ST Thomas bound

[hutch64md]

Hello all,
I am a new member and was hoping to use this forum to get some advice. My wife and I are planning to relocate to St Thomas in the fall/winter this year. We will be selling our small Grady we use now in the bay and near shore and upgrading to something larger when we make the move. We are looking at something along the lines of a 30', 33' or 36' Grady with a cabin. The question is how do we get it there? Do we wait and buy it there? I have looked and there does not seem to be much to choose from there. That leaves me thinking it would make more sense to get what we want on mainland US and ship it or drive it. There in lies the question, my boating experience is small and limited to bays and near shore(7-8 miles). I don't know what would be involved in trying to make the trip so that might not be the best option. Should I hire a captain or ship it? Any advice is welcome.

Thank you!

[Snore]

I will take a stab at this. As a delivery ‘Capt’ I tend to do the oddball job, like this. The issue will be refueling and the price of fuel (gas) along the way.

You may want to check the cost of shopping as deck cargo or with one of the ro-ro ships in Ft Lauderdale. My guess is they will be cheaper.

Please PM or email me (see profile) if you are looking for a captain.

[grantmc]

If it were me, I would ask around at my boat Club for anyone experienced and interested in a free sailing trip to St Thomas. I would want a crew of 4 or 5 including myself (note at least one person always drops out at the last minute). One person would be the designated skipper.

The deal would be that I pay the full cost of stocking the boat and also pay for each person's airfare home. Obviously you'd also need to agree on how long people can hang out at St Thomas once there.

And for the rest of our lives we would savour the adventure we shared.

Edit Added After Posting: Apologies I now realise that the boat is a power boat. So my suggestion probably unlikely.

[miamizx]

You could look for a used Grady in Puerto Rico, I've seen some pop up from time to time. Short hop over on a nice day.

[skipmac]

Good, used Grady's with low hours are not very common. You might find one in PR or even in the VI but finding one with really good engines would be a long shot.

One the other hand a Grady should easily handle the trip to St Thomas. Depending on the model the range might even work without adding a bladder or a bunch of jerry jugs.

Most of the legs through the Bahamas are 100 miles or less but unless you can get fuel at Crooked Island you will have a 200 mile jump from Long Island to the Caicos. From there to the DR the coastl hops to PR to the VI.

[flyingfin]

Buy one in Florida, run it for a month to shake out any problems/warranty issues,then ship it to Puerto Rico from Jacksonville or Ft Lauderdale, several shipping companies can do it easy peasy, but you will need a trailer or shipping cradle. Then make the run to St Thomas.