Bayliners are well engineered are BUILT TOUGH-gctid375641

[Guest Close Guest]

There has been a lot written over the years about the difference between a Bayliner and a Bertam, a Hatteras or other 'Quality Boat'. In 2009 we purchased a 3818 Bayliner to do Americas Great Loop. www.great loop.org. This was one of the best decisions and purchases that I ever made. The Bayliner 38XXs are wonderful solid, economical & sea kindly boats. They are very manageable for a couple on the Great Loop with all of it's locks & other challenges. The 38XXs draw 3 feet and have their propellers up in pockets. 'What this means to you Mr. Customer' is:that the bottoms of your propellers are 8" higher than the bottom of your boats keel.

For the importance of that read on

Two days ago while standing behind our TARDIS in Alice Town, Bimini, The Bahamas a well meaning boat owner asked me 'how thick is the hull on your boat? 'He added that Bayliner's were generally lacking in quality and that he had 'once inspected one and that he could 'see through the hull'. I smiled and told him that our hull was thick enough! Thick enough to hit a sandbar at 10 kts and then run forward onto the bar such that the waterline across the transom above the trim tabs was 6" out of the water. The water over the bar was 2.'5 deep and we were soft aground. I tried once to back the boat off but it was not going to happen. After 7 months and 3500 miles (from Lake Huron near Toronto Canada) our TARDIS was well and truly STUCK in the Florida sand off of Goodland. Of course the tide was falling with low tide to follow in 4 hours at 21:15 & a high tide at 03:27 the next day. Read our blog for the story of the grounding & subsequent re-floating by BOAT US. Thank-you BOAT US

http://www.ourtardis.net/ourTARDIS/D..._GOODLAND.html

http://www.ourtardis.net/ourTARDIS/D...D_TOO_DRY.html

In the two days after the grounding our TARDIS cruised more than 45 miles to Everglades City then 90 miles across the Gulf of Mexico to Marathon. Other than a thorough inspection by the skipper no other work was done to the boat prior to or after the re-floating. In other words; aside from brushing the bottom paint off of the keel. The boat was not damaged. Two weeks after the grounding our TARDIS crossed the Gulfstream from Key Largo Florida and entered The Bahamas at Bimini. The boat has not been hauled out; but the skipper an experienced scuba diver had thoroughly inspected the bottom & running gear.

On the +ve side the grounding gave the skipper 3 hours to scape the barnacles off of the hill & running gear. It also revealed that the PS prop shaft had dropped it's zinc and that the 4 zincs on the trim tabs needed replacing. That work was completed while the boat was on a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon Florida.

For more about our trip please go to www.ourtardis.net

Attached files [img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/679079=26912-grounded.jpg[/img] [img]/media/kunena/attachments/vb/679079=26913-highanddry.jpg[/img]

[iceclimber Cleaning the Bilge Find all posts View Profile Close iceclimber]

Nice story and pictures, thank you. Yeah, I hear comments like that occasionally and just let them bounce off my swim platform.

[ksanders Site Team Member Find all posts View Profile Close ksanders]

I'm glad you like your Bayliner!

I also hope that I never have the opportunity to post a photo of my boat hard aground.

I would LOVE to do the great loop!

[Guest Close Guest]

kwjennings wrote:
The Bayliner 38XXs are wonderful solid, economical & sea kindly boats.

Thanks for the linsk to your story. Good reading.

It's hard to find a better boat than the 38xx. Bayliner's yacht division really got it all right on that one. We called ours Perfect Balance, for good reason. And we miss her some days.

[Guest Close Guest]

I have an Avanti 3685 and frankly she is one of the better built boats I've known. I've been in a lot of boats over the years in a lot of adverse conditions and I've had them bust, break, snap, crackle and pop. I haven't had the need to slam this baby around the big stuff yet but I have no trepidation about doing so. She is built like the proverbial brick sh*t house.

[dmcb Founding Member Find all posts View Profile Close dmcb]

whiskywizard wrote:
Thanks for the linsk to your story. Good reading.

It's hard to find a better boat than the 38xx. Bayliner's yacht division really got it all right on that one. We called ours Perfect Balance, for good reason. And we miss her some days.

Plus 1.

I never thought I would have a boat that would replace our 46' Chris as the best boat we ever owned.

Our 38xx has in my mind.

Its perfect (smile) for us.

Doug

[pizze1 Seasoned Member Find all posts View Profile Close pizze1]

Back when I had my 3888 (prior to buying it), I had a surveyor comment negatively about Bayliners. After surveying the 3888, the surveyor had a different opinion. He came to me "wide eyed" and in disbelief, stating "there is nothing wrong with the quality of this boat"! IMO, the smaller boats gave Bayliner a bad wrap.

[Guest Close Guest]

That's what Steven MacNear Stockton Surveyor known for critical survey s told me. I pounded my 2855 Cierra Sunbridge and my 4788 never cracked the gel coat.

[RDOIII Seasoned Member Find all posts View Profile Close RDOIII]

Ken

Thanks for the post.

Nice to see that you came out unharmed.

I have always thought that one of the best features of the 38 is the keel and the prop pockets, You certainly proved that.

One question that I have always had is what would happen when the boat laid over. I was not sure is the outside edge would contact before the props or rudders touched. I quess that from your desrciption that props stayed clear. Was that true?

The isssue that I had also wondered about was the low level of the cockpit drains to the waterline and the potential to fill the boat as it dipped to one side. It had always thought that might be concern if the bow ended up on a position that it was higher than the stern. Did that appear to be any problem in your case?

That for the website - have read it often and look forward to following in your wake in several years.

Ron

[Stratocaster Founding Member Find all posts View Profile Close Stratocaster]

Don't know why, but I can't get to your blog...the page starts to load but then just stalls endlessly. Will try later, really want to read it!

[Guest Close Guest]

Stratocaster wrote:
Don't know why, but I can't get to your blog...the page starts to load but then just stalls endlessly. Will try later, really want to read it!

Mike

I just tried it and the site is working well. I am using Google Chrome and a very fast Cable modem (Rogers Extreme)

How fast is your internet connection? I have heard this issue before from friends who have slower Internet access. The site is VERY RICH with lots of photos and videos. These do take a lot of time to load, especially the first time. Please try again and be patient. I am almost certain that the size of the movie & photo files is what is causing the site to load slowly and therefore look lie it has stalled.

Please try again and let us know the results. This trip has been a dream for us for many years. The site is really worth seeing, especially for those of us who love boats, travelling & nature

Ken

416 570-4957

[nile Seasoned Member Find all posts View Profile Close nile]

I do that on purpose when in the Bahamas and I want to clean the bottom. My wife hates it because it means leaning on one side for 6 hours.

[Guest Close Guest]

RDOIII wrote:
Ken

Thanks for the post.

Nice to see that you came out unharmed.

I have always thought that one of the best features of the 38 is the keel and the prop pockets, You certainly proved that.

One question that I have always had is what would happen when the boat laid over. I was not sure is the outside edge would contact before the props or rudders touched. I quess that from your desrciption that props stayed clear. Was that true?

The isssue that I had also wondered about was the low level of the cockpit drains to the waterline and the potential to fill the boat as it dipped to one side. It had always thought that might be concern if the bow ended up on a position that it was higher than the stern. Did that appear to be any problem in your case?

That for the website - have read it often and look forward to following in your wake in several years.

Ron

Ron

Those are GOOD questions.

First of all remember that I ran soft aground on a Florida sand bar and not on a piece of West Coast Georgi Strait / Puget Sound Granite. Hello to all of my West Coast boater friends! I grew up & lived in Vancouver for most of my life. I LOVE the Wet Coast. Similarly, a story about a grounding in our new home cruising area in Ontario might have had a different outcome.

Now answers to your questions:

The boat laid over 16 degrees to starboard as you can see from the photos. There was NEVER any water in the cockpit or bilge as the tide receded and then rose again after 21:16. The boat floated easily and levelled itself nicely as the tide came in. Note that once the boat was floating and levelled out but still soft aground (about 02:30) I opened the cockpit hatches and paid close attention to the inside condition of the thru hulls, shaft log, prop shaft strut mounts & the rudder posts. They all seemed OK and were not leaking at all. Next I checked to make certain that both transmissions were still in neutral and then I grabbed the prop shaft flanges behind the transmissions and tried to turn turn the prop shafts. Mine still turned freely. I had not bent either of the prop shafts while aground.

The fact that the boat did not rest on the SS propeller may have been due to the fact that I made one STRONG effort to back the boat off of the sand bar while both of the props were still clear of the bottom even as though the keel was aground. Imagine the water movement around the bottom of those props as the props were in full throttle reverse for 60 seconds as the boat was grounded. Once the tide was all of the way out before sunset I did a THOROUGH inspection of the bottom & running gear as I scraped off the barnacles. There were two very noticeable depressions in the sand bar under each of the propellers. My reversing the props caused the backwash from the props to erode noticeable depressions in the sand bar under each prop. The depressions were almost 30" in diameter and about 1' deep. As the tide receded & the boat settled on her starboard side the SS propeller settled into that pocket in the sand.

It is important to note here that once I had tried to back her off of the sandbar I shut off the engines & the generator quickly lest I fill them up with sand. IN the cabin, I laid the table and the Captains chair over on their sides as I knew that the boat was going to list. I just did not know how much so I tried to prepare for the worst case while hoping for the best.

[RDOIII Seasoned Member Find all posts View Profile Close RDOIII]

Ken

Thanks for the response and the observations.

I find your answers most interesting.

Running the boat to get of the bar and the resulting depression from trying to back off is something that I will remember. Good if the bottom is soft.

I agree that ledge or a hard surface would be very different. It is the running aground on ledge that most concerns me about the possibility of flooding if the bow rides up the ledge. I have thought often of how to block off the cockpit drains to minimize flooding the boat.

I do agree that the Bayliners are well built and would expect that they will be able to stand a grounding better that most.

I would be most interested if anyone else has grounding experiences to share.

Ken - best of luck in the continuation of your journey.

Ron

[Guest Close Guest]

pizze1 wrote:
Back when I had my 3888 (prior to buying it), I had a surveyor comment negatively about Bayliners. After surveying the 3888, the surveyor had a different opinion. He came to me "wide eyed" and in disbelief, stating "there is nothing wrong with the quality of this boat"! IMO, the smaller boats gave Bayliner a bad wrap.

You said it! Bayliners motor Yacht division and bigger cruiser lines and excellently constructed. People that rip on the bigger bayliners have no clue and don't really know much and are just going off of what happened when they flooded the market and were on top with the entry level smaller boats. Yes some may not have some of the super fancy gadgets, but the construction of my 3258 is rock solid. A lot for your money.