Re: Boating in the pacific ocean, maui and hawaiian islands
Hello,
First, I am new to iboats, but I am not new to boating as I have been on the water literally all of my life. I'm going to give a unique perspective as I currently live in MN, have a 19ft bowrider, have lived in Houston area and owned a 31ft cruising sailboat that was used in the Gulf of Mexico as well as have traveled to Maui. This allows me a unique perspective that I think helps me answer your question. The short answer is no, a 19ft sport boat is not going to be ideal for Maui, with that said, anything can work anywhere in a limited capacity. Here are my observations:
First, the boats:
"Offshore Boats" are built to a much higher standard that runabouts. The glass is usually thicker, the hulls are better reinforced and the displacement is much heavier, all of which provides more stability.
Freshwater cooling vs saltwater cooling are basicially the same, but the Salt environment is much harsher on boats in general. That goes for engine, trim, trailers, everything. This is something that you would not experience in MN. I would think the saltwater environment would eat a lakeboat up in short order.
Overall, bowriders are just not equipped either in hull design (planing vs. displacement), water clearing, or (imho) engine design.
Second, water:
Getting offshore is not even close to being in an inland lake. When I was on Galveston Bay and the gulf coast you would almost never see a boat under 23' and then only on the calmest of days. Now, take Maui, where it is normal to see 20-25mph winds steady with gusts and a typical swell of 3-6 feet. This would equate to the worst possible storm you would ever see on a huge inland lake and would probably avoid. This scenario is an everday occurance. I will tell you in a 31ft sailboat with a displacement hull, 3-4ft swells is fun and a little wet, but in a low-in-the-water bowrider, it's not as much fun and can go from stressful to dangerous quickly. My last boat weighed about 10k and displaced about 12k. A bow rider is roughly 1/4 of that and open to the waves. One unseen swell and boom, you're swamped.
If you have never been in large bodies of open water, I think taking a 19-22ft runabout out would be asking for trouble. I'm sure you could get away with it in some protected waters, but in general, it seems like you're asking a lot of the boat and could find yourself in a distressing situation very quickly.
I would say do your research, check out the hull certification ratiings on the boat you are thinking about and see if it applies to your conditions, and most of all, be careful and use common sense.
Regards,
I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend.