Article by Capt. Steve Katz
Off Season Preparations
This is the last Ship-to-Shore column for the 2016 season. I hope everyone has had a good season and were entertained and educated while reading this column. If you have any topics you would like covered next year, please contact myself or Larry at the Coastal Fisherman.
A new product was just announced. McMurdo, a major electronics manufacturer (with USA headquarters in Maryland), announced that they have designed the world’s first four-frequency EPIRB. The McMurdo SmartFind G8 EPIRBs will be the world’s first distress beacons that can support each of the four frequencies used in the search and rescue process: 406MHz and 121.5MHz for beacon transmission; GNSS for location positioning and AIS for localized connectivity.
The addition of GNSS and AIS is new for any EPIRB up until now. The GNSS capability allows the beacon to use satellite constellations such as GPS (USA), Galileo (Europe) and GLONASS (Russia). The additional AIS channels on the new EPIRB will send position signal information to standard AIS electronic equipment on nearby vessels for complementary, local tracking and rescue capabilities. All of these features in one device can result in faster detection of positioning coordinates and enhances the accuracy of the emergency location. The new EPIRBs are also designed to be fully compatible with MEOSAR, the next generation of the Cospas-Sarsat international search and rescue satellite system.
There is a lot that goes on in the fall and winter seasons in the fishing and boating world. The fall and winter boat shows are popular events to check out the new boats, accessories and, of course, marine electronics. Whether it’s Annapolis, Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Palm Beach or Ocean City, there is no shortage of good events to visit.
Many of us in the marine electronics industry are gearing up for the annual trade-only NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) conference at the end of September. This is where the worlds marine electronics industry professional get together for a week of training, trade show meetings and networking to learn about the latest and greatest in the industry. It is not just an event to show off new equipment, but an industry conference to share knowledge and exchange ideas between dealers, manufacturers and other industry leaders that allow NMEA members to keep improving the marine electronics industry.
Keep an eye out for the NMEA product award recipients, often proudly announced by the winning manufacturers a few days after the event.
Whether you have downtime this fall before taking your boat south or preparing for the winter here in the mid-Atlantic, take an inventory of your marine electronics, (include serial numbers, too) and review the system you have and how the components are performing. There may be some off-season service that you need, a software update, repair or an upgrade of your existing hardware. Talking with dealers and manufacturers at the boat shows is a good way to learn about your options for your existing systems and learn about new hardware. Many dealers and manufactures have special prices and rates during the boat shows or throughout the winter season here in the mid-Atlantic.
In preparing for winter, if possible, remove your marine electronics from your boat. It’s always better to have them in a safe and secure, temperature controlled environment than left sitting out in the weather on your boat.
If the wiring looks confusing, take pictures and label the wires before you disconnect them. This also gives you an opportunity to clean your electronics and closely look over the hardware, wiring and connectors to be sure everything is in good condition for next spring.
It is best to use a microfiber cloth and distilled water to clean your electronics and screens. Harsher cleaners may damage sensitive screens and components.
While on the topic of winter, be sure to keep your batteries fully charged with a multistage charger during the off-season, even if you disconnect or remove your batteries, they need to be kept fully charged to prolong their life. A fully charged battery will read 12.65 volts when tested with no load. If you disconnect your batteries from your boat systems, be sure you remove the drain plug or provide other means to let the accumulated water drain out of your boat. A little rain and snow can lead to a ”sinking” while on land.
If you are not using your boat in the winter, you may be able to suspend your satellite music, satellite weather or satellite TV service for the winter months, saving you some money and keeping your account active for an easy Spring start-up. Canceling the account may cause financial penalties and a headache in the spring when trying to re-activate the service.
If your boat is headed south for the winter, Fall is a good time for marine electronics software updates. This way if there is a problem or a learning curve, you will have time to get it worked out and it won’t interfere with a critical fishing trip. Also, review your navigation charts. Be sure your electronic charts are up-to-date and have the correct coverage for your trip south. Test and operate all of your equipment such as FLIR camera, spotlights, satellite phones and other critical gear to be sure everything is functioning properly for your trip.
If your boat is going to be out of the water for the winter or for fall maintenance, it would be a good time to investigate adding or replacing your fishfinder transducer. It seems that lots of people are interested in a CHIRP upgrade (or side scan type of sounder) and with the wide variety of transducers, mounting styles and prices, adding a CHIRP transducer to your system may not be as expensive as you thought.
I wish everyone a wonderful off-season and thank you for reading Ship-to Shore.
Captain Steve Katz is the owner of Steve’s Marine Service and holds NMEA, AMEI and NMEA2000 certificates along with ABYC Master Technician certification and factory training from many manufacturers.