Moving a trawler up the Jersey Shore

[BuoyOBuoy]

I am a real Newbie. A long time sailor who has moved to the "dark" side.
I bought a trawler on the Chesapeake and want to move her along the Jersey shore and up the Hudson.
She is too high without detaching the fly bridge to have her trucked, so I am looking to bring her up myself with on / off crew.
I am looking for any commentary on how I can best so this.
She is a 34' Mainship with "good bones" and a good engine according to a recent survey.
I have done the same trip single handed numerous times in a 34' Catalina.
Because I have no sails this time, my biggest concern is if I should break down and can't sail my way out of trouble.
I'm looking for common sense advice.
Also I could use someone with trawler experience who could help me as crew.
Compensation would be groceries and a stipend as well as the adventure.
PM me if you are interested or know someone who is.

[DavidM]

If you go outside, and you don't have to for the most part, there is lots of support available if things go wrong. Make sure that your BoatUS or SeaTow membership is up to date, your VHF is working and you also have their cell phone number handy.

I have been around NJ outside a half dozen times. Look for less than 4' seas, 2-3' would be better. Leaving Cape May you can make it to either Abescon Inlet (Atlantic City) and anchor off to the north just after you come in and before the bridge, or leave early and make it to Barnegat Inlet and anchor inside. Then it is a longish or easy day to NY Harbor the next day depending on where you stopped. Anchor just to the south of Liberty State Park in NJ. From there just pick your distance and anchorages to work your way up the Hudson. Use Active Captain to find them.

If you want to go inside you can do it with that boat. You can go all of the way to Manesquan Inlet and then it is only a few hours outside to get to NY harbor. The channel is windey and narrow sometimes so you will have to watch the markers carefully, but with your boat, draft won't be a problem. It will take another day to go that route.

Either way it is a trip that can be done single handed, but better with a crewperson to help out.

David

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Welcome aboard eh?

[Bacchus]

B-O-B

You didn't say whether you will do the NJ leg via ICW or "outside" or whether the MS is single or twins - assuming single or you wouldn't be as concerned.
I've done it outside on a 40 Catalina delivery w/ new owner and broker as crew...can't speak about ICW on this stretch - others may have some advice for that stretch.
I've also helped w/ a delivery Staten Is to Finger Lakes NY
One piece of advise would be to get a SeaTow Membership - they have coverage for NJ coast as well as Hudson.
Early season boating on the Hudson can be an issue especially after rains & hi water...lots of logs - many barely visible. The MS should be your friend from that aspect due to keel & sand shoe providing protection.

I see your home is St Catharines - are you taking her there? via Lk O or Erie Canal & Welland?

Take a look at my "Bacchus" website as I have some cruising notes for several legs of this trip.
I'll PM you re: crew - let me know if I can assist in any way.

[Marlinmike]

This really won't be much different then your sailboat although not sure what you cruise at, if above displacement speeds say 15-16 knots you could do the whole coast from Cape May to Sandy Hook, the Sandy hook to Haverstraw......

[ddalme]

Get Sea Tow. Don't ask me how I know

[Benthic2]

PM sent regarding crew help.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by BuoyOBuoy

I bought a trawler on the Chesapeake and want to move her along the Jersey shore and up the Hudson.

She is a 34' Mainship with "good bones" and a good engine according to a recent survey.

Originally Posted by Bacchus

B-O-B
You didn't say whether you will do the NJ leg via ICW or "outside" or whether the MS is single or twins - assuming single or you wouldn't be as concerned.

Originally Posted by Marlinmike

This really won't be much different then your sailboat although not sure what you cruise at, if above displacement speeds say 15-16 knots you could do the whole coast from Cape May to Sandy Hook, the Sandy hook to Haverstraw......

We had an '87 Mik III with single 220-hp DD 8.2T. As I recall, we could do 12 kts all day BUT that was loud. 10 kts was better, but 8-9 kts was what we usually cruised at. This from memory, and we all know how good that data might be 20 years later...

Where on the Chesapeake to start?

-Chris

[BuoyOBuoy]

Thanks Everyone.
Didn't expect such good advice so soon !
Taking the boat up the Hudson and Erie Canal to Oswego then west on Lake Ontario.
Mainship is single screw 300 HP Detroit Diesel.
For sure Sea Tow or Boat US. Wouldn't leave home without it !
Glad to hear that I can travel the ICW further north if weather doesn't let me go outside.
Again thanks for the advice

[Donna]

Stay away from Barnegat inlet if possible. Horrible inlet.

[DavidM]

Originally Posted by Donna

Stay away from Barnegat inlet if possible. Horrible inlet.

Yes, like most Atlantic inlets a strong east wind combined with an ebbing current can make that inlet rough and even unpassable. But 95% of the time it is fine. I have been in and out several times with no problems. But if I had to pick one inlet that was (almost) always passable, it would be Absecon at Atlantic City.

David

[kchace]

If you haven't done it yet, take the boat out a few times to get a feel for it and to make sure everything is reliable. Bring a reasonable set of tools and a few spare filters and get Sea Tow or Towboat.

Ken

[Comodave]

Last May we ran up the coast of NJ. We went from Cape May to Atlantic City. Then to Manasquan where my wife left her appendix. Then we ran the 20 or so miles to NY harbor. I don't recommend Manasquan if you are going to stay in a marina. Lots of really bad wakes and a lot of current. We didn't have much choice dur to the aforementioned appendix. We cruise about 10 MPH.

[High Wire]

Agree that you could go inside with that boat. Outside is faster. Day 1 Cape May to Absecon, then Day 2 Absecon to Manasquan. Over 15 knots of wind will beat you up outside. Pick your days carefully.
Also make sure you plot your courses to stay outside the 30 ft depth line. Some of the bars associated with the smaller inlets extend about 2 miles off the beach.

IMHO, you would be foolish to take an older, unproven-to-you single engine boat long distance without an UNLIMITED towing plan. Sea Tow and Boat/US are available on the whole coast plus Delaware Bay. Read each plan to be sure it meets your needs.

[BuoyOBuoy]

Originally Posted by djmarchand

If you go outside, and you don't have to for the most part, there is lots of support available if things go wrong. Make sure that your BoatUS or SeaTow membership is up to date, your VHF is working and you also have their cell phone number handy.

I have been around NJ outside a half dozen times. Look for less than 4' seas, 2-3' would be better. Leaving Cape May you can make it to either Abescon Inlet (Atlantic City) and anchor off to the north just after you come in and before the bridge, or leave early and make it to Barnegat Inlet and anchor inside. Then it is a longish or easy day to NY Harbor the next day depending on where you stopped. Anchor just to the south of Liberty State Park in NJ. From there just pick your distance and anchorages to work your way up the Hudson. Use Active Captain to find them.

If you want to go inside you can do it with that boat. You can go all of the way to Manesquan Inlet and then it is only a few hours outside to get to NY harbor. The channel is windey and narrow sometimes so you will have to watch the markers carefully, but with your boat, draft won't be a problem. It will take another day to go that route.

Either way it is a trip that can be done single handed, but better with a crewperson to help out.

David

Great advice and will use all of it. Repeating myself, I have lots of experience along the eastern seaboard to Florida Keys but always in a sailboat. But I am new to a trawler but not new to adventure !!
Would it be something you would be interested in for part of the journey. I have help from Nyack to Lake Ontario but looking for someone with experience to take me from Pasadena to Nyack. I have heard that you are familiar with the Jersey area.
PM me with a reply ??

[sealion2288]

This couple did The Loop and chose to go outside New Jersey instead the ICW route....

Adventures of Great Laker: May 2013

[psneeld]

Without stepping on too many toes....

Doing the New Jersey Intracoastal in a 34 Mainship is relatively easy.

Most of the inlets outside of storms aren't as bad as advertised, and the shallows are easily navigated with a less than 4 foot draft as long as you don't travel on dead low tides.

Sure, run outside to make time...but if caught in bad weather.....many, many loopers and snowbirders travel this way every year.

When in doubt, go slow and every port you stop in, buy the Sea Tow or BoatUS guy a beer and pick their brains.

[DavidM]

PM sent.

David

[DavidM]

I just finished helping Dennis move his 1979 Mainship 34 from Maryland to Waterford, NY. The following is a description of the boat, its systems, some of the problems and fixes along the way and the cruise in general. It is long, so bear with me or ......

The boat was purchased as a project and it is. It has no marine head and holding tank- just a Porta Potty, no autopilot, no DC fridge although it does have a small 120v fridge. And there are lots of cosmetic stuff that needs work.

But the engine is a jewel. The boat was repowered some years ago with a Detroit 8.2 taken from a bus and marinized with J&T manifolds, a sea water heat exchanger and a dry turbo (or maybe that is what the bus used). With the exception of a starting problem, the engine ran beautifully over 50 hours and burned about 3 gph of diesel at 1,500 rpm making 7.5 kts.

So, lets go day by day and combine solving problems with where we cruised that day:

First before I got there, Dennis was starting the engine every day and one day it wouldn't start, ie turn over. So he looked for a mechanic and finally found one. I was going to laud the mechanic and give his name, but if you read about what happened two days later, maybe not. He sent the starter out for rebuilding and changed the oil, the Racor filter and replaced the R/W impeller and pronounced the boat ready for a 600 mile trip.

I arrived the next day and after poking around a bit, I concluded that the starting battery (an 8D) wasn't getting charged by either the engine alternator or the shore power charger- a 100 amp Freedom 20 inverter/charger. But after poking around a bit with a meter I found a blown 100 amp fuse that feeds the ACR. It had a replacement fuse taped on and after changing it out, the starting battery charged just fine.

So we left Pasadena, Md the next morning after fueling up. The very first thing I noticed was the uppper helm steering was 10-12 turns lock to lock. That makes it really hard to hold a course. Someone replaced the upper helm pump and used a 1.7 cu in per rev pump which is probably half the size needed. So after struggling with that situation from Pasadena to Chesapeake City we decided to run the boat from the lower helm. Fortunately Dennis brought a bar stool to use as a helm chair below.

Then the next morning the engine wouldn't start. I won't go into all of the details but I disconnected the wire from the starting relay to the starter solenoid and touched it to the heavy pos lug on the starter and it cranked right up. Was this the problem all along? Maybe so as Dennis said that the symptoms- buzzing sound (from the fuel pump?) and no start were the same as before.

So we used that wire manually to start the engine each time. A bit of a kluge, but where were we going to find a starter relay in Chesapeake City early in the morning?

The wind was moderate and the tide was fair heading down to Cape May once we got the engine started. We pulled in for fuel just to make sure how much fuel was being used. Some opined on this thread that it would use up to 7 gph but it actually used about 3.3. We then anchored in Sunset Lake a few miles inland from the more popular Coast Guard anchorage in Cape May. I learned about Sunset Lake from another cruising friend and will never again anchor near the Coast Guard station. Sunset Lake is large and totally protected from all sides.

But then the next problem hit us. The fresh water tank having been filled before we left and not used except for a few gallons was empty. We needed to find the leak, be in a place where we could get parts if necessary and refill the water tank.

So the next morning we checked the NOAA forecast for the Jersey Coast and it was 15 kts with seas 2-4'. We decided to go outside to Atlantic City and maybe even to Barnegat Inlet and find a marina.

Once we got outside the waves were tolerable (as long as we steered from below) so we made it all of the way to Barnegat. I now have a better appreciation for twin engines and/or bowthruster after backing down that marina's narrow fairway into our slip with niether. It wasn't pretty but we finally got in.

A quick look in the engine compartment indicated the water hose had slipped off its T fitting and we had it hooked up in 5 minutes. Filled the tank and we had water pressure. But only for another 5 minutes until the belt broke on this ancient water pump and we had no spare. But Dennis jury rigged several wraps of cord to substitute for a belt and it worked. But we didn't trust if to work for long, so showers were out for the rest of the trip.

The next long day from Barnegat to Nyack, NY (just past the Tappen Zee bridge) was uneventful. The wind and waves were lighter but were right on the stern. It did take a bit of wheel working to keep in a straight line, but not a killer. We took a mooring at the Nyack Boat Club and went ashore for a well needed shower. The wind kicked up about dark as a front came through and that made for a bouncy night. But the mooring held us fine.

The next morning we started the engine (using the jury rigged wire) and headed up the Hudson. The wind started out at 10-12 kts on our nose, but finally turned light and the sky was crystalline. Steering was finally easy with light winds and no seas on the Hudson.

We anchored in a beautiful little creek off the Hudson at Saugerties and spent a peaceful night in calm, no waves and no current conditions.

The next morning we headed up the Hudson on our (well my) last leg. We stopped in Castleton Yacht Club (the one with a DIY crane for lowering and raising your mast on a sailboat) and fueled up. We had gone 33 hours and used 85 gallons of diesel for 2.6 gph. Not bad making 7.5 kts (and mostly 8.5 with the favorable current).

We pulled in to Waterford at about 2:00 pm today. My wife met us and chatted with Dennis for a few minutes and we drove home- about 2 hours away. Tonight I owe here dinner out, but Dennis is stuck on board by himself although he still has lots of provisions on board. A friend from Toronto is meeting him in a few days to continue the journey up the Erie and Oswego Canals and across Lake Ontario to Toronto where he will keep the boat. I hope that the surprises are over and Dennis will replace the fresh water pump before they leave so they will have the basics of civilization again (if you discount the Porta Potty).

David

[ranger58sb]

Good of you to jump in with help.

Our J&T DD 8.2T always worked fine. Even finer, once we had that headbolt recall -- which hadn't been done before we bought the boat -- attended to.

-Chris