Tunacious, Saw you guys Sunday

[Dos Pelones]

Hola,

We saw you guys at Dana Point Sunday. We left the harbor about the same time. That was us in the other express. We went to Clemente and checked out Pyramid to Purse Seiner rock for a scratch bite on the calico. No current and slooow fishing. Where did you guys end up fishing?
Anyways, you guys have a nice boat!

Jorge

[saltwaters]

Hola to you too Jorge,

We had to stay local. The fishing club had a 3-B tournament with a shotgun start. We did manage to catch a 9.7 lb Halibut and a 6 lb YT in addition to the bass. No barries and no boneheads so we didn't place in the tournament.

I think I have seen you in the harbor before but have never had a chance to talk about boats and fishing. I saw you leaving the harbor. Your boat looked great too. Love these Blackmans. With the way the wind and swell was up early, we were happy we stayed close. It was tough fishing the coast when there were 300 lb T-sharks just three miles away.

What year is your boat and what power do you have? What speed do you travel at and what is your fuel economy?

Thanks

Bill

[Dos Pelones]

Bill,

She's a 1986 w/ Volvo 41 DP, 570 hours on the new engine. Cruise 19 knots @ 3300 rpm. Thursday we got 2.88 mpg running her down to Mission Bay from Dana Point in very mild afternoon slop.

We have only had her a few months and am upgrading her into a Baja ready trailer boat vessel to use as a platform for Baja fun. New paint, new sound insulation, Racor 900 filter/seperator, new electronics (Raymarine C-120 mutlti function radar, plotter, sonar w/digital, ICOM 602 VHF), new battery banks ( Starter bank: 4 1000MCA batteries, house bank: 2 6 volt 370 amp golf cart batteries), 2000w Freedom inverter w 3 stage charger all with new wiring to a 200 amp combiner w/remote, altenator upgrade 120 amp,
2 kw genset, fresh hot and cold water shower, biminis for tower and cockpit and a new aluminum 3 axle trailer 19,000# GVW.

Working with all of that, hope to be done by July 1. My girlfriend says I am obssessed. I think she's right. Have a safe weekend! We are going to Clemente Monday, weather permitting.

Jorge

[saltwaters]

Jorge,

I think your girlfriend is right. Then, it seems like everyone who buys a Blackman is obsessed with their boats. I view that as a positive not a negative.

Keep working on the boat. She's looking pretty sharp at the moment. It's funny how there is always another project to tackle.

Have you had the opportunity to get an accurate weight of your boat? A few of the guys with Billfishers have weighed their boats but I think the express model weighs less.

I have an inboard engine not sterndrive. Having an accurate weight of the boat is essential to using the prop calculators that are available at www.boatdiesel.com. We have been guessing for 3.5 years now.

Thanks

Bill