I trawled with the family

Got permission from the Admiral to pull the kids from school this friday so we could take advantage of the weather window.

I wanted to shake down the new boat with a run to the local Islands.

Loaded up the family and dinghy and cast away the lines and we were off!

The 20 mile run to Santa Cruz Island was very nice. I was able to run the boat at different speeds. Her sweet spot seemed to be 8-10 knots.
She did run up to 16.5 knots no problem! I actually felt like she had a little bit more but didn't want to push it.
The kids slept and we arrived to Prisoner's Harbor with only one other boat present. It looked like a nice Nordhavn.

I rowed us to shore where we hiked around a bit and then rowed back to the boat and headed home late in the day. We were able to enjoy a full harvest moon rise up on the trip home.

Boat ran great, just much slower than I'm used to.

One of those special days. They make great memories. Gee, that's a pretty handy speed for a 32 footer. What sort of motor does it have. There's no way my 34 footer would do 16kn. I know the Nordic Tug is a semi-planer, but it must have a 200hp plus engine to do those speeds..?

Glad that you had a nice shakedown cruise! SoCAl has had a fine Indian Summer this year!

Sounds like a great first trip. Here's my advice: You will find that going slow, about hull speed will make a very large difference in your fuel consumption. Slow down and enjoy the ride and save big time at the fuel dock.

I love it when a dream becomes reality. Congratulations for enduring the brutal weather of South Florida to make it happen and hanging in there despite the obstacles thrown at you. I'm happy that you are enjoying her. I guess you now know why Florida real estate values aren't as high as California? That pesky thing we have called summer that lasts six months when we are all Californian Dreaming.

TunaJoe,
What a great post, your giving something to your kids that borders on priceless in today's family's. Quality time as a family unit away from a lot of the distractions that separate a family.

I love it when my girls recount their boating stories to anyone that will listen with a big smile.. and we have no problems getting the family together still to do boat trips.
You have some great cruising grounds in your back yard with awesome weather.. your pics really make me miss the days when we kept our boat in Santa Barbara.. I have weather envy.

HOLLYWOOD

Time spent on a boat with your family is one of the greatest investments you can make for your, and their futures. Good on ya for taking the kids out of school so they could get some real life lessons.

I love the NT 32. That 220 Cummins is a great engine. Does your electronics display fuel burn? I have a Yanmar engine and it interphases with the NEMA box and I see the fuel consumption so I can determine the right speed to travel. I notice, for instance, at 6 Knts I burn more fuel than at 8 Knts. I look at NMPG. I shoot for 2 NMPG or greater.

Nice!

So far so good. No breakdown, no grounding, and in particular, not even sweat on a day like today!

Peter B said:

One of those special days. They make great memories. Gee, that's a pretty handy speed for a 32 footer. What sort of motor does it have. There's no way my 34 footer would do 16kn. I know the Nordic Tug is a semi-planer, but it must have a 200hp plus engine to do those speeds..?

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Peter, I have the Cummings 6BTA5.9 270 hp diesel

chester613 said:

I love the NT 32. That 220 Cummins is a great engine. Does your electronics display fuel burn? I have a Yanmar engine and it interphases with the NEMA box and I see the fuel consumption so I can determine the right speed to travel. I notice, for instance, at 6 Knts I burn more fuel than at 8 Knts. I look at NMPG. I shoot for 2 NMPG or greater.

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I'm not sure if that year (2004) Cummings engine support NMEA.
Fuel burn is a great feature to have.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I have a big list of things I want to do to the boat (don't we all!) before next spring/summer cruising season. We have multiple trips to Catalina planned so I want to get the boat all figured out and dialed in.

1.New rode. I currently have 50' of chain and about 200' of spliced 3 strand.
If the first link to the splice wasn't totally rusted, I'd probably just leave it alone.
I'm thinking 100' chain with 200' of 3 strand or 8 plait. Any suggestions?

2. Some sort of davit system for the dinghy and a small outboard.

3. Transom swim ladder. Interesting story. The family and I were walking around Ventura Harbor today saw a 32 Nordic Tug pulling in to a slip in our marina so I walked over and introduced myself. I asked the fellow what year his boat was and he said "2005". "Hull number #247". My boat is hull number #246. How about that!
What does all this have to do with a transom ladder? He had the integrated transom swim ladder on his.
I don't.
The integrated ladders are sweet as they are stored in a swim deck "pocket".
I wish I had that feature. As usual, a day late and a dollar short
4. New starting batteries and house batteries.
5. Xm/Sirius. I have the original Kenwood sirius ready stereo from 2004 and so I ordered a Sirius tuner off Ebay today for $40. Probably the cheapest thing I'll buy for the boat.
6. Bimini for the rear deck of the boat.
7. custom mattress for the V berth.

I'm new to this type of boating (bigger boat with lots of systems) so I welcome any and all advice or suggestions.

Thanks!

I enjoyed your post and the pictures. In the past I said that boating was great because the kids were never more than 75 feet away (the length of a ski rope). Boating for my family has changed with Internet, video games and track vision we still have disconnected family members on the boat. Yet on the boat things are close enough that we all connect and get the geeks to interact. I have never regretted time spent with the family on a boat

Great trip, great day, and great to be with the kids! I bet you would exceed 16 knts. We have the 220 Cummins in our NT 32, and we hit 15.5 WOT during the sea trial. Of course, that was with 1/2 tank of water, 1/4 tank of fuel, four adults and no provisions. Fully loaded, I think we would be lucky to hit 14. I pick our cruise speed based on engine sound and vibrations. She seems to really like 1600 RPMs +/-, which gives us around 8-8.5 kts with a very quiet pilot house. For long trips, we run her around 1400. As for slow speed, IMHO nothing beats setting the throttle and autopilot, then sitting back on the bench with feet up, watching the world go by, and steering with the remote. Congrats on the boat!