Miami Boat Show 2013

This is the last time we will use the line at the boat show,” we do not have a boat”.   This line works great to drive away aggressive salespeople hawking miracle cures for boat problems.

Martian

While we are on this topic ,I have an idea for a company.   First, the company creates a fake boat concern.   For example,  “Boat are often attacked by Martians with ray guns”.   Next, the company will spend time with new boaters  (read Two Fish) and create fears of Martians boarding Two Fish with ray guns.  The next step is to sell the solution.  The best part of the new company business plan is that  your solution does not have to work, since the problem will never occur to test your claims.   “Sir,  if you wear a purple rubber hat made of special materials then you will not be hurt by Martian ray guns”.   Now the final step,  take the new boat owners’ money.

So with this in mind we fight off the best efforts of the fear mongers.    “Lightning, pirates, whales, submerged containers and poisonous fish are some of the introductions we hear”.     Now that I wrote this, it will be our luck that Two Fish will have first contact with ray gun toting Martians.   Where do I buy that rubber hat?

In previous shows we saw the boat for the first time, decided to buy the boat, and learned about the subsystems.   Returning for the third year in a row, we came mostly to catch up with the other Antares owners.    We have made the bulk of our decisions but still enjoyed learning about the latest gadgets in the marine industry.

Underwater Lights by Lumishore

I had some buyer’s regret when Lumishore told me about the new control head.   Our underwater light manufacturer has made it possible to display different colors on the port and startboard lights.   This does sound like someone complaining about the champagne they were served in first class.  At least I am not like the guy in the above photo.   To get four colors he bought four boats!

557 HP Outboard

The most powerful outboard on Earth was on display.  A 557 horsepower engine.   I bet that that engine needs a bunch of hay to keep all those horses pulling.   As a comparison,  it is the same power as 28 of our dinghy outboards.   If it was attached to our dinghy, the boat and engine would head directly to visit Davey Jones.

The most perverse boat we saw was a hybrid between a stand up paddle board and kayak.   It has a small motor and was designed as a fishing platform.  The TAG 60 was the sexiest boat at the show.    It is a high performance catamaran that eases the sheets automatically when a  puff comes.    More suited for a richer captain and crew greater than for Two Fish.

We are concerned where all the stuff we have brought to Argentina will fit in the boat.   Yes, the Antares is legendary for its storage but it still has much less space than our current abode and we are aware that we need to be vigilent in controlling the wave of stuff that could sneak aboard.    This is a short video of me crawling in the lockers to better understand the space.

During the show we got lessons on taking care of the air conditioning, genset and  water maker.    The A/C is pretty much a black box operation as non licensed folks are not allowed to service the units in fear they will leak ozone-destroying gasses.   I don’t have a view as to whether this is useful legislation or some form of  job protection legislation.   Either way I am happy to wait for a pro to fix the units as the tools need to fix A/C’s are costly and bulky.   Also I can live just fine without A/C.   The genset is just another diesel engine so we will follow the process for the other two on board.   They did mention that waiting 2 minutes for warm up and 2 minutes for cool down was a good idea.   The water maker is more complex.   Water makers convert ocean water into drinking water by pushing water through an expansive membrane.  This creates two issues with the system.   Firstly, the water must be under high pressure – this can be finicky.   Secondly, the membrane must get regular attention.   It is best to use the water maker weekly.   If the water maker will not be used for a month it must be fresh washed 4 times and if left for 2 months it must be pickled.   Is this more martian ray gun or do I have to climb into the locker weekly to maintain the water maker membrane?

The dive compressor has one filter which needs replacement every 10 hours or 30 tanks. It’s 80 bucks.  The final bit of maintenance advice was from flexi-teak.   They make the cockpit flooring and advised that after a particularly bloody fish killing, a bit and soap and water should clean up the evidence in advance of aquaman’s arrival.

Nigel Calder

We spent a half-day in Nigel Calder’s class on boat electrical systems.  He is a bit of a boating legend for his multiple books and articles.  We own a few of the books.  It was a thoughtful class despite some of it being territory we had covered in previous classes.   A few things stuck with me after the class.   1)  Solar is just fantastic and you can’t have enough.  2)  Living on the hook is troublesome because you can’t get that marina trickle charge to take the batteries from 80 to 100 percent.   No one is going to run their genset for hours to get from 80 to 100.   Batteries that never make it to 100 live much shorter lives.   Well we will just have to see how much juice we consume while on the hook.   3)   Voltmeters and Ohm meters will bring hours of fun to Gail’s life.   If she is bad I may take her voltmeter away like teenagers lose iPhone privileges?