It's not BIM...it's FIM - Fishing Information Modeling!

Ya'll know I'm a redneck....but at least I have a little sophistication...sort of. As a graduation present for elder boy from NC State, he's getting a trip to Key West to fish for a while. We're definitely getting our geek on - we're taking the Sea Fox, but also taking a 2010 Yamaha FX HO Cruiser Waverunner:

My toy...

Now, the idea was to just chase the boat, and take some cool video and pics of the boys fishing...but then the redneck in me came out...what if I could fish from the jetski, and catch my own trophies. After several minutes of exhausting research, and seeing what other like minded nutcases were doing (re: http://jetskibrian.com ), we embarked on ways to accomplish this.

First up - design a cooler/rod holder rig. Being a Sunday afternoon with no NASCAR, I came up with a little model in Revit MEP 2012, that used the default PVC pipe fittings:

Schematic Design...it don't look exactly like this...

That's where I found a flaw in the default fittings - while the elbow has the hub connection inside of the fitting, the tee's connection is on the face. Subsequently, I have downloaded the latest version of Charlotte Pipe's Revit PVC fittings, for the rest of my users to enjoy (http://www.charlottepipe.com/Default.aspx?Page=RevitGroups gets you complete libraries - very quickly).

The error in the fittings created an error in my pipe cut lengths on the schedule I defined, so I had to sort of wing it to get the shape correct. We've purchased Berkley adjustable rod holders (of the clamp on variety - https://www.nssnc.com/shop/product/berkley-baarh45-45-rod-holder?ct=10%2C207&sb=brand from my buddies at Neuse sports Shop in Kinston, NC) to attach to the sides of the rig, so I should be able to pull two rods and a net with no issues.

Next up is the installation of a Humminbird 385CI Combo GPS/Fishing finder with Downscan Imaging - this one should be interesting, we're using a RAM mount in the cup holder next to the dash (never could figure out why that was there - the bottles never stay there at 70mph).

So we're in assembly mode - when I get all this put together, I'll add another post with pics for you to enjoy...

Who says BIM geeks never get out...!

Later - David B.