Empathy List Archives

JO

Jerry O'Neill

Sat, Sep 18, 2004 7:23 PM

The lobstermen win.

Our Maine cruise this July was our 5th and our last. Over the past 30 years we
have immensely enjoyed cruising the Maine coast from various boats both sail
and power. It always was one of our most favorite cruising grounds. That is
until the lobstermen took over.

Five years ago the pot floats were becoming difficult but were made tolerable
by our love of the area. This is no longer so. I would estimate that the float
density has tripled or even quadrupled in that time. There is no such thing as
a float free channel like we enjoy here in Maryland. In fact the channels
seemed to be the most dense areas. Christmas cove near the mouth of the
Damariscotta River was almost blocked with floats. I could not move more than
two or three boat lengths in a straight line in the entrance, even between the
markers.

It is not worth installing a cage around the propeller that would reduce our
already slow speed by a knot or so and cutters are out of the question. I
would not detract from another mans ability to earn a livelihood just to
enhance my leisure pleasure.

I must admit that a recent event while headed north colored our fear of float
entanglement. I picked up a float line in my prop near the Cohancy River in
Delaware Bay. The first in 30 years of cruising. The (partially insured)
towing cost of $1,400.00 caught our attention and made me/us even more shy of
floats and entanglement.

So it's not my age (78) but the float line entanglement danger that made it my
last Maine cruise.

Jerry & Barb O'Neill
GB 32 ADVENTURE
Annapolis MD

The lobstermen win. Our Maine cruise this July was our 5th and our last. Over the past 30 years we have immensely enjoyed cruising the Maine coast from various boats both sail and power. It always was one of our most favorite cruising grounds. That is until the lobstermen took over. Five years ago the pot floats were becoming difficult but were made tolerable by our love of the area. This is no longer so. I would estimate that the float density has tripled or even quadrupled in that time. There is no such thing as a float free channel like we enjoy here in Maryland. In fact the channels seemed to be the most dense areas. Christmas cove near the mouth of the Damariscotta River was almost blocked with floats. I could not move more than two or three boat lengths in a straight line in the entrance, even between the markers. It is not worth installing a cage around the propeller that would reduce our already slow speed by a knot or so and cutters are out of the question. I would not detract from another mans ability to earn a livelihood just to enhance my leisure pleasure. I must admit that a recent event while headed north colored our fear of float entanglement. I picked up a float line in my prop near the Cohancy River in Delaware Bay. The first in 30 years of cruising. The (partially insured) towing cost of $1,400.00 caught our attention and made me/us even more shy of floats and entanglement. So it's not my age (78) but the float line entanglement danger that made it my last Maine cruise. Jerry & Barb O'Neill GB 32 ADVENTURE Annapolis MD

KR

Kevin Redden

Sat, Sep 18, 2004 7:30 PM

-----Original Message-----
.................................................... The (partially insured)
towing cost of $1,400.00 caught our attention and made me/us even more shy of
floats and entanglement.

It was just because of this very high cost for any on water towing service that
I am a believer that the $115/year to join TowBoat/US or SeaTow's towing program
is a very cheap piece of insurance that I would not consider going without.

When I bought the current boat back in 2002, I had to decide which of the two
big towing services to go to. I took a look at their respective web sites to see
where their towing bases were located, to make sure I got the service that
covered my area the best.

I was greatly surprised when I found that for every SeaTow operation between
Massachusetts and Florida, Tow Boat/US had two! The TowBoat/US coverage on the
East coast was twice what the SeaTow coverage was.

Kevin Redden

> -----Original Message----- >.................................................... The (partially insured) > towing cost of $1,400.00 caught our attention and made me/us even more shy of > floats and entanglement. It was just because of this very high cost for any on water towing service that I am a believer that the $115/year to join TowBoat/US or SeaTow's towing program is a very cheap piece of insurance that I would not consider going without. When I bought the current boat back in 2002, I had to decide which of the two big towing services to go to. I took a look at their respective web sites to see where their towing bases were located, to make sure I got the service that covered my area the best. I was greatly surprised when I found that for every SeaTow operation between Massachusetts and Florida, Tow Boat/US had two! The TowBoat/US coverage on the East coast was twice what the SeaTow coverage was. Kevin Redden

JO

Jerry O'Neill

Sat, Sep 18, 2004 9:11 PM

Hi Kevin'

I had BoatsUS unlimited towing but had trouble raising them and called
SeaTow instead. As it worked out BoatsUS covered $1000.00 even though I had
used a competitive outfit without first gaining BoatsUS permission.

Speaks very well for BoatsUS.

Jerry & Barb O'Neill
GB 32 ADVENTURE
Annapolis MD

Hi Kevin' I had BoatsUS unlimited towing but had trouble raising them and called SeaTow instead. As it worked out BoatsUS covered $1000.00 even though I had used a competitive outfit without first gaining BoatsUS permission. Speaks very well for BoatsUS. Jerry & Barb O'Neill GB 32 ADVENTURE Annapolis MD

JS

Jeffrey Siegel

Sat, Sep 18, 2004 9:34 PM

I must admit that a recent event while headed north colored
our fear of float entanglement. I picked up a float line in
my prop near the Cohancy River in Delaware Bay. The first in
30 years of cruising. The (partially insured) towing cost of
$1,400.00 caught our attention and made me/us even more shy
of floats and entanglement.

Somehow I think that the pots looked a little bigger and more dense because
of that $1,400 towing.

I've only been living in Maine for the last 11 years so I'm not an expert by
any means. I've done my share of boating along the Maine coastline and
there are more traps today than there were 10 years ago. I don't know about
seeing a tripling or more but I have noticed more.

According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, there were 2.012
million traps in 1992 and 3.079 million in 2002 (their latest data). It
would be hard to argue that there are fewer traps, but let's be accurate, it
isn't even close to double. The data is all available at
http://www.maine.gov/dmr/rm/lobster/lobdata.htm.

The top two counties for lobster catches in 2002 were Hancock and
Knox/Waldo, or the area surrounding the Penobscot Bay. I happen to live on
the Penobscot Bay.

A friend of mine owns TowBoatUS for the Penobscot Bay. There is no SeaTow
here - TowBoatUS gets all of the Coast Guard calls and a variety of direct
calls. My friend stays pretty busy, having to sleep on his tow boat at
times during the Summer. I'm a certified diver and for fun, I help my
friend whenever there is a pot snagging. Frankly, it is a huge amount of
fun and gets me away from software development for an afternoon when an
opportunity arises. This Summer I managed to be available for all of the
pot snaggings - a grand total of 4 events. Between the fun and the money, I
wish there were more...but alas...only four. This is a small number for the
many thousands of cruisers who come through this area. Truth be told, I'm
hoping for a couple more snaggings before I start cruising south myself in a
couple of weeks!

Of the four events, one was a bad one - broken shaft dampening device (CV
joint?) and required towing. The other three were all satisfied by
untangling and cutting. I prefer to not cut the lines but it never works
out that way.

For what it's worth, here are some things that I've learned:

If you're going to snag a pot, do it in deep water (100+ feet). If you
see pots in 20 feet of water, be extremely careful. Those shallow ones are
the ones that do damage because there is less line to spring you to a stop
slowly.
It is very rare to pick up a single pot. I've actually never seen a boat
that picked up a single pot unless they were moving in reverse at the time.
In every case this Summer, I saw a minimum of 4 lines snagged. My rule
there is to be very careful when you see multiple floats together. I think
that props end up getting caught on the tangled lines below the water line.
Cutters do not work. Two of the boats that I freed this Summer had
cutters. In both cases, the snagged lines were tightly wrapped around the
cutters. Cutters make it much more dangerous for the diver and it takes
more time, especially the blade (non-spurs) type. I do not have cutters on
my own shafts.
It is very rare to snag a pot while moving forward (unless you're hitting
the tangled lines below the water). Conversely, it is very simple to snag a
pot while moving in reverse, especially while anchoring if you're not
looking behind you while backing down. I snagged one while anchoring off
Vinalhaven myself last year.
If you do snag a line, put out an anchor. No one does this. I guess they
fear having the anchor tangle in the trap or something. The reality is that
once you snag a pot and continue moving through the water (we have 10 foot
tides here causing lots of current) you're going to grab every other line as
you skate by them. These don't wrap around the shaft but they make for a
tangled mess that annoys the diver and ends up taking more time.
If you snag a line, for heaven's sake, don't just reach down and start
cutting lines! More than likely, you're cutting the buoy line which can
make a bad situation dangerous. In one case this Summer there was a 3-4
foot chop - too dangerous to dive under the boat. We pulled up to find the
owners trying to slice all the lines they saw in the water. It's a good
thing that they didn't. I jumped into their dinghy and grabbed the buoy
line with a boat hook. Using their winch, we reeled in that line until we
reached the main pot line that was attached to multiple pots. Cutting that
set them free and allowed us to tow them to a calm spot around an island
where I was able to dive and clear the shaft. It would have been a mess if
they had cut that buoy line because we couldn't have reached the main pot
line.
When lines wrap around the shaft and tighten, they get rock solid. There
is no way that you're just going to cut a couple of lines above the water
line and unwrap it all. I use a plastic-handled hack saw to cut lines below
the water. The typical call eats up a 10" blade.
Understand pot architecture! There are two types: a) a single line
running from the buoy to the pot, and b) a line running from the buoy to a
floating toggle; the line from the toggle will connect to one or more pots.
Running between the buoy and the toggle is asking for trouble. The buoy is
always down-current from the toggle.

Trust me, I'm not trying to talk more people into coming to Maine. I'm
happy to have more of the cruising areas to myself! And in my opinion, fog
is much more dangerous than the lobster pots. And what about the rocky
coast? ...and the cold water? Perhaps there's a reason people are willing
to brave these terrors to come here...

================
Jeffrey Siegel
M/V aCappella
DeFever 53PH
W1ACA/WDB4350
Castine, Maine

> I must admit that a recent event while headed north colored > our fear of float entanglement. I picked up a float line in > my prop near the Cohancy River in Delaware Bay. The first in > 30 years of cruising. The (partially insured) towing cost of > $1,400.00 caught our attention and made me/us even more shy > of floats and entanglement. > Somehow I think that the pots looked a little bigger and more dense because of that $1,400 towing. I've only been living in Maine for the last 11 years so I'm not an expert by any means. I've done my share of boating along the Maine coastline and there are more traps today than there were 10 years ago. I don't know about seeing a tripling or more but I have noticed more. According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, there were 2.012 million traps in 1992 and 3.079 million in 2002 (their latest data). It would be hard to argue that there are fewer traps, but let's be accurate, it isn't even close to double. The data is all available at http://www.maine.gov/dmr/rm/lobster/lobdata.htm. The top two counties for lobster catches in 2002 were Hancock and Knox/Waldo, or the area surrounding the Penobscot Bay. I happen to live on the Penobscot Bay. A friend of mine owns TowBoatUS for the Penobscot Bay. There is no SeaTow here - TowBoatUS gets all of the Coast Guard calls and a variety of direct calls. My friend stays pretty busy, having to sleep on his tow boat at times during the Summer. I'm a certified diver and for fun, I help my friend whenever there is a pot snagging. Frankly, it is a huge amount of fun and gets me away from software development for an afternoon when an opportunity arises. This Summer I managed to be available for all of the pot snaggings - a grand total of 4 events. Between the fun and the money, I wish there were more...but alas...only four. This is a small number for the many thousands of cruisers who come through this area. Truth be told, I'm hoping for a couple more snaggings before I start cruising south myself in a couple of weeks! Of the four events, one was a bad one - broken shaft dampening device (CV joint?) and required towing. The other three were all satisfied by untangling and cutting. I prefer to not cut the lines but it never works out that way. For what it's worth, here are some things that I've learned: - If you're going to snag a pot, do it in deep water (100+ feet). If you see pots in 20 feet of water, be extremely careful. Those shallow ones are the ones that do damage because there is less line to spring you to a stop slowly. - It is very rare to pick up a single pot. I've actually never seen a boat that picked up a single pot unless they were moving in reverse at the time. In every case this Summer, I saw a minimum of 4 lines snagged. My rule there is to be very careful when you see multiple floats together. I think that props end up getting caught on the tangled lines below the water line. - Cutters do not work. Two of the boats that I freed this Summer had cutters. In both cases, the snagged lines were tightly wrapped around the cutters. Cutters make it much more dangerous for the diver and it takes more time, especially the blade (non-spurs) type. I do not have cutters on my own shafts. - It is very rare to snag a pot while moving forward (unless you're hitting the tangled lines below the water). Conversely, it is very simple to snag a pot while moving in reverse, especially while anchoring if you're not looking behind you while backing down. I snagged one while anchoring off Vinalhaven myself last year. - If you do snag a line, put out an anchor. No one does this. I guess they fear having the anchor tangle in the trap or something. The reality is that once you snag a pot and continue moving through the water (we have 10 foot tides here causing lots of current) you're going to grab every other line as you skate by them. These don't wrap around the shaft but they make for a tangled mess that annoys the diver and ends up taking more time. - If you snag a line, for heaven's sake, don't just reach down and start cutting lines! More than likely, you're cutting the buoy line which can make a bad situation dangerous. In one case this Summer there was a 3-4 foot chop - too dangerous to dive under the boat. We pulled up to find the owners trying to slice all the lines they saw in the water. It's a good thing that they didn't. I jumped into their dinghy and grabbed the buoy line with a boat hook. Using their winch, we reeled in that line until we reached the main pot line that was attached to multiple pots. Cutting that set them free and allowed us to tow them to a calm spot around an island where I was able to dive and clear the shaft. It would have been a mess if they had cut that buoy line because we couldn't have reached the main pot line. - When lines wrap around the shaft and tighten, they get rock solid. There is no way that you're just going to cut a couple of lines above the water line and unwrap it all. I use a plastic-handled hack saw to cut lines below the water. The typical call eats up a 10" blade. - Understand pot architecture! There are two types: a) a single line running from the buoy to the pot, and b) a line running from the buoy to a floating toggle; the line from the toggle will connect to one or more pots. Running between the buoy and the toggle is asking for trouble. The buoy is always down-current from the toggle. Trust me, I'm not trying to talk more people into coming to Maine. I'm happy to have more of the cruising areas to myself! And in my opinion, fog is much more dangerous than the lobster pots. And what about the rocky coast? ...and the cold water? Perhaps there's a reason people are willing to brave these terrors to come here... ================ Jeffrey Siegel M/V aCappella DeFever 53PH W1ACA/WDB4350 Castine, Maine

PG

Pascal Gademer

Mon, Sep 20, 2004 2:05 PM

I had to replace the oil pressure safety switch on my diesel genset (18kw
Norpro with 4 cyl Isuzu Diesel engine) and thought the oil on the old switch
didnt' look right. Checked the dipstick and indeed the oil looked a little
greyish not quite milky but not right...

I pulled the cam cover and found a lot of condensation inside the cover...
about a tablespoon worth of water dripped out from the cover. More was found
having dripped inside the head...

Never seen this before...

I was going to change the oil anyway (just about 3months/200 hours -
recommended interval on this genset is 250hr) ... Coolant level is normal...
oil pressure and coolant temp is fine...

the only explanation I can think is that in the course of troubleshooting
the oil press switch, I started it a few times for just a minute or so...

Pascal
1970 Hatteras 53 MY

I had to replace the oil pressure safety switch on my diesel genset (18kw Norpro with 4 cyl Isuzu Diesel engine) and thought the oil on the old switch didnt' look right. Checked the dipstick and indeed the oil looked a little greyish not quite milky but not right... I pulled the cam cover and found a lot of condensation inside the cover... about a tablespoon worth of water dripped out from the cover. More was found having dripped inside the head... Never seen this before... I was going to change the oil anyway (just about 3months/200 hours - recommended interval on this genset is 250hr) ... Coolant level is normal... oil pressure and coolant temp is fine... the only explanation I can think is that in the course of troubleshooting the oil press switch, I started it a few times for just a minute or so... Pascal 1970 Hatteras 53 MY

K

Keith

Mon, Sep 20, 2004 2:50 PM

I'll second that. I had to call for tows twice in 14 years. It would have
been cheaper to have full coverage from Towboat/US for that entire period. I
now carry it.

Keith
__
"How soon a ship can age and die for want of the love of a human being."
--Peter Gerard--
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Redden" kfredden@verizon.net
To: "Jerry O'Neill" jerrysail@verizon.net; "TWL/T&T"
trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com

It was just because of this very high cost for any on water towing service
that
I am a believer that the $115/year to join TowBoat/US or SeaTow's towing
program
is a very cheap piece of insurance that I would not consider going
without.

I'll second that. I had to call for tows twice in 14 years. It would have been cheaper to have full coverage from Towboat/US for that entire period. I now carry it. Keith __ "How soon a ship can age and die for want of the love of a human being." --Peter Gerard-- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Redden" <kfredden@verizon.net> To: "Jerry O'Neill" <jerrysail@verizon.net>; "TWL/T&T" <trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com> > > It was just because of this very high cost for any on water towing service > that > I am a believer that the $115/year to join TowBoat/US or SeaTow's towing > program > is a very cheap piece of insurance that I would not consider going > without.

PG

Pascal Gademer

Mon, Sep 20, 2004 4:09 PM

i agree and the nice thing about boatUS is that with the marina / fuel
discount, the $100 a year quickly pays for itself...

pascal
miami,fl
1970 hatteras 53my

----- Original Message -----

It was just because of this very high cost for any on water towing

service

that
I am a believer that the $115/year to join TowBoat/US or SeaTow's towing
program
is a very cheap piece of insurance that I would not consider going
without.

i agree and the nice thing about boatUS is that with the marina / fuel discount, the $100 a year quickly pays for itself... pascal miami,fl 1970 hatteras 53my ----- Original Message ----- > > It was just because of this very high cost for any on water towing service > > that > > I am a believer that the $115/year to join TowBoat/US or SeaTow's towing > > program > > is a very cheap piece of insurance that I would not consider going > > without. >

MM

Mike Maurice

Mon, Sep 20, 2004 5:05 PM

"Pascal Gademer" pascal@pam-trading.com
At 10:05 AM 9/20/04 -0400, you wrote:

I pulled the cam cover and found a lot of condensation inside the cover...
about a tablespoon worth of water dripped out from the cover. More was found
having dripped inside the head...

Condensation under the valve cover is not good. Indicates water in the
blowby from the crankcase, a leaking head gasket, or possibly a cracked
head. It will get worse. Don't tear it down until a competent mechanic can
evaluate it's symptoms. Once you tear it down you may not be able to
identify clearly what was the cause without considerable expense and
testing of components. If the problem is in the block, it can become very
expensive to locate the problem.

Mike

Capt. Mike Maurice
Wilsonville, Oregon (Portland).

"Pascal Gademer" <pascal@pam-trading.com> At 10:05 AM 9/20/04 -0400, you wrote: >I pulled the cam cover and found a lot of condensation inside the cover... >about a tablespoon worth of water dripped out from the cover. More was found >having dripped inside the head... Condensation under the valve cover is not good. Indicates water in the blowby from the crankcase, a leaking head gasket, or possibly a cracked head. It will get worse. Don't tear it down until a competent mechanic can evaluate it's symptoms. Once you tear it down you may not be able to identify clearly what was the cause without considerable expense and testing of components. If the problem is in the block, it can become very expensive to locate the problem. Mike Capt. Mike Maurice Wilsonville, Oregon (Portland).

trawlers@lists.trawlering.com

The lobstremen win