Boating from Miami to Bahamas
Hello,
I have a 24 foot I/O and I am wondering if this would be capable
of travelling from Miami to the Bahamas. The boat holds 68 gallons of
gas which should be enough, but I am thinking it might just be too
small to handle the voyage.Anybody with experience or opinions about making the voyage on a 24
footer? thanks,
daniel |
dgc223
Feb 8
|
| thanks everyone for the comments. i will hopefully be making the trip
in june, probably first to bimini to try it out, most likely in a
'boat fling' with another boat. regards,
daniel |
dgc223
Feb 10
|
| That should be a better time to make the trip than now. It's been rough
for the past two months - rough winter with all of the cold fronts. Dan |
Dan
Feb 10
|
| Well, Don, I did that on the back of my old 27' Chris craft. made a
holder and put 5 jerries right on the swim platform. But I never tried
going to the bahamas, I was running up and down the Illinios river. I
had two 50 gal tanks on board, and then the 25. the cans were to be
used as "reserve" |
Tim
Feb 10
|
| I would adjust that up another 1%. ;-) |
JimH
Feb 9
|
| You a Beach Boys fan? I thought you'd be more into that Frankie Laine
guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Laine |
Don
Feb 9
|
| I think Doug was just trying to be charitible.... |
Don
Feb 9
|
| LOL! |
JimH
Feb 9
|
| Only if I can sail there on the sloop John B |
Wayne.B
Feb 9
|
| Or Merikan. "Place where crooked politician hang out" |
Calif
Feb 9
|
| I go all the way back sonny. To the days when
rock n' roll was really rock n' roll. Hell, I was trying to play "Rock around The Clock"
when I was eight years old on my Dad's old Gibson
wide body. :>) Frankie Laine indeed. |
Short
Feb 10
|
| Hmmm - there has to be a sloop out there named John B. Just has to be. |
Short
Feb 10
|
| Or in Greek: Pizza. |
Short
Feb 10
|
| Did you know that the Vikings discovered Puerto Rico? Explains a lot. |
Short
Feb 10
|
| They keep screws in brine? Well I'll be damned. |
Short
Feb 10
|
| Friggn kittens did: http://www.public.asu.edu/~mharp/viking_kittens/VikingKitten.htm |
JimH
Feb 9
|
| You can do it on a good day. I read an article about
some guys who made the run in a 24' pontoon boat a
week or two ago - I can't find the article though. Here's a resource for you. http://www.vantagepointguides.com/how_to/small_boat_offshore_bimini.htm |
Short
Feb 10
|
| Good lord - is that thing still around? :>) One of the original Flash movies if I remember right. |
Short
Feb 10
|
| http://tinyurl.com/27t8l5
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JLH
Feb 9
|
| I've read some good responses but you didn't say which island you want
to visit. Bimini IS the closest to Miami and I have been there with my
20' center console - once. We were fishing out of Port Everglades and
not finding any dolphin. I found Bimini on my GPS and we were about 45
miles away and the seas were flat. I have two VHF radios and an EPIRB
so we decided to go. We made it in less than two hours but didn't check
in since the fees are so high and we weren't staying, or fishing, in
Bahamian waters. We were prepared to leave the boat and fly back if the
weather changed but we were lucky and made it back without a problem. I have a four stroke OB and used about 30 gallons for the round trip
including the fishing/trolling time out of Ft. Lauderdale. Your boat
will likely use more since it's larger and heavier. Most people in smaller boats make the trip with another boat. This has
also been a tough winter on the Atlantic. 8'-10's in the gulfstream has
been the norm with all of the fronts we've had in the last three months.
You can't plan a trip like that with a small boat. You can only go on
a "perfect" day. If you were considering Grand Bahama (Freeport) or New Providence
(Nassau), forget it. They are too far from Miami with your rig or
anything under about 40'. Dan |
Dan
Feb 9
|
| He knows better than that. Now, you and JimH get busy on some reading
comprehension drills.
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JLH
Feb 9
|
| Plantains? |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 10
|
| I think fuel is not a big issue here as the 50-60 miles for a crossing should
not exhaust the supply. There is an option to carry some extry jerry cans of
fuel aboard.
Once in the Bahamas, fuel is readily available as long as you bring enough cash
or
plastic. I took my 22 foot sailboat on several trips from the Florida Keys to
the
Abacos and from Jamaica all the way up the island chain. I mainly worried about the Gulf Stream. Once in the Bahamas, there are plenty of sheltered harbors to
wait
out the bad weather. I was once stuck in Little Harbor, Abaco for three weeks
until
the seas went down, mainly because there are no harbors south of there in Abaco
until you reach the Berries or the West side of Abaco, and it's a rough rocky
unfriendly coastline, until you round the south tip of Abaco. If you pick your weather and have patience, there is no reason why you can't go
anywhere in the Bahamas. Sherwin D. dgc223@gmail.com wrote: |
sherwindu
Feb 10
|
| I have friends that did it (I did too!) on pwc's! (Not from Miami,
more like from Ft. Lauderdale, left from Lake Worth Inlet to west end
of Grand Bahama Island.) That was in '99, I made the crossing without
having to fuel up with any of the extra spare gas I'd brought; the 4-
stroke I have now would come extremely close to being able to make the
trip there and back on a tank (I'd still bring along some extra
obviously). richforman |
rforman61
Feb 9
|
| re 'Boating Course' Student's Notes 8th edition 1999
Section 11.3 The Fuel Supply The fuel supply should be checked to ensure that there is enough for the
journey, or that fuel can be obtained en route. Running out of fuel is the
single most frequent emergency that boaters experience. Every hour, a marine
engine can be expected to use 0.6 liters of fuel for each kW. In practical
terms, a 75 kW gasoline outboard motor on a 6m cruising boat will give about
1 kilometer per litre of fuel. larger boats and larger engines use more;
diesel engines use less, but all boats use more fuel when travelling against
a head wind and adverse current. If possible, the up-wind and up-current leg
of a journey should be completed first, as it is then easier to return. A
good maxim for fuelling is one-third out, one-third back, and one-third in
reserve. note: Not sure if this section has been updated since. |
Don
Feb 9
|
| Don, I'm trying to find out how many miles the trip involves, not how much
gas to take. You're sounding like my ex wife. I'd ask her if she wanted to
go and pick out paint for the living room and she'd tell me what time it
was. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| Don appears to be suffering from the JimH syndrome - unable to comprehend. Don - How far is it?
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JLH
Feb 9
|
| Average: 10-12 pounds, although free range turkeys are often smaller. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| I think it is 50-60 miles. |
Calif
Feb 9
|
| It's not too far. A small boat can make it if it has enough gas. Or a sail. Or oars. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Feb 9
|
| 50 miles from Miami. |
Reginald
Feb 9
|
| Boy... you are argumentative...
Wasn't your second question...*"In the boating course, how did they instruct
you to estimate how much
fuel you would burn?"* |
Don
Feb 9
|
| Y'all live a lot closer than I do....you tell him! |
Don
Feb 9
|
| WHAP!!! Wake up, Don! I was goofing on you. I asked question A, and you
answered question B, which I did not ask. So, I figured maybe if I reversed
things and asked question B, you might answer question A. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| LOL - especially since I just put a 12lb turkey in the oven!
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JLH
Feb 9
|
| DON!!! Before you embarrass yourself further, GO BACK AND READ THE THREAD!
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JLH
Feb 9
|
| Oh yes, Im the great faciliator
Pretending that Im doing well
My need is such I faciliate too much
Im lonely but no one can tell Oh yes, Im the great faciliator
Adrift in a world of my own
I play the game but to my real shame
You left me to dream all alone |
Don
Feb 9
|
| What are you getting bent out of shape for? It seems you might not be seeing
all the messages that everyone else sees. Including this one, there are 25. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| Yeah, facilitating your comprehension! Wake up!
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JLH
Feb 9
|
| Just a polite way to tell Sheriff John Henry that his own business needs
tendin' to! |
Don
Feb 9
|
| I agree that 99% of the time, he's a complete pain in the ass*, but in this
case, he's simply pointing out that you have somehow missed the entire
substance of a simple interchange between you and I. I think you should go
have a couple of shots of your favorite whiskey and watch a bad movie. * Statistics available by request. Maybe. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| We like rum up here... but I did bring up Google Earth and had the scale
legend inserted.
As best as I can calculate the closest point to Miami is North Bimini in the
Bahamas...which is approx 51 miles distance. |
Don
Feb 9
|
| OK, but what is the origin of the name "Bimini"? Was it named after the boat
tops, or is it the other way around? And, what's a "Scotia"? |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| In my usual style, I'll answer the 2nd part of your question.
Scotia = latin for Scotland
that is... Nova Scotia is latin for New Scotland. Sheriff John can answer the 1st part. |
Don
Feb 9
|
| Hmmm. And I always thought it was the homeland of lox. |
Harry
Feb 9
|
| On second thought, he's probably too busy runnin' around facilitating.
Bimini (Bi-mini), meaning, Mother of Many Waters, Bibi (Mother) and Mini
(Waters), is a term and name in the Taino Native American Indian language of
the Caribbean islands and is the original Pre-Columbian Taino Arawak name
for the present day U.S. state of Florida. |
Don
Feb 9
|
| Very good... I had to look that up.
Nova lox or Nova Scotia lox. Similar to regular lox, but cured with a milder
brine. The fish is then cold smoked. The name dates from a time when much of
the salmon in New York City came from Nova Scotia. Today, however, the name
refers to the milder brining, as compared to regular lox, and the fish may
come from other waters or even be raised on farms. |
Don
Feb 9
|
| Which in Urdu is "Gazelle's Ass" and in Backhairistan
"Camel Droppings". > Sheriff John can answer the 1st part. Sheriff John Stone? He doesn't leave you alone? Do you feel so broke up - you want to go home? |
Short
Feb 9
|
| Nah - canned caribou farts. Oh, I'm sorry - I meant to say caribou flatus. Sound much more genteel. |
Short
Feb 9
|
| Or in Canadian it would be: "Hey - Hoser - where 'da hockey pucks, eh?" |
Short
Feb 9
|
| Busy Tainos. They lived in Puerto Rico, too. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| Pick your time & plan well; you can do it; I have friends that did it on 16' |
Josh
Feb 8
|
| gas which should be enough<< The word 'should' in that sentence would probably scare me away from trying
it. I suppose you could bring extra fuel along. --Mike <dgc223@gmail.com> wrote in message |
Mike
Feb 9
|
| The thing you should watch out for is wind direction. Any wind coming out of
the
north is going to be opposed to the Gulf Stream current flowing north, creating
very
steep, uncomfortable, and possibly unsafe wave action. The winds usually clock
around clockwise. I never crossed the Stream with any wind coming from the
North, Northeast, or Northwest. These winds tend to clock around quickly, so
you
may only have a one day window to jump across. To be safe, I would start off
with
a SE wind for a slower sailboat. A power boat could push it a bit more and
leave
with say a South wind. I have sat in Florida and the Bahamas sometimes for over
a
week waiting for the wind to clock around. Sometimes in the summer the stream
can be flat as a pancake, but you never know. Allow for about 2 1/2 knots
average
north offset when setting your course, wait for the right weather and you should
be
OK. Don't overload your boat, but bring plenty of fuel, water, and supplies as
these
are a premium in the Bahamas. Sherwin D. dgc223@gmail.com wrote: |
sherwindu
Feb 9
|
| Go find and read everything in this thread: "Subject: How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98
Sea Ray Sundancer 25' " Lots of good information there.
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JLH
Feb 9
|
| Most experienced boaters that cross over, even in much larger boats, rely on
daily updates of the crossing conditions, particularly in the winter months.
Seas can be gentle swells until you hit the Gulf Stream where you are
suddenly in 6-8 footers. On other days the stream can be relatively calm. When I was in Jupiter, those planning the crossing would meet up down by
Peanut Island, wait for a good day and conditions, then all cross over
together. Eisboch |
RCE
Feb 9
|
| Too bad Skipper isn't still around. He could advise how to lash numerous
jerry cans of fuel to the deck. |
Don
Feb 9
|
| How far is it? |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
| In the Boating Course at the Power Squadron they instructed us to figure out
how much fuel you would burn to travel to the destination and then multiply
by 3x.
This would cover the trip back and any minor delays/problems encountered. |
Don
Feb 9
|
| Let me rephrase the question, to find out how many miles is involved in this
trip: In the boating course, how did they instruct you to estimate how much fuel
you would burn? |
JoeSpareBedroom
Feb 9
|
