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[cool]Hey tubaholics. I finally finished my first draft of a list of possible add-ons, enhancements and necessities for outfitting a flotation system. It is included on this post as an attachment...in Word format.
I'll be happy to elaborate on any of the items you might want to investigate further. Let's try to stay away from "Port-a-potty" type questions. Can't help you with that one.
![[Image: SCOU1712CustomImage1979258.gif]](http://web.ecomplanet.com/SCOU1712/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/SCOU1712CustomImage1979258.gif)
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That was a good article tube. Very informative. did you get paid to write it?[  ]
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Holy Bejebus Tube Dude,
You need to start writing and selling float tube books or at least an article in a paper for the amount and the quality for the stuff you write!!!![cool]
I went to alamitos today and caught 2 short WSB!!!! 2 Sandbass 2 Halibut, 5 YFC, 1 queenfish and 1 17in smelt[cool] I caught my first plastic fish from my tube today, an 18in halibut.
Aaron
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Hi TubeDude,
Thanks for the assistance recently. Read your attachment with gusto. Very, very nice except....... why didn't you mention the umbrella with the adjustable flex neck and C-clamp mount w/tweety and sylvester on the covering. How could you omit such an important thing! and... the emergency umbrella that you pop up and wear on your head like a hat! tisk tisk tisk
On the serious side I did manage to get my areator mounted on my utility rack to feed extra air into the side mounted live bait well on my Stealthrider. Getting the air tube from the areator through the 4ft of PVC to the bait well was a nightmare but worth the trouble.
Again thanks for the good read. Most excellent!
JapanRon
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[cool]Hey guys, thanks for the positive feedback. Here's a three-in-one reply.
FB2: The only pay I seek at this point is the enjoyment of the readers...and maybe knowing that I have helped save others a few of the forty plus years it has taken me to accumulate some of this stuff. How are you doing? Getting on the water much?
AARON: I am a published author, but a lot of what I am writing now will be content for the new web site I am putting together...to be a reference source for any who need it. I will be doing some commercial spinoffs and sequels. Hope they work as well as some of those lame TV programs. Sounds like you had a decent day on the bay. Now you need to find some legal flatties. You will, if you keep at it and practice your craft.
RON: Omitting the Sylvester and Tweetie umbrellas was not an oversight. I was holding that in abeyance until I completed research on the cabanas, patios and roll-down awnings. Wanted to to a complete "Sun Covers" section before I did anything on "bumbershoots". Glad to hear you got bubbles for your baities. It's good that you keep yourself occupied with challenging tasks, so that you don't squander all of your spare time fishing.
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well, i have been, but i have been land locked for a month or so, due to ny busted arm, I cant cast.
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[cool]I'm sorry. I forgot about the arm. I hope you mend quickly and you need to be more careful. Best wishes.
How much longer will you be out of action?
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Hey there fishboy2,
Couldn't you hold the rod with your knees or rodholder while flipping in your tube and crank with your good arm?
JapanRon
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not exactly... you see my good arm is the one that is busted[mad], an and i cant do jack with my other. i have tried it on willard and the problem is how would i set the hook[unsure]? i have thought and it would be hard. i am mending quickly though so not to long and i will be out again[laugh]. o and tube, careful? what does that mean.[cool]
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[cool]Oops, you're too young to have to learn words like that. Sorry for the profanity.
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it is okay, just dont use those profain words again okay.[ ]
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Hi TubeDude,
On the subject of extras, although I've never heard of a case of tube-jacking, with us it would be impossible anyway- they couldn't get close enough to me as my tube resemble a marine porcupine anyway, I've had occasion to carry around my tube minus rods, in the bed of my pickup and been forced to leave the vehicle unattended for a short time. Famous last words!!!!
In California this is asking for it unfortunately. I have some bungie and cargo tiedown cinches but these are not locks. I also thought of a heavy rubberized cargo net too but wonder what your suggestion might be?
I'm sure you've come across this delima. Plus, usually the stuff that is inside the pockets of the tube is worth way more than the value of the tube itself.
Need some input TubeDude from the man that's done it, gurarranteed!
JapanRon
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[cool]Well, JR, that's a simple enough assignment. All I gotta do is either come up with a fail-safe theft-proof system for keeping your fishing assets intact whenever you leave them vulnerable...or solve the world's crime problem. What's next? World peace? Perpetual motion machine? Cheap energy? Being able to figure out females? (Sorry ladies.)
While I have never left my treasures unprotected in the back of an open truck, I have not been spared the anger and sickness that comes from discovering somebody has ripped you off. As I was told by someone in the lock and alarm business one time, "If someone wants to get into your house badly enough, they will find a way to do it." That applies to vehicles too. Locks mean nothing to the determined thief. Leaving ANYTHING clearly visible (in a truck bed) is an open invitation to theft.
That being said, the reason that anti-theft devices are widely used are because they at least slow down the bad guys, and make their jobs harder. Locks, alarms, covers, steering wheel bars and other counter-theft devices hamper crime enough that the perpetrator usually looks for an easier target. These guys do not want to be seen or caught. They care nothing about the morality or ethics of ripping you off.
Leaving something out of your sight for only a few seconds is often long enough to provide a skilled thief the opportunity to grab your goodies. If they only have access to your pockets, that's what they will go through. They will take what they find, hoping they can find a ready buyer for it somewhere...often not even knowing what they have found.
It is seldom we lose our treasured fishing gear to true fishermen. Most fishermen I know are honest sportsmen, who would never think of robbing a fellow angler of such holy belongings. Those who steal everything they can, from anybody vulnerable, are likely drug addicts or career thieves. Strangely, the truly hungry and needy generally have too much pride to steal.
So, after all that dissertation, what is my solution? If you have to leave valuables anywhere...inside a vehicle or outside in a truck bed, cover them from view. Our fishing gear is "an attractive nuisance" to the theft minded. If we have quality gear, it is evident that there is some value...which may be quickly turned over at pawnshops or yard sales.
If it is covered, some of that attractiveness is averted. I use old towels or blankets to cover tackle and trinkets in the back of my SUV, if I have to leave it for any reason. In a pickup, covering with a tarp, before ROPING AND TIEING, will shield your tricked out craft from casual inspection by opportunistic thieves. It won't stop the hard-core ripoff artists from taking a knife to your cover and ropes...and maybe your tube...but it will keep your gear from shouting "TAKE ME".
I used to think asking an innocent looking bystander to watch your stuff for a minute was a solution. That's before I came out from a two minute chat with a customer, in the back of his restaurant, to see the "guard" running around the corner with an armload of stuff he had grabbed out of my car after smashing the window...knowing he had only a couple of minutes...as I had told him.
Even if you have everything stowed either inside, or protectively covered and secured in an open truck bed, there are things you can do to further lessen the chance of "tackle-jacking". Since thieves hate to be seen in the act, try to park where your vehicle is easily visible by a lot of people...yourself included if at all possible. DO make sure all the windows are rolled up and the doors locked.
Amateurs go around checking these things, just for opportunities. Pros often have "slim jims" to open doors, and hammers for opening windows. Alarms mean nothing to car thieves and ripoff artists. They are merely a temporary annoyance during the theft process. Nobody pays attention to them anymore...even the car owner.
I am not a bleeding heart liberal do-gooder nice guy when it comes to having someone rip me off. I am big, mean, combat trained and weapons proficient. If I catch someone trying to steal from me (as I have on more than one occasion), I give them an instant harsh "lecture" on the evils of crime. Some of them even survived.
In short (from me? RIGHT), there is no easy remedy, but there are some common sense things we can do to reduce our chances of loss. If, in spite of all our best defenses, we do lose some "irreplaceable" gear, we need to deal with it and move on. Losing a prized rod and reel is not unlike losing a loved member of your family. From personal experience, I know there is a grieving and anger process involved that is like mourning a loved one's passing.
Hey, JR, I have probably not covered anything you do not already know, but putting these things on the board may just serve as a reminder to others that our world is not the lovely place we would like to think it is. We should always do what we can to "KEEP THE INNOCENT PEOPLE INNOCENT"...by securing and watching anything that could be subject to theft. By sending the easily deterred crooks somewhere else, we may not keep them from stealing, but we keep them from stealing from us.
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Hey there TubeDude,
Appreciate your extensive reply. As you say, it never hurts to be reminded that a little preventitive effort on our part will keep the problems to a minimum.
I've resisted getting a camper shell for my pickup and don't like the deck lid option because their pricing would tend to put a serious hurt on Mr. Wallet, which of course translates into 'money for fishing' if you don't have to eat. I just may have to get one for my trip up north.
The only other option I could see for others is to use one of those humpy looking fiberglass thingys that people pair up with a roof rack. Some of them have a shape that look like they would hold a tube perfectly. They look like they might secure a tube that is not quite fully inflated, which you wouldn't want anyway. Like Kabooooooooom! ha ha Besides, there is no roof rack for a 2001 S-10 extended cab pu that is acceptable to me.
JapanRon
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[cool]I always say 'KEEP YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT". To a fisherman this means that fishing comes first. Heck, you can eat anytime...but you can't always be fishing. And, if you learn to enjoy recycled cardboard, you can save a bunch on the food budget...which allows you to pick up all the new fishing toys.
I got to thinking, after responding to your previous post...and thinking about our interchange on inventions. SOMEBODY oughtta invent a securely attached, theft-proof, low-profile insert for a pickup bed that can hold a decent sized craft...inflated and tricked out...ready to go. I think I'm gonna go to Agent Orange (Home Depot) and buy up some more PVC pipe and start experimenting. If only I could find a decent recipe for PVC scrap pieces I could save even more on my food budget.
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Hi TubeDude,
Humbly awaiting the Di Vinci of PVC's latest creation. Two things I noted was that most short PU bed's were between 74~76 inches long and 58~61 inches wide AND...... the tie down system for the beds were every configuration you could imagine. Inside, outside, recessed, on top!
JapanRon
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[cool]Hey JR, just so you do not wait with bait on your breath, I was kidding. At least I think I was. But, on second thought, a custom designed net of sturdy PVC, securly anchored and locked, would be both a protection against gear flying out of an uncovered pickup bed, and a deterrent to all but the most dedicated ripoff artist.
At any rate, working on the design and prototype is not anywhere near the top of my short term list of things to do. BUT...it might just ferment a while in the back of my imagination, for release at a later date.
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