The Marinebeam Ultra Long Range RLT illuminator, which lights up objects up to 700 yards away, and other reviewed products could make a great Christmas gift for some lucky fisherman (read: you).
Yup. It’s near the end of December and darn near Christmas Eve. Kids are humming carols and dreaming of eight tiny reindeer gently landing a sleigh full of toys and the jolly old guy on their roof.
The Marinebeam Ultra Long Range RLT illuminator (which lights up objects up to 700 yards away) and other reviewed products could make a great Christmas gift for some lucky fisherman (read: you).Your boat is tied to the dock or buttoned up for the winter and you are out and about with a pocket jammed with lists of Christmas gifts. You better get with it because there’s not much time before those gifts need to be under the Christmas tree.
Unfortunately, you almost always forget someone. Who's that someone? You know, it’s you. So I’m here to remind you that it’s not unlawful to treat yourself with a Christmas gift, and if that gift comes in handy out on the boat than so much the better — and hey! I’m not talking about a slug of Jack.
To assist with your personal gift selection, once again I’m providing a few Christmas ideas from National Fisherman’s 2014 Product Roundup and At A Glance pages. Here are four items that will be a worthy gift for you-know-who.
A fire is one of the worst things that can happen on a boat. Put it out quickly and things will usually be all right. Let it go and the boat is history. To make sure you are around for many more Christmas celebrations, I would suggest the DSPA-5, an aerosol-based fire suppression and extinguishing system in the January 2014 issue.
Pull the pin on the handheld, disc-shaped canister toss it in the fire area and close the door. It takes 8 seconds to fire off. A simulated engine-room fire was out in 7 seconds and a galley fire in six seconds. Can’t beat that — other than not having a fire at all.
OK. So you’ve dealt with the fire thing. It was pretty stressful; listening to some tunes might help you relax. NF’s March issue spotlighted an add-on module for the Fusion 600 Series stereos. The MS-BT100 lets you stream audio via Bluetooth with mobile device controls. So wherever you are on the boat — rock out!
Here’s something from our September issue that will come in handy on a boat or on land, whether looking for a marker buoy or the dog that’s taken off into the woods. It’s the Marinebeam Ultra Long Range RLT Illuminator. That’s a long-winded name for what looks like a regular flashlight.
Unlike a flashlight, however, it lights up boats, mooring buoys and dogs at 500 to 700 yards away. The secret is a very concentrated beam without any spillover light.
For the last item, I’m going to stray from the original premise of thinking of you. You take the kids out on the boat, right? Well, just as you need to be wearing a PFD, so do the kids. From NF’s May issue comes the Lil’ Legends, a Mustang Survival PFD for kids from 0 to 90 pounds.
Lil’ Legends came about because so many parents complained that their kids wouldn’t wear life jackets because they were uncomfortable and didn’t fit. So get your kid one of these. It will give you peace of mind and keep him alive. Can’t be a better gift than that.
See you next Christmas with another list. Ho ho ho!
