boat

Almost Ready to Splash the Karen Lynn!

April 4, 2009

We are wrapping up our Winter Projects and Maintenance of the Karen Lynn. We will be splashing the boat and bringing it to Gloucester from Perkins Marina in Essex in a week.

We made a lot of progress this week and we Collin and I saw some crucial pieces of the winter projects come together really well.

First with the help of Paul “Woggy” Champagne, who is a great Glass and Gel Repair, fisherman and boat builder from Maine, we complete the Tuna door which came out really well. We ended up with a good and steep ramp that will help with the Karen Lynn’s deck being higher off the water than most boats.

Shot of Closed Door from Outside
Collin through the Open Door.
Additionally, we got the new Livewell/ Ice Storage Box finished and hoisted up on deck thanks to Ed Perkins and his crane, then fastened down and I am finishing up the plumbing and electrical to it this weekend. Also we sanded and re-coated our deck with non-skid. This time, instead of using Awl-grip which is not only very expensive but we found to be slippery without a very aggressive non-skid added, we used PPG’s Epoxy “Ameron”. Time will tell but it looks to be very rugged stuff and was easy to put on. We have a few more things to finish then bottom paint, a lot of cleaning, and then is time to Jig Cod and Haddock! Jim Ansara
Karen Lynn Charters

Update on Winter Projects on Karen Lynn

March 30, 2009

Collin and I have been hard at work getting the Karen Lynn ready to go back in the water the week of April 13th. We have made a lot of progress the last few weeks. The new Furuno FCV-1150 sounder and two transducers are installed and the picture and controls are unbelievable. We made a custom swivel mount and it will rotate so we can see the screen from the helm, out back on the deck, or from the hauler. Check out the mounting and the screen shot below. Also we have made a lot of progress on the Karen Lynn’s new tuna door. Because the deck is quite high off the water compared to most downeast boats, we were concerned about being able to make a door that worked.Fortunately we were able to make a good ramp and set the door down 8″ below the deck. We are also rigging a snatch block on the winter back so we can use our existing hydraulic winch to pull really big tuna in through the door. In the picture below Collin is coating the fittings on our fuel tanks with rust inhibitor and the tuna door and ramp are behind him.

Last, but the improvement we are most excited about is our super insulated 200 gallon live well and 600# ice chest combo is ready to install. We will be hoisting onto the deck this week and bolting it in place so I can hook up the aerator, 1 1/2″ sea water supply pump, and the 2″ drain. We are really looking forward to having not only an awesome live bait well, but a great rigging station as well. Below are two pictures on the combo unit. The first is the hinged lid of the bait well and the second shows the gasketed ice box.

Our first groundfish trip is schedule for April 18th with another the next day. We still have plenty of open spring dates and we suggest getting out in early spring while the groundfishing is still really good. Only a few more weeks and the 2009 season will be going!

Jim Ansara
Karen Lynn Charters

Winter Projects on the Karen Lynn

March 8, 2009

It’s been a long winter especially for those of us who are passionate about fishing. Collin and I have been busy this winter not only doing maintenance on the boat, gear, and tackle but a number of upgrades and improvements we are very excited about. We are hoping to be done by the end of march and have the Karen Lynn back in the water at Cape Ann Marina in Gloucester for Spring ground fish charters. Here are some highlights of our winter projects on the Karen Lynn.

New Live Bait Well/Brine Tank/Ice Box Combo:
Gone are the blue and green plastic bonar insulated boxes from our deck that in the words of one of our clients, “gives the KL that Xmas tree look”. We are replacing the two boxes with a custom 200 Gallon Baitwell and a super insulated Ice Box that will hold 600 pounds of ice for 7-10 days that we built this winter. Additional it will double as an insulated brine tank for Blue Fin. We think the 200 gallon Live Well will give us a crucial edge next year for Blue Fin Tuna as the class of fish at the bank in 2008 should be much bigger and as BFT get close to giant size, get harder to troll up with plastic. We also think that brining our catch is a seawater/kosher slat/ice mix really preserves the fish and is critical if you want sashimi grade bluefin.

OLD LIVEWELL AND ICE BOX

NEW COMBO UNIT ALMOST FINISHED
(200 gal livewell on left)

New Furuno Advanced Technology Sounder
We decided after a lot of back and forth to pony up to the bar and put the broad new Furuno FCV-1150 Broadband Digital Sounder into the Karen Lynn. This unit is incredible and represents a significant leap forward in technology for sounders. Thanks to Jon at Voyager Marine Electronics, we got hooked up with the Tech Guys at Airmar and we have two new transducers going into the Karen Lynn that will really compliment the 1150 sounder, but we are not allowed to disclose information about them at this time. All I can say is if we can’t find the fish with this rig, we should change jobs quickly!

FURUNO FCV-1150 SOUNDER
“LOOK BACK” GAIN ADJUSTMENT~ AWESOME FEATURE!

Other Upgrades on the Karen Lynn
Some of the other things we are doing this winter include:
-New Tuna Door in Transom
-Monitor for Holding Tank and Fresh Water
-New Bait Aeration system designed for 200 Gallon Tank
-Lots of Misc Electrical Upgrades
-New Covers on Bunks
-Deck Camera and DVR to Video hookup’s!
-An Emergency Tiller to Steer the boat in case we blow a hydraulic hose
-Electric Heat in Wheelhouse and Cabin for those late November Nights Off Chatham

We will post an update with more pictures next week.

Jim and Collin
Karen Lynn Charters