Power boating in Bahamas

[tekdiver]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Depends on what your comfortable with, however if your actually going to do much moving around I wouldn’t go the Express Cruiser route, they usually sit, or if people actually cruise them, they do so at around 6 to 8 kts, trawler speed, because fuel consumption is insane on plane. Often they don’t have good steerage at low speeds and in any kind of sea they can roll excessively.
They are great for say zipping around Tampa Bay on weekends though.
Bahamian fuel it seems is always around $5 a gl, so if your burning 30 GPH, that’s $150 an hour in fuel.
Me, I’d want 40’ or close to it anyway.
But then I’d want a trawler too.

Wow My 27 foot express cruser is none of what you listed. Shes stable and works great fuel burn at 15 knots is about 8 gals an hour Would be tight for over a week look at the ranger 27 or there bigger boats b
urn at cruse is 3 gph on 4 stroke out board.

[Squanderbucks]

A lot depends on the level of creature comforts you want. As a youngster and through my 30's a 23 ft boat with a cuddy cabin was enough for a week or two knocking about the Abacos. But now at 70 that would not do unless I was going to stay in marina apartments or rooms with AC ans shower etc. After 50 years of making the Florida to Bahamas journey for 1 to 3 weeks at a time on boats of 23, 27, 38 and 65 ft (my father's boat for a short while) they are all dooable but each size gives you different types of trip experiences.

That being said my present boat that I have owned and used for 30 years uof Bahama trips is a 38 ft flybridge cruiser with diesel engines that cruises at 18-23 mph and burns 18 G/H at those speeds.

At times I do a more relaxed 8 mph "trawl" and the fuel consumption goes way down 2-4 G/H. Mostly do that for night crossings. Typically a 170 mile run will take about 150 gallons or so and I can live with that.

It also depends on what you want your boat to do besides go places. That is will it be a fishing or snorkeling platform as well? Will you be living aboard at marinas or anchored out?

A lot of decisions have to go into what you want to do before you decide on the boat YOU need.

We (wife and I) use it to cruise, fish, snorkel, and live on - mostly at marinas but an occasional night or two out on the hook at remote islands is fun too. No way we want to do the summers in these latitudes without AC so that dictates a generator so you can see how the decision tree has to be looked at.

Typically 14 days doing the things we want to do uses about 500-600 gallons of fuel. We take a lot of our food and eat on board about 60% of the time.

Retirement activities like cruising is not done as existing so if you want to travel and enjoy it you need to think about what you expect out of your retirement. If you can't really afford those costs then looking elsewhere or doing it on a smaller scale like rental weeks at the destination make more sense - especially to try things out a couple of times.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by tekdiver

Wow My 27 foot express cruser is none of what you listed. Shes stable and works great fuel burn at 15 knots is about 8 gals an hour Would be tight for over a week look at the ranger 27 or there bigger boats b
urn at cruse is 3 gph on 4 stroke out board.

As a general rule, the smaller / lighter the boat, the smaller the fuel burn penalty for going fast. Once you get into the 40 foot range, running a planing hull up on plane burns significantly more fuel than going slow. For example, my boat at 17 - 18 kts burns 30 gal/hr (gas engines). But it also likely weighs triple what yours does.

[Squanderbucks]

Typically for short stays in the Bahamas - especially if cruising in a restricted general area - say the Abacos or just the Exumas,or staying around Grand Bahama the fuel burn can be kept to a minimal for daily activities . It's the crossings that take up the greatest single hits.

Of course it depends where you leave Florida from and your port of entry. The minimal distances are from Miami to Bimini (not much cruising there just a couple of islands to explore) about 50 miles and the same for West End from W Palm Beach.

Other runs from there to the Abacos are about 100 miles but once there the different islands are much closer together are 15 to 40 mile stretches at most - usually can be broken down to 15-20 mile hops.

Similar in the Exumas but more of the out island isolated anchoring and fewer marinas and such. Not too much as far as marinas in the Berries except for Great Harbor and Chub. The rest is anchoring on the hook. All can be good fun if prepared.

If you choose a boat setup for that then they are all beautiful and fun.
But sleeping on a non AC boat in the dead of summer is for those who are used to living and especially sleeping in 90 degree temps and enjoy it. Close personal cuddling take a definite hit.

If you aren't going to enjoy it - or you significant other won't - then you need to consider that before hand.

For two people who want to cruise the Bahamas and have fresh water showers, AC and cooking facilities then I recommend a 31 ft to 40 ft boat.
Diesel is about $1 per gallon cheaper and diesel engine overall fuel use is lower.

I've done it on boats with and without flybridges and they are not needed(express cruisers) if you plan to stick to the main travel routes. However if your plan is to explore, fish, snorkel out on the offshore reefs and explore some of the uninhabited islands to picnic or just hang out - I wouldn't go back to a boat without a bridge on it. The difference in vision to "read" the water is amazing. I spent many a time back in the day posted up on the bow of our boat pointing to Port or Starboard to tell my father which "heads" to avoid. A person up front is real necessity for express cruisers with the cockpit way back amidship with the long foredeck out front.

[BuoyCall]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, BuoyCall.

Thanks. I spend a lot of time reading layin in bed dreaming of when we can make this a reality

[BuoyCall]

Wow, a lot to think about. Looks like I’ll be selling then buying a house on a canal when I retire so I can park the boat in my slip instead of paying for one. That said I’m gonna ditch the express and look for something prob 35-40’ where I can ride high to see better. Ac is a must obviously. We live in the space coast and can run the ditch south to make the crossing. Time will be on our side so a few days south to go east is ok. Need to start a fuel savings now lol.

Thanks everyone for all the info much appreciated!! Love the discussion.

[BuoyCall]

Originally Posted by Ranger2727

Check out a Ranger Tug or Cutwater, cruise at 6-8 it’s or scream at 24-26 it’s, depending on model and power options. They are trainable. I’ve done almost 26000 miles behind my truck. Several times to the Bahamas, this year to Georgetown, Exuma. I park it in my condo warehouse in FL when not using it.

Just looked at them. A bit outta my price range lol. Liking the carver and silverton. A lot to choose from tho.