Road Trip!!

Steve said:

Originally Posted by Ski in NC
Let me also put in a plug for Coastal Explorer. That thing was running the whole trip in an old HP laptop. No bugs, no crashes, no wierdness at all. Just reliably plotted course and speed on the charts. And the charts switch over seemlessly as you move and scale in/out. Very nice piece of software.

Sounds good, What are you doing for GPS input? Does the HP have it's own antenna built in or are using a remote antenna of some sort, if so which PLS.
Thanks! Bon voyage!

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GPS antenna pluggged into USB port. Inexpensive and works well even with antenna inside pilothouse. Simple simple and works.

Arrived yesterday in Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands. Spent the morning fixing a leak in my old soooo tired dink. For you fellow travelers, get some fresh glue for your patch kit. That stuff goes stale in the tube, especially if opened.

Dink seems ok now, stale glue aside. Took a run around the island. 40yr old Evinrude still plugs along.

This is a neat place to stop. Crew gathering at sunset with pot luck going on. Dockmaster joined in, first rate dude.

Rum is cheap. Beer expensive. Folks friendly.

Next stop. Abacos. Weather dependent, but looks fair.

Ski in NC said:

Arrived yesterday in Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands. Spent the morning fixing a leak in my old soooo tired dink. For you fellow travelers, get some fresh glue for your patch kit. That stuff goes stale in the tube, especially if opened.

Dink seems ok now, stale glue aside. Took a run around the island. 40yr old Evinrude still plugs along.

This is a neat place to stop. Crew gathering at sunset with pot luck going on. Dockmaster joined in, first rate dude.

Rum is cheap. Beer expensive. Folks friendly.

Next stop. Abacos. Weather dependent, but looks fair.

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Are you going to stop at Schooner bay? Supposedly it's a nice marina/village on the rise.

Where's that? Is that the new place N of Hole In The Wall?

Ski in NC said:

Where's that? Is that the new place N of Hole In The Wall?

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Yup.

Thanks, I'll look it up. Hoping to make Elbow in one go, but nice to have closer options.

Ski in NC said:

Thanks, I'll look it up. Hoping to make Elbow in one go, but nice to have closer options.

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Yep, have fun!

Made it to Hope Town with no issues. Could only run abt 15kts east in Providence Channel, seas were slight, but short. Made the turn at Hole in the Wall, bumped it up to 18kts. Came in inlet N of Lynyard Cay, no sweat there. 98 mile day. Piddled around Hope Town for the day, now in Treasure. Going to check the weather and based on that decide on the crossing back to the states. I think there is some snot to the north I need to be aware of.

Boat is doing well. No troubles.

dink patch with stale glue... holding up ok!!!!

Hey Ski ,
If you're in Treasure we have some friends there ,Ed and Cindy Newell . They own and operate Abaco Estate Services .They live across from the marina to the right. They have a blue sport fisher about 32 ft or so and its on a lift behind their house . You might can see it from the marina . We visited them a couple years ago and had a blast . Her mom owns a development that never got up an going because of hurricane . It's now just some canals with two or three homes . She rents what docks are there to the Moorings for a hurricane hole . We made it around most of the area there . I liked
Man O War the best . I got to go back in the shop while Joe Albury was framing up one of his Abaco Dinghies . Sounds like a great trip, have fun .

Made it back to NC. Whew. What a trip. No problems at all with the boat. Total R/T 2208nm. Too wiped out and too afraid to total the fuel burn. Credit card is smouldering.

Road trip done.

Great trip, Ski! Don't you just love it when a plan comes together!? Thanks for taking us along!

Been wondering how your trip was going. Glad it had a good conclusion. Better let the fuel card cool off a bit.

2200nm! Impressive trip!

Was that all solo? How many days?

Finally gathered trip data. Typo on NM, it's actually 2101.

Total miles 2101NM
Fuel burned 1014gal
Eng hrs 176
Gen hrs 88
Total days 30

Dipstick makes for tank readings accurate to within a couple gallons. Very handy.

Considering gen burns about 1gal in 3hrs avg, main engine burned 985 for below numbers:

Avg speed 11.9kts
Avg NM/gal 2.13
Avg GPH 5.60

Long stretches I ran 18-21kts at 1800 to 2050rpm. Sometimes when rough I'd run around 14. At night or if in no hurry, 7.5kts at 950 to 1000rpm.

Added 1/2gal of oil to main engine, none to gennie.

Dink fuel: 2gal. And that's a lot of running on a 2hp Evinrude!!

Total expenses: Fuel, dockage, food, eating out, beer, water, bait: About $5000.

Itinerary, port to port:

Wrightsville Beach NC
Fernandina Fla
Ft Pierce
Cudjoe Key Fla, stayed almost 2wks to help out the folks..
Marathon
Fakahatchee Pass, S of Marco Island Fla
Somewhere SW of Lk Okeechobee
Stuart Fla, then inside to Palm Beach
West End, Grand Bahama Island
Somewhere just east of Freeport, GBI
Great Harbor Cay, Berry Islands
Hope Town, Elbow Cay
Treasure Cay
Little Sale Cay, anchored for the night
Daytona Beach, Fla
Charleston, SC
Back to Wrightsville Beach

Done.

Love to see people out cruising like you did. Great trip.

Great trip Ski. Thanks for taking us along . That's the way to cruise .

Ski in NC said:

Total expenses: Fuel, dockage, food, eating out, beer, water, bait: About $5000.

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Not bad at all for a 30 day vacation.

"Finally gathered trip data. Typo on NM, it's actually 2101."


Dang Ski and I was so proud of my recent 300 mile trip!

We just love reading of such trips. I'm sure many others think we're all crazy. We have neighbors who live on the water but their idea of a vacation is flying to Europe or South America. They just spent a month in Italy and it sounded great, but we'd rather spend a month on the water anytime. When we vacation in Europe it will be going there by boat. We just love to get on the water and go. We enjoy both the trip and the destinations.