Stone
Contributor
Date: 14 Jun 05
Wx: Clear and partly cloudy. Winds SW, 74F in the morning, high 80s F later
Seas: Swell out of the SW. Mostly less than 2 ft. A few hours were lake-like conditions.
Temp: Warming up Thermoclines are very noticeable.
Buddies were subdude, Jim, and Candy. We started loading the boat at 0530. At 0600 I pushed the throttle forward and it broke. Checked linkage to the carburetor and the transmission and everything was okay. Removed the panel that holds the throttle handle and found that the threaded metal rod that holds the cable to the throttle cable had broken. Subdude and I worked the corroded linkage apart and used the remaining 4 threads on the broken rod to put the linkage back together. After adjusting the linkage on the carburetor to compensate for the shortened throttle rod, we were ready to go.
We decided to go far, far away, so we stopped to get fuel at the Pass. As soon as I put the boat in gear to pull away from the dock, we heard a squeal that was either a belt or a bearing. We tossed the hook and did some troubleshooting. Both Jim and subdude have more engine experience than I do, so they took the lead. A belt that appeared to be plenty tight was slipping anyway, and the guys tightened it even more. This belt will be replaced soon.
Dive One: Natural Reef. Top and bottom of the water column were totally different. On top, the water was a beautiful blue-green, the vis was 30 to 40 ft, and there was very little current. On the bottom, the water turned brown, the vis was 15 to 20 ft, and there was a nagging current. There were 2 points of interest. We saw dozens and dozens of large Jack-knife fish, and I shot a Hogfish. I have never seen a Hogfish around Destin, and I thought they did not come this far north in the Gulf. Subdude floated a nice Fortress anchor.
Dive Two: Wreck. Same water conditions. Shot a Red, a Gag, and a large trigger. Candy shot many triggers and a nice black snapper.
Dive Three: More broken bottom, but we didnt find any more fish.
Epilogue: We had planned on 4 tanks, but boat problems kept us from hitting the water until after 1000. We made port at about 1830 after putting 80 nm on the boat. I cleaned fish until 2100. Sure was better than going to work!
Wx: Clear and partly cloudy. Winds SW, 74F in the morning, high 80s F later
Seas: Swell out of the SW. Mostly less than 2 ft. A few hours were lake-like conditions.
Temp: Warming up Thermoclines are very noticeable.
Buddies were subdude, Jim, and Candy. We started loading the boat at 0530. At 0600 I pushed the throttle forward and it broke. Checked linkage to the carburetor and the transmission and everything was okay. Removed the panel that holds the throttle handle and found that the threaded metal rod that holds the cable to the throttle cable had broken. Subdude and I worked the corroded linkage apart and used the remaining 4 threads on the broken rod to put the linkage back together. After adjusting the linkage on the carburetor to compensate for the shortened throttle rod, we were ready to go.
We decided to go far, far away, so we stopped to get fuel at the Pass. As soon as I put the boat in gear to pull away from the dock, we heard a squeal that was either a belt or a bearing. We tossed the hook and did some troubleshooting. Both Jim and subdude have more engine experience than I do, so they took the lead. A belt that appeared to be plenty tight was slipping anyway, and the guys tightened it even more. This belt will be replaced soon.
Dive One: Natural Reef. Top and bottom of the water column were totally different. On top, the water was a beautiful blue-green, the vis was 30 to 40 ft, and there was very little current. On the bottom, the water turned brown, the vis was 15 to 20 ft, and there was a nagging current. There were 2 points of interest. We saw dozens and dozens of large Jack-knife fish, and I shot a Hogfish. I have never seen a Hogfish around Destin, and I thought they did not come this far north in the Gulf. Subdude floated a nice Fortress anchor.
Dive Two: Wreck. Same water conditions. Shot a Red, a Gag, and a large trigger. Candy shot many triggers and a nice black snapper.
Dive Three: More broken bottom, but we didnt find any more fish.
Epilogue: We had planned on 4 tanks, but boat problems kept us from hitting the water until after 1000. We made port at about 1830 after putting 80 nm on the boat. I cleaned fish until 2100. Sure was better than going to work!
