July 15 2020
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No big news agencies will be making a point of the date but to the commercial shrimping communities in Texas it's an important day. When I was in the business it was the end of the bay season and it would not resume until August fifteenth for a different species of shrimp with different rules and regulations. The states east of Texas open earlier for their gulf seasons and lots of those out of state boats might venture down this way for the Texas opening however they can't unload here without a Texas license and Texas boats go east also but usually return home to unload. The guys like me with bay boats usually went to the shipyard this time of year for repairs and a new anti fouling bottom paint job if you can afford the bill. Sometimes I would go two years maybe do a mini haul out for a prop or zinc changes on the metal parts but I preferred doing it every year. Usually I would spend two or three grand on paint and shipyard fees but I have spent more if I had a mechanical problem or needed a new prop or shaft work then it gets expensive. One of these gulf boats can cost upwards of twenty thousand to do a basic maintenance haul out. Takes money to make money. I don't miss laying under a boat in 100+ sun painting and getting fiberglass all over me from the shipyard but I miss being around the other guys. The little shipyard we used could hold twenty or so small boats and they allowed you to do the work yourself if you didn't fool with the jacks holding the boat up and some of the dummies would pull them out to paint. Never dropped a boat luckily but saw a guy fall off of one and dang near got killed and one cut his leg with a circular saw to the bone hanging upside down on a ladder trying to cut a piece of wood. One idiot set his on fire using too much hardener in some resin but they got it put out luckily. The fellow that owned the shipyard had a sign on the wall in the office " No cash, no splash " in other words no credit. A few people tried him but he wouldn't budge. Anyway I drove down the docks where I hung out and tried to take a few pictures. It looks like a lot of boats but believe it or not there's less than there used to be.
A couple of boats owned by two guys I hung around with in my younger days.
Mostly Vietnamese owned boats
The travel lift used for the Gulf Boats the small shipyard closed we used
Turning basin three
This statue is at the entrance of our harbor and was donated by a Vietnamese individual that came here. The three images depict the three cultures of shrimpers here. Vietnamese, Anglo and Hispanic. There was friction for a while and still some but never any protests or anything like what's going on now. I don't have a dog in this race anymore so I don't have much to say.
My A/C guys pleasure boat. He works so much it just sits there. Twin 3412 Cats that can drink diesel faster than you can run through a 2" pipe. A money pit.
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All I know of shrimp I learned from bubba on forest gump.
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@orkan Yep, that's about all there is to know. You couldn't run fast enough to give me one of those boats now. Take a good look they won't be around forever I fear.
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@bigfoot said in July 15 2020:
No big news agencies will be making a point of the date but to the commercial shrimping communities in Texas it's an important day. When I was in the business it was the end of the bay season and it would not resume until August fifteenth for a different species of shrimp with different rules and regulations. The states east of Texas open earlier for their gulf seasons and lots of those out of state boats might venture down this way for the Texas opening however they can't unload here without a Texas license and Texas boats go east also but usually return home to unload. The guys like me with bay boats usually went to the shipyard this time of year for repairs and a new anti fouling bottom paint job if you can afford the bill. Sometimes I would go two years maybe do a mini haul out for a prop or zinc changes on the metal parts but I preferred doing it every year. Usually I would spend two or three grand on paint and shipyard fees but I have spent more if I had a mechanical problem or needed a new prop or shaft work then it gets expensive. One of these gulf boats can cost upwards of twenty thousand to do a basic maintenance haul out. Takes money to make money. I don't miss laying under a boat in 100+ sun painting and getting fiberglass all over me from the shipyard but I miss being around the other guys. The little shipyard we used could hold twenty or so small boats and they allowed you to do the work yourself if you didn't fool with the jacks holding the boat up and some of the dummies would pull them out to paint. Never dropped a boat luckily but saw a guy fall off of one and dang near got killed and one cut his leg with a circular saw to the bone hanging upside down on a ladder trying to cut a piece of wood. One idiot set his on fire using too much hardener in some resin but they got it put out luckily. The fellow that owned the shipyard had a sign on the wall in the office " No cash, no splash " in other words no credit. A few people tried him but he wouldn't budge. Anyway I drove down the docks where I hung out and tried to take a few pictures. It looks like a lot of boats but believe it or not there's less than there used to be.
A couple of boats owned by two guys I hung around with in my younger days.Mostly Vietnamese owned boats
The travel lift used for the Gulf Boats the small shipyard closed we used
Turning basin three
This statue is at the entrance of our harbor and was donated by a Vietnamese individual that came here. The three images depict the three cultures of shrimpers here. Vietnamese, Anglo and Hispanic. There was friction for a while and still some but never any protests or anything like what's going on now. I don't have a dog in this race anymore so I don't have much to say.
My A/C guys pleasure boat. He works so much it just sits there. Twin 3412 Cats that can drink diesel faster than you can run through a 2" pipe. A money pit.
I had a 30' sport fish that was gas powered. She got about .5mi/gal. It had 2-107gal fuel tanks. Fun to run but not so fun at the gas pump. Got rid of it in 2000. Now a have a 27" with Outboard that is a lot more fuel efficient.
Occasionally I miss that boat for about half a second.
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@martino1 Richards boat in the picture is a Striker. It's aluminum and I guess close to 50'. The 3412's should be around 600hp each and it has a diesel power plant. I have been on it and the finish is pretty good it needs a lot of work he bought it as a fixer upper. Like I said it just sits there and he tinkers on it and hired a motor crane to set it up on blocks to change some of the plate in the bottom several years back. Electrolysis got into the aluminum and it started leaking probably from shore power from other boats near him. He had it financed through a boat builder and they ended up writing it off and letting him have it just to keep it from sinking. I told him he should have snuck out of that deal but he had too much invested to walk. The two happiest days of boat ownership is the day you bought it and the day you sold it.
