Alaska Inside Passage

Here is a link to a guy that just completed the trip from Seattle to Whittier Alaska. Start on page 2, post #24. Lots of pics and stories. I am waiting for his last installment from Icy Straites to Preince William Sound (PWS) which he stated took him 44 hours.

Inside Passage - Page 2

Steve posted his last entry. It took him 44 hours to go from Cape Spencer to The entrance of PWS at Hitchinbrook Straits, 330 miles. You will enjoy his last post.

Alaska Sea Duction

Here's a link to our inside passage trip this spring. It was a good trip but not without its perils. An epic adventure if ever there was one.

Kevin and jamisons great alaskan adventure

Our new 4788 Bayliner is in Seward as we could not get a 50' slip in my lifetime.

We were in Whittier for over a decade. If you're a berthholder in Whittier then I can say that we've almost 100% ran into each other over the years. I had Taz a 3488 Bayliner, American Dream a 2859 Bayliner, and Nauti Gal a 242 Bayliner.

ksanders said:

Alaska Sea Duction

Here's a link to our inside passage trip this spring. It was a good trip but not without its perils. An epic adventure if ever there was one.

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Great blog with a good story. Thanks for posting, Kevin. It had to be even more special sharing the trip with your son.

Moonstruck said:

Great blog with a good story. Thanks for posting, Kevin. It had to be even more special sharing the trip with your son.

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Thanks, we had a great time. The last time I made the trip was 2003 and my son could not get leave from the Coast Guard to make the trip.

The next time we make the trip I'm hoping it will be with the admrial and we can take a couple of months. There were allot of places along the way that I would like to explore more.

Thanks for the posting. I included this story over on Outdoorsdirectory to add to the inside passage stories. I am glad you made it OK through the rough weather in the gulf. Getting inside PWS must have been a relief and rest easy feeling. I wonder what Bayliner/Brunswick would say if you contacted them about the water leaking through the port windows?

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

I wonder what Bayliner/Brunswick would say if you contacted them about the water leaking through the port windows?

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I don't know, the boat is 11 years old, and Meridian quit making the pilothouse models in 2008.

I'm just going to re-bed the portholes and leave it at that. I might replace them if I don't like the design when I get a closer look at them. We'll have to see.

Overall I think the 4788 is a great cruiser but like any boat it has its creaks, leaks, etc... It is a boat after all.

ksanders said:

I don't know, the boat is 11 years old, and Meridian quit making the pilothouse models in 2008.

I'm just going to re-bed the portholes and leave it at that. I might replace them if I don't like the design when I get a closer look at them. We'll have to see.

Overall I think the 4788 is a great cruiser but like any boat it has its creaks, leaks, etc... It is a boat after all.

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Good point. Didn't realize it was that old. How many hours were on the engines when you got her? What engines came with her? Hino?

We are looking at upgrading to a bigger boat and are gathering info...

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Good point. Didn't realize it was that old. How many hours were on the engines when you got her? What engines came with her? Hino?

We are looking at upgrading to a bigger boat and are gathering info...

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The 4788 came with Hino engines up through the 1995 model year. After that they used the Cummins 5.9L engine, either 330 or 370 HP.

I bought the boat as a mechanically neglected Repo that had been run hard out of Newport Oregon. One Cummins engine had high blowby and the other was marginal.

I repowered the boat with factory Reman Cummins 330's, repropped it properly, and completely restored the boat to factory new condition before bring it home this spring. It was 8 months in the shipyard for the refit.

Wow you must be retired! I have 3-years. Did you have a problem getting a slip in Seward?

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Wow you must be retired! I have 3-years. Did you have a problem getting a slip in Seward?

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I'm not retred yet but I only work part time (sloper). I have to get the boat paid off first.

I had the shipyard do the refit. I spent a week on the boat last November when I signed off on the new engines.

The wait list for a 50' slip is 2-3 years in Seward. Its a lifetime in whittier. You can also buy a 50' slip at Cliffside in Whittier for around $125K, but at least for me that would have been a show stopper.

When looking at boats, we considered everything from 40' and up, and up to $350K. I wanted a trawler, the admrial wanted something a little less dark on the inside than a old trawler, and she wanted the option of higher speeds. We settled on the 4788 Bayliner or 490 Meridian (same exact boat).

Then it was just finding the best bang for the buck. The repo was just that. It allowed us to get a pretty much brand new boat for around the same price as units with 1000-1500 hours on them.

This way I KNOW my engines are good. and I know the complete maintenance history.