Title: The positive and negative about boats.
By Jim Baugh
Reporting from the Flybridge
Even sitting here a top the old Trojan Flybridge I just cannot seem to escape
it. The Cd player churning out Jazz tunes by the helm, the weather radio turned
down low, the cell phone sitting by the nav station charging away, our camera
battery packs with those cool red charging lights, and even the bilge pumps
that fortunately do not need to be running right now. All these things have
one great thing in common, they all function from both the positive and negative
sides of our marine house battery. Heck, even both our marine heads will not
flush without the wonderful magical works of our marine DC batteries.
Now I must admit we got lucky when we purchased the 36 Trojan Tri Cab for
our production boat. The DC wiring had mostly already been re wired by a professional
that included the proper gauge wire, circuit breakers, batt switches and of
course duel battery charger. While the DC system on the Trojan has not kept
me busy chasing wires, there have been plenty other boat projects that have
been keeping me busy with the old Trojan restoration.
Most of you already know that Jim Baugh Outdoors recently
purchased and refurbished a Pursuit 2800 express fisherman. We gutted
the boat, replaced the engines with Suzuki four strokes (140HP-soon to be
225HP) Installed a custom Marlin Tower using Marine Fabricators, new digital
cruise air, outriggers, new refrigerator, and we even rebuilt the marine toilet\head.
That was a job that I quickly found out that your friends will have NO part
in helping you with. The one area of the Pursuit (original Eq.) that I know
I would be having problems with was the DC battery system.
Yes, we removed the helm station and found what I could
best describe as a nightmare. The previous owners had all had their
hand at showing off their obvious lack of talent in regards to DC wiring.
Once I got a good look at what was going on I called KWC marine electronics
in Hampton to help me out of this electrical mess. Calling KWC was one of
the best ideas I have had in a long time. Once I knew I was over my head with
routing all these wires, a quick phone call not only gave me peace of mind
but probably saved me some money in the long run.
If you are purchasing a used boat I cannot recommend highly enough to first
hire a good marine electrician to inspect your boat. A 20 to 30 foot boat
would only take an hour or so for a decent inspection and some fixes to obvious
problems. Better off to take care of bad wiring at the dock then to have wires
melt and smoke coming out from under the dash when you are 40 miles offshore.
In the Hampton Roads area contact KWC marine electronics. You can visit their web site by going to jimbaughoutdoors.com. Click on the sponsor page, and you can link to their site from there. They are good folks who really know their stuff when it comes to marine wiring. If you have any doubt about the safety and security of you boats DC system, give KWC a call at 757-265-0322
What is happening in our home base port of Hampton VA??
First off the month kicks off with my birthday, Saturday August 2. I will
be at Mill Point Park for the wine and cheese festival from around noon on.
I hope to see everyone there. Make your plans NOW for Hampton Bay Days. The
entire Jim Baugh Outdoors cast and crew will be at the Hampton Public Piers
Sept 5th -7th. Come by and check out the new Pursuit, we may even be cooking
up some Sausage dogs on the Trojan. Bay Day's is about the best on water festival
you will ever see. The Saturday night fireworks is a must see. For more info
just call 1800 800 2202.
The JBO fishing team has really been tearing them up.
Already this year we have had excellent programs shot featuring Spadefish,
Rockfish, Cobia, and of course the almighty Croaker. July and August we will
mostly be targeting offshore for Bluefish, Yellow Fin Tuna, and Dolphin.
Spade fishing at the Chesapeake Light Tower has really been the hot ticket
this June and July.
We were with some divers who dove at the tower and found one very interesting
thing. All of the Spadefish were located from the surface to 15 feet deep.
No fish were sighted from the bottom to sixteen feet. All the fish were in
the top of the water column and consistently stayed there. Believe it or not,
our diver did get "hooked up" several times from above. In case
some of you Spade fisherman thought you hooked into a whale, you may of simply
hooked into my buddy John. He told me he had to cut a few lines that had been
hooked into his suit.
You never know what is down there.
Wishing everyone dry bilges, light SSW winds,
Jim Baugh
Jim Baugh Outdoors TV
Jim Baugh Tournaments LLC
www.jimbaughoutdoors.com
Sponsored by:
Suzuki Marine, Hampton CVB, Sunset Boating Center, the Radisson Hotel Hampton,
Boaters World, the Venture Inn, Virginia Tourism, Marine Fabricators, and
Reel Jacket. KWC Electronics
