Offishial Business Outdoors

East Cape - Tournament ready [/url]

East Cape fishing on the Sea of Cortez continues to be outstanding.  Yesterday 44 teams competed in the first annual VanWormer wahoo tournament.  25 wahoo were landed and it took 55 lbs to take first prize and win a new car.

So far the results in all the tournaments that have been held this year have been excellent and some have come to nail biter finishes.  Hard to imagine but after 12 lb dorado taking the Dorado Shoot Out 2 years in a row a 57 pound dorado was only good enough for 2nd place this year.  Also, a 430 lb blue marlin wasn't good enough in the East Cape Bisbee.  It is not just the tournaments with good fishing, day after day most of the fleet is returning with all the laundry out.

Something anglers don't normally see is the attention we pay to the way our boats are mechanically performing everyday.  There is a daily ritual we go through from start up until end of day inspection of the engine room after shut down. 

Late July Jen Wren III's starboard motor started asking for attention.  The first thing Captain Polo noticed was the exhaust had a little more humidity (steam) than normal.  Although the temperature gauge showed the normal 180 degrees while cruising the steam is an indication of overheating.

I'm going to make a long story short.  The problems found were like the perfect storm.  We found the exhaust/raw water mixing elbow had some pin holes allowing raw water to mix with exhaust prematurely.  The steam in the exhaust system took out the turbo gasket where it mounts to the manifold.  The bad gasket allowed exhaust gas to mix with the fresh water system and turn the coolant black.  That in turn affected the thermostat and also took out the fresh water cooling pump.  In addition we discovered growth on the inside of the raw water speed scoop intake that was restricting flow.  I felt like Sherlock Holmes finding all the gremlins but she is happy and healthy again.  Vigilance was a key factor in finding all these little problems before a catastrophic failure.

Just another day in the life of a charter operator.  Sometimes it is not easy making it look easy.



































Mark Rayor
teamjenwren.com
markrayor.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/JenWrenSportfishing

US cell 310 308 5841

glad you guys noticed the issue before it got to bad. Maintenance is a key to lots and success.

funny i like the shot of miller time, i just posted something about beer, No matter the schedule you should always have time to have one with a friend, Cheers Mate.

great photos too!