Alaska/boating newbie seeking info

Without going back to see the length of boat in discussion but reading one post stating 30 feet, and as a fellow who has shipped two boats of that size to Ketchikan let me chime in.

The cost of shipping our two boats varied due to the span of years between, the first cost around


$2500 and the second more recent in the last three years, was near $3700. Both times cribbing was required as we don't have a trailer. Trailer cost is a bit cheaper. The barge line is cautious and very professional in raising the boat in Seattle and the process of unloading in Ketchikan is equally as careful.
The peace of mind of shipping a unknown boat insured to Ketchikan really outpaced the desire to 'Take the Trip' when one will have an equally enjoyable time sharing with very similar country in one's home area. A trip from Ketchikan to Sitka will include enough adventure for an untried boat as it is over the longer voyage anticipated.

Regards,
Al-Ketchikan 27'Marben Pocket CRUISER

My first trip up in a 24' planing hull I ran from Seattle to Juneau in 6 days, sat in Juneau for a week waiting for the wind to quit blowing, and then ran from there to Seward in 5 more. There is only one exposed stretch of water to run and everything else is inside protective islands. IF the weather is horrible it could slow you down or stop you, otherwise it's a piece of cake.

In the Willard I ran Anacortes to Ketchikan in 8 days making 7 knots through the water (not SOG, through the water). The 13 days to Sitka is very realistic even for a full displacement hull IF you are willing to put in full days running (anchoring at night) and not wander off course from a direct line to your destination.

My last trip up was 14 days from Anacortes to Whittier, with one stop for fuel in Ketchikan and one stop for beer in Alert Bay. However, the weather WAS perfect! You will have extra daylight in May and June, and I have done my two trips up in late May and early June each time.

I agree with Doug in his post above.

We have both made this trip, more than once in boats new to us.

He can do it, no problem. Can he do it in 13 days? Well that's not a for sure.

This might sound foreign to lower 48'ers but what the OP is contemplating is pretty typical of Alaskan's and their boats.

We buy a boat, typically in the PACNW and we drive it home. Happens all the time.

My slip mate, an orthodontist rebuilt one of his transmissions on his salon table in Ketchican on his boats maiden voyage.

I replaced a starter on one of my brand new engines in Ketchikan as well.

Us Alaskan's are a pretty resourceful bunch you know.

I would also think that most people on this forum err towards the conservative side try to do things better and safer.

Syllogistically, they wouldn't be here seeking and dispensing knowledge if they weren't that way.

I think there is a happy medium between some of us here and the guy who does it in a speedboat with a roadmap, sleeping bag and a few dozen beer.

If you play it too safe, you sit at home and just think about it. Adventures are where you get experience, if you never have challenges you never get experience. The best adventures are often difficulties overcome. JMO

AKDoug said:

If you play it too safe, you sit at home and just think about it. Adventures are where you get experience, if you never have challenges you never get experience. The best adventures are often difficulties overcome. JMO

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Exactly.

Well I perhaps should'nt be here.

I ran my own personal boat to Alaska under very primative conditions. It was just a freshly launched 28' plywood OB boat w only a small and temporary cabin. I decided to go from Prince Rupert to Juneau instead of back to Puget Sound. I set out w a hiking compass and an Alaska State Ferries map that they gave out to tourists.

I made it to Juneau and had the most memorable boat trip of my life. But I think I used a great deal of my Sagatarian luck to get there. It was all about youth. Would'nt do it today but I think I'd me more likely to than most.

But there are the reckless adventurers and the cautious cappys but most here are probably in-between.

There is a blend of calculation and risk taking, with preparation, estimating risk and playing the odds for success. If your estimation of the risk is correct you have adventures, if incorrect you have misadventures. I never stop balancing the odds, listening to weather and looking at every aspect of my cruise from fuel, time, and my physical condition, as I travel. I think I'll start another thread called "where experience comes from", so we can all tell stories about things we've learned along the way

Go! when conditions are reasonably calm.

AKDoug said:

My first trip up in a 24' planing hull I ran from Seattle to Juneau in 6 days, sat in Juneau for a week waiting for the wind to quit blowing, and then ran from there to Seward in 5 more. There is only one exposed stretch of water to run and everything else is inside protective islands. IF the weather is horrible it could slow you down or stop you, otherwise it's a piece of cake.

In the Willard I ran Anacortes to Ketchikan in 8 days making 7 knots through the water (not SOG, through the water). The 13 days to Sitka is very realistic even for a full displacement hull IF you are willing to put in full days running (anchoring at night) and not wander off course from a direct line to your destination.

My last trip up was 14 days from Anacortes to Whittier, with one stop for fuel in Ketchikan and one stop for beer in Alert Bay. However, the weather WAS perfect! You will have extra daylight in May and June, and I have done my two trips up in late May and early June each time.

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Doug, your experiences are outstanding. I'd bet the forum would enjoy, respect all the tale(s) that are related to your trips. I for one would for sure.
Tip of the hat to you,
Al-Ketchikan 27'Marben Pocket CRUISER

There's a 38' Californian for sale in Seward at the moment. It's on CL.

Andy

One year in mid May we were in a weather shut down with about 30 boats in Port Hardy for 5 days. The next year it was reasonably smooth water (for us but not for all) from Sidney to Ketchikan with the right currents all the way and 75 to 120 miles per day at about 8 knots. Seven long but easy days if mother nature and tides/currents are good.

With no schedule it is a fun delivery type trip with lots of enjoyment along the way if weathered in somewhere.

My wife and I cruise Southeast every summer and currently keep our 36ft trawler in Ketchikan. We do make it up to and cruise around Sitka during the summer and would be happy to have you come aboard, explore and answer all of your questions.

Thank you all so much for your help and generosity, I'll let you know as this story develops and I'm very excited about whatever might happen.

I received a PM a few days ago saying "Your proposed time line is lunacy. I hope it's born of lack of knowledge...Anything less than one full month for that trip is unreasonable and even reckless" and from that started thinking maybe I was being pretty stupid. I've been all over the world and been in my share of sticky situations. Now that I'm a little older, I put a lot more effort into weighing the pros and cons, calculating risks, and try to plan for all of the unexpecteds I can think of, which usually guarantees the ones I didn't think of will happen. I appreciate the various comments and perspectives, as well as ideas and suggestions. I have a long way to go, and perhaps something will come up a lot closer, but I think I'm going to start getting into some books and studying charts. Thanks again, and I'll gladly accept any and all input...unless it's lunacy!

30 days!

https://r2ak.com/stage-2-results/

Heck, a solo kayaker did it in 23.

We've made the trip from Seattle to Sitka in a 48 Tollycraft. It was an adventure to say the least, and we were with one of the best captains I know. We took what we considered to be a long, meandering journey up - stopping in some memorable places, and it took us 2 weeks. We could have made it in half that time, but it would have been miserable. We had beautiful weather, and we had terrifying weather - all in the same trip.

I would not feel comfortable making that particular trip on a boat I didn't know very well, but that's just me. When we bought our 30' in 2009, we had it shipped up!

theshadow said:

We've made the trip from Seattle to Sitka in a 48 Tollycraft. !

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The Tolly 48 is one of my favorites. I've been on one with twin Cummins 6bts and it cruised effortlessly at about 18 knots when the weather was right.

Alaska

This is our third season cruising the BC coast. I wanted to do Alaska but the Admral is very nervous about going. We decided to join up with the Waggoners flotilla to Ketchikan and Juneau. They have a 3 day seminar in March for those thinking on cruising to Alaska. This is certainly cheaper than a captain and you get to meet some likeminded people and have the security of an experienced guide. We are looking forward to our trip this May.

Gbonas said:

This is our third season cruising the BC coast. I wanted to do Alaska but the Admral is very nervous about going. We decided to join up with the Waggoners flotilla to Ketchikan and Juneau. They have a 3 day seminar in March for those thinking on cruising to Alaska. This is certainly cheaper than a captain and you get to meet some likeminded people and have the security of an experienced guide. We are looking forward to our trip this May.

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Hi Gbonas,

FWIW, after 3 summers cruising the south BC coast for 2-4 weeks each summer, we took off for SE Alaska (by road up to Prince Rupert) in our C-Dory 22 Cruiser. Spent two months wandering all over, and loved it. BC should prepare you well, at least if you have lived through some snotty weather, both underway and at anchor.

SE AK has longer, wider, and straighter major channels which can get nasty on bad days, especially when wind is opposed to tidal current. When you're traveling one of those, think about the possibilities. Key is to stay in touch with weather conditions and forecast, avoid significant wind vs current, and have bailout anchorages picked out ahead of time.

robs523 said:

Thank you all so much for your help and generosity, I'll let you know as this story develops and I'm very excited about whatever might happen.

I received a PM a few days ago saying "Your proposed time line is lunacy. I hope it's born of lack of knowledge...Anything less than one full month for that trip is unreasonable and even reckless"

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Yet you've has posts on this thread from several who have actually made the trip successfully in much less time.

The next time I traverse the inside passage from Seward, Alaska south I will be planning on a month to make the voyage.

Not because I can't do it in less time, but because on my other journeys i have not had the time to stop and see much along the way.

My journey is 1500 NM. Your is half that.

Gbonas said:

This is our third season cruising the BC coast. I wanted to do Alaska but the Admral is very nervous about going. We decided to join up with the Waggoners flotilla to Ketchikan and Juneau. They have a 3 day seminar in March for those thinking on cruising to Alaska. This is certainly cheaper than a captain and you get to meet some likeminded people and have the security of an experienced guide. We are looking forward to our trip this May.

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As RCook indicated watch your weather! Here is a site I believe you must have on your phone and onboard notepad,computer.

https://www.windyty.com/?55.615,-131.585,1

This side is dead on with wind forecast as well, as you play with it, waves and temp. The really neat thing about this site is you can view Google Earth at the same time. I say this as follows. On my iPhone I only have wind application and with a click on the screen at the proper location (Horizontal three bars) I access the wind velocity control slide allowing me to go from Google earth to showing the intensity of the wind.
Study Southeast Alaska to day and you can see a storm front approaching.

I believe a GPS embedded in your units will assist as it is a GPS application.

Welcome

You have picked a spectacular slice of the world to start boating in. I searched long and hard for our trawler and everybody has different needs but if I were in your situation I would look long and hard at the mainship 34'. It's rugged and simple. I've owned 32' bayliner and frankly would not feel comfortable in that boat in Alaskan waters. The mainship hàs nice cabins, a large cockpit for fishing etc. And doesn't have the same deck rot problems that some of the Taiwanese boats have. A single diesel with a bow thruster is ideal. Spend some good money on navigation and communication equipment. There is lots of things to run into and if you do it is important that you can get help when you need it. Good luck, enjoy the search.

Roughin'it said:

I've owned 32' bayliner and frankly would not feel comfortable in that boat in Alaskan waters.

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Interesting considering that in the 32' size, the Bayliner is far and away the most popular recreational boat found in Alaskan waters.

I guess us Alaskans just do not know our own waters very well.

Kevin,
Probably for the same reasons it is down here .. if it is and I'll bet it is.

I would be fine in the 32' Bayliner in Alaska. I wouldn't have taken the outside Sitka to Port Angeles route back perhaps and would have limited some of the other crossings, but remaining inside most of the time, not an issue.

I have worked on the 34 mainship and the 32 bayliner. I much prefer the former, I can hardly fit in the ER of the bayliner. There is a fellow here that is the size of a 12 yo boy that most of the bayliner owners use to work in the ER.

Old deckhand said:

I have worked on the 34 mainship and the 32 bayliner. I much prefer the former, I can hardly fit in the ER of the bayliner. There is a fellow here that is the size of a 12 yo boy that most of the bayliner owners use to work in the ER.

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In that size range, two feet makes a big difference sometimes. The 34 Mainship is a significantly larger boat. Weighs 8000 lbs more, beam is 2'9" more I believe.

ksanders said:

Interesting considering that in the 32' size, the Bayliner is far and away the most popular recreational boat found in Alaskan waters.

I guess us Alaskans just do not know our own waters very well.

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Yep what he said!

There are some L48 folks that don't get it.........

thanks everyone. I've looked into the Mainship 34 and most of the ones I've found have either been redone inside and we don't really like the set-up (just a small couch for seating, for one example) or they haven't been redone at all and would need to be. I'm not opposed to a Bayliner but I'd prefer diesel and I don't know enough about the hino motors or if there's anyone here to work on them. Plus I've heard so much about them not always being built great that I'm a little nervous about getting one of the maybe lesser-built models. I could research it more but then I wouldn't have time to shop for boats!

The biggest thing is that we just really like the layout of the trawler styles that have room to walk all the way around, have plenty of room inside and have a nice sized deck. The idea of cruising for a few days sounds great, but the slow speed is also the biggest dilemma I have. Going out to troll or dip net for salmon for a day trip, or even trying to do a hunting day trip with the short fall and winter days, when 4 or 5 hours of the trip is just transportation is something I'm having a hard time with. I keep telling myself that what I gain in size will be worth what I lose in speed, but in all honesty I'm not 100%. It just seems like it checks off more boxes than the small power boat. So far the 34' Californian seems to have a decent combination of size and speed for what we plan on doing. That being said, I'm going to look at a Grand Banks 32 tomorrow so this could all very easily change. Thanks

Slow boats are for old folks that have the time. If I were you living in Sitka , working full time, I would be looking at a fast planing boat like a Sea Sport or Osprey. Boats you can actually go somewhere on a weekend or in a few hours after work. Something with out boards or out
drives that allow you to replace props easily, can put on a trailer for the winter, run rapids at speed. A smaller 26-32' boat with 2-300 miles of range would be far more useful. How many slow charter boats do you see in the harbor, not many I would say.