# New boat, no radio = stupidity



## J0nesi (Jun 22, 2011)

A friend of mine told me that his brother-in-law wanted to take him out fishing for his birthday two weeks ago. My friend his Girl friend, sister,B-I-L and their two little girls all went out about 30 miles he said. They all had a blast but didnt really catch anything.(not fishermen) they get back to the boat ramp and started talking and the radio subject came up. the B-I-L says "what radio i dont have one yet". Needless to say my friend freaks out. He tried to say the boat was brand new that nothing was wrong with it but i totally disagreed with him. going out in a boat regaurdless of distance from the shore is super dangerous without the saftey gear. 

what do you think? Super Dumbass or what?


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## daniel9829 (Jan 31, 2009)

Sda


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## purple haze (Sep 2, 2013)

I have gone offshore with out one many many years ago. I would never again chance it. Before I go offshore now I will make a check of all three bilge pumps, both vhf's radios, nav lights and other safety gear. You are just asking for trouble going with out a good radio and antenna.


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## kiefersdad (Apr 26, 2013)

*Radio. That's a novel Idea !*

Most people think about who they could call with their radio when they are on their boat and are in need of assistance. What if you are within a mile or less of someone who is in need of help and they are pleading for their life and no one is in the immediate area except you with your "no radio" boat? Then after you leave your favorite fishing hole you see a fleet of boats zooming past you headed in the opposite direction only to find out later you were the only one who could have saved them. Yikes !!! I like my vhf radio.


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

the min basic for communications are flares and a radio. Wouldn't go without them. so I guess Super DA is good for your friend


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## TailRazor (Apr 25, 2011)

No brainer!


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## Mullethead (Oct 4, 2007)

Piling on here ... 

VHF comms are a fundamental safety item 

- though back in the day i went offshore with a single O/B and CB radio  
I am a lot older and hopefully a lttle wiser 

When I took my loran antenna off -I added a second VHF for redundency - 

I carry a hand held in by bag with foul weather gear on my boat and when a guest on others.


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## H2OMARK (Oct 2, 2007)

4 adults and 2 young'ins 30 miles out.....SDA with capitol letters.


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## Jet fishin (May 5, 2012)

H2OMARK said:


> 4 adults and 2 young'ins 30 miles out.....SDA with capitol letters.



Yep!


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## Coastal Cowboy (Feb 12, 2012)

Even in my old boat, I had a mounted and a handheld that floated. Not just SUPER DA, but Ultra Super DA.


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## Coastal Cowboy (Feb 12, 2012)

One quick question, do you think he'd want one if he forgot to put the plug in on his new boat?


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

You gotta have communication if your gonna go farther than a few miles offshore. Flares do work, but they work better at night.


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## CaptScoob38 (Jan 30, 2012)

These are the people you hear end up hearing horror stories about. Ive been on a brand new repowered boat before with twins and broke down 30 miles out, no cell signal out there. If you can afford a brand new boat I think you should be able to afford a radio?!?!?!


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## WhyMe (Apr 21, 2013)

I could go on and on......SDA.
WhyMe 
Mako my Dayo


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## J0nesi (Jun 22, 2011)

this is the same family (different boat) that anchored up in the middle pensacola pass one day trying to fish.


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## Waste-N-Away (May 20, 2009)

there is really no excuse for this, it puts people in danger, period.

thats why i always carry a handheld and spot PLB on my backpack that i carry with me any time i get on a boat whether its one of mine or someone elses boat, that way i know we have a back-up plan always even on my bay boat.

i think the hand held and PLB total didnt cost me more than about $250 so there is no reason to have a boat without proper safety gear


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## fishmagician (Jun 4, 2014)

Damn lucky nothing happened to them, new or not....SDA


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## Jibber (Mar 29, 2014)

WOW! Very fortunate. And one more vote for DA.


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## Chapman5011 (Mar 7, 2013)

J0nesi said:


> this is the same family (different boat) that anchored up in the middle pensacola pass one day trying to fish.


I bet they were raising hell at the boats coming by washing them out with their big wake.


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## KingCrab (Apr 29, 2012)

Had a buddy beg me to go on a boat , Center console Single engine for a ride / fish run inshore. I said, ok. Well we got near the pass on a calm day. We seen a large ship what looked like a mile or 2 off the beach. Let's go see that ship up close & see if anythings swimming around it. I said , NO ! He begged & pleaded. Alright , just there & back. Guess what? That ship was 6 miles estimated off the beach. Our motor quit a mile from it.  Stalled , No restart. No spark I assumed. I said get on the radio & call someone. He pulled it out from underneath the center console. It was full of water & dripping. WTF ! A boat came in distance of us, I said, got flares? Yes he said. He pulled the flare gun out, Fired. The flare shot 2 foot & fell in the water.:no:They was wet & 10yrs old as the radio was.:thumbdown: Needless to say, Long story short. I will never ever go out in the gulf with a single engine Without every thing i could possibly have to call, radio , Shoot flare , etc. Twin engine also. It's too risky. A beautiful calm day can kill you.


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## fairpoint (May 9, 2013)

I think the moral here is, be careful who you go with in any body of water, just because they have a boat doesn't make them a boat Captain....kinda like "I stayed in a Holiday Inn last night" syndrome......


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

Sounds like they should've hired a guide instead of DIY


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

*Yep...*



Captain Woody Woods said:


> Sounds like they should've hired a guide instead of DIY


Verily, CWW has spoken


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## flappininthebreeze (Jul 13, 2009)

fairpoint said:


> I think the moral here is, be careful who you go with in any body of water, just because they have a boat doesn't make them a boat Captain....kinda like "I stayed in a Holiday Inn last night" syndrome......


Moral of the story is: if you ride along with others, pack a few essentials of your own. Hat, sunscreen, RADIO, water, snacks, you get my meaning.


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## fairpoint (May 9, 2013)

flappininthebreeze said:


> Moral of the story is: if you ride along with others, pack a few essentials of your own. Hat, sunscreen, RADIO, water, snacks, you get my meaning.


If they don't know how to run a boat they can still KILL themselves with YOU to......I know its just a Radio he forgot,but what else is on the list,life preservers,flares...?......Especially on a gas powered boat where fire can happen quite easily compared to diesel powered.......
I am a survivor as my sister of a boat accident on Lake Lanier,Georgia....We were in a 20+ft cuddy cabin either Century,trojan or Chris Craft...anyway somehow the captain or whoever was at the wheel FLIPPED the SOB and it sank like a rock in about 20ft of water,my dad had to dive down and retrieve my sister as she was in the cabin at the time,should have killed me as I was only 1yr old....
You can drown in a cup of water folks....I respect that fact....


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## 153 Large fish (Nov 30, 2013)

The first duty of any captain is to keep his guests and crew safe..period..everything else is secondary. ...don't be a DA....it's serious business. ...

now the people anchored in the middle of the pass?...i will slow down for people fishing off the Shipping Lanes, but if you're fishing in the middle of the pass you're gonna eat my wake.


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## Ocean Master (May 20, 2008)

Just some good info..

This off season we will have 2 VHF radios on separate antenna's instead of one. (Most big boats do). We also carry a handheld loaded with all the goodies. Another in the life raft. Also a Satellite phone used mainly to text messages.


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## billin (Oct 14, 2007)

*captain*

What Woody said.....


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## J0nesi (Jun 22, 2011)

whats a good handheld radio i can buy for myself.


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## bcahn (Jan 10, 2013)

The old saying in the AF, if it's a warning, caution, or note in the tech manual, it's because someone did something stupid! No worries, this guy will win the lottery next month! lmao... WTH


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## purple haze (Sep 2, 2013)

Well a case of stupid happen to me a few days ago. Even after I made a post on 9/9/2014 about this I did not take my own advise. Six of us ran 70 miles out last Thursday. The YF bite happen again in the area we were a few days earlier . Our plan was to call over a sister boat that had spent the night if we got on the YF again. Tim made a call several times for them with no answer. Then an open radio check and still no answer. We could not hear others talking on a channel that also has some one on it. Finally we broke out a hand held and was able to get a hold of our friends. They were that close but we could not heard them talking to us on the boats VHF. The boat we were on is less then four years old. That night running in the dark from 70 miles out with NO radio made me feel that I had made a big mistake not checking the radio before we left the dock. Luck was on our side this night.


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## TeaSea (Sep 28, 2013)

J0nesi said:


> whats a good handheld radio i can buy for myself.


I just bought an ICOM M73 handheld at West Marine after doing a lot of online research. $200. I really like it. Has the weather stations and lots of programmable options like favorites list for scan mode etc. Very clear reception and good battery life. Waterproof and I think it said it floats as well. I can actually hear the speaker clearly while running at 3500 RPM in the ICW


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## Gamefish27 (Nov 13, 2009)

This is what I carry in my pocket anytime on another persons boat. 3 feet or 70 miles off shore is my locator beacon. If you do not have one your the DA!!! 

http://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/personal-locator-beacons/resqlinkplus/


So think about it no radio or flairs you sit there and say what a DA this guy is sure wish I had my Locator beacon with me!!!


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## boatbiz (Feb 27, 2013)

When I bought my boat the first thing I did was upgrade the VHF. By upgrade, I mean I added a second radio and second antenna all wired to a different power source than the primary. I want to make sure that I have a way to contact someone if I needed to!


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## rr4611 (Aug 8, 2014)

I went through private pilot ground school and got my flying time. One thing you do before every flight is go through a walk around and check list before you even climb in and start the engine. Then after start up you go through final engine checks before you contact the tower to taxi. Even at the ramp you throttle up one last time to check head pressure and make sure you have the ability to get off the ground. If you're running offshore with passengers, why should it be different? Make a checklist and go by it. 

As one funeral director said once who owns his own plane, "I don't bother with all of that, I just get in it and go". I told him, "You've been around dead people too long".


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## 20simmons sea skiff (Aug 20, 2010)

I have 2 , when I bought this motor 3 years ago it broke down ist trip. bought sea tow this year broke down ist trip again


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