captnhoy

"Technically" is a good qualifier.

Technically you are supposed to buy a license for that vhf.

I have not in the 4 years mine's been installed and no one has ever asked to see one. Also you will not find nearly as much use for your vhf here as you do in the western world. They are not the norm on Thai vessels. But you will be able to hail the occasional farang while you are out for a cruise.

There are two larger varieties also - wahoo and Spanish mackerel. I've noticed locals not distinguishing between king and Spanish though - they think they are the same. They fight well and are tasty. Not hard to find in the Andaman

also from wikipedia -

The wahoo may be distinguished from the related Atlantic king mackerel and from the Indo-Pacific Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel by a fold of skin which covers the mandible when its mouth is closed. In contrast, the mandible of the king mackerel is always visible as is also the case for the smaller Spanish mackerel and Cero mackerel. The teeth of the wahoo are similar to those of king mackerel, but shorter and more closely set together

better late than never . . . .

Howdy - I have my own 15 meter boat that I have lived on for the past 5 years on the Andaman Sea.

I lived in the Phuket area for a year. IMO the catching there is pretty marginal with considerable commercial and sport fishing pressure. I did take a few good fish there but nothing like I now get living in Ranong. Ranong is what? 300 kilometers north of Phuket. I follow the Thai example and fish the moon phases. I've been fishing for 54 years and never believed the importance of this until the last year or so. My catch rates are up dramatically in water that I used to believe was fished out. We catch nice GTs here from 2 to 12 kilos and we've lost monster fish SIX times this season. The bottom is rocky and a big fish can pull your line over the rocks until it is cut off. Barracuda are also common and my biggest is 5 kilos. Bottom fish are not as much fun for me but we do ok on those too. I know 2 Thai brothers who fish saltwater with me and fish fresh water on their own.

BTW - Ranong is the gateway to fishing the famous Burma Banks. It's too expensive to take my own boat there but I went on a good charter trip last April ( the very end of the season) and did quite well on many species including the prized king mackerel. Tuna were abundant too. We were a party of 10, 4 of us farang and we came home with about 250 kilos of fish for our group of 4. It's a 5 day trip @ 24,000 baht. I'm from the US and my buddy is coming over to repeat Burma Banks with me, departing Jan 11. I believe there is room for more. The boat is 70', fiberglass, comfortable with real bunks for sleeping, 4 years old and in good shape. They provide fishing and meals, no gear, no alcohol provided. Contact me if you want to join in. I have no financial interest in this - I just see it as good value as I've fished charter destinations from Alaska, Canada, Mexico and Phuket. This is good catching!

I could post some pics but I haven't sized them down yet.

As a new account holder with BB I'm pleased to see a support network here.

I closed my acct of 5 years with another bank when they refused to complete my money exchange transaction because 1 of the bills had a single digit written on it. When I produced my passbook to identify myself as a customer they directed me to BB right across the soi. In BB I was treated like a customer from start to finish and exchanged my currency with no problem whatsoever. I then went back across the soi to "my" bank, closed the account and opened one with BB. So, "my bank" was indeed correct - I was in the wrong bank!

While in BB they were promoting an 11 month cd and I decided to participate. I transferred enough money from my "home" bank to do so then was rejected on that transaction "because I do not own a home" The fact that I hold a Thai title to a 5 million baht boat (which is my home) did not change their minds. Sigh. So many quirky rules. Since the bank would be holding my money I have a hard time understanding the risk they see. I did manage to side step this though and opened the cd in my Thai wife's name. It does raise issues for me though about the bigger picture and where I should bank as I'm about to remove a good chunk of money from US banking. Perhaps "offshore" (HSBC Premier) is the answer?

For those of you wondering where to bank in Thailand I have to tell you it's hard to emphasize the value that Ian and Dave bring to the table as your advocate with Bangkok Bank. In my five years in country I've never seen smooth results like this. I experienced a couple of little hurdles with my new account and Dave had them sorted for me straight away. I could never have gotten this done without his support.

Some good and bad news for Bangkok Bank. There is no requirement for you to have a home in order to particiapte in the Fixed Account offerrings. We do require a local address to open an account and I can only assume some misinterpretation on our staffs part. I will PM you for further details of the Branch and will address it with them

Dave

Well it could well have been my misunderstanding of the reason. That was all I could get out of it since i provided my local address to open the account only about 10 days earlier.

As a new account holder with BB I'm pleased to see a support network here.

I closed my acct of 5 years with another bank when they refused to complete my money exchange transaction because 1 of the bills had a single digit written on it. When I produced my passbook to identify myself as a customer they directed me to BB right across the soi. In BB I was treated like a customer from start to finish and exchanged my currency with no problem whatsoever. I then went back across the soi to "my" bank, closed the account and opened one with BB. So, "my bank" was indeed correct - I was in the wrong bank!

While in BB they were promoting an 11 month cd and I decided to participate. I transferred enough money from my "home" bank to do so then was rejected on that transaction "because I do not own a home" The fact that I hold a Thai title to a 5 million baht boat (which is my home) did not change their minds. Sigh. So many quirky rules. Since the bank would be holding my money I have a hard time understanding the risk they see. I did manage to side step this though and opened the cd in my Thai wife's name. It does raise issues for me though about the bigger picture and where I should bank as I'm about to remove a good chunk of money from US banking. Perhaps "offshore" (HSBC Premier) is the answer?

I keep an old motorbike on my live aboard boat. Sometimes it does not get used for months.

I solved this same problem with rust in my fuel tank. I took the tank off and rigged a "giant q-tip" using cloth and a stick and ran that around in the tank with my power drill.

Then I mixed up some 2 part epoxy resin for fiberglass work (like on boats). I plugged appropriate small holes and poured about a cup of this mixture in the tank. If you mix it up "hot" with just a little extra hardener it'll set up in about 5 minutes. I swirled it all around to coat all internal surfaces and poured the excess back into my mixing cup. I let it set up a little then removed my small plug for the fuel exit. I let it cure for 2 days. Whatever loose rust the drill did not remove is trapped under that epoxy.

That was 3 months ago and it's like rust-be-gone.

You can find marine supplies in Phuket and Bangkok. They'll ship to you if you put money in their bank.

Note pay attention to mixing ratios - if you overdo the hardener you'll have a big lump of epoxy in your tank an you'll have to get a jackhammer to get it out.

I stumbled onto ThaiSecondhand.com look around a little and you'll see a link for tractors. 76 listings at the time of this writing.

It IS in THAI LANGUAGE though so get some help or use a google chrome internet browser to translate. That works. sort of.

I searched 2 words "dirt bike". I got 4 pages of results with 3 dirt bikes in the results.

Is this broken? Or is it another way to advertise other items? Several results were for real estate.

Here's one example

http://classifieds.t...ngan-59469.html

and if that says dirt bike in it somewhere I'll go right back to my eye doctor.

Any ideas?

I was in Chumphon a few months ago and heard about another american that stabbed this expat over a dispute about the king.... we'll actually the american was talking really bad about the king and some brit expat punches him in the face. The american comes back and stabs this guy up (he did not die from the stab wounds), and is release after a few weeks. I just want to remind everybody from the states that every time an american does something in this country or any other country it will be scrutinized and added to the already infamous rep we have as a nation.

Heyyy, what a just-in-time reminder! I was juuust getting ready to whack some jerk with a pool cue. But now I won't. We "americans" aren't all bad.

We are already disliked by the majority of euro's I dont want to start being disliked by thais.

what if you were disliked by other "americans"? would that be ok?

And as for Thai people - mmm, maybe too late for many of them

For diesel-fueled heavy equipment, a top quality fuel filter is a must. Racor is the world leader. Any water in the diesel will blow the tips out of the injectors. Any alcohol in the fuel - which is hydroscopic (attracts water) - will aggravate this problem. A good fuel filter / water separator will remove the water. The above mentioned model has a clear bowl allowing a daily inspection, and comes with a drain plug allowing you to drain any water that has accumulated.

Like the old Cat fuel caps said "Buy Clean Fuel, Keep It Clean"

Completely agree. I currently live on a 15 meter boat with a 16 litre Hino for power.

There is an exact copy of the big Racor filters that is made in Taiwan and marketed here for the marine industry. About half (or a third?) the price of the Racors.

Do a search on GSM Marine Supply. That's where I got mine.

Many Thais have already lost their jobs and livelihood this won't solve the problem, the problem is that Phuket and Chiang Mai have powerful people in charge of the Tuk-Tuks and it will take time to change the system. It will take a strong Prime Minister who is not afraid of the consequences

I've even heard it suggested that members of the police force are often the owners of the tuk tuks. The drivers have to pay a daily rate to the owner and after that hope to make a profit.

I have no way of knowing if this is true. If it were true, think of the conflict of interest to send the police to remove the blockade. It's not too hard to imagine why there is no public transport in Phuket.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Back in late November I caught this 10 kilo kingfish (cobia) on squid near the bottom at night. Quite a good fight and verrry tasty.

I'll share some facts that I know of on a different case for your comparison.

A Thai man that I know was caught with 200 yaba tablets in his possesion. He confessed to the crime of possession with intent to distribute and his 6 year sentence, at trial, was reduced to 3 years. The quirk in his case is that his wife is doing 3 years too even though she was not in possession. If she had not confessed and had been found guilty, she would have been sentenced to 6 years. She decided not to gamble.

The property that they lost was a late model pickup truck.

The guy was a good family man who built fishing boats. He was convinced in Laos, where he went regularly to purchase lumber, to supplement his income. I do not think of him as a bad man. He certainly had a bad idea.

Flame away.

I have been in Phuket for three weeks and have already taken a one hour driving course. However, I do not think I can pass the parallel parking aspect of the driving test. I am willing to pay somebody to get a driver's license. Is there a specific person within the traffic department I need to see? Please advise.

Mexico has an excellent system.

In Mexico I have been pulled over numerous times while drivingand running red lights. I would have been classified as "legally" drunk in the U.S. drunk in the U.S. and subjected to thousands of dollars in fines, a night in jail and possibly losing my driver's license for 6 months. There is always one cop that can speak English. They simply tell you what you did wrong and say: "That will be $10 or $20 at times, U.S. And, that's it. You are once again on your way. If that is corruption then it is beneficial.

yeah, please don't be driving anywhere near me or my kids....

Indeed...I have been in minor and larger accidents [always as passanger] with the vehicle I am in was hit by drunk drivers, often young, driving too fast and without keeping distance or attention on the road. People like Grey11 are exactly the kind that confuses Liberty with 'Recklessness against others' that is infringing on MY rights to not be injured by morons.

You and samran need to loosen up. We are discussing corruption. Some on here like to mention Mexico. Just comapring how corrupt Mexico is with what you people say about Thailand. I intend to pass my driving test. It is just a little tougher on peolple who have been driving for 30, 40 years with the steering wheel on the left and all of a sudden the steering wheel is on the right. I have never gotten a DWI, DUI (that means driving drunk) in my life. You guys are just wound too tight. We just paid a little over $100 for all of our things that are at the port in Bangkok - shipped for the port of L.A. (U.S.A.) - to Phuket. There is much difference in what a Thai pays for customs than what a farang would pay. My wife is Thai and knows how to bargain. Also, in Thailand what you get and how much you pay depends on WHO YOU KNOW. No different than any other country in the world. And, don't worry I will not be driving around drunk and run over you or your children. Geezzz - give me a break!!!!!!

I say give US a break. You wrote you'd been stopped several times for driving drunk in Mexico. You've never had a DUI or DWI because you were able to buy your way out of it. In Mexico. It's not a huge leap to imagine you driving drunk in Thailand, with your new license, and now the steering wheel AND the traffic are on the wrong side. You'll no doubt be asking for a break after you maim or kill some innocent person who got in your way.

F1 Racetrack !!

Good idea, but you must find good drivers in Thailand first.

Silly me! I thought they were all racing drivers

This is a GREAT idea!

Have you ever heard of a demolition derby?

How quickly this has become YET another lets bash Thai Airways thread.

............ But stop the moaning, whinging and complainaing here as if Thai Airways personally owes YOU something!

I thought we were simply reporting. As consumers. NOT being duped by a so called promotion and lame proclamation to actually compete in the marketplace. Just calling them on their bs. They owe it too themselves and their employees to stay in business. They owe me nothing. I'll vote with my purchase.

Finally I decided to buy Lowrance, new HDS unit:

http://www.lowrance.com/en/Products/Marine...Specifications/

it is compatible with Navionics maps, so I ordered 31XG for Thailand.

Thanks to all for help!

There are SO many products to choose from, and places to buy from - perhaps you can say more about the price of this unit, where you are buying it (local shop? or internet?) and what about install?

Good for you - stepping up to research and making an informed decision.

The Thai helmsman cert you require for boating, Do they execpt over seas cert's as I have a NZ Boatmasters cert. and vhf licence

You'll find out soon enough. They don't give a hoot about your NZ certificate OR vhf license.

They accept cash. And be prepared to quote the actual 5500 baht price when they tell you it's 10,000 baht.

Here are some tips based on my own experience here.

You mentioned possibly bringing your current boat as household goods. Do that if you can. There is a tax free allowance for household items up to a certain amount. Find out what that is. Paying import duty on the boat you like could be better than buying a boat. It sounds like you know the boat and that you are satisfied with it. I'm not sure that boats overall are any cheaper here. Certainly not in Phuket with all the western brand names being imported.

For price comparisons, consider this - off the shelf marine electronics in Thailand are double the price of the same item in the western world. When you question that, the Thai dealer always pleads import and VAT. Those taxes combined are 15%. Not 100%.

The point is, if you've been thinking about upgrading that vhf or sounder, etc, etc, - do it before you come here and pay the real retail price.

As another point of reference, a friend of miine recently bought a 4 year old 2nd hand Zodiac rib center console with a 40 hp Johnson outboard. He paid 300,000 baht total and that included a trailer.

One of the main things that I would consider is how big a motor do I need and can I afford a 4 stroke outboard. I have not owned one but the stories of reliability and fuel economy never end.

I have a liveaboard trawler here in Phuket.

When searching for my dinghy I came acrossed a Thai builder of fiberglass boats in Chumporn. I did not buy from him but he makes some boats that might be worth considering.

Let us know how it goes.

If you didn't see the fight, the Thai woman was declared the winner. JFC, I don't know if I can watch ever again.

I was so incensed at this that my wife had to jai yen me. Cheatin barstewards!

I don't know wether to credit Thai culture refusing to allow a farang to win, or chalk it up to fighting is just plain crooked.

I hope it's the latter. I fear it's the first.

the judging between Thai and foreigner fights actually tends to be a lot fairer here in general compared with a lot of countries where the home fighter will get a bias. The reason is most pople in the crowd are betting on the fights and won't accept losing money on a bad decision, there were a lot of very angry people in the stadium yesterday that the Thai girl got the decision and all of them were Thai.

I appreciate your insight as I'm just the occaisional fan and rarely see them live. I did say that if I'd been there somebody would have probably punched ME i was so incensed by it. I later wondered if the outcome was about gambling.

The details that you share are encouraging - changing the results, suspending judges.

Thanks!

Sorry for the lack of reference detail. Like names, what channel etc. I did a search on sport news and came up with nothing on these results.

I watched Muay Thai on tv in Phuket on Sunday afternoon.

Pretty ordinary at first. Then I see that the next fight is a woman from Canada against a Thai woman.

I do stay tuned and watch the fight.

After round 1, the warm up round for everyone, this Canadian was winning big time. Big, hard connecting punches and quite a number of them. It may have been the 3rd round where the Thai woman was clearly saved by the bell. 10 or 15 more seconds and she would have lost to a KO imo. Several times in the fight she was nearly down, clearly dazed by the beating. Other than a kick now and then, she did little to the western opponent. The overall theme was her getting the shit kicked out of her

OK so what?

If you didn't see the fight, the Thai woman was declared the winner. JFC, I don't know if I can watch ever again.

I was so incensed at this that my wife had to jai yen me. Cheatin barstewards!

I don't know wether to credit Thai culture refusing to allow a farang to win, or chalk it up to fighting is just plain crooked.

I hope it's the latter. I fear it's the first.

a cunning linguist for sure!

I will note the two of them were almost the exact same age.

So maybe there were some V.N. war era joint experiences

and memories connecting them.

That's right - back when they were teenaged lovers