Our ICOM handheld VHF lives mostly on the deck of our cabin, which is situated on an island on the north coast of BC just west of the middle of nowhere. We are about 100 nautical miles south of the Alaska border, and 65 NM from the nearest road to anywhere. Cell coverage out here will likely never happen. But even if you’re not this far out, there are still many places your boat can take you where you find yourself out of cell coverage. So often it’s back to the good old VHF

Collision avoidance at sea has to be the number one, top priority for any mariner. And while radar is still the best known and most comprehensive aid to visibility and collision avoidance on the water, AIS comes in a strong second and in some cases, might even be considered more useful than radar. What is AIS? AIS stands for “Automatic Identification System,” which is global tracking system for vessels which actively transmit a signal from AIS  transponder. This signal not on

A nice big bait ball on the screen with my downrigger ball going right through it! Out of Your Depth? Readings not accurate? Cant find the bottom? Changing your transducer might help. Over the past 30 plus years, I’ve had all those sounder issues and more, with many brands and types of transducers. Now, like many others, I run the Airmar P66,  50/200 kHz, 600 W Transducer on both my boats. Here’s why. Introduction Operations and Use Transducer Specs Bottom Line Product link I

After over three decades of driving boats and fish guiding all over the BC coast, I never thought I needed an autopilot system - until I actually got one. But now, I often refer to my Lowrance autopilot system as hands down, the best single boating/fishing purchase I have ever made.  And as the proud owner of a mini-fleet of two boats, I’ve made lots of those kinds of purchases. This autopilot system is literally like having an extra person onboard who can actually drive a bo

Having an Autoterm (formerly Planar) heater installed on my boat was one of the best boating purchases I’ve ever made.  Originally, getting a little heat going in the cabin during the winter season was the main impetus for this addition, but interestingly, in practice that has almost become a secondary benefit of this unit. This boat is based in Vancouver BC, Canada and charters year-round mainly in local waters. We are lucky in southern BC to have relatively mild winters, an

I bought my Garmin inReach Mini about 4 years ago, specifically for emergency use and communications when traveling in the remote, offline and off-grid world of the north coast of BC, Canada. My experience with this device therefore is in a primarily marine environment, and although the region is heavily forested, I have not personally used the inReach for land-based activities such as hiking or navigating in wilderness environments. The main features of the inReach which ma