Bow and arrow aboard? Do or dont?

[Idylles15.5]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Have you ever tried shooting a rifle from a small boat at sea? I have and it is orders of magnitude more difficult that you can imagine.

I starting hunting with my father when I was 6. Got to be a pretty good wing shot, qualified expert and was captain of the rifle team in high school so I think I'm not too bad with a long gun.

In pretty moderate conditions 2-3' swells or less I have tried shooting bottles from the deck of a 34' sailboat with a .223. Even close to the boat, 15-20 meters' I never hit one. A lot of the shots weren't even very close. At 100 meters maybe one shot in 10 was within a meter or two of the bottle. Beyond that I might as well have shot with my eyes closed.

Unless it's dead calm or you're on a very large, stable platform (like a destroyer) a scope on a boat is pretty much worthless and very long range ain't gonna happen.

I didn't say I could hit them, like the guys on the deck of the ship who took out the Somali guys. I think I could get close enough with a sniper rifle that they could hear it going by, and the closer they get, the closer I get I would think. Probably get them thinking anyway. My good buddy was a Ranger and then went on to sniper classes or whatever the military calls it. I'll be asking him for some lessons lol

[Idylles15.5]

Maybe a M16 with a Colt M203 40mm Grenade launcher. Problem may be getting the explosive rounds?

[Idylles15.5]

RPZ, you know where to get those? lol

[Idylles15.5]

God I hate the Patriots, Brady needs a little pain in his life. Good looks, loaded and a smoking wife. Heeds to get robbed by some pirates. I know, way off topic, but I'm watching the game and I hate them Never should of won that first superbowl against the Raiders. Tuck rule BS. Ok, I'm done with guns and Brady. Have a nice weekend Fellow cruisers.

[Sojourner]

I have to say I've given this a lot of thought, what with planning some long term cruising with only two girls and myself. Of course we'll stay out of known pirate waters, so I'm far more worried about banditry, which occurs in more than a few well-traveled places. I'm pretty big and have training so I can handle a machete, but in sketch places, my plan is pretty simple and fairly foolproof. I'm gonna panic-room the crap outta things:

1) Lock the companionway before bed or upon seeing a threat approaching. It's solid wood. The hatches all have security bars already for ventilation.
2) At being awakened (possibly with a motion alarm in the cockpit): Activate this little bad boy in the center cockpit remotely from below... It's a specially designed to be incapacitating sound barrier with a strobe on the mast.
3) Get on Ch16 and mayday it.
4) Turn out the lights. Get that machete. Put in my earplugs. Wait.
5) If they are dumb enough to continue through that and enter the boat, I might have a second sonic device hidden below.

Facing a locked down boat, the average dinghy thief or armed robber isn't gonna stick around when the sound is blasting their ears off and making them nauseous, the strobe is blinding them and alerting the entire bay, and of course someone is on Ch16 for good measure. If they do get inside, the second soundbar in the confines of a dark unfamiliar boat and me with earplugs and a machete. I'll take those odds. Add that my girls are a Mexican and a Russian, throw them some wasp spray or kitchen knives, and I'm almost looking forward to it

https://inferno.se/infernoprosecurit...riers/#outdoor

[soares29]

Excellent. I can almost imagine the scene... and I agree.
Exterminating a bad guy with an illegal fire weapon in any almost other country then America will likely be a legal mess...
What about other preventive measures like cameras and some sort of “electric fence” system for the boat ??? Makes any sense?

[Fence Man]

I like to have bows aboard. I also like having guns aboard. Shooting from a boat takes more practice than most are willing to put in, not to mention the expense. I've let more than my fair share of lead fly from a boat, and these days, I don't miss. I also don't take bad shots, and nobody is shooting back at me. We are allowed to hunt from a boat in some US states, usually provided that we are not under power, or influence of any power, when the shot is fired. We have drifted right in on deer and turkey to make plenty of bow kills, and a truckload of rifle kills. My kid was whooping teenagers at the bow shop when she was 5, and I'd like to think it's because we aren't just paper punchers. There should be a pic in there of a "Brush Shoot". After Christmas, everybody takes their tree to the bow shop and we shoot 3D targets that have the vitals hidden behind the trees. It helps to hone some instinctive skills, and really helps with real world shooting situations. My wife is quite proficient with a pistol, rifle, and a bow, too. My daughter has a few .22 rifles that she shoots very well, in addition to a crossbow that she hunts with. (She can't draw enough weight to make a humane kill with a bow) I checked on bowfishing in the Bahamas, and it's not legal, which is unfortunate, because I'd really like to run across sometime (With good weather) in our "big" mod V and give it a go.
We have a large gun collection, along with a large assortment of bows. That said, when we transition from hunting, fishing, trapping, and the little bit of summertime fun on our inland lake to (hopefully) cruising the Bahamas and Caribbean......We won't be packing any weapons along. I sure as hell don't like foreigners breaking our laws and telling us how to do it, so why would I want to infringe on someone else's values, just because I disagree? No, my head isn't in the sand. If I thought it was that dangerous, I wouldn't be taking my family along.
In short, we kill things from a boat on a very regular basis. It's a very effective method if you are practiced up. Pirates will be applying the "spray and pray" method, and although it can be lethal, controlled return fire from a skilled trigger man is much more effective, but it's pointless unless you are willing to jump through the hoops, AND stay practiced up.
If you are going to shoot to kill with a bow, I highly recommend the Rage Hypodermic broadheads. Nick a big toe and they'll bleed out eventually.
The electric fence idea, in addition to the reasons already mentioned, is a terrible idea because you'd never get a good enough ground setup to make it work. Low impedance chargers don't work for **** without a good ground. A separate ground circuit would work......if the perp touched them both at the same time.
I like my guns, and my right to own them, but some folks have a wire on the frame when it comes to taking them around the world. The best weapon we have is between our ears, and IMHO, it'd be better if we used it.

FWIW, if it was perfectly legal.....and I could only pick one to take along.....It'd be my .300BLK SBR (9"!) AR, with the can, of course.
But it's not, so I'll just have to toss the pirates a beer and see what we can work out.

[jibstay]

Originally Posted by Idylles15.5

God I hate the Patriots, Brady needs a little pain in his life. Good looks, loaded and a smoking wife. Heeds to get robbed by some pirates. I know, way off topic, but I'm watching the game and I hate them Never should of won that first superbowl against the Raiders. Tuck rule BS. Ok, I'm done with guns and Brady. Have a nice weekend Fellow cruisers.

Dilly dilly! [emoji1303][emoji1303]

[siamese]

A bow for defense against pirates? Wow, what a monumentally bad idea.

The only good result would be if you wrapped it in some pretty paper and offered it to them as a gift. Other than that, I think it would almost guarantee you being separated from your skin.

[a64pilot]

We have beaten the electric fence idea to death here too, first it’s an ambush trap akin to wiring a shotgun to the door, and will likely have you deep in a bad Prison.
Secondly it’s very likely that sick a think would leak enough current that it may eat your thru hulls, your prop etc and may sink your boat, much less cost thousands to fix the damage if you don’t sink.

[a64pilot]

In the 1960’s we had a neighbors dog that kept getting into our trash, my Father got tired of picking up trash every couple of days, so he wired the trash can direct to 110V current.
Almost killed the garbage man, if that were today, he would of course be paying that man for the rest of his life, but 1960’s a sincere apology and I’m sure a nice gift was all that was required.

[soares29]

Yes. It’s old technology and if it were a good idea and simple, several would have it. Looks like some countries have experience with it and it doesn’t need to be a lethal system. The alarm system seem better though.

[soares29]

Hahahahaha, that’s excellent.

[Fence Man]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

In the 1960’s we had a neighbors dog that kept getting into our trash, my Father got tired of picking up trash every couple of days, so he wired the trash can direct to 110V current.
Almost killed the garbage man, if that were today, he would of course be paying that man for the rest of his life, but 1960’s a sincere apology and I’m sure a nice gift was all that was required.

I like your father's style.

[SV DestinyAscen]

Reading these posts... I'm waiting for the Hobbesian downward spiral when a particularly low threat tolerant person armed to the teeth starts taking pot shots at the USCG or Colombian police, and then get lit up like a drug smuggler.