Something Different

Just returned from a quick trip from Washington to Ft. Lauderdale Fla. to do the shortest delivery I have ever done. Total distance on the water was about 3.5 miles! by water and 5500 by air. Total time gone 44 hrs.

Delivery was of a 70' fast ( 40 kt ) catamaran passenger vessel with just under 4000 HP. She is headed to San Fransisco via Panama and being unloaded in Ensenada Mex. The plan is to head down there in a couple weeks to pick her up there.

The ship was loading 40 yachts in Ft Lauderdale, attached are a couple pics of the loading, including one with a 50' trawler being lifted at the same time.
All went off without an issue and the loading crew seemed pretty professional. The ETA in Ensenada is 16 days.

HOLLYWOOD

Lovely clics

Thanks for sharing, loved the reflecting light pics.

would love to see some pics of the next phase

Nice pics, thanks for sharing. What kind of boat is the blue/white on?

South of Heaven said:

Nice pics, thanks for sharing. What kind of boat is the blue/white on?

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I'm not sure, Looked looked beautiful.

I will update this on the next leg of the trip, looking forward to blasting up the California coast, should be the fastest trip I have made along that section of the coast.

Hollywood

Just returned from the second leg of bringing this passenger catamaran from Florida to San Fransisco, This was to retrieve the boat in Ensenada BC. off the ship she was loaded on in Ft. Lauderdale and bring her back into the US and deliver her to a San Diego yard for upgrades before the final move to the San Fransisco Bay area. A unique opportunity to move a foil assisted cat that can top out in the 45+ kt. range.

Here is a video of her moving offshore.
She was moving along at 33kts @ 69% power output

Just over 2 hrs from Ensenada to San Diego.
See the link for a video of her moving offshore.

HOLLYWOOD

That is moving!!!

All my previous trips along that coast have been at 8kts or less.. ironically if conditions were better the boat can get better fuel economy going another 5-7 kts..

At 33 the boat still is only burning 3 gpm.. which In trawler terms seems like a lot but it wouldn't change much with 80 people onboard.

She has a just launched sister ship that is bigger 110 passengers, and gets better fuel economy than this boat.. the interesting thing about these boats is with the foil the new boat has a 1 kt top speed difference between empty ship and full fuel and 110 persons aboard.. crazy

Definitely a cool experience

HOLLYWOOD

Is this one of the cats that are being built in Franklin, La.?

Custom Builders of Commercial Aluminum Boats - Gulf Craft, LLC

METAL SHARK

Ptetty cool and that is moving!

South of Heaven said:

Nice pics, thanks for sharing. What kind of boat is the blue/white on?

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Looks like a Grand Banks Aleutian.

What company did the transport? I have clients ask about suggestions often.

yachtbrokerguy said:

What company did the transport? I have clients ask about suggestions often.

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It was united, the ship had 40 boats of various sizes aboard. It went pretty well. The schedule slipped a couple of days from loading in Florida to discharge in Ensenada.

As far as the boat goes the boat below is a sister ship and the newest whale watch boat on Puget Sound. It is the 3rd generation of foil assisted cats the owner i was working for owns. Its even faster with a lower seat/ghp .. and its beautiful inside and out

HOLLYWOOD

hollywood8118 said:

It was united, the ship had 40 boats of various sizes aboard. It went pretty well. The schedule slipped a couple of days from loading in Florida to discharge in Ensenada.

As far as the boat goes the boat below is a sister ship and the newest whale watch boat on Puget Sound. It is the 3rd generation of foil assisted cats the owner i was working for owns. Its even faster with a lower seat/ghp .. and its beautiful inside and out

HOLLYWOOD

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You're a busy boy Hollywood! I guess building high end homes isn't enough work for you.

I saw her sister ship in PT a couple of weeks ago, and it certainly looked fast.

C'mon man. Do they really pay you to have all that fun and get all those great experiences? I want your job.


Thanks for sharing those pics and your story with us.

hollywood8118 said:

All my previous trips along that coast have been at 8kts or less.. ironically if conditions were better the boat can get better fuel economy going another 5-7 kts..

At 33 the boat still is only burning 3 gpm.. which In trawler terms seems like a lot but it wouldn't change much with 80 people onboard.

She has a just launched sister ship that is bigger 110 passengers, and gets better fuel economy than this boat.. the interesting thing about these boats is with the foil the new boat has a 1 kt top speed difference between empty ship and full fuel and 110 persons aboard.. crazy

Definitely a cool experience

HOLLYWOOD

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Very nice to be sure. And interesting about the speeds with and without 10 ton of meat on board.
Do you have any pics out of the water showing the foils? Are they passive foils or active?

Insequent said:

Very nice to be sure. And interesting about the speeds with and without 10 ton of meat on board.
Do you have any pics out of the water showing the foils? Are they passive foils or active?

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I will see if I can find a pic, the foil is active, its adjustable from the bridge, on the new boat I believe it lifts the boat up about 18" reducing the wetted area considerably. The foil on the new boat was machined out of solid billet aluminum on All American Marine's CNC router. I was at the facility when the new boat build was underway and the place was really impressive. The foil on the new boat has dihedral and is swept and the cat actually leans a little into a turn live a v hull does.

HOLLYWOOD

Delfin said:

You're a busy boy Hollywood! I guess building high end homes isn't enough work for you.

I saw her sister ship in PT a couple of weeks ago, and it certainly looked fast.

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Carl,
The 3 stage move of the boat is definitely a tough one on the schedule of my day to day job. I feel really fortunate to be able to juggle both. The eventual plan is for the Admiral and I to do more deliveries together and build homes on a limited basis.. but who knows. In the time being I do a few of these trips to keep my self current and get some sea time on great boats. The tough thing is that my Ocean Alex has suffered greatly this year as we also built a new home for ourselves.
Luckily I seem to do really well on 6hrs or less of sleep a night.

Drop me a PM the next time your in P.T., its my turn to provide the bottle!
HOLLYWOOD

Also took this video from the bridge while underway, I was trying different foil settings to see the speed difference. The ride up in the bridge was pretty smooth and the speed is really deceiving. I find I really have to watch the boat and drop two engines offline or she idles too fast for 5mph. no wake zones

HOLLYWOOD

Last weekend I completed leg three of the move of the fast passenger ferry .
The move was San Diego to San Francisco, with a scheduled stop in Ventura for some welding in the engine rooms.

Total Miles 500
Total time 35 hours
Running hours 24
Top Speed 45 Kts
Biggest Seas 12'@7 sec
Diesel Used 2200 gallons
Crew 3

Fuel stops,
San Diego, Ventura, Morro Bay, Santa Cruz.

We launched the boat Saturday am at 0700, topped of the tank and headed to Ventura. Had the welding done and pushed off for Morro Bay.
Arrived in Morro Bay @ 2200 hrs, The Coasties cam out to meet us and were really helpful in finding us a dock in the dark.
Day two started with thick fog for the first 100 miles, ran into pretty uncomfortable see conditions off Pt. Conception and Monterey. Cruised under the golden Gate the blasted down the San Francisco waterfront at 45kts.. a great way to cap off the trip.

Hollywood

Nice! Now that has to be more fun than your other day job!

added pics..
HOLLYWOOD

Insequent said:

Nice! Now that has to be more fun than your other day job!

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It can be.. this will be the focus of my "second life"

It turned out ok .. but the schedule was very tight and the weather was supposed to be 25-30 gusting 35. not great conditions to be in a high speed aluminum cat.
Fun boat to skipper but she was a handful.
HOLLYWOOD

Great posts Hollywood. Nice to see pros hanging around TF to keep us puff chesters in line. Any thoughts on a Cat that size vs a similar sized mono hull? We’ll try to catch up with you this fall in PT.

Quite the ride, Hollywood! Are you still in the bay area? I'm hanging onboard in Vallejo if you want to get together for a meal or a drink. Need transportation?

12' @ 7 seconds sounds more than a little unpleasant.

dhays said:

12' @ 7 seconds sounds more than a little unpleasant.

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It was really bad, the trick was to keep up some speed without breaking the boat ( literally). We had quite a few that were really something when you come over the top and there is a big hole due to the wave build on top of swell from two directions.

It was never dangerous.. but it sure did have a big pucker factor!
HOLLYWOOD

FlyWright said:

Quite the ride, Hollywood! Are you still in the bay area? I'm hanging onboard in Vallejo if you want to get together for a meal or a drink. Need transportation?

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Thanks for the offer, flew out Monday am to get back to the daily job.
HOLLYWOOD