Trip advice

[HahnR]

Hi all,

OK, we are FINALLY getting ready to make the long journey home with the new to us 58MY that I swear anyone & everyone who did work on it decided to make a career out of it. She was a dock queen for at least a couple of decades, but I think we finally have her in shape for the long trip back. It's located just south of Savannah, Ga. & we're headed all the way back to Dubuque, Ia. with it first part of May. We're hoping to have enough water in Okeechobee to make it across there, then over to Mobile & up the Tenn-Tom & so on.

I would appreciate any advice or any local knowledge anyone has for the trip back. Running outside vs inside, anchorages, inlets to avoid, good/bad places to buy fuel, marinas to stop at or avoid, etc. We would also like to meet any fellow HOF members along the way if we could. I've been on the forums for a few years now, & I feel like I know some of you already after reading your posts.

Randy, I'd love to have you with us for the journey, but unfortunately I spent my entire budget & then some getting her ready for the trip. That doesn't mean I don't want to meet up with you if it's possible! Hope to meet you as well Scott as we pass by.

Any & all advice is welcome!

Thanks everyone,

Randy

 

[GJH]

Why cut through the Okeechobee? You miss one of the great cruising experiences in the US by doing that. Yuck!

 

[Boatsb]

I have to agree with the chance to cruise the keys being a great opportunity.

If your cruising past cocoa beach ( like you have a choice) let's get together for a cold beverage or two.

 

[Briankinley2004]

Run her up WOT a couple minutes and at high cruise speeds soon as you can if she has been sitting a while. That should cause any issues to show up with cooling, pressures, etc. Then you can bump down to the cruise speed you desire. I find mine run ALOT cooler at 1000-1200 RPM than 1800 or so. Make sure you have plenty of extra fuel filters/racors on the boat in case there are fuel issues. I would also buy a sea tow or boat us membership for a year. Its worth the $100 to know nothing will probably happen since you have it

 

[HahnR]

George, I wish we had the time to go through the keys. We're looking at a good 30 days minimum away from work as it is, so just looking to shorten the trip as much as possible. Hopefully at some point we will be in a position to winter the boat in the gulf area so we can explore those areas we will miss. We just have to draw the line somewhere.

Scott, I was hoping to be able to meet up with you, we'll have a few cold beverages with us with your name on them!. I'll definitely give you a call as we're making our way south. If you have a recommendation for a good place to dock near you that would be great.

Brian, got the gold unlimited package with Boat US right now, hopefully their coverage is good where we're going. We just got back home from the boat Monday, I spent the better part of 3 days polishing both tanks down to 2 microns & didn't plug a filter. I have 20 Racor filters on board now, with another 8 secondary fuel filters, so hopefully we won't go through all of those! Just finished a complete engine rebuild so we will be continuing to break it in. So far it has been running like a fine sewing machine, 2350 rpms WOT. Probably run 1000 - 1200 with occasional 2,000 rpm run ups to keep it cleared out.

Thanks for the comments so far guys, I've tried to prepare as well as possible, but please keep the comments coming. I'm sure there is more than a few things I've missed or not thought of.

Randy

 

[Boatsb]

Running inside ( the ditch) there's harbortown Merritt island is a good fuel stop and maybe a place to overnight. Theyre a bit off the ICW on the barge canal . Also whitley bay for overnight dockage juzt south of 520 on the ICW.

Running outside theres cape marina for fuel and dockage. They're in the port and easy in and out.

Either way if I'm around I can run you out to get supplies as needed.

 

[Pascal]

OWW should be ok
http://w3.saj.usace.army.mil/h2o/currentLL.shtml
But check on lock closures and maintenance. You ll probably save 3 days going across Vs the keys which aren't that nice anyway since you re not playing tourist

With a dock queen I d run inside. From south of Sav you could do St Simons, st Augustine (nice anchorage in the tolomato river), Titusville, st Lucie then across with a stop at Moore Heaven then ft Myers

How far you cut crossing big bend depends on the weather, your safety gear and how good the boat runs.

Make sure you download the latest Active Captain database in your favorite charting app for the latest on shaolkng.

 

[HahnR]

Scott & Pascal, thank you, I will put that all in our book. We'll probably be taking you up on your offer Scott. I'm planning on fueling on a pretty regular basis at least for the first while to keep fuel issues at Bay & get a good handle on fuel burn. I'm hoping to have you give the old girl the once-over as I have a lot of upgrades I plan to do in the future. It would be helpful for you to know what we have and where so we can intelligently discuss our electronics needs & wants down the road. Pascal, I hope we are through the OWW long before June, as according to the LNM there is lock maintenance/closure scheduled for the east end in June. No stabilizers & no auto pilot so we're not going to be venturing too far out in the bend.

Randy

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Be very mindful of the tides on GA ICW. There are many tight spots and some you wouldn’t want to try on a fallen by tide. My last trip through there was November and we did lots of plowing delivering a 4-1/2’ draft sailboat.

 

[carolinacoast]

anchor off cumberland island and see the beach that lindbergh landed a plane just to come party nearly 100 years ago, and where Carolyn and John Kennedy were married. If your schedule is too tight for even that, perhaps spend the first week onboard and have it delivered.

 

[wpc691]

Be very mindful of the tides on GA ICW. There are many tight spots and some you wouldn’t want to try on a fallen by tide. My last trip through there was November and we did lots of plowing delivering a 4-1/2’ draft sailboat.

2x what Robert said. On our delivery trip, we were stopped at Hell Gate near low tide with 3.5’ draft. We anchored up at Green Island, and ran outside to Jacksonville the next day.

 

[Pascal]

Cumberland is indeed a nice stop. Good anchorage and then Island is fascinating with ruins and wild horses.

Indeed you have to play the tides in a few spots along the icw in GA and North FL. If the timing works, schedule your transit around the tides. Many folks start early in the morning no matter what but that a mistake. With 7' average tides in GA, leaving just before mid tide rising and running till past mid tide falling makes it a lot easier. Again ActiveCaptain will be your best source if up to date data for the usual trouble spots like Hell Gate, Little Mud River, Jekyll etc

Also, never assume that being between the sticks is good enough. There are many places where it s shallow on the edge but inside the channel especially in bends. Stick to the middle. The 58' draws 5' so it s not too bad

Last time I cross big bend was a few year back with a mechanically iffy 53 and I ran the coast all the way to Steinachee then crossed to Carabelle and ran the ice from there

 

[motoryacht lover]

I cant remember exactly but I saw a notice somewhere that the core of engineers was closing one of the locks for maintenance I believe in June. Look on their website to make sure that won’t mess you up. I think it was the lock near Labelle.

 

[motoryacht lover]

I tried to edit the post. It is the Ortona lock. tel:863-675-0616

 

[HahnR]

Once again, thanks all. Thank you the number for the Ortona lock. Luckily we're docked south of hell gate now, we squeaked through there last June on one engine. Pascal, our tentative plan is to leave Saturday morning May 12. Looks like we'll have a rising tide yet at 6 am so hopefully that will get us out of the Ogeechee River where we're at now & safely headed south. I really appreciate the heads-up on the skinny spots, that's exactly what I was hoping for. I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on Active Captain. If there are any other areas we need to transit on a rising tide I'm all ears.

Thanks everyone, hope we get to meet some of you!