bertram31.com

For me, my favorite is we were able to get most of our old pre-Sandy dock friends together for a dock and dine on our boat.

12 people in all on an 8 mile ride over to Jersey. Tender came out to pick us up at a mooring, met up with another group of my new boating friends at the restaurant. Had a great meal then headed home. As it was getting dark we made it a slow ride home. First the boat was full of chatter, getting drinks, getting comfy...then it got so quite with everyone just sitting and gazing at a perfect sunset on the water.

After we docked the old stories got passed around into the wee hours of the morning.
Boats - friends, dock stories, fishing stories, boating stories...so many laughs it hurt at times.

How many of you know that Bunker are quite aerodynamic? We used to shoot water balloons from dock to our friends coming back on Kayaks. Then when we ran short on balloons...but not too short on alcohol...we resorted to shooting live bunker. They would tumble once or twice in the air then straighten out and just fly. They went much further then the balloons.

Ever see someone bobbing for bunker...something to see at night in a well lit lexan baitwell.

My father and I thrashed on the new 31 pretty hard to get it back in the water and running. It was nice to take the long ride to Delaware in the new boat after a month of hard work. It has been one hell of a project for him but I think he is enjoying it. I am looking forward to fishing on it this year. I also had a great bigeye tuna season back home catching 12 fish in two trips. At one point we had 9 on at one time. Craziest bite I have ever seen. Looking forward to 2019.

Regards,
Chris

carl
you want to laugh
throw a ash can in the middle of a school of bunker and watch what happens

Fire up those two beautiful C-7 Catapillar engines this week. dialed them in at 500hp each. tested on the bench with the Catapillar computers from 725 rpm to 3000rpm. cannot wait to install in the 38' Bertram.Most important was father and son getting together with a 50 pound bass i drove the boat and he did all the skills.

Well my boys would certainly say seeing the new 61 Bertram out in Greenport was the highlight of their year.

Every other weekend we had plans to head over to Sailors Haven Fire Island with my sister, brother in Law and 2 kids. We meet up with my other sister, brother in law, my parents and my sisters 3 kids. That's all 15 of my immediate family, we get there for breakfast before 9AM, bring bagels, BBQ lunch and dinner and watch the sunset before heading home. Spend most of the time at the beach, walking the trails of Sunken Forest or kayaking in the bay. One trip has cancelled when I blew a fuel line. I believe we got in 3 trips this summer and included some family friends that were in town. Not all 5 of my nieces and nephews can make every trip, 4 are early 20s, have work friend obligations. We all try to plan those weekends in the spring so nobody commits to back yard BBQs and such.

My two boys Carter (9) and Justin (6) really came into their own catching fluke in the inlet. Both can bait their own hook, fight the fish and get it in the boat without help. Also had a couple of really great days striper fishing with the guys, had a few at 35 lbs and many over 20. When I can get a weekday off with decent weather and cooperative fish I'm very happy.

Spent a lot of time down at the dock getting the boat rewired, sent out all the interior cushions to be replaced over the winter, ordered a new starboard motor and pulled the teak deck to have the subfloor replaced. About 50% of the time spent down at the dock is entertaining passers by who want to chat about how cool the boat is or their memories on one in the past.

Generally every time we leave the dock it's a great boating memory

My best memerory of this yr is jr getting his 100ton ,lincense and winning three tournaments

Went to the bank and got $40 worth of gold dollar presidential coins. Then went to Michael's arts and craft and got a small wooden box. Buried it on West Fox Island a few days before I made up a treasure map and hid it in the house for the kids (4 and 6) to find it. Took the whaler over to the island and let the kids explore the island to find X in the sand. Watching them dig up the treasure chest and then allowing them to by a toy with the money.

Great memory for everyone!

My memory was almost tippingnover in my B28 when someone with a much larger boat passed me port side and close. His wake curled over my gunnel like a beach wave and scared the heck out of me and my fiancee. Bertrams rock a lot already & we were trying to drift fish. Everything fell and if there was just a little more tilt, we would have lost it. Yup, that's my memory. She was wet and shaking in fear while I was mad as hell. There is so much ocean out there, why pass so close and at full throttle. You have enough gas to drive that 40' + boat that fast, you can afford to give me a wide berth. Never forget seeing that wave curling toward me, much higher than the gunnels. We did catch an under sized fluke tho

You should have called the coast guard. Boaters are responsible for their wakes. The guy should have been stopped and (inconvenienced) spoken to.

Mike, youre spot on right, but,

How do you call the coast guard, how do you prove a wake of someone who is probably miles away has inconvenienced you.
And even if you prove it’s boat xyz, then what, how much damage is being rocked around? What do you tell them, that someone passed by fast...ok . Perhaps over there you can pull things like this.

Mike

Problem with that is the Miss Barnegat Light would never be able to run a fishing trip. The way they pass other boats the Coast Guard would have to put a guy on the dam boat.

Just because it's inconvenient to do the right thing, doesn't mean that you don't do it. Or make your best effort. Just because you're running a 300,000 ton cargo carrier up the Mississippi River and you're on a schedule.... doesn't give you the right to capsize a houseboat going in the other direction. You act responsibly based upon prevailing conditions. That doesn't mean that the houseboat doesn't have any responsibility to operate in as safe a manor as possible. It means that everybody respects everyone else's rights.

Get their registration number and report them. And if someone gets hurt in a situation like that, you find a Maritime lawyer and file charges.

Mike,

while your right you have to realize by the time the boat goes by, your boat catchs the wake, your in the midst of rocking and rolling trying not to fall, catching whats sliding around who has the time to go catch a boat...If you can catch them not too easy to get close enough to read the numbers.

Being in a place that happens all too often...I keep an eye out for oncoming boats at speed. I see them coming, I get the motors started and position boat heading into the wake. Or move out of their path. Even at anchor.

I should not have to...but better then someone getting hurt on my boat...better then insides getting trashed, tackle sliding around...

GO PRO on all the time.

Joseph Fikentscher wrote:GO PRO on all the time.

I lived it...no need for repeats.

I have TV for that.



Cool little gadgets.

captbone wrote:Went to the bank and got $40 worth of gold dollar presidential coins. Then went to Michael's arts and craft and got a small wooden box. Buried it on West Fox Island a few days before I made up a treasure map and hid it in the house for the kids (4 and 6) to find it. Took the whaler over to the island and let the kids explore the island to find X in the sand. Watching them dig up the treasure chest and then allowing them to by a toy with the money.

Great memory for everyone!

Great job with this, captbone! There’s nothing more fascinating to kids of that age (or maybe any) than finding a hidden treasure and then to open it to find the surprise inside! Great job in fostering their sense of adventure and imagination, all while doing it on the water as a family activity. Bravo, Sir!

captbone I hope you don't mind if I steal your idea!

Lots of great memories of our first season with our 25.

Running from this guy was most memorable.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1nMiKUnbsDy4rAhs8

We were anchored at the beach about 3 miles from home when this storm popped up. All boats scattered.

My crew (my wife and I) had seeen our share of struggles and rookie mistakes in the dozen or so outings before this day. (Docking, piloting, refueling, trailering, porta-pottie drama,etc). So, it was nice to be able to quickly and without much discussion get to task on preparing the boat and kids for the quick getaway. The boat performed so sweetly on the sprint back. I ran the old Volvos harder than ever before as we were being chased down. We made it back to the dock and quickly secured the boat moments before the skies opened up. At that point... it seemed everything was finally coming together.

First boat, first launch, great day.

HotSpot wrote:

Running from this guy was most memorable.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1nMiKUnbsDy4rAhs8

We were anchored at the beach about 3 miles from home when this storm popped up. All boats scattered.

At that point... it seemed everything was finally coming together.

Its days like that you will remember forever. The threat, the faith you put in the boat to push her a bit harder and your crew who performed like a crew and not like Mchales Navy.

Hotspot, That pic looks alot like it was taken in Door County?
2017 started upgrading our dock, redecking, running out water & Electric, finished 2018.
Which I could say the fishing was even GOOD!

Chanse wrote:Hotspot, That pic looks alot like it was taken in Door County?

Good eye, Chanse... That’s Ellison Bay bluff in the background. Looks like we are practically neighbors!

There are a few Bertram’s in the area that I know of. Any others members of this board?

HP Looks like I won a bet, Ellison Bay Bluff! Haulin' butt from Nicolet Bay perhaps.
There are a couple of 25's, I think Fish Creek (MarkS had a few pic's awhile back) and I met a guy that said he has a 25 in Sturgeon Bay
and a very recent 38 on the Island from Chicago. Other than my 26 I'm not aware of any other Bertrams in Door County. Not even Sister Bay.

Carl wrote:
.... crew who performed like a crew and not like Mchales Navy.

Thanks, Carl. Ha! We’ll probably never be able to forget some of those moments either!

Chanse wrote:HP Looks like I won a bet, Ellison Bay Bluff! Haulin' butt from Nicolet Bay perhaps.
There are a couple of 25's, I think Fish Creek (MarkS had a few pic's awhile back) and I met a guy that said he has a 25 in Sturgeon Bay
and a very recent 38 on the Island from Chicago. Other than my 26 I'm not aware of any other Bertrams in Door County. Not even Sister Bay.

I guess that dashes hopes of a Door County rendezvous, eh?

The two hardtop 25s docked together in Fish creek are why I am here now. They caught my eye years ago when we used to stay at one of the cottages by the docks. Not knowing anything about classic Bertram’s, I ended up lurking here and on other forums to get as much info as I could digest.

HotSpot, you have a great boat and you are in one of the finest boating areas there is. In time you will discover Washington, Plum, Rock, St. Martins and many other islands and may adventure to Fayette and Escanaba, Mi. Many places to discover many memories to be made. I could show you a large not frequently used even when the tourists are swarming, shallow sand bottom bay that’s a fantastic swimming spot or if you want to drift cast you could very easily hook up with a toothy Northern or a tasty black bass. I’ve been boating in these waters every since my father used to hold me up so I could see over the gunnel and I’m still enjoying and discovering new things. You chose well!

Last snapper trip of the season -- It's tough in the gulf...