Med to the Carribean

[MOTORBOATERJOHN]

Hi Guys [and gals?]

Im a new boy to forums but have a 'project' that I feel needs a bit of 'other' input on.
Im looking to take an older Carver 53 Pilothouse [2000] from the med to the caribean and the most logical route seems to be from Gib to Tennerife, Cape Verde then jump to northern south america about Surimane is the shortest hop so would love to hear from anyone who has tried this route [and preferrably succeded] in a power boat.
Obviously this poses quite a few questions that Im looking for some comment on.
1. Is the boat up to it? I think that it is with a few blue water mods, would love to hear from someone on the carver build/design team as to their impressions of their craft- biased or otherwise? Anyone else got one that they have tested a bit more than is expected of these?
With the light trades behind me some time from november to march what am I likely to encounter, any stick boaters done it this time of year? would be nice to hear that you were becalmed most of the way?
2.Motor use? the only way I think that I can make the range [even with a 'few' drums on deck] is to run on 1 motor at about 7 knts which Im picking is about 1400 revs [Im 2000 miles from the boat so cant test the fuel burn down here] looking for a burn of about 2 nm per galon or in european about 2 litres to the nm. [any owners of these that would like to try this and report would be really great] ie 14 litres per hour at 7 kts. The boat is running original cummins 420/450 hp I think 8 litre block motors with around 700 hrs on them, Ive heard that these are arguable about the best motors a boat of this era can have? [dont get too bogged down in an arguement about this!!!!] so hope that the torque of these motors is up to the load of running on 1 motor down at these revs??? any comment?
I would run each motor for about 8 hours then do a high rev run at changeover, is a longer run better, Ive heard that truckers dont like to turn their motors off but preferr to leave them running at stops as 90% of engine wear occurs at startup till working temp is reached so would 12 or 24 hr runs be better for the motors??
Where are you when I need you diesel experts???
Im sure that some of you will have a few other issues with my trip so feel free to chirp up?

Im an old [ish] Kiwi boatie who has spent most of his life close to or on the water and since we are pretty close to the southern ocean have seen a few days of 'moving mountains' in my boating life, when we leave home our nearest shelter, Australia is 1500 miles away so we get to be a little self reliant and prepared so not entirely bunnies on boats but its always sensible to get [and listen to!!] all the info you can before you get your feet wet so would really appreciate any input you all have.

Someone once told me that the only time you should get off your boat is when you have to step up! be it the wharf or the lifeboat! so far luckily its only been the wharf?