Advice Required - Trip from Japan to Cairns, Queensland by 37' Diesel Cruiser

[Royd Kennedy]

Advice required from ocean cruising couples
Hello all...while you are at anchor somewhere in your own little heavens, thinking of something to do, how about helping out a new ocean cruiser and his family. We are about to live the dream...we may not have 20 years blue water cruising experience, but we are never the less, very keen boaties. ( is this a term you guys use out there?)
Think back a few years and put yourself in our boat shoes here....now off we go, no laughing or scoffing....

We are motor boaties..fishing/power boats mainly...5-6m in the past, and pretty new to ocean cruising scene. We currently now have a pretty good 1986 Huntsman 28ft Fly Bridge Cruiser game boat in Cairns, Qld Australia, we have about 20 years experience in waters up to 40km off shore only in NZ and Australia and are finally going to go the next step further and update to go cruising with wife and 2 kids aged 6 and 3 up and down East Coast of Australia and Vanuatu new Cal etc.,......maybe further with more experience, but always coastal cruising......fuel and all that.

Have almost bought a 1992 37 ft Cho Song aft cabin Fly Bridge Cruiser, in japan, powered by twin Cat diesils, 375 Hp each, with under 600 hrs each!!Boat and engines and gear in "as new" cond.
1100 liter diesil tanks, 350 liters H2O and good equipment all round.

Q1: What do you all know about the Cho Song name and craft and it's compatibility to what we want to do...

Can't afford to freight it back to Australia on a container boat, , so intend to motor it back, a bit at a time, lease the house out, and enjoy the trip and do what it was built for.....over about 6 months...from Japan to Cairns.
Q2: Is this a good idea...
Advice wanted please from people who have done this trip in a motored power boat( my son has travelled from NZ to Japan/Guam/Vanuatu/ and so on to finish at ChiChi Jima in a small 28 ft ferro single masted yacht with wife and infant, safely and competently and reckons to go for it with a good plan..hence this plan...I like to ask the experts first)....

Q3:Can someone recommend a good publication or web site.....about this location and this type of cruise...

Q4: I need advice from you on recommended and practical routes for a diesil cruising yacht, considering the boat ( the seas will be bigger than this thing is long!!) ...news on some good ports, advice on location and activity of pirates, authorities encountered, ( Korea?) proven diesil outlets and costs...boat info if you know the Cho Song....anything else about cruising with a family of 2 adults and 2 littlies would be welcomed...highs and lows especially from mothers...
I am a skipper, as well as a mecahnical fitter and mechanic and have done time on Caterpillar diesils....these motors are low hours and are like they are off the show room floor, and being a kiwi can make anything out of a piece of old fencing wire and some bits of anything I find....good skills to have with this craft doing this trip?

We know we are a dirty old diesil and not a clean eco sail boat, but we are ready to enjoy life and to start somewhere.....this is the time...

Look forward to your comments as you think about all this.....

Roydo

[cooper]

First things first...what is your safe cruising range.....ie distance plus say 30 % reserve in the tanks ? You are going to have to do a few hops. Have you worked out your litres per hour ? 2 x 375s is going to munch a bit. Am I right in thinking that it is a heavy displacement cruiser ? ie at 37 foot any more than about 8 knots and you are going to dramatically increase your fuel consumption. If you have the dollars and the tankage , (you sound like you have the skills that I would be happy with : ) ) then check out noonsite or any of the other "rag boat" sites the principle is still the same. From Osaka to Darwin in a dead straight line (straight through Indonesia) is 2800 nautical miles. $20 K in fuel ?

[Betelgeuse]

G'day Royd - I'm planning the same trip for a 3rd Nov '08 departure from Tokyo in my 55' diesel flybridge cruiser. I've done a lot of research on the route and spent the past 18 months living on my boat in Tokyo preparing it for it.

If you're interested in sharing info drop me a line.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Royd Kennedy

Q1: What do you all know about the Cho Song name and craft and it's compatibility to what we want to do...

Are you certain you’re spelling the name correctly?

[dacust]

As a gauge to go by, my 36' 18,000lb boat has older 300hp Cats. It burns something like 5.5gph at 8kts. Or 1.5mpg. With 400 gals of diesel I figure on a usable range of about 400 miles. At 18kts that range drops to about 200 miles.

Example:
8kts
1.5mpg
$7.50 per gallon average (I'm guessing wildly, here)
2800 miles (from cooper's post)

So, that's $5,00 per mile.
$14,000 in fuel.

"Your mileage may vary."
Sea conditions can play havoc with this. Equipment condition, etc.
Then there's the fact that you are hopping, so the total miles will be more.

I think cooper's estimate of $20,000 is a very reasonable figure for planning purposes. That is, IF $7.50 is a good average.

FWIW: I am planning a 2000 mile trip in the next year or two and budgeting $10,000 @ $5/gal. Hopefully it'll come in considerably less than that.

My fuel consumption figures for 8kts is not very accurate as far as the exact fuel consumption for 8kts. It is actually the average of my fuel consumption for a 900 mile trip I did in the Intracoastal. I was sometimes doing 18kts, so that is a conservative fuel and range. I think my actual burn rate at 8kts may approach 4gph.

CAUTION: It doesn't matter what the experts say (and I'm NOT an expert). That is only a starting point for possibilities. You should carefully measure the ACTUAL performance you get out of your new boat and then make conservative estimates based on that. With 1,100 liters (290 gal) and larger engines, for the beginning of your trip I would plan on no hop longer than about 150 miles at trawling speed, or 75 miles planing, until you see what the combination of your actual performance and your driving style gets you. I just putt most of the time, so I may be getting a higher range than normal for my boat. If you get something close to my performance, you could work up to about 300 miles at trawl and 150 on plane. But these are my wilda** musings, only. Wait around in case someone else posts something that pokes holes in my reasoning (or lack thereof).

Other considerations:
As suggested above, look through forums and cruising sites. There is a custom search engine for this one but I don't remember where to find it. I just do a Google and end my search words with
" site:www.cruisersforum.com"
(no quotes). There are many threads on provisioning and what spares to take. What navigation techniques and backups for that. What types of communication are available and useful. Books to buy, like how to handle medical emergencies. How long it will take to bail out a boat with a teacup. Useful things like that.

And then come back here and tell these guys what your conclusions are and get completely conflicting opinions on what's good/bad.

-dan

[Hud3]

CF's custom search engine:

Cruisers & Sailing Forum

It's also in a "sticky" thread in the "Forum Help, Support and Feedback" forum.

Think about adding it to your browser's "Favorites" or "Bookmarks".

[dacust]

Originally Posted by Hud3

CF's custom search engine:

Cruisers & Sailing Forum

It's also in a "sticky" thread in the "Forum Help, Support and Feedback" forum.

Think about adding it to your browser's "Favorites" or "Bookmarks".

LOL

Dang, why didn't I think of that. I'm an IT professional. Kinda makes you wonder about my code, don't it.

I have bookmarked it.

-dan

My programs don't have bugs, they just develop random features.

[Talbot]

I would be surprised that the costs are going to be significantly different between freighting and moving under own power. By the time you have factored in fuel, engine serviceing, marina costs, spares, depreciation, and what you could have earned working, I would suspect that freighting would be somewhat cheaper.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by Talbot

I would be surprised that the costs are going to be significantly different between freighting and moving under own power. By the time you have factored in fuel, engine serviceing, marina costs, spares, depreciation, and what you could have earned working, I would suspect that freighting would be somewhat cheaper.

Probably true.

So, pay $25,000 to have a boat moved from one place to another?

Or pay $25,000 for a vacation on a boat and a trip full of memories?

Hmmm, the choice for me is an easy one. I'm moving my boat to Chattanooga myself.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of times that transport is the way to go, so that was a good post for the OP to see.

-dan

PS For the people confused by me saying Chattanooga, moving my boat to Augusta next month is just a short term interim step. Chattanooga is the goal, probably next year or the year after.

[jumpinpin jim]

I saw that boat for sale it has small tanks you would be better off shipping it freight is about 105 to 120 a cubic metre so its gunna cost about 30 to get it here, but it will arrive safe and you wont be buyin diesel every 300 miles...jim

[Royd Kennedy]

Great info. I decided to sea freight it down for $AUD20,000.00. Japan Boats are fantastic to deal with i recommend anyone to email Craig at www.japanboats .com if you are looking for a boat!! I am driving the boat from Brisbane to Cairns and will take all the advice offered...will be a good trip..you are all good people with good advice and knowledge, thanks.

[cooper]

Have fun : ) ...........