Return to Great Lake Boating???

[northshoreone]

Someone talk me out of this! I sold my boat in the Great Lakes when I purchased my Hatteras and took it to FL. That was almost four years ago now! I have spent the last three years in FL over the winter months turning what I purchased back into near perfect condition ....including the latest cost of a engine rebuild! I really miss boating on the great lakes but it appears taking the FL boat back and forth would not only take allot of time but cost almost as much as having another boat in the Great Lakes to use over the summer months! I have thought recently about buying another boat for the MI summers but don't want to spend a fortune to do it....as its only about three months of boating time up here! I prefer a motor yacht but it seems that there are more cost effective sport fish boats out there for sale on the market...some 65's in the $300k range. So either send me some advise on best size/yr/engine combo's in about that price range or just tell me to go use the one I have more and forget about it!

[Garyd1]

The 70' is really a large boat to go back and forth. But on the other hand if your less than 19' 2" then maybe do what Bear does and go counter loop. You certainly could find a very nice boat/yacht to cruise around for four months and not make yourself too crazy owning two boats.

[bobk]

Are you retired? Enjoy hull speed cruising? Have lots of time? If so, do what I do and run back and forth. 26 trips between SFL and the Chesapeake and counting including one up to Little Falls on the Erie Canal. Fuel is way down so the cost is more reasonable than in past years not to mention cheaper than the $$ cost to keep another MY.

That said, there are some smaller boats that might be suitable for a three month period.

Bobk

[Boatsb]

Are you retired? Enjoy hull speed cruising? Have lots of time? If so, do what I do and run back and forth. 26 trips between SFL and the Chesapeake and counting including one up to Little Falls on the Erie Canal. Fuel is way down so the cost is more reasonable than in past years not to mention cheaper than the $$ cost to keep another MY.

That said, there are some smaller boats that might be suitable for a three month period.

Bobk

X10. Motoryachts are like travel trailers. If their not being used to go somewhere they are just a condo. Enjoy the trip. Its the journey not the destination. If you were a fisherman Id say to get a second boat and fly between them so you can fish both areas.

[northshoreone]

I could go the short route through Chicago but would have to have the hardtop pulled and put back on the other side of the railroad bridge. The arch is made to go down so not an issue. Just a pain to do the hardtop pull. I am simi retired as my daughter is GM of my business but do need to fly back and forth on occasion. I ran my 53 Carver by myself and have run the 70 alone but its allot of boat to run by yourself! Fuel has dropped and looks like it could go down more yet which is great! I would guess it would cost at least $25k min. to go round trip from FL even with lower fuel prices. I own a slip in Charleviox so costs for another boat is fuel, insurance, winter storage and maintenance.....could be close to the same...depending on the boat.....?

[Boatsb]

Better to use the hell out of one than to own 2.

Go the eastern run and enjoy. Forget about chicago. Nothing good comes from that area anyway.

[Walter P]

I completely agree with Bobk and Scott. Until a few years ago I did the round trip thing every year and frankly, my boat was always in the best shape ever. I attribute that to the fact that I was using it. We also considered a second boat to keep in Fla and in fact bought 2 second boats, one of which we had delivered to So. Fla and the other we decided to not have two boats. (A flash of sanity thank goodness). The cruise is actually wonderful especially if you're not on a time schedule. A few years ago I crewed with bobk on his 48 MY (sistership of mine) and we had a blast. From cold beers on the aft deck at sunset to buying shrimp right from the shrimp boats at sea and pigging out on shrimp prepared in various ways. We actually paid $5 or $10 for a 5 gal bucket of shrimp once. Ahh memories.

Do the trip....I'm sure you will love it.......

Walt

[capttonyf]

If your going to do it once or twice, just keep the one boat. If your planning on having a boat in the Great Lakes every year buy another smaller less expensive boat to have to hang out on for the summer.

My reasoning is this, once you've done the trip a few times and visited the places you'd like, it becomes a bit of been there done that. It's one thing to run up and down the east coast offshore every year in a convertible, "1 Week at Most". But to run the rivers and take off and reinstall the hard top 2 times a year, and run locks and avoid hitting logs and avoiding barges and debris, it's just not for me. If money isn't an issue, I think it would be easier to have a boat in both places.

It's fun delivering a boat, but it is a lot of work also. Plus, just because you have a boat in the Great Lakes doesnt mean you can't move your other boat up the coast a little as well to SC, or NC for a change of scenery. Depending on how you like to run Charelston SC is two days and Writesville, Beach, Cape Fear, and Beaufort NC are 3 day trips if you run offshore.

We had our boat in Charelston SC last summer for a little while and ran back to Fort Lauderdale FL in 30 Hours. Left Charleston at 8PM had breakfast and fueled in St. Augustine, Early dinner in Cape Canaveral and arrived home in Fort Lauderdale at 2am.

That's an easy running situation offshore, but I'm not so brave on the rivers.

Point is I'd buy another boat, and get the the expierience of getting it there through the 1 time delivery.

If I were you I'd even hire a Captain to go along so you can actually enjoy the trip without any of the stress that goes along with running in unfamiliar areas.


Tony

[rtrafford]

as long as one of them is a terrific 53c........

[northshoreone]

All good advise.....I know that there are models and certain years that were better than others and some to stay clear of. I would entertain something from 52 to 70 ft, prefer galley up and would like to stay under $400k. I saw a 58' 1977 that was redone nicely and a 1987 63' that didn't look bad. Then there are a couple of 65' sport fish out there in that price range......any and all thoughts are welcome.....Thanks!......still torn on the right course....