Woot ! Ace Line Hauler and *.* watch out dungies !

B

boscoj

New member
Nice piece of kit, damaged in shipping but nothing a little leverage couldn't resolve . . .

ace_hauler.jpg


1 line hauler, 4 Danielson square pots and 4 Kufa pot kits.

Giving my pot floats a Christmas camo . . .

floats.jpg


Special thanks to all the brats that helped in my quest for *instant knowledge* and thanks to Trey and John Martinis from John's Sporting Goods in Everett, WA for such an efficient transaction.

http://shop.johnssportinggoods.com/cartgenie/prodList.asp?scat=74

watchout dungies . . . I'm comin to getcha . . . :P
 
what color do your buoys have to be in ca? we have to be red and white here. You can have other colors on your second float but at least one have to be red and white.
How many floats per pot are you planning to use? I like at least two if there is any current at all.

Johns sporting goods is a good shop. I stop in and talk to john all the time. Its a little shop but since he started the internet site he is busy as hell.
 
I'm not sure Cali has to be any color <racist>. I got the Kufa pot kits from John and didn't want the bobbers to be white so i painted the tops green, <paint I had> and it should not be too visible for poachers.

I was looking on the web and saw the 2 float but I'm only sport and will be only going out when it's fine . . .

I thought the green spray paint that I found under my old cylinder heads would be better than bright white.

whatever . . . just hoping to hit some *shallow* crabs off the beach that coastal anglers can't get and commies and trawlers can't get . . .

4 hour soak, few beers and a few buddies . . .

never done this without help and a commie boat/setup
 
Part of the rationale for the floats is to mark your lines so that you AND others traveling in the area CAN see them and don't foul the props. Painting them a darker color so that poachers can't see them so well defeats this purpose. My standard rule of thumb is that 19/20 people are good/decent and 1/20 is not. So while you're worrying about that 1/20, you're making life more difficult for the other 19.
 
well I've never done my own sport pots before so this is a learning experience for me . . . I don't expect much because I've also never dropped pots in this area . . .

I understand this is a high traffic area but the traffic is comprised primarily of commercial transit and sport production efforts.

I feel I've struck a happy medium with the float decor, also the pot placement will be far off the SF Bay Area Fishing Gear Conflict Resolution Agreement Areas . . . "trawler lanes".

I don't plan to soak overnight so this should be fine. If not I will be nearby to assist in any way I can . . .

thanks for the feedback and all the bestest to Ms. Byrd
 
John's Sporting Goods is an outstanding outfit. They are knowledgable, helpful, and willing to correct any mistakes on the orders. I have 4 of their Danielson kits but with 200' of leaded line. If you crab outside the gate or along the penninsula, I recommend weighing down the pots with at least 10lbs so they dont walk. Dont forget to weigh down the doors as well.

Bob Franko has an excellent explanation/tutorial here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgFMuDEDJjI
 
the 30 minute edit time makes editing and replying difficult for me.

I'm working a number of forums at this time of day and I'm also a moderator on 3 of them . . .

I would request that this forum edit time be upped.

I tried to add pictures of my crab pot weights to my original post but due to the time restriction that was not possible.

so here it is in another post

I used brake rotors to weigh down my cheapo Danielson crab pots . . .

brake_rotors.jpg
 
Another good method for weighing down your crab pots is to use dumb bell weights. Often times you can find them for a very cheap price at garage sales. They lash easily to the pot and are fairly flat so you can pretty much fold the pots when they are not in use.
 
Albie Back":1olrhldl said:
John's Sporting Goods is an outstanding outfit. They are knowledgable, helpful, and willing to correct any mistakes on the orders. I have 4 of their Danielson kits but with 200' of leaded line. If you crab outside the gate or along the penninsula, I recommend weighing down the pots with at least 10lbs so they dont walk. Dont forget to weigh down the doors as well.

Bob Franko has an excellent explanation/tutorial here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgFMuDEDJjI
Click to expand...



Thanks Albie . . . that is money
 
They make a carrying case for the Brutus 40. I think it is ~$60, sometimes the dealer around here will throw one in. Anyway well worth the money. I will take a picture of mine when I can get out to the shed.
 
I used to pull my crab pots by hand. No biggie as it's only 100' of line. Then I bought a Brutus to pull shrimp pots; 400' of line & a 30# pot. Now I use the puller for both. :lol: :wink:
 
Got the pot puller installed today, a few more adjustments to make, found evidence of more damage likely sustained during shipping . . .

there was a bent tab during shipping I guess, that required a screwdriver and bit of leverage to get it to fit. No biggie . . .

When I got to run it today I saw that the stainless steel main drive pulley was also bent, about 3/8ths of an inch runout, no biggie I guess but not right.

V V video V V

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv4gW3ot5X8


the 12v Marinco receptacle mounted in the engine/steering controls access panel . . .

2011-12-03_11-24-23_760.jpg


pretty slick setup, of course the $20 optional wiring kit was about a foot too short to install how I wanted to . . .

2011-12-03_14-24-07_610.jpg


Thanks for the help all.

And thanks for the comments regarding my conduct.

I will tone it down and be more cordial/sensitive.

Sorry if I have offended anyone and please feel free to edit/delete any of my posts.

Jeff
 
by the time we had rigged and dropped our 3rd and last pot we had 4 in the first pot, about 40 minutes . . .

only one was a keeper and he was a good half inch larger than keeper

crab_1.JPG


I used a Danielson pot kit from John's Sporting Goods, $40 each.
The scrap brake rotor weights worked well after we zip tied them to the center of the trap and were free from the local gas station.
Even with the bent main pulley the Ace Line Hauler was a dream . . .

crab_2.JPG



the keeper in comparison

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left them to soak overnight, hopefully don't get poached . . .

thanks again everyone . . .
 
that's wierd? double post?

sorry about the image size, I will see if I can resize them. there we go :)

It was too rough to pickup pots yesterday but today was much calmer.

crab_06_7.jpg


Our first pot had about 12 crab, all keepers but we tossed about half of them back due to size. About 4 fatties in there though, all super clean.

crab_06_1.jpg


My buddy Chris couldn't make it because he had an early meeting in the city but the guy canceled so he showed up in his dress shoes and slacks !

crab_06_2.jpg


The Knoty Lady all kitted out for NorCal crab . . .

crab_06_10.jpg


Thanks again for the help and suggestions.
I will be fashioning a tether for the line hauler and researching people tethers as well . . . My buddy Chris very nearly went swimming in our 55 degree Pacific ocean . . .
 
I like the disc rotors as weights. I might give that a try myself. Also I noticed you put a rope around the board that supports the rail mount. For mine, I bought some rubber coated U-bolts from McMaster Carr and I use stainless wing nuts to secure them.

As for people tethers there's a lot of options. I've never used them but I do highly recommend that you get some good self inflating PFD's and wear them at all times. If you want a tether, there are PFD's with an integrated harness to which the tether is attached. The other things I would recommend are:
1) that you have your dive ladder readily available at all times and that passengers are made aware of where it is at and how to deploy it. I see a lot of boaters who store this critical safety device in a difficult to access location. If someone does go overboard, they generally can't get back aboard without the ladder so everyone aboard needs to know where it is and how to deploy it and it should be readily accessible. If you're the one in the 50F water, you don't want to have to take the time explain to the passengers how to find, retrieve and deploy that ladder
2) You should also have a heaving line available. One like this is good. With the Tomcat dive ladder, you have to load a MOB between the engines. You don't want to back down onto a MOB, you want to put them on the side of the boat, cut the engines, toss them a line and work them to the stern. A heaving line is a necessary safety item in this scenario. A Life Sling is another option that serves a similar purpose but I'm not sure how well those work if one is already wearing an inflated PFD.
 
wow thanks roger . . . I had no idea there was such thing as a heaving line. A very good idea.

And the dive ladder is also a great idea . . .

Thanks very much . . .
 
Steve, had a great bit of advice when he suggested tying the Ace pot puller off to a cleat,
to which I can personally attest. I went to pull my shrimp traps one bumpy and windy day, put
the puller in it's mounting block well in advance of reaching the traps, because of the
bumpy water. Had 5 folding shrimp traps on the line, all weighted, plus a 10# anchor, at
450' with 600' of line out. After I had mounted the puller I had about 1/2mile to run to
reach the pot buoy. As I slid the boat up alongside the buoy, I throttled back to idle and
heard a loud bang, looked back and the puller was gone. I feel sure that I had the locking
pin in properly, or no way could I have run the 1/2mile in rough water doing a balancing
act. Crap! I figured I didn't have any choice except to pull the traps by fist, with zero
assist, human or mechanical. Not exactly a labor of love under the conditions.

This wasn't "all" bad. After busting my butt for a seemingly interminable period of time
I got the first trap up to the boat.........lo and behold, sitting on top of the first trap and
tangled in the line was my Ace puller. The puller must have caught the line somehow on
the way to Davy's locker and rode the line down to the trap where it decided to take up
residence. No idea what the odds are of that happening but it gotta' be long. That was
4 years ago, when I was only 75, but it sure cured me not want to repeat that exercise.

Moral is to put a leash on that puller ..........stuff happens!
 
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