VHF radio or cell phone?

[bertschb]

Does your Tohatsu have a
backup pull start?

Nope.

 

[pt40fathoms]

Will a small motorcycle battery work for a fishfinder and console VHF radio?

Don't waste your money on a motorcycle battery. If it tips it spills acid, if it gets sea water in it due to submersion you get chlorine gas and a dead battery.

Use a gell cell battery, they don't spill and are sealed so still produce power even when submerged. You can pick one up by calling a local burglar alarm company, they use them in security systems. Or you can call a battery specialist company. They are rechargable, and you can get them in deep cycle high amperage ratings as well.

I switched both my marine batteries to deep cycle gell cell several years ago with great results.

Only catch, is they are about 25% more expensive. But when you factor in the safety and ability to deliver power submerged. The little extra cash layout pays for itself the first time your have minor flooding that submerges the batteries.

The one I use are made by a German company called Sonnenschein and go by the brand name "Dryfit".

 

[bertschb]

Thanks for the input. I've decided to run the fishfinder and radio from the primary battery. I want to keep things simple for now. But, the gel battery is an excellent idea. I use gel batteries for my trailer but I never thought of getting a small gel battery for this application.

 

[Delta_P]

Nope.

You might want to haul out the owner's manual and check that, especially if you're running everything off one battery instead of house/starting batteries and isolators. (Overkill for a small RIB in a lot of cases.) It might require removing the cowling and digging out a starting cord, but it would be very handy to know this against the day someone forgets to turn the circuits off overnight.

I can't believe a little 50 hp ob wouldn't have manual start capabilities, but one does see some odd design features these days. Let us know if it really doesn't so I can add Tohatsu to the "What were they thinking?" list.

 

[bertschb]

I'll have both the fishfinder and VHF radio attached to the main battery but the vhf will never be turned on. I would hope a full size battery could handle a fishfinder (plus start my little outboard). I had a 19' ski boat that had a fishfinder, stereo and running lights and it had to start a V-8. It worked fine. Plenty of juice. Sometimes we'd sit for hours with the radio and fishfinder on.

I checked again and there is no manual start capability on my Tohatsu 50HP. That's one of the reasons I bought the radio. I usually buy a new battery every 2-3 years so I should be OK on that end. It's overkill but cheap insurance. I've never had a dead battery in 20+ years of boating.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

You are required to have the VHF on and monitor Channel 16 when the boat is
underway. This is a recent change in FCC regs. It used to be you had to monitor
Ch 16 if the radio was on.

But your battery won't have any trouble running that equipment. On my boat:

VHF: .5 Amps when on, but not receiving anything, 1.5A when receiving something, 6A
when transmitting a full power (25W).
Fishfinder: .25A
GPS .3 Amp

So you are right at an amp total. The average battery will run that for a couple of
days. I have one battery for starting and electronics. I don't turn off the VHF or
GPS while diving. I do turn off the fishfinder, because it's noise polution in the ocean.


Chuck

 

[Don Burke]

You are required to have the VHF on and monitor Channel 16 when the boat is underway. This is a recent change in FCC regs. It used to be you had to monitor Ch 16 if the radio was on.

That is a common misconception.

That rule only applies to boat required to carry VHF, which does not include little center console boats.

All those people around you can easily and legally spend the day yaking on channel 68 (or the local equivalent).

This is from Title 47:

Sec. 80.148 Watch on 156.8 MHz (Channel 16).

At least one VHF ship station per compulsory vessel while underway
must maintain a watch on 156.800 MHz whenever such station is not being
used for exchanging communications. The watch is not required:
(a) Where a ship station is operating only with handheld bridge-to-
bridge VHF radio equipment under Sec. 80.143(c) of this part;
(b) For vessels subject to the Bridge-to-Bridge Act and
participating in a Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) system when the watch is
maintained on both the bridge-to-bridge frequency and a separately
assigned VTS frequency; or
(c) For a station on board a voluntary vessel equipped with digital
selective calling (DSC) equipment, maintaining a continuous DSC watch on
156.525 MHz whenever such station is not being used for exchanging
communications, and while such station is within the VHF service area of
a U.S. Coast Guard radio facility which is DSC equipped.

[51 FR 31213, Sept. 2, 1986, as amended at 58 FR 16504, Mar. 29, 1993]

Effective Date Note: At 68 FR 46962, Aug. 7, 2003, Sec. 80.148 was
amended by revising the introductory text and removing paragraph (c)
effective October 6, 2003. For the convenience of the user, the revised
text is set forth as follows:

Sec. 80.148 Watch on 156.8 MHz (Channel 16).

Until February 1, 2005, each compulsory vessel, while underway, must
maintain a watch for radiotelephone distress calls on 156.800 MHz
whenever such station is not being used for exchanging communications.
For GMDSS ships, 156.525 MHz is the calling frequency for distress,
safety, and general communications using digital selective calling and
the watch on 156.800 MHz is provided so that ships not fitted with DSC
will be able to call GMDSS ships, thus providing a link between GMDSS
and non-GMDSS compliant ships. The watch on 156.800 MHz is not required:

"Compulsory vessel" is defined in Title 33:

Sec. 26.03 Radiotelephone required.

(a) Unless an exemption is granted under Sec. 26.09 and except as
provided in paragraph (a)(4) of this section, this part applies to:
(1) Every power-driven vessel of 20 meters or over in length while
navigating;
(2) Every vessel of 100 gross tons and upward carrying one or more
passengers for hire while navigating;
(3) Every towing vessel of 26 feet or over in length while
navigating; and
(4) Every dredge and floating plant engaged in or near a channel or
fairway in operations likely to restrict or affect navigation of other
vessels except for an unmanned or intermittently manned floating plant
under the control of a dredge.
(b) Every vessel, dredge, or floating plant described in paragraph
(a) of this section must have a radiotelephone on board capable of
operation from its navigational bridge, or in the case of a dredge, from
its main control station, and capable of transmitting and receiving on
the frequency or frequencies within the 156-162 Mega-Hertz band using
the classes of emissions designated by the Federal Communications
Commission for the exchange of navigational information.
(c) The radiotelephone required by paragraph (b) of this section
must be carried on board the described vessels, dredges, and floating
plants upon the navigable waters of the United States.
(d) The radiotelephone required by paragraph (b) of this section
must be capable of transmitting and receiving on VHF FM channel 22A
(157.1 MHz).
(e) While transiting any of the following waters, each vessel
described in paragraph (a) of this section also must have on board a
radiotelephone capable of transmitting and receiving on VHF FM channel
67 (156.375 MHz):

[[Page 106]]

(1) The lower Mississippi River from the territorial sea boundary,
and within either the Southwest Pass safety fairway or the South Pass
safety fairway specified in 33 CFR 166.200, to mile 242.4 AHP (Above
Head of Passes) near Baton Rouge;
(2) The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet from the territorial sea
boundary, and within the Mississippi River-Gulf outlet Safety Fairway
specified in 33 CFR 166.200, to that channel's junction with the Inner
Harbor Navigation Canal; and
(3) The full length of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal from its
junction with the Mississippi River to that canal's entry to Lake
Pontchartrain at the New Seabrook vehicular bridge.
(f) In addition to the radiotelephone required by paragraph (b) of
this section, each vessel described in paragraph (a) of this section
while transiting any waters within a Vessel Traffic Service Area, must
have on board a radiotelephone capable of transmitting and receiving on
the VTS designated frequency in Table 161.12(c) (VTS and VMRS Centers,
Call Signs/MMSI, Designated Frequencies, and Monitoring Areas).

Note: A single VHF-FM radio capable of scanning or sequential
monitoring (often referred to as ``dual watch'' capability) will not
meet the requirements for two radios.

[CGD 91-046, 57 FR 14485, Apr. 21, 1992; 57 FR 21740, May 22, 1992, as
amended by CGD 90-020, 59 FR 36322, July 15, 1994; CGD 95-033, 60 FR
28328, May 31, 1995; CGD 92-052, 61 FR 45325, Aug. 29, 1996; CGD-1999-
6141, 64 FR 69635, Dec. 14, 1999; USCG-2003-14757, 68 FR 39364, July 1,
2003]

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Don:

From: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2003/octqtr/47cfr80.310.htm

Effective Date Note: At 68 FR 46967, Aug. 7, 2003, Sec. 80.310 was
revised effective October 6, 2003. For the convenience of the user, the
revised text is set forth as follows:

Sec. 80.310 Watch required by voluntary vessels.

Voluntary vessels not equipped with DSC must maintain a watch on
156.800 MHz (Channel 16) whenever the vessel is underway and the radio
is not being used to communicate. Noncommercial vessels, such as
recreational boats, may alternatively maintain a watch on 156.450 MHz
(Channel 9) for call and reply purposes. Voluntary vessels equipped with
VHF-DSC equipment must maintain a watch on either 156.525 MHz (Channel
70) or VHF Channel 16 aurally whenever the vessel is underway and the
radio is not being used to communicate. Voluntary vessels equipped with
MF-HF DSC equipment must have the radio turned on and set to an
appropriate DSC distress calling channel or one of the radiotelephone
distress channels whenever the vessel is underway and the radio is not
being used to communicate. Voluntary vessels equipped with Inmarsat A,
B, or C systems must have the unit turned on and set to receive calls
whenever the vessel is underway and the radio is not being used to
communicate.


Net: When underway, you gotta have the radio on and tuned to channel 16 or 9 if you
have a non-DSC radio, or Ch 16 AND 70 if you have a DSC radio.
I'd tuned out channel 9 in my brain because nobody uses it in Monterey. I read it as
including my little center console boat. Besides, it's a good idea anyway, and I'd been
doing it for years.

 

[Don Burke]

Sec. 80.310 Watch required by voluntary vessels.

...and upon further review, you are correct.

The change has been entered in the CFR.

Nice catch.

 

[String]

Both definately.

We often end up with VHF and at least 2 mobiles (on different networks). Even a few miles only offshore at the low height a boat is getting a mobile phone signal can be difficult. An analogue, high powered VHF radio with a proper antenna is far more reliable a method.