My New "New" Boat

[K-Guy]

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

If you have met him, you know his name is Gilligan!! :D smiley_jester

[KWH]

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

If you have met him, you know his name is Gilligan!! :D smiley_jester

I hope someday of having that great honor. I have only been on the forum for a little over a year and I enjoy it. I have heard of some references to a voodoo chicken dance. My bee he could name it the Voodoo Chicken. Yellow Hammer that is one nice boat.

[customsawyer]

Be careful what you wish for.

[YellowHammer]

Some of these guys have met me in person and they are still suffering aftershocks from the experience.   :D

[Walnut Beast]

Have you settled on a new name for her yet or still open for suggestions 

[YellowHammer]

No name yet, still thinking on it.  

[K-Guy]

Make people nervous as to how you got it. Call it " Ill gotten gains" 11

[beenthere]

Better "Hard work in action"

Or
"Thou shalt not covet"

The jealous be danged.

[YellowHammer]

I like those Beenthere, we have put LOTS of sawdust time into this boat.  I could call it "Blood, Sweat and Tears" or "Late Nights".  

It's hard to just prematurely come up with a name for a boat that cost the equivalent of a few LT-70's, because at some point, every boat I've ever owned has named itself, sometimes after good characteristics, sometimes bad ones.  The name is important, because among other things, the Coast Guard requires boats of this class to have names, and it is used quite often, such as when hailing other craft on the VHF, talking to the Guard, on the paperwork, etc.  The name needs to be "right."   Our boats have come to be named "The Guppy", "John Boat," and "The Sponge."  Other memorable names have been "Just Short" because we fished out of that boat for years and could almost never catch a snapper that was over the legal limit, although we caught lots of them.  Typically, it would go like "Hey, is it a keeper??" then someone would say "Nope, it's Just Short."  One of our boats, made by Cobia was heavy and stocky and had a real big engine, but had so much flex in the hull that the helm station bolts would come loose and I had to tighten them up most every trip.  Since it was a strong, stocky boat that liked to flex, it became known as "The Schwarz" or short for "Schwarzenegger."  Our old Pursuit boat, in Fighting Yellow, quickly became known as the "Hammer" or "Yellow Hammer" because the same way the "Just Short" would always come up just short with fish, the "Hammer" would crush them.  It was a very lucky, very fishy boat, and from what the new owners tell me, in Clearwater Fl, it is "hammering" the fish there already, and they have already said "It is the best boat they have ever owned."  Good for them, bad for me.....because I replaced it with the "Blue Bomb, named because we found the fuel line had been leaking raw gasoline into the bilges. It was also developing the name "Lefty" (because it always leaned left) or "Stormy" (For the first time in several decades, and in the very first offshore trip in the "Bomb", I got caught in a bad offshore lightning storm, not good).  So we were fed up and sold it, and Pursuit did a custom build sheet for us on this "New" new boat as a replacement.  

The new boat is already starting to show its personality, it's been as easy and fun to rig as the "Blue Bomb" was a total pain.  When we were buying, we looked at most every boat out there, from Everglades to Whalers, to Regulators to Yellowfins, etc and I kept telling the dealers, I want basically a new version or updated copy of the "Yellow Hammer", but not so big as to require a wide load permit to tow it, (technically it does, but only by a few inches) but with high quality hardware and high end electronics, but not with the 1500 hours.  So we raised a stink with Pursuit about the "Bomb" and to their credit, their corporate upper management team helped us out, and asked us for a cusom build sheet for our new, "new" boat.  The hull is the unusual color shifting "carbon" and we have already had several comments or questions of people looking right at it and asking "What color is that, I can't tell if it's brown, black, blue, or gray."  So we tell them the name of the color, color shifting "Carbon."  Then people get onboard and say "Wow, it's like the old Hammer, just bigger and newer" and to that we say "Yes, basically it's the newest version, it's like a big new Copy."  From that, the boat is already beginning to be known as the "Carbon Copy." :D :D  If it's half as good a copy as the Hammer, it will be a great boat.  

Our first major offshore trip is late October, for a week, and it's coming up fast.  I still have a couple weeks of rigging and fine tuning to do, but it'll be ready.

[TroyC]

When I troll for mahi or king fish, I use the old fashioned  ballyhoo wire rig with a front hook and a rear stinger. My boat name is
 "Double Hooker" 

[SawyerTed]

Just name it "Hot"...

[YellowHammer]

Double Hooker, that is a great name, boats name themselves.

I did see a bright red 2870 Pursuit, same model as @stanwelch at Destin one time, it was a real sleek, well proportioned eye catcher and was full to the gunnels with a handful of bikini clad babes.  When it got closer, I saw the name.  "Red Hot."  Yes, it was...  

I think another reason saltwater boats develop personalities and names to suit is they are sometimes involved in some rough weather and seas that are potentially life threatening.  Much more so than a car or even most freshwater boats. So saltwater boats become "friends" and as such, develop names.  

I always like to see the look on a Newbie face when we lose sight of land.  It's amazing.  Loosing sight of land is something many people have never done, and no matter how big the boat, it's a big, mean ocean, and when that realization kicks in, they show it every time.  So to lighten the mood, I'll stop somewhere and tell people that in the Gulf of Mexico, the only direction they will ever need to know is North, because if something happens to me and they have to drive home, that's the only direction they are guaranteed to hit land the quickest. "Just go due North" is what I tell them.  Then I cover the compass and ask them all to point North.  It's hilarious.  One time we had 4 people on the boat and all four were pointing different directions and nobody could convince the others who was right or wrong.  I knew a guy who ran a scuba dive club and named his boat "180" because of the importance of due North and South in the Gulf.  

I appreciate all the captains and land lubbers participating in this thread, I know it's way off the usual path.  

[customsawyer]

I like Carbon Copy but that almost sounds to easy. How about Carbon Hammer

[Tom K]

I gotta agree with Jake here, Carbon Hammer seems pretty fitting. When you described the Yellow Hammer & how the "new" replacement came about that's the first thing that came to my mind.

[TroyC]

Yeah, losing sight of land spooks many, but when you tell them it is 200 or 300 or 500 feet deep they really get white knuckles. Then I say "what does it matter if it is 7 feet or 700 feet, it's still over your head.

[SawyerTed]

Off the NC Coast generally going West to get to land will work.  It's just in some cases. West will take you to South Carolina.

"Hot" like in Hot Pursuit!  :D  Not stolen!

[Southside]

Am I going to see you one one of those videos taken at Haulover Inlet? 

[WV Sawmiller]

   You could name her "$$ Dollar Signs $$"

   Or "Martha's Forgiveness"

   Or "Wait till Mama Sees this"

   Or "Back in debt"

   Or "Its gonna take a lot of fish to pay this one off" (Probably too long :)

   Or "What was I thinking"

    Or "Mama's gonna be mad"

[YellowHammer]

Pretty much all of those boat names apply. :D :D :D

I watch BVH (Boats vs Haulover) a good bit and lean a lot from it.  I never want to be on there, but I've had some times that would have easily qualified, and seen a lot worse.  On the other hand I get to see some spectacular scenery and nature shots, like this.  I remember saying, "How about we shoot the gap, go right down the center?  What could possibly go wrong??"  



  

Here's the Hammer at it best, my SIL who had never snapper fished before coming home with the cooler overflowing.  





And Martha with a big one, on another trip.





And one I'll never forget this one, a couple years ago.  I watched it happen, and all I can say, you should have seen the one that got away. :D

[thecfarm]

Yikes!!!

[Southside]

To quote Chief Broady "Your gonna need a bigger boat"  :D

[gspren]

Pursuit certainly has a good reputation where I boat, near Ocean City, MD. I did the oposite this year and downsized fron a 24' Key West to an 18' Parker. I wasn't going offshore anymore and wanted to concentrate on the back bays. good luck with her.

[YellowHammer]

Parker has some nice boats, we looked at them pretty hard because of the pilot house option and their extreme seaworthiness.  

Unfortunately porpoise and sharks are real issues these days in the gulf, both are opportunistic and are especially problematic on isolated spots where there are no charter boats to keep them fed on released undersized fish.  Sharks are easy to move away from, just crank up and move to another spot, Flippers, on the other hand, will not hesitate to follow fairly long distances.  They are cute for awhile, but can get very frustrating, especially when they stick their heads out of the water to watch and supervise the action. As soon as a fish is hooked, they will let the angler fight it, let it get close to the boat and they dive to it and wham! They eat it.  Then the next Flipper waiting in line get a snack on the next fish, then the next one and so on until somebody gives up and leaves.

[Southside]

At least they taste like chicken, or so I have been told.  :D

[stanwelch]

Fishing the Great Lakes (no salt - no sharks) one can "play" a fish as long as you want. On a small boat charter in Pugent Sound, when a fish was hooked the captain would shout "crank it". When I asked why he said "seals". He then chucked an M80 to keep them at bay.    

Another boat name I've seen— In Pursuit