishing regulations have gone it’s smart to have more of a crossover family/fishing boat than a dedicated fishing rig.
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