Thread: Where did?

Good thing to have reliable electronics for navigation. I will never forget a few years back working on a bridge over the Quachita river in Monroe, LA we were working nights core drilling holes for new guardrails. All of a sudden about 2am the sky lit up. There was a barge coming under the bridge and turned his lights on (guessing for safety). They got about 100 yards past the bridge and shut the lights back off and continued on their way in total pitch black darkness. I was amazed by this, I just assumed before then at night they ran with the lights on all the time. Nope, they rely on the GPS and map charts for navigation.

Indeed, that is true. We have some powerful search lights, I can light up a bank ten miles away. But they destroy your night vision for a time being and can blind other vessels in the area(or even cars driving on the bank). So we use them only in tight quarters. We rely most heavily on radars for navigation and guidance and chart plotters and gps units for reference to help understand the radar picture. Swing meters, header lines, predictor lines also help. When dealing with large vessels, a lot of what you think you see out the window is an optical illusion, especially in low light or limited visibility conditions. Surprisingly, we operate the same way in the daytime too.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That's awesome info, and yes this barge (no where the size of your vessel) had some bulbs on it.. Lol. You guys ever run aground or get into some hairy situations by fault of radar, gps, etc?

Well, we always blame them when we do. Gps and chart plotters will always put you some where you're didn't intend on being if you use them solely to navigate plus the accuracy is debatable based on how many and which satellites they are picking up. They just don't update quick enough and sandbars like to move around. Radars have their faults too, blind spots, ghost contacts, I've seen mayflies swarm so bad that they blot out a radar screen. It's the ability to look at all the information available and make your decision that triumphs. Good old fashion river knowledge and the ability to read a river is the best tactic. PS fiberglass bass boats are like stealth fighters, they show up about as big as a fat mallard.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We do have a few toys at our disposal.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Looks like y'all have about as many electronics as BRM will have on his new ranger demo boat

That fog can get thick on the river. Was duck hunting on the river in a 14' flat bottom near Rosedale back when I was in my 20s, when a fog rolled and I couldn't see 300'. I was a little uneasy back when I wasn't afraid of anything. I was scared one of you guys in a big boat was going to run over me.

Originally Posted by deltarat

That fog can get thick on the river. Was duck hunting on the river in a 14' flat bottom near Rosedale back when I was in my 20s, when a fog rolled and I couldn't see 300'. I was a little uneasy back when I wasn't afraid of anything. I was scared one of you guys in a big boat was going to run over me.

Oh man, I can imagine the uneasiness. I sit up hear in the fog worried, God forbid, that I might do something like that. We do take every precaution to make sure that doesn't happen though. Believe it or not, that 14' flat boat has a much larger radar signature than a 20+' bass boat.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk