Boat delivery from Chicago to San Diego

[augustdream]

Considering all variables such as weather, stopovers for reprovisioning, and a comfortable pace, what would be the minimum time to sail a 40' monohull from Chicago to San Diego via the Erie and Panama canal?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by augustdream

Considering all variables such as weather, stopovers for reprovisioning, and a comfortable pace, what would be the minimum time to sail a 40' monohull from Chicago to San Diego via the Erie and Panama canal?

Never done the 'Lakes' or the waterway to the Ocean but its roughly 8000 miles minimum overall..
If you can average 100miles a day your talking 80 days sailing time... figuring the Lakes and locks will hammer your average ... add to that 21- 30 days to get through the Panama Canal.. allow another 4 weeks for bad weather stops... repairs/resting up..
Call it 5mths..
Oh... also depends on whether you go down the 'inside' or 'outside' doing the E. Coast... in will be slower

[rockDAWG]

Whoa..... Sell her, find another one or truck her.

From Cabo San Lucas to San Diego is be a bitch. Hope you have a powerful engine. For the rest of the trip, it just takes the time and money.

[model 10]

About a year and a half.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Guy

About a year and a half.

Oh.... I thought he was asking 'Delivery Time'....
Cruising time I'd say 2 years... if you rush it..

[bluemoose]

these are the guys I trusted to do my Alberg 37. If I ever need to move a boat again, they will do it. M & N Transportation, Inc.- Nationwide Boat Transportation I would guess in a week you could be sailing Mission Bay.

[augustdream]

Thanks for the time estimates. You probably won't believe this but I was going to intentionally buy a boat in the Great Lakes and deliver it to my home port in San Diego for the experience of the trip. Looks like my time frame would need to be extended past a year or more to enjoy the trip.

[CaptainMurph]

You may want to consider a compromise.

You could buy the boat in the Great Lakes, get her to Chicago, take down the mast and take part of the Great Loop trip by going down the Illinois, Missippi, Ohio, Cumberland and TenTom Waterway to pop out in Mobile.

Sail the Gulo over to Houston or Corpus Christi after you step the mast in Mobile and then have it trucked to San Diego.

You'd get the adventure of a parial water delivery and a worthwhile compromise on the distance and complication of the Panama Canal.

For more info on the Great Loop, check out How to cruise America's Great Loop or America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association

Even if you wanted to take the longer way around by water, this would be a better "downbound" than the Erie and ICW.

Murph
S/V Amalia
1965 Cal 30

[Curmudgeon]

Geez, just put it on a truck. Begin your circumnavigation in San Diego.

[Pblais]

I'm think a week on a truck would be cheaper and faster. If you need an adventure then I'm more the 3 years if you do it right and 6 months if you screw it up yet still being lucky. You need a lot of perfect timing to rush a water transit quickly and the breaks can go the other way sure as anything. You can't leave the great lakes before May (maybe June) and that means the southern waters in full hurricane season. That leaves the wait for the canal and then the bash up the west US coast. The truck is the better choice unless you want to do the 3 years estimate.

[Paul Annapolis]

I'm confused--what makes this a delivery? A delivery generally means an intentionally fast passage to get from Point to Point. Otherwise..well, it's a cruise.
1. Why are you asking how long it should take? Do the math. Perhaps it would make more sense to ask the desired routes as there are some options.
2. Damn--how do I get a gig like that? It would keep me busily employed for many months but the owner will save many thousands and many months by trucking it.
Have fun!

[daddle]

Hopefully it would require many months of fun. Seriously. It's a sailboat. It's no fun on the interstates. It's a good trip. I know nothing of the E coast canals and waterways ... But I do know the foolishly feared Baja Bash. It's nothing to be overly concerned about. It might be refreshing after all those hot miles thru the Caribbean and Central America.

Obviously, I'd sail it unless that is just unreasonable for some reason. But why go to San Diego. What a boring place after you've been in paradise.

[bluemoose]

Hell, if in adventure, why go to Panama when you could go all the way south to the Straights of Magellan ? Now that would be a sweet adventure...