The day had UPS and DOWNS thats for sure. Weatherman was wrong. It was a little lumpy to start the morning. But flattened out pretty quick with the sun in tow. Turned into a beauty afternoon. Fish wise, we had no luck. I want jump on Chubby's report, but he did pretty gat-damn good out there!!
I was tested throughout the day on my first of true sea trials. Started it out with a downrigger that was spooled backwards. A kicker that was willing to give me grief through the day, the only hint of water found its way into the cabin and ontop of all my fuse panels....no shorts but I knocked the HDS Negative wire loose, another quick repair...for some reason my radar is not turning on..and last but not least it seems (hopefully) that a fuel line wasn't zapstrapped securely so the line kinked and starved my main of fuel. We lost power right in the North Arm, surrounded by working tugs. My mates were hard on the oars to keep us in a safe spot. Long story short we got it running, but Im guessing my new ETEC is smarter than I as I think it went into safe mode once I could't get fuel pressure back. I forgot about the priming sequence if the engine were to run dry.
Aside from all those woes, I was VERY impressed with Victoria Coast Guard. I had radio'd the tugs in the area to let them know of my situation...the Coast Guard chimed in and made contact with me at that point. Whoever was on the other end, a big thanks!! Although we did not need aid at that point, it was great to know the Coasty was there listening, and would respond at a moments notice. Comforting to say the least. A REAL SHAME we wont have the facilities in Kits anymore. What a joke!
That about sums up my first true outing. We all came back in good spirits regardless...and my buddy said it best. "you build an entire boat pretty much, to think it will all run smoothly is kididng myself." Well said!!
It was great to hear from you Guy. Loooking forward to seeing you out there soon enough!
PS heard of a good few fish boated on the radio, anywhere from 8-20 lbs. (hump area methinks)
Salty Dog, thanks for making contact. My apologies if my responses were paltry at best, it was a busy first day!
Cheers!