Owning a Boat

[Swimjim]

I thought I'd start a new thread for this one. For those of you stuck with shore diving, not that theres anything wrong with it, a little food for thought.
I own a boat. I consider it an important piece of dive equipment. I paid the price of a high end BC for it. $900.00. Its not new, not even close, but I've had it for five seasons and it has served me well.
A boat, set up for diving or in my case fishing and diving doesent have to be prohibitively expensive. I'm fortunate enough to live close enough to Lake Michigan I can lanch with a farm tractor. A beater pickup will get you to close boat landings.
If your going out on the big pond you'll need a marine radio, compass, GPS and basic saftey equipment like flares and throwable pfd's.
I guess what I'm trying to get across is before you dismiss the possibility entirely, look around give it a little thought. A boat can really open new horizons. And by the way, take a US Coast guard boating course. It just may save your @@@ someday.

Jim

[jasondbaker]

Swimjim, what kind of boat did you buy for $900? I have often thought about a rigid inflatable for diving.

[Swimjim]

I bought an old SeaRay. Its a good quality boat and has served me well. You just got to keep your eyes open. There is alot of junk out there.
Keep this in mind. Go to the Milwaukee Sentinal Sport show. Watch the people that are lusting over the boats. The major percentage aren't going to buy. If you break down the actual buyers though, you will notice something you can use to your advantage. Alot of the people who buy boats DON'T USE THEM. These boats get on the water once or twice a year, maybe. That why if your willing to look around a bit you can find a good quality boat thats in real good shape. Of course you have to know what your looking at. Do your home work first. I can almost guarenttee it will pay off.
My boat is an eighteen footer. It came with a 100 horse Merc which I up graded to a 70 horse Evinrude.(Don't like Merc's never have , never will) I added an 8 horse kicker for fishing and emergency backup. Also put proper electronics on it. Marine radio, Graph with speed and temp, GPS and I found a hot deal on an AM/FM stereo with a cassette deck. Marine of course. Over the years I have added rod holders and down rigger mounts for salmon fishing. These serve double duty for tieing stuff off for diving, like granny lines, ladders and such. I also built my own wreck hook. The only down side for diving is I can only acommodate two divers. That usually works out okay though.
Fully decked out with two divers I can go an honest twenty five mph with that rig. I can be on the wreck of the Niagara within five minutes of launch.

Keep divin

Jim

[Swimjim]

The picture in my previous post is of me and my son after a fishing trip. Note the rod holder bar I built that goes over the wind shield. There are two rear facing 55 watt halogen lights on that bar which are great for night diving. I have my divers down flag on a pole that goes in the center of that pole for when we're diving

Jim

[xtracheese4me]

too cool.... sign me up for a 900 dollar boat... heh....
looks like a good setup, when we going?

Brian