My New "New" Boat

[YellowHammer]

After quite a rocky experience with my last "new boat" we have dropped it off to never be seen again and have brought home our new "New Boat."  It's a 2024 custom build and after very extensive sea trials seems to be a much better build and hopefully, has much better Karma associated with it. I'm not superstitions, but people thought the old new boat should have been named after the car in the Stephen King novel.   

I'm really excited about this one, it has new 2024 Yamaha twin 200 engines, full digital joystick control for the engines to make the act independently like Azipod thrusters, full GPS based autopilot and station keeping and top of the line depth finder and 3 dimensional mapping of the sea floor. 

So if I'm fishing an offshore wreck, I can plug the destination into the autopilot, it will drive the boat 20 miles to get to it, slow down when it approaches, then hold me in position, while I fish.  Then if I want to move 5 feet forward back or sideways, I click the joystick once and the boat will adjust the engines to move 5 feet and then hold position again.  Basically, it is a fly by wire system, no hydraulics, not mechanical linkages, etc.  

We ordered it in in a color shifting graphite gelcoat, that will turn almost full black to reddish brown depending how the sun hits it and the while thing is ceramic coated to make it a nonstick surface like a frying pan.  So no fish blood or guts will stick to it, which is important in when saltwater fishing.  We have a week log trip to the gulf in about a month, so this build happened just in time.  Here are a few pictures of us pulling it home.



 




Here is a picture of the high gloss gel coat finish, the asphalt road with a white line is being reflected off the side of the boat.



 
    

[WV Sawmiller]

   Congratulations. I'm expecting lots of pictures of fish in the near future.

[GaTrapper]

Beautiful boat! Excited to see pictures of fish in the cooler! 

[Walnut Beast]

Wow! Absolutely exciting and beautiful boat! Congratulations and definitely look forward to more pictures. Should be an epic upcoming trip! 

[SawyerTed]

Sweet!  Congratulations!   It looks very nice.  Looking forward to some fish pics!  

[YellowHammer]

I'm glad to be rid of the other one, it culminated in me finding a gas leak in the bilges after a trip and me calling up the salesman, who I've known for 30 years, and saying "This  boats trying to kill me, I want another...,"

On a previous trip, the guy next boat slip over from us fell in, hit his head and was knocked out and me and his buddy hauled him out of the ocean like a dead fish.  

Also had lots of other issues, some related to poor build and some, like snapping a relatively new docking rope, were just starting to get creepy.  

and so far, this one doesn't seem to have the "symptoms" of a bad boat, but we will see. 

I've heard of bad Friday builds, and "Never get vehicle built on Monday", so the other one most have been a Friday and Monday boat.

Anyway, while I was at the dealer, the Poker Run was in town and I got to see some of the baddest of the bad powerboats in the country.  There was one there, it had four V12, 600 hp outboards.

Anyway, now come the several weeks of custom rigging and tuning the electronics for fishing and I hope everything is in shape for the trip.  I wanna catch me some sea monsters!





 

[Walnut Beast]

Looking forward to the pictures!!!

[customsawyer]

Great looking boat. I see one problem with it already. It looks like it is going to eat into your sawing, excavating, and mulching time. :D

[thecfarm]

Have fun!!

[Southside]

A three hour tour.. :D

[KWH]

A three hour tour.. :D

Is he the skipper or the millionaire Thirston Yellowhammer Howle the third?

[caveman]

I think the purpose of the sawmill time is to be able to have a custom-built offshore boat.  I enjoy running the mill, but offshore fishing is probably my most favorite thing to do.

YH, back when JMoore and I were in our late teens and 20's we used to do some work on our boats and eventually for others.  There were definitely some Friday boats built and evidently, some boat manufacturers only built boats on Friday based on the quality of their construction.  The "fly by wire" seems nice until it quits flying.  Are there any get home measures other than calling Sea Tow or Boat U.S. if the signal from the controls to the motors does not connect?  That's cool with the motors being controlled by the gps for "anchoring" purposes.  If I am ever in a position to fish often again, I think that I'll have to get an electric motor to do basically the same thing.

That is a beautiful boat.  I hope that it serves you well and it provides a platform for you to stand on while catching a lot of fish. I look forward to seeing a livewell full of bait and fishbox full of snapper and other tasty fish. 

[SawyerTed]

Boats DO have personalities.   Some are good and some can be wenches.

[YellowHammer]

Is he the skipper or the millionaire Thirston Yellowhammer Howle the third?

I think I'm more like Gilligan.   :D  

I agree Caveman, offshore fishing is quite an experience, and the closest thing I can describe it would be to have a buddy tie a fishing line to a truck and have them drive off.  

I am also worried about all the digital controls, but I'm pretty confident in Yamaha, and they do have a "limp home" mode if connectivity becomes an issue.  I do have SeaTow, and I've only had to use it once, the hydraulic steering on my old boat blew a fitting and I had to get towed to the slip.  

Our 18 year old Pursuit, an incredible boat, named the "Yellow Hammer" or course, that we traded was sold within days to a couple in Clearwater, Fl, and they would call and ask questions about some stuff and during the conversation they said it was the best boat they had ever owned and said the mechanic said even though it had 1,500 hours, the engines looked almost new.  I told them some of the stories of the boat, how many tons (not exaggerating) of fish caught, and how some of the sharp gashes were put into the rubrail.  The funny thing they recognized the cuts and knew what they were.  Basically when a really big fish starts pulling lots of smoking drag and the person holding the rod isn't strong enough, the rod will bow so much that the line will not clear the gunnel of the boat and cut a groove in the rub rail like a chainsaw.  Sometime you lose the fish sometimes not, but the fight will never be forgotten because it leaves a permanent gash in the rub rail of the boat, a badge of honor.  

Here is picture of my autopilot and joystick controls on our new boat, and for people interested in the technology, a couple pretty impressive overview videos from Yamaha.  

We have to come up with a boat name, these boats have to be registered with the coast guard and I'm looking for suggestions.  With the graphite carbon color, I'm considering calling it "Carbon Footprint" as a smart aleck because I get people asking if I run a "Green Sawmill" and if we are "Carbon Neutral." Of course the boring name of "Hobby Hardwood" can always be used.  Other names we've thought of are "Sawmill Sails" and "Cuttin' Wood."    




    

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[Walnut Beast]

Some real eye candy on the controls. Have to have a little Swagger for the name. Hammer time! 

[WV Sawmiller]

A three hour tour.. :D

Is he the skipper or the millionaire Thirston Yellowhammer Howle the third?

Obviously he's The Professor! ;) :D

[Peter Drouin]

Very nice, Looks like a lot of $$$$, 
But, Like some say, Can't take it with ya,  Best of luck YH 

[thecfarm]

How about, Not Cutting Wood.  ;)

[customsawyer]

You could call it "Go Dawgs".

[Jeff]

How about the Sea-Saw?

[YellowHammer]

Some sound pretty good except for one. I won't mention any names (Jake) but if I named it Go Dawgs I'd toss my cookies every time I said the name.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   I already knew you would not appreciate my name suggestion so I did not include it. :D

[SawyerTed]

My last boat was named "Business" as I'm at the coast on business.   Seemed to work with my last two bosses.   :D

New boat is named Diversion. 

[JD Guy]

I think your first inclination with "Carbon Footprint" is the best so far. Of course we're it my boat it would be Go Tigers (Clemson)  :D

[stanwelch]

 Very nice boat YH !!  Pursuit makes some great fishing boats. I fished the Great Lakes for 25 years on a 2870 then upgraded to a 3400 Express.  Looking forward to hearing about your fishing adventures on this very fine machine!!