As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up-Chapter 168 - 156: Over 2 Million Class 2 Fishing Boats

Chapter 168: Chapter 156: Over 2 Million Class 2 Fishing Boats

He drew back the curtains, only to find it was still cloudy outside.

Feeling sore all over, Chu Mingcheng laid back down on the bed, not wanting to move.

After yesterday’s fishing and hunting, he felt fine, but carrying the fish back to the boat left him practically half-dead from exhaustion.

The amount of exertion had been enough; no need for a morning run.

Yet his biological clock had conditioned him to wake up early anyway.

He didn’t plan to go fishing today; his intention was to take his boat to the shipyard and purchase a fish spear on the way.

Thinking of the fish spear, Chu Mingcheng couldn’t stay in bed any longer and grabbed his laptop to look up information on crafting one.

A wooden fish spear could be made by oneself, but naturally, the craftsmanship of a novice wouldn’t be impressive, requiring a lot of practice and the consumption of large quantities of wood to create a functional spear.

Not every day was spent at sea, and Chu Mingcheng felt he could pick up a hobby in his spare time, becoming a woodworker on the side.

Through his research, he began to understand why hunters often recommended wooden spears.

First, most aluminum alloy and carbon fish spears were hollow in construction, necessitating waterproofing by sealing both ends of the spear to prevent seawater from entering and causing negative buoyancy.

Additionally, the tubular structure of aluminum or carbon fish spears aims to achieve maximum strength with minimal materials, usually designed as oval or circular tubes.

The downside of this approach is that it’s difficult to increase buoyancy without adding to the spear’s thickness.

With his experience in fishing and hunting, Chu Mingcheng knew the advantages of a spear with sufficient buoyancy.

Underwater, the spear must be moved parallel to the fish’s movements for aiming, and water resistance is far greater than air, requiring the spear to overcome this force to move.

Spears are generally long, and greater buoyancy makes them lighter and easier to keep stable when aiming.

The shape is also crucial, as the right design can help reduce drag through the water during movement.

This is where wooden spears come into play, as their bodies can be made flatter to lessen water resistance.

Typically, teak wood is used for crafting wooden spears, with Burmese teak being the first choice, despite its high cost.

Another option is Meranti wood, costing about a third of teak, and is very suitable for practicing, which suits Chu Mingcheng well.

The quality from Africa and America is considered the best, while that from Oceania is the worst and cheapest.

The last kind is rosewood, not the extremely valuable kind, but the more affordable African rosewood.

Therefore, if Chu Mingcheng was to buy a fish spear first, he might opt for one crafted from Burmese teak, expensive but also very practical.

He could purchase the other two kinds of wood for practice, and, if he successfully crafted a suitable one, he might even retire the carbon spear.

After Chu Mingcheng gathered the information, he searched online for wooden spears but could not find any that were suitable.

He aimed to hunt large fish, and it wasn’t a matter of the longer the fish spear, the better.

Choosing a fish spear isn’t just about length; it needs to fit one’s height.

For Chu Mingcheng, using a one-meter or one-meter-twenty band path would suffice.

But if he wanted his spear to reach farther, all he needed to do was increase the number of rubber bands and the line’s length.

The bigger the fish and the farther the distance, the longer the fish spear line needed, and the thicker and more numerous the rubber bands.

Such a spear, with its thick and abundant rubber bands, is not suitable for those with less strength as it would be hard to pull.

As someone whose strength was not small and was only going to increase over time, it was a very suitable choice.

To hunt large fish, Chu Mingcheng needed a spear with six thick rubber bands.

He planned to ask Lu Zheqiang from Qiongzhou later on; since he had purchased the Carbon Fish Spear from him before, he likely had a channel for customizing a wooden spear as well.

Unaware of how much time had passed, Chu Mingcheng heard the sound of the electronic lock downstairs being opened, followed by footsteps.

He quickly closed his laptop and set it aside, then hurriedly lay back down to feign sleep.

He thought that Jiang Luoluo would enter, come to his bedside, and wake him up for breakfast, providing a chance for a surprise attack.

Instead, she indeed opened the door gently, but unfortunately, she did not enter, seeing that he was asleep and quietly closed it again…

Chu Mingcheng was left somewhat bewildered; the script had gone awry!

It seemed she thought he was tired and let him rest without disturbing him.

Hearing the footsteps retreat downstairs and the door close again, he sat up with a wry smile.

Well, time to get up!

As for Brother Haiwang and his crew, thanks to the Dragon Gizzard Grouper, they had left the night before.

The two videos they had recorded would be edited by Brother Haiwang and released next week through all three channels, by which time Chu Mingcheng’s online popularity was expected to skyrocket.

He went over to Jiang Luoluo’s place, and she looked surprised to see him, “Did I wake you up earlier?”

“Wake me up?”

Chu Mingcheng was completely baffled, with a metaphorical question mark above his head.

“Uh, I came by your place just now to call you for breakfast, but you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to disturb you,” she explained while eyeing him curiously, noticing that he had already gotten ready shortly after she had returned.

It was hard for her not to suspect that he might have already been awake when she came by.

“Is that so? I had no idea you had come over…”

Chu Mingcheng, his face a picture of innocence, just shrugged his shoulders, not wanting her to suspect he had been pretending to sleep, which could jeopardize future wake-up calls.

“Alright then!” Jiang Luoluo didn’t dwell on it further and went to the kitchen to bring out the breakfast she had kept warm.

After breakfast, she had to start preparing a new dance, so Chu Mingcheng set out on his own.

He drove to the dock, took his boat to the shipyard, and inquired about the possibility of installing a winch or crane on the front deck.

The sales attendant, upon hearing this, glanced at the boat and said in surprise, “You wouldn’t need either of those on a fishing boat, would you?”

From a design perspective, this boat never considered any of these features.

It’s essentially a nearshore fishing boat, so why bother with equipment for hauling large cargo?

Chu Mingcheng smiled modestly, “Yesterday, we caught a Dragon Gizzard Grouper that weighed over two hundred pounds. If it hadn’t been for the extra people on board, I couldn’t have pulled it in by myself.”

“Moreover, I often go fishing and hunting. If there were a winch or crane, it would be much less effort to bring the catch onto the boat.”

The salesperson suddenly leaned back defensively, and for some reason, suddenly felt the presence of an authoritative aura.

In the end, at Chu Mingcheng’s request, he brought over a technician to ask if a winch or crane could be installed on the boat.

Of course, a winch or crane could be installed. However, according to the technician, since it’s for hauling big fish, a small, retractable, fixed hydraulic crane would be better for this kind of boat.

The winch would be placed on the steps behind the reef barrier at the front deck, and the hydraulic crane could be set up on the central rear deck, near the outboard motor, where it wouldn’t be in the way too much.

When not in use, the crane’s arm could fold up, and it could extend when needed.

For Chu Mingcheng’s boat, a crane capable of lifting five hundred kilograms, or about one thousand pounds, would be sufficient; it didn’t need to be very large.

The price was also quite cheap, only 3,500 including installation, or 5,000 for a better-quality one.

Chu Mingcheng had thought it would cost ten or twenty thousand, so the actual price was much cheaper than he expected, and he immediately chose the 5,000 Big Coins option.

However, at that moment, the salesperson added, “If you’re planning to specifically fish for large species, I’d suggest buying at least a class-two fishing boat instead.”

“Those boats have special refrigerated holds, and they’re built to withstand high winds and waves with extended endurance, allowing you to venture into farther waters. Your current small boat can only operate near the coast, so I don’t suppose you will use the crane that often.”

“After all, big Stone Fish weighing two hundred pounds are quite rare to encounter, aren’t they?”

“Are you under some kind of misconception about me?” Chu Mingcheng said, amused.

“Misconception?” The salesperson was startled upon hearing this.

“Do you think I seem like someone who can afford a class-two fishing boat?” Chu Mingcheng said with conviction.

Eight hundred thousand Big Coins could only buy this small boat, so a class-two fishing boat over sixteen meters in length must cost several million, right?

“Uh, you might have a misunderstanding. Economically suitable class-one and even class-two fishing boats aren’t as expensive as you imagine,” the salesperson said with a smile and then gestured toward the eastern side of the shipyard, “Our shipyard has acquired a seventy-eight-foot class-two fishing boat. Would you care to take a look? The price will definitely surprise you.”

“Even if you aren’t buying now, getting a preliminary understanding doesn’t hurt, right? Moreover, the installation of the crane will take some time; why not have a look?”

With just over two hundred thousand Big Coins on him and his father’s life savings yet unpaid, Chu Mingcheng indeed had no plans to change boats.

But as the salesperson said, what was the harm in just checking it out?

So, he followed the salesperson to the shipyard’s east dock and saw a large white fishing boat.

The salesperson led him onto the boat and began introducing it: “This is a seventy-eight-foot class-two fishing boat, suitable for going two hundred nautical miles out to sea to fish for deep-sea fish.”

“This boat is 23.8 meters long and 5.06 meters wide, and it was only launched in the year 2020.”

After learning the basic information about the boat, Chu Mingcheng followed the salesperson inside.

Upon entering, the kitchen was to the left and the restroom was to the right.

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To be fair, with a larger boat comes more space, and the kitchen and restroom both appeared to be about the same size as those in his own house.

Further inside was the salon area, laid out similarly to the sofa lounge area on Chu Mingcheng’s own fishing vessel, except much larger – the sofas on both sides could seat twenty people if squeezed together.

Next was the cockpit, which had only a single seat, clearly indicating that this nearly twenty-four-meter boat also only required one person to pilot.

As long as the boat didn’t exceed twenty-four meters, Chu Mingcheng’s pilot license would suffice.

Thus, domestic fishing boats usually cap at seventy-eight feet in length.

Outfitted with a domestic six hundred horsepower inboard engine, it boasted a top speed of only twenty knots and a cruising speed of fifteen knots.

The cruising speed is also the economic speed, which uses less fuel.

Yet for such a large boat, an economic cruising speed of fifteen knots is already sufficient.

Below the cockpit were the bedrooms, totaling four rooms.

But the rooms were very rudimentary, truly meant just for sleeping with only a tatami mat, hardly resembling proper rooms.

There were three single rooms and one large common room, which could sleep twelve people.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng lost half of his interest in the boat.

If he were to buy a big boat, he wouldn’t need so many rooms, and the salon area being too spacious wasn’t practical either.

Next, they went to the front deck. The rear deck of this boat wasn’t very spacious, with the main space being on the front deck.

There was a freezer hold at the bow, but it was only five cubic meters – way too small. The live well wasn’t large either, placed outside and below the front window of the cockpit.

After understanding all this, Chu Mingcheng shook his head.

Given that his outboard was getting stronger with use, this boat could function for now, but it would soon be obsolete.

He was definitely going to focus on catching large Golden Spearfish and Flagfish in the future, so what was he to do with such a small freezer hold?

Plus, he was not fond of class-two fishing boats. If he were to change boats, he would certainly go straight for a class-one, capable of going to the Public Sea.

The boat had decent endurance, capable of 400 nautical miles, and the outboard motor had only been used for a little over two hundred hours. Maybe the owner couldn’t afford the fuel costs?

“What do you think? This boat is only a little over 2.2 million – unexpected, right? Intrigued?” the salesperson asked with a smile after the introduction.

Chu Mingcheng was indeed slightly tempted upon hearing that it was just over two million, as it was much lower than he had thought.

But he quickly shook his head: “This boat is not very practical for me; the storage space for catches is too small. Clearly, this boat is meant for renting out to groups for fishing trips, which is not a service I provide.”

“Also, it’s a pity that this boat isn’t a class-one, given its size.”

If it were a class-one, despite being nearly twenty-four meters, its ability to withstand the waves would be several levels higher.

Except in extreme weather conditions, heading to the Public Sea would be perfectly fine.

But in extreme weather conditions, most boats would be in danger anyway!