I am an experienced boater, and want to try fishing offshore. I have an Intrepid 32 open with twin Yamaha 350’s serviced and strong. I installed a Raemarine closed array 48 mile radar and an EPIRB, as well as a PLB. She has twin Raemarine E120s with GPS, radar overlay, depthfinder, chart plotter, a good ship to shore radio, autopilot, and sound Taco 18’ outriggers. Is there anything else I might consider for safe and successful fishing offshore, either trolling for dolphin or fishing the reefs? Thank-you for your responses and advice.
Plenty of type 1 lifejackets, a handheld VHF, a few cases of extra water always on the boat, and a life raft if you can swing it. Ditch bag with an additional PLB, parachute cord, signaling mirrors, more water, lifeboat rations, and an additional handheld VHF. For safety equipment, go by the military adage “two is one and one is none”, meaning backups should be necessity, not erroneous. That’s just a start, I’m sure more will contribute more thorough ideas.
Beautiful boat. My suggestion would be to have someone with more experience go with you a few times and read some post on this forum of the things that have gone wrong and how they were handled or the responses of how others would have handled each situation.
In addition to the other items I would carry two fuel/water separator, fuses, a decent quality metric/sae socket set, basic hand tools (including a good strap wrench).
Oh… and for yourself and crew carry bolt cutters( for cutting hooks), hydrogen peroxide, heavy bandages and regular first aid.
I’m sure there is more but these items I have found irreplaceable when you need them
-Albemarle 248xf “Chella”
-Dolphin 18BC Pro
-Miscellaneous boats
(**(), that’s a nice boat for not fishing offshore beforehand. Learn to use your electronics before you head offshore. Take some people that have experience and can teach you.
Second the tools, safety equipment and redundancy.
Mark
Pioneer 222 Sportfish Yamaha F300
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
What everybody said above. Then add tapered wood plugs that will fit every thru hull fitting size in your boat, and a hammer to drive them in with. A pool noodle and a nerf football can plug most other hull breaches unless they are catastrophic. A small tarp can plug even a big hole. So can a large seat cushion.
Flares weren’t mentioned above. DO NOT settle for the minimum required micky mouse flare kits sold at most places. You will be dismally disappointed if you ever really need them, and wishing you had a pack of Chinese bottle rockets or roman candles instead. Get good SOLAS certified parachute flares, 2 or 3 times what the law requires. The white ones will turn the ocean around you into daylight for 3 or 4 minutes. Red ones for distress.
Excellent advice. I have a PLB and am putting together a ditch bag. I have excellent first aid supplies. I have flares, but I will take your advice and upgrade. Tools are on board, but I had not considered hull breach plugs. I have bolt cutters in case the anchor fouls, as it is chain. Water is a great idea. I had not thought to store water and rations on board! I am not satisfied with the type I jackets I have found; I think I will order some, but is there a good marine supply in Charleston area for such? Tough to stow a raft, I will look for an emergency inflatable. Great advice, gentleman! Thank-you for your courteous responses. I have powerboated on a 48 foot sport boat, and numerous boat along the way, so while not a novice, I recognize that offshore on a center console poses its unique challenges. I assure you, safety is paramount in my mind. I bought the Intrepid because it seemed a well built, quality hull, had reliable power, and also offered a good platform to take my family around inshore in style. I’ll keep you posted!
Satellite phone:
<> Call the USCG to tell them about a medical emergency and to send the chopper with the appropriate life saving equipment
<> Call the USCG and give them your exact position and let them know that their chopper didn’t see your flare
<> Call SeaTow\TowboatUS directly when you are broken down
<> Call a buddy for an updated weather report
<> Call a buddy for an updated SST chart
<> Call the wife to let her know you ain’t coming home until you catch a big fish
Get real life jackets and a stowable life raft from air-sea safety charleston 843-723-2722
They also service epirbs, plbs, etc. They can even replace the battery in the non-replaceable ones.
-Albemarle 248xf “Chella”
-Dolphin 18BC Pro
-Miscellaneous boats
I have upgraded my flares, and have a nice handheld ship to shore and pld (these are in addition to the ship to shore and epirb mounted on my boat.) Water, rations, first aid kid, repair gizmos, ditch bag all in place. Thanks for the advice, I will continue to review and improve my safety on the water.
Train all competent occupants on safety procedures and navigation procedures of the boat. Having multiple hands grabbing ditch gear, making emergency calls, putting vest on, etc can mean the difference between being lost at sea treading water and waiting on your rescue to get to your coordinates. If your crew can handle the safety procedures you can focus on righting the boat and avoiding swimming all together. At least one other person needs to know how to run the boat in case you go down.
A training check list should help.
This might just be me but it won’t hurt to buy a high power green laser and waterproof it.?If you get a strong one it will put a flare to shame. Others can comment on this.
I have very little offshore experience, but I’ve read quite a bit about the safety aspects. I’ll mention two things that are easy to acquire and have been highly recommended.
A sticker or card with radio procedures for MAYDAY calls. (http://www.uscg.mil/pvs/docs/Brocures/MAYDAY.pdf) Review this information at the dock with everyone on board. You don’t want to be the only person on board that knows how to do this. (What if something happens to you?)
If you’re lucky enough to be fishing, you’re lucky enough.
