St. Augustine to Key West to Isla

[Wasabi]

I wondered if I could take advantage of some of your experiences. I have a 32' Blackfin Flybridge in St. Augustine. I will soon be making my way to Miami, then Key West and then Isla Mujeres. I'm not sure weather to use the ICW (never have) or go on the outside. The trip from Key West to Isla is a bit scary. I will likely be looking for an experienced captain to make the trip with me if.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[frankypettolina]

I would think fuel would be the biggest issue for KW to Isla. Make sure you know your range, and remember that you will be bucking several knots of current. Find a company like weather routers and use their services. I am guessing you will be taking 20 to 30 hours to make the trip, so a 3 day window of weather is best. Best of luck, and be safe.

[Wasabi]

Thanks for the advice. My plan is to load three (four) plastic fifty gallon drums of fuel in the cockpit. Lots of weight I know. One person advised (and it makes sense to me) that I should leave Key West at dusk. Drive all night at about ten knots per hour and use a lot of that extra fuel while I am having to travel slow anyway (night). Then with the weight down a bit open her up to maybe twenty knots (if weather allows) at dawn. Makes sense to me.

[ocnslr]

My plan is to load three (four) plastic fifty gallon drums of fuel in the cockpit.

Gas or diesel?

Transfer pump arrangements?

Life insurance?

How about one of these in 200 gallons? or larger?
http://www.atlinc.com/US/rangeextender.html

I have used their 50-gal model. Great product. Not inexpensive...

Brian

[Wasabi]

Hello Brian

Diesel. Transfer pumps are not an issue. Easily available hand or 12 v at your local Tractor Supply. I've looked at fuel bladders but for a one time use it's $800.00 plus vs. $6.00 x 4 for plastic drums. I've talked to people who have used the drums. They aren't as nice as bladders but as long as they are fastened down well it's not an issue.

[Double D]

Just curious - whats the distance of the last leg?

What do you have for power?

I get about 1.1 NMPG in my 32 Bfin at cruise

[Wasabi]

About 400 miles, 330 nm or so. I'm running twin 300 hp 3116's. Got a hundred hours on them to start the trip. Don't know what my mileage will be. If you are getting 1.1 that's really shiny. What's your cruise? Are you running 3208's? Just curious. My WOT is 28 mph so I figure a nice cruise of about 20 mph will milk those tanks as best as I can. I thought about Floscans but that's a lot of money for one trip. Good news is that a friend of mine made the trip, ran out of gas and the Mexican Navy brought him 150 gallons of diesel and charged him under two hundred bucks. They were happy to do it.

[Double D]

I have 300 Hp detroits, cruise is 22 knts

I've done the drum thing before (not on this boat). Its not too bad as long as the weather is reasonable

Do you hold 300 gallons? You may not need 200 extra, unless you want a big safety factor

[Wasabi]

1.1 nautical is serious mileage for that boat. It's a heavy sucker. But ya gotta love that ride.

I have a 320 gallon tank. I honestly figure three drums but people keep saying to bring four. That guy I told you about who ran out of gas was carrying more than enough fuel but somehow managed to burn it all riding around in bad weather.

[frankypettolina]

Some things you have not considered. Traveling at 10 knots you will be hard pressed to burn a substantial amount of fuel. This is not a bad thing, since too much fuel should be the least of your worries, but your fuel burn will belower at 10 knots than at 20. Tip of Isla from Key west is 343 nautical (If I am remembering correctly). Please do not forget to take current into account. I have seen the stream pushing in excess of 4 knots on the southbound leg of the trip.

Waiting adrift for the mexican navy to bring you fuel might be the stupidest back up plan anyone has ever had, don't mean to be harsh, but let me relay something I witnessed 2 years ago during my crossing. I answered a call at roughly midnight. There was a 26 foot (yes 26) cabin cruiser that had grossly miscalculated (their words, not mine) gasoline, and were out of fuel 100 miles from Isla. I had no gas, and could not risk a tow because my fuel calculations did not take into account towing a 26 footer for 100 miles. The USCG at first refused to dispatch a vessel due to the close proximity to Cuba. A Cruisliner (I beleive it was the Norwegian Sun) was then asked to turn around (as it was 10 miles passed the boat in distress) and wait with them until the USS Haliburton was dispatched to give them gas (originally the USCG wanted them to abandon ship and board the cruisliner). While all of this was going on the boat was disabled, adrift, and in SERIOUS DANGER, no battery charge from the engines meant no lights and no electronics. When the haliburton brought them gas it was still not enough to get them all the way to isla. They then had to wait for close to a day after setting off their EPIRB (maybe the only smart planning this fellow had) for the Mexican Navy to bring them the needed fuel. Lucky to be alive, and also seriously put others out to help them because of piss poor planning. Not enough fuel (100 miles means they had no idea what their burn was or where they were going, 5 or 10 miles maybe, but 100!?!?!).

Next, hand pumping 200 gallons of fuel, do not even think of it. 12 volt pump with an additional back up will only cost you a few hundred dollars. Go with electric, and be redundant with ways of pumping it. I do not like the vinyl bladder style tanks (at least not 200 gallons in the cockpit of a 32 Blackfin), they are difficult to walk around and can't be walked on. Drums are fine, I just suggest making a wooden frame to hold them in place. Ropes tend to slip and the tanks are prone to move (learned this the hard way myself on a Venezuela crossing).

Rather than leaving at dusk, why not leave around 8 or 9 in the morning make the best speed you can during the day, then when you slow down at night to whatever your best chugging speed is then transfer the fuel. With my boat we could make mid 20 knots with extra fuel on deck, put close to 180 under us in daylight leaving at nine in the am. Went 8 to 10 all night long (which put another 100 miles under us), then we ran the last 60 at sunlight. We arrived at 10 am. Your boat is slower, but if you can put 120 or 140 under you first day, 100 at night, than with lighter load only have 100 to go you would be arriving at noon or one. You may want to try a test run with the drums filled with water on the deck to see how the load is and how your speed is.

Lastly, you need at least 3 people on the boat to make this trip. I have done it with 2, but in your situation figuring 24 to 30 hours at best, 3 crewmembers will make it safer.

Do you have a raft? EPIRB? crash/ditch bags or buckets? I also recommend having cyalumes or safety lights in the crew's pockets at night.

Hope this helps. I know plenty of boats your size that have made the crossing, just takes a bit more planning and caution.