Beginner Question

[BahammasCruiser]

History,

My boating experience is comprised of a few cruises on cruise ships, some lake boating with family friends on a couple boats I owned no bigger than 20 feet. Some fishing on lakes in canada in 14ft aluminum boats with engines (did get rough several times)

Here is my question I am wanting to get a boat to go from florida to the bahamas and carribean islands. My understanding is it is about a 90 trip from florida to the bahamas and then just some small hops ans skips to the other islands in the area. Will this 30ft boat be big enough and safe to do it with?

http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/marine_classifieds/adv-search.cgi?id=312003

What kind of gas mileage do you think it will get? It has a 196 gallon tank and I am figuring 5-7 miles a gallon though this may be high or low I am unsure. Also where can i get some nautical maps that would show the best route to take and is there a site that has info on where I can get gas as I trek my way around. Thanks for any help provided. i apologise if this is in another thread and I havent seen it but there are way to any threads to try and read every one looking for each answer

Thanks again

Tim

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: Beginner Question

Frist of all welcome, and thats a nice boat, but i dont think your going to get that good of gas milage out of that , The experts will be here in a few , but i dont think you will get a mile to the gal, i hate to say that and i might be wrong, I hope i am , john

 

[Mkos1980]

Re: Beginner Question

Boat seems underpowered to me, so I think your going to be reallly pushing it the whole way meaning less MPG. Looks as if those outboards were added on as I think that boat came with inboards first from the looks of it.

 

[manofprawnz]

Re: Beginner Question

Hi Tim, to the first series of questions, yes and no. I have family in the Bahamas, so we are regular visitors, and of course do some boating around there.

Yes the boat is big enough to do the crossing, and we have friends that do it all the time. Do remember that you are dealing with a long distance crossing where weather can change and many things can happen. Forget the actual open distance before you can get fuel, however you should have an idea of your crafts range after a few outings. Once in the Bahamas there is a lot of good island hopping that can be done. Of course navigating around the coral is a whole new ball game.

Without sounding rude, it sounds like your expereince is rather limited. I would suggest you get in touch with some of the local boating orgainzations in the Florida area and see if they have something to offer, perhaps the local US power squadron or CG aux gives a course on offshore cruising. They can also inform you of any special protocols and fees involved with landing in the Bahamas.

In general a boat such as this will probably do for many of the island in and around there, however I doubt there will be too many other destinations that you will want to challenge.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Beginner Question

A 175 HP outboard burns about 17.5 gallons per hour at wide open throttle and about 2/3 that at lesser throttle settings. You have two of them so double that number. So at wide open throttle you will go through that 196 gallons of fuel in 5.6 hours (with no reserve). Cruise is advertised as 20 knots so convert that to mph and you can do the math. A 9600# boat with only 350 HP is going to be a struggle at full up weight so throttle settings will be high even at cruise. I'm just giving you numbers to consider. I am not in a position to tell you this rig is right for your purposes.

 

[BahammasCruiser]

Re: Beginner Question

A 175 HP outboard burns about 17.5 gallons per hour at wide open throttle and about 2/3 that at lesser throttle settings. You have two of them so double that number. So at wide open throttle you will go through that 196 gallons of fuel in 5.6 hours (with no reserve). Cruise is advertised as 20 knots so convert that to mph and you can do the math. A 9600# boat with only 350 HP is going to be a struggle at full up weight so throttle settings will be high even at cruise. I'm just giving you numbers to consider. I am not in a position to tell you this rig is right for your purposes.

20 knots is 23 MPH so I would get about 125 miles out of a tank. That sucks less than 1 MPG. Would I be better of switching engines on it or maybe looking into somehing a tad bit smaller? This just seemed like it had a lot of room at a decent price. I just would prefer to be in something I can sleep in shower etc for a couple weeks and if I get to cr amped get a hotel.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Beginner Question

i would definately have it surveyed, and a personal inspection, before buying.

 

[BahammasCruiser]

Re: Beginner Question

i would definately have it surveyed, and a personal inspection, before buying.

I planned on doing both. did you see something in the pics that looked rough?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Beginner Question

the age of the boat, power heads being replaced, why? i think you would be better with a deisel, power train, for island hopping.

 

[BahammasCruiser]

Re: Beginner Question

the age of the boat, power heads being replaced, why? i think you would be better with a deisel, power train, for island hopping.

OT: How old is your siberian huskey? Mine is 6. Might be the sweetest dog I haveever met she is great with both of my kids

Guess I need to start my search for a boat over again

Thanks for the advice guys

 

[mick1973]

Re: Beginner Question

I agree....you need to search some more. The price of that boat is wayyyyyyyyy too low, I smell a rat!

 

[DC20]

Re: Beginner Question

I planned on doing both. did you see something in the pics that looked rough?

Have you seen the boat in person? Boats ALWAYS look better in pictures.

 

[BahammasCruiser]

Re: Beginner Question

Have you seen the boat in person? Boats ALWAYS look better in pictures.

No I was of course going to look at it in person and plan on taking someone with me to inspect it etc before I would buy

 

[mattttt25]

Re: Beginner Question

No problem crossing with that, but you must pick your days. I agree that it's underpowered. While spending $16K and dreaming of crossing to the Bahamas sounds fun, I think you want to spend a little more and get something better powered.

 

[oops!]

Re: Beginner Question

uh........

90 mins....90 miles..or 90 nautical miles


lots of stuff you gotta do first.......


thats open ocean.....search and read can i die.....

second......safe boating course....

third....KNOW...what the weathers gonna do......

make sure theres a radio on board that works......

do lots of little trips in all kinds of seas first....before you go....

the practice has to be harder than the event......

welcome to i boats
your in the right place to ask what ever you want.
........look foward to seeing your posts and looking at picks of your fun trip........not seeing your name in the obits

(sorry it thats sounds harsh...its not meant to be.....its just a reminder...you ...as captain of the vessel are responcible for all the souls on board your boat)

cheers
oops

 

[nightstalker]

Re: Beginner Question

Just my .2 cents:
1. Seems way underpowered.
2. If one engine goes down on the crossing, the other 175 isn't going to move you fast enough to get you out of trouble.
3. Price seems too low for that kind of rig (gotta ask why).
4. That crossing can be an iffy 90 miles if the weather begins to kick up.
5. Look to spend a little more, and get something with inboards.

Good Luck
Nightstalker