[tsubaki]

Figured I***8217;d try the boat to see how it performed with the few additions to it.
New wheel.

Might as well throw a couple of poles in also for the meanness of it.
I intended to try the boat at various speeds to compare the rpm***8217;s and fuel consumption. NOAA reported 10-15 north winds, 2***8217; seas and cloudy (yeah right) so we headed toward a couple of reefs that were 10-15 miles offshore. Immediately I recognized the GPS portion of the depth finder wasn***8217;t on and played with it till we got to the sound with no luck.
Not being real sure of everything on the boat (fuel consumption, engines performance, etc) we decided to fish the sound.
The moon was full, the tides were flood tides and negative tides, meaning inshore fishing would be next to pulling teeth. Still we anchored and caught undersized Trout, Blackfish, Shark, Croaker and Whiting. This is the second week of the season the Whiting have started in and they were small 10-12***8221;. Shamelessly kept a few to screw up some grease (hey this is the first fishing trip owning this boat).

One addition was the cutting board (inspired by Shawsee).

I exceptionally enjoyed it and the darn thing floats.

And stores easily.

While fishing the wind changed from North to West, then a little later from the South, then the East over a 4 hour period and the whole time varying from 15-30 mph. Heading back in the sound there were 3 foot swells so probably a good thing we didn***8217;t go offshore.
I normally bring a handheld GPS for a backup and figured might try to get some performance numbers with the new prop.

The old one was a 14x19ss, this one is a 14.8x17al. The stainless prop would turn about 5100rpm at 42mph lightly loaded; the aluminum prop turned 5000rpm at 41mph in rough water and wind and loaded to a normal fishing trip capacity, being bait, fuel, ice, etc. At about 3900rpm and 32mph it consumed just under 12gph. The whole trip was about 30 miles and burned about 12 gallons of fuel.
Couldn***8217;t take pictures of the instruments hold a GPS and operate the boat at the same time so sorry, no pictures of them.
Got back to the dock and turned on the VHF to find it not working, the display showed -8 (?) and none of the buttons worked.

Then it dawned on me ***8220;must have been lightning***8221; hit near the boat and damaged the radio and external antenna on the GPS. Gotta see if that was the case or not.
I never liked the idea of bow rails getting in the way so I don***8217;t plan on reinstalling them on the boat plus I couldn***8217;t arrive at a good navigation light setup so ended up doing this for the meantime.

The one thing I always wanted (for no particular reason) was a bow mounted transducer in addition to the normal depth finder. Here is both of them at the dock reading 11***8217; in the rear of the boat and 5.8***8217; at the front.

Got back home wind burned, checked the NOAA site and they said the same exact thing (liars), cleaned the boat and fish, then thought ***8220;what a perfectly wasted day***8221; (I***8217;ll have to repeat it again soon, real soon).
Really did enjoy myself, first real trip out.