Friend needs to move sailboat, I have some questions.

[sailful]

As a Pacific Northwest sailor, I would plan on motoring the whole way. If you have favourable winds, use them but I wouldn't bet on it. I also agree with using favourable tides, if you don't you will use up a lot of fuel and not cover much ground.

[fallingeggs]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

Make him spend $200 for a seatow membership...it's the best $200 ever spent

Valuable advice, along with enough gas to motor the whole way.

When I purchased my boat, I motored down the Hudson River 100+ miles over a weekend by myself. This was my first boat and the largest I've been on by 10+ feet. Started at sun rise and went till sunset the first day to make the most of it. Anchored overnight (first attempt at anchoring, ever) and finished early afternoon on Sunday. I'm sure it was part luck, but I made it just fine. Plan out several anchoring options for the first night and be sure to commit to one before it gets dark!

[jdazey]

Skarz, I don't know what program you used to plot your route. Using Coastal Explorer, I get 77.03nm dock to dock from Everett Marina to Swantown Marina in Oly.

Sailful has it right on. There is even less wind in the lower Sound than the north. While I haven't been in Puget Sound for over a year now, I spent over 50 years there. I doubt things have changed that much in the meantime.

Cheers,

[Adelie]

The only prevailing wind is out of the south when a storm is on. Otherwise it's a bit random. As previously noted it tends to be light.

Colvos passage almost always flows North due to geometry of main channels. Go south down the east side of Vashon Isl.

The most important tide to hit is Tacoma Narrows. If you try to buck that current you will be making less than 1kt even motoring. Ask me how I know.

I have made Shilshole to Olympia and back during a Thanksgiving weekend (4 days).

Looking ahead at tides Fri 4/7 thru Sun 4/9 would be OK.

Fri afternoon evening ride the ebb down to Edmonds, Shilshole if you can make it.
Sat all the way to Pt. Defiance. There used to be mooring balls on the Tacoma side of PT. Defiance.
Sun. Run the Narrowswith slack before flood about noon. This puts you in Oly late.

This weekend would be better, not as advantageous Fri and Sat but max flood at the Narrows is about 0600. Get going at 0500 from Pt. Defiance and you should make Oly at a pretty reasonable time. Stay to the middle of the channel when the current is with you and the inside of curves when it's against you.

[darylat8750]

I just had a thought.... Rare but it happens. Your father is an experienced sailor? Talk your DAD into a couple of day sails to get the boat figured out. Then if you play your cards right he may do the trip or part of it with you. Even if you have to beg and tell him he is right. I can't tell you how grateful I would be if I had managed something like that with my Dad.

[Souzag818]

You should have no problem going from Everett to Olympia in a weekend. Try to maximize using a flood tide and you'll go faster. Don't try to buck ebb tides at Tacoma Narrows- you'll go slow to backwards. Odds are you'll end up motoring a fair amount of time, especially once you get into South sound(past Tacoma). I took my 30'sailboat boat from Olympia to Blake Is in a long day, and that's most of the way. Get a NW Yachting or 48 North that has "Fuel docks of Puget sound" article, carry a couple 5 gal cans of gas, and you'll be good

[Souzag818]

Originally Posted by Souzag818

You should have no problem going from Everett to Olympia in a weekend. Try to maximize using a flood tide and you'll go faster. Don't try to buck ebb tides at Tacoma Narrows- you'll go slow to backwards. Odds are you'll end up motoring a fair amount of time, especially once you get into South sound(past Tacoma). I took my 30'sailboat boat from Olympia to Blake Is in a long day, and that's most of the way. Get a NW Yachting or 48 North that has "Fuel docks of Puget sound" article, carry a couple 5 gal cans of gas, and you'll be good

A couple EXTRA 5 gal cans of gas, in addition to what the boat normally has. Main thing is use slack and flood tides to your advantage and make sure the bottom is clean.

[denverd0n]

If you expect to make it in a weekend, you will have to plan on motoring most of the way. Yes, you may get some good winds and be able to sail a lot. Or you may not. What you do NOT want to happen is that you get 1/4 of the way there, you run out of gas (because your friend thought you would sail the boat the whole way) and there is no wind, so you just sit there for the rest of the day.

Bring enough gas that you can motor the whole way if you need to.

Even then, a weekend is pushing it. I would plan on three days. Just in case.

Good luck.

[canyonbat]

Lots of good info above. Especially the advice on Sea Tow. Coming from someone who has sailed a 25 ft boat in the area, I think I would plan on three good days and be prepared to make it 4. The reason is weather, fog, traffic and length of the days. You aren't going to want to dive right out into some very busy shipping lanes in a fog bank. Even in good weather its going to be cold and damp there this time of year. In a car you can count on finding a place to stay at around 6:00 each night. Not so much on a boat. You are going to want to be tucked in someplace safe by 4 or 5 o clock and you aren't going to have favorable currents all day.

Next thing to consider is the condition of the boat. I wouldn't even consider this trip without having spent at least a full day on the boat in advance. Three or four days getting to know her and trust her would be better.

Now, having given fair warning, I think you will have a grand adventure and you will be close enough in that you shouldn't be in too much danger. Just make sure you have a good radio and charged up cell phones.

[buzzstar]

Two general rules when sailing to a destination more than a short distance away. 1/ It will probably, but not always, take longer than expected. 2/ If you are on a tight schedule, you probably, almost certainly, will not be able to keep it. In sum, go when you have time to spend.

[Kita]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

Make him spend $200 for a seatow membership...it's the best $200 ever spent

Truer words have never been spoken! That being said,I had never been on a sailboat so when a buddy asked me to help him get his 30ft boat to the Keys from tarpon springs in FL..you see I know engines & power fishing boats ...well thinking someday I wanted to sail,,I jumped on it..we had a honda 9.9 & it was straight into the wind so we motored the whole way the first time & that's 200 miles as the crow flies to Marathon Florida,,we left Sunday noon....engine never shut off,we switched off on driving because no auto nothing! We arrived at about noon on Wednesday. That little fuel sipper made it on 38 bucks! We were steady 6 knots at maybe half throttle at what we thought was hull speed...so eighty miles in a weekend sure....but you gonna be tired...and the reason my bud brought me was he didn't have much confidence in his luck with engines...point is make SURE you got a good little engine with all the safety stuff & have fun!

[hamburking]

This might be handy for planning: Navionics Webapp

From reading the previous comments, it sounds like it will be a motorboat ride delivery. That 15hp merc (you don't mention age or condition) could use as much as 1 gallon/hour. It should push your 24 foot boat to hull speed easily. In fact, you likely should have a smaller outboard on there. That means you need to bring 25 gallons of fuel. Tell me I'm wrong? Where are you going to put that much gas on that little sailboat?

As for time to do the trip...I think we all agree you need about 25 hours underway. It reminds me of the trip from here (Kingston) to Toronto. Its over a hundred miles. If you want to sail during the day, and stop each night, making it a relaxing, easy cruise, it can easily take a week. Or you can go straight through in 24 hours, usually under motor, but occasionally the wind co-operates.

However, with your stated inexperience, and in restricted waters, you should likely limit yourself to daylight hours, or about 10 hours per day. Don't worry, thats enough for you to feel really exhausted. So 3 days would be a conservative plan. Add a day to prepare and a day for bad weather, and hey...your dad was right...one work week (5 days).

So the answer is you are both right...you COULD do it in a weekend, if you knew what you were doing and were in a big hurry...but give yourself a week and maybe enjoy the trip.

Almost guaranteed that when you show up to the boat there will be some problem...engine won't start, not enough fuel, some doo-hickey needs to be fixed. Believe me, its much easier to fix it BEFORE you leave. Thinking you will fix it along the way is a recipe for disaster. Been there, done that, bought the tee shirt!

And finally, it sounds like a great adventure...you should definitely go. Its a small boat, so don't bring a ton of stuff, no hard suitcases, LOL. If it were me, I'd bring my own handheld gps (old garmin etrex) and load it up with waypoints at home...very handy when you actually get out there.

So prepare yourself, your gear, have fun, take pictures, and please let us know how it goes!!!

[hamburking]

If the boat is not already equipped with an autohelm (like a raymarine ST1000 tiller pilot) then this would be a really great time to buy and install one...BEFORE the trip. Its the helping hand that never gets tired or goes off course.

Also, cookies are nice.
I recommend peanut butter pirate cookies.

[mickelsen]

The Bayliner 24 which I believe is not a newer boat was intended to be a starter boat with a certain amount of "all purpose" concessions to appeal to the less well informed buyer.
Okay, I am not a fan of the boat and would advise you to find a good weather window, northwesterly breeze and not a southerly with the eye tides and currents. So, check the rigging, chain plates and life lines. About those life lines and stantions which must be through bolted. Some are "set" into a rubber plug. After being drilled oversized then a rubber plug is hammered into the hole and the stantions are then screwed into the rubber. I think that Hunter also used this technique on some of their boats.
All the best, Peter

[newhaul]

The merc will do the job great and if you leave about a half hour before sunrise you should be able to have a late dinner at anthonys resturant at point defiance ( public dock just east of the ferry terminal there.) Leave the next morning so as to go thru the narrows just after the turn of the tide to incomming. Plan your route there are marinas all along the way if for some reason you need to bail out for repairs ( also most of them have a fuel dock.) There would be nowhere north of the narrows that you would be mich more than an hours run from a marina with dockage available.