ICW CRUISE

[tmise]

Thinking of doing a cruise from Wilmington NC to Key West and back. Boat will be a 27-30 foot twin outboard, 300 gallon fuel tank, 32 mph cruise speed. Do plan on stops for sightseeing and fine dining. How long should I allow for this round trip? Also any input on places to see, good marinas to dock at and great restaurants would be appreciated!

[model 10]

You won't be able to do 32mph all that often down in FL. It would be fun for you though. I would guess 2 weeks each way.

[J Clark H356]

You’re responsible for your wake. Never make it there and back in two weeks and not get fined and do damage to shore/other boats. Don’t think people take it lightly getting damaged by wakes. They will have the sheriff waiting for you downstream.

[boatpoker]

Took us about 3 months but life at 32knots is not our thing.

[tmise]

I believe my 32 mph cruising speed has been misinterpreted. I no way expect or plan on doing the ICW at those speeds unless I encounter open water that allows it. The 32 mph is the boats optimal cruising speed, not planned speeds for the cruise.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, tmise.

[sailorboy1]

OP please post when you plan to make this trip. I would like to avoid 1 more power boat waking me out of the channel on my return trip south in the fall.

Far as how long it will take you, it depends on how much of a wake you plan to made. Far as stops, marinas and restaurants get a guidebook or look up on active captain (most of the sights are way over rated in the guidebook)

[Cloroxbottle]

Originally Posted by tmise

Do plan on stops for sightseeing and fine dining. How long should I allow for this round trip?

How much time do you have? Depending on how much sightseeing you wanted to do, this is easily a trip that you could start in November and end the following March-April.

[Suijin]

Your best bet is to work your way down your expected route on Active Captain, looking at reviews, cautions etc and plan your trip schedule that way with a range from “quick” to “leisurely”. Some days you may be able to cut outside and make tracks.

No one can give you an estimate not knowing your appetite for running each day vs stopping and smelling the roses.

[valhalla360]

1yr would be a nice option but with your cruise speed, you can do it in a much shorter time.

You are looking at somewhere around 900 miles each way. Averaging 100 mile each travel day you need about 2 weeks each direction to account for weather. Of course some days, you might only make it 50 miles due to no wake zones (rude of other posters to assume you would violate them) but you also have the speed to pop out onto the ocean and knock out 200 miles in a day if the weather is nice.

I would want at least 2 months so you have time to stop and see the sights.

[a64pilot]

I’m assuming that this is a one Marina to another type of journey, Boat really isn’t really equipped to spend time at anchor? If so then start planning of course from one Marina to the other.

[tmise]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’m assuming that this is a one Marina to another type of journey, Boat really isn’t really equipped to spend time at anchor? If so then start planning of course from one Marina to the other.

No actually I’d rather spend time at anchor. Will dock at marinas in order to replenish supplies, sightseeing, and enjoy some local seafood restaurants.

[tmise]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

1yr would be a nice option but with your cruise speed, you can do it in a much shorter time.

You are looking at somewhere around 900 miles each way. Averaging 100 mile each travel day you need about 2 weeks each direction to account for weather. Of course some days, you might only make it 50 miles due to no wake zones (rude of other posters to assume you would violate them) but you also have the speed to pop out onto the ocean and knock out 200 miles in a day if the weather is nice.

I would want at least 2 months so you have time to stop and see the sights.

I believe they misinterpreted my mention of a 32 mph cruise speed. Mentioned that because that is my intended speed for wide open areas that don’t have a no wake zone and it is the most efficient cruising speed for the boat. Thanks for your input, I agree with 4-5 weeks time!

[a64pilot]

I don’t mean to be negative on everything, but I have graphed fuel comsumption over speed on three different boats, two of them planing hulls, one an outboard Center Console, on plane eats fuel.
Almost certainly your motors have a can bus and it’s easy to pull fuel consumption from the bus, many plotters will even compute MPG for you.
You may be surprised as I was to find out that there is no most efficient speed, I was sure it would be just barely on plane, but on all three boats, the faster you go, the lower the MPG is.
The most efficient is idle, but who could travel at idle.
A good compromise speed is to watch your wake, just before you really start to roll a wake is a good efficient speed.
You see there is a lot of energy in a wake, this is what can of course damage other boats and erode the shore.
The source of 100% of that energy in your wake, is your gas tank. Your burning a lot of fuel to roll that much water.

[GrowleyMonster]

Of course you realize that a small single screw trawler type boat at 7kts will burn about 10% the fuel you will use, right? Not condemning your plan, but me, being an electric boat guy, I hate to even buy gasoline for my car and I get around 32mpg in town. I assume you have done plenty of fuel consumption testing and have actually made a preliminary voyage plan, so you have your fuel budget pegged. Fuel expenses will be significant. Carry plenty of fuel filters, too, and CHANGE YOUR IMPELLERS before you leave. Don't wait until they disintegrate and feed bits of rubber into your block.



NOW is a good time to brush up on the Inland Rules so you have an absolute encyclopedic knowledge of them and how to apply them, before you embark.


Figure on spending lots of time in Charleston and Savannah. Lovely cities. You will probably want to mosey up the St Johns river a ways, too. Catch a few bass, do some gator watching, stuff like that. Lots of good gunkholing opportunities around Titusville, Merrit Island, etc. Burn all your lights at night, net a few bait shrimp, and catch some trout. You might want to cut across FL, via the Okeechobee Waterway, and with a good weather window, head down the W coast to the Keys and then up the E coast. Make sure you got plenty of skeeter spray. Do you have a plan for keeping your beer cold?



If you don't mind propane, a Magma Kettle grill is like REQUIRED for this type of cruise. Clamp it to your pushpit rail if there is one. There are fishing rod holder mounts for it, too.