Boat is home!-gctid803029

[Cool_Beans]

Well, technically the return trip was April 2nd. I just haven't had the internet available or time really to get on here and post much of anything (sneaking on at work for this, lol). I had one other person to crew with me, a buddy from work. Engines were started ~6am and shut down ~2pm. The first 2 hours were @ 8 knots, then got the boat on plane (15-16 mph thru water, 17-19 mph SOG. . .not sure which is more accurate?) till we neared the James River Bridge. I elected to head south to the small boat channel, which was a bad idea. I went a bit to far south chasing the wrong marker and spend an hour navigating a mine field of crab pots and oyster bed markers all the while the depth alarm is blaring. Eventually figured out where we were at and headed north to the opening span of the bridge. The rest of the trip out to the bay was uneventful. Out in the bay it was rough. There was a small craft advisory and we headed out into it around noonish. Had to follow the channel all the way out and around the Willoughby Bar since it was so rough. I think it was buoy 17 when I cut back southeast and bee-lined for Little Creek. T'was an exercise to keep the boat on course and miss the crab pots and make headway with a quartering sea. Bow first into the slip next to my sailboat, and I managed to not wreck anything The worst part of the trip was being near frozen the whole time.

That's the longest single trip I've made in any boat, distance or time wise. And I'd say it was one helluva shakedown cruise as well. And Impressive! Nothing broke. . .everything worked like it should. . .the engine never skipped a beat and sang like a Singer sewing machine the entire trip with no fluctuations in temp. Boat rode well, even into a chop (at least to me). Seas abaft were pretty squirrely though. Did make note of some things that need to be fixed (fuel fill hoses leak, some gauges are wonky, Port alt. stopped charging after survey, etc.). Been cleaning out the boat and my sailboat this last week. . .I'm about 1/2 done :whistle:

Anyways, thought I would share. Picture attached is my new boat next to my sailboat. Lived aboard that sailboat for 3 years, 8 months, 30 days, 17 hours. . .I was counting down till I could move out B)

BTW, sailboat is for sale!




Attached files

[Dadrock33]

Congrats there, Cool Bean!! Nice looking 'liner, as they say. Hope all goes well with your "new" liveaboard. :woohoo: :woohoo:

[Old_Man_With_A_Boat]

Hi there Cool Beans and how far are you from the ICW? I live aboard my 1985 3870 and are planning to come up your way sometime this summer. The Admiral has a daughter that lives in VA Beach. I live on board and love it. I hope to see you soon. Also where did your trip start from and what Bayliner model do you have?

[Cool_Beans]

Bayliner was at the Hopewell City Marina, just south of Richmond, VA. Boat is a 3870 with Hino's

Little Creek is in Norfolk, VA. . .I'm probably 15- 20 miles from the intercoastal?

[Pcpete]

Good going on the ride home! I don't have the bridge enclosure so I'm looking at getting some sailboat outers and a heater for my feet for running up on the flying bridge. As to your question of speed through the water or speed over the ground and which is more accurate, they both are for different situations. If you are looking at the boats performance through the water, then the through the water speed is an input. If you are asking yourself about a head current or stern current, like to estimate arrival time, SOG is your input. Then there's the. Fuel calculation where you are going to use both and write it in your log book that you ran 26 miles at 2800 rpm with a TWS (through the water speed) of 15kn and a SOG of 13kn the first 20 miles and no difference the last six. After several trips you can make sense of your fuel per mile or hour for better fuel management. Like sailing, you can use the current to help your SOG, especially if you are running slow.

If you aren't accustomed to using a log book, IMO it's time to start. Little things like how many hours on the engines since the last oil change or hours and date of when the alternator was rebuilt.

I don't use a new page for every entry, I just put the date, where to where or what, engine hours when I shut them off for the day, fuel purchased, water added, any maintenance, and number of fish or crab caught.

[RGrew176]

Congrats on a beautiful boat and a successful shake down cruise. Hope you have a wonderful season.

[Cool_Beans]

Thanks! I hope so as well. Going to caulk the big windows and scrub the mud out of the bilge this weekend. . .then start the process of replacing rotten hoses.

Pcpete: Good explanation, thanks! I was abysmal at any log keeping with the sailboat :whistle: My hand writing is terrible and trying to write down the who/what/when/where/why/how of a day sail cramped my hand and was barely legible. . .I gave up

I was thinking of trying my hand at least with some kind of brief maintenance log on my computer, maybe in a notepad file. Right now, I've just been slowly going thru the surveyors recommendations and noted completion dates and some margin scribbles for my predelivery maintenance inch:

[Machog]

I use a very basic Excel spread sheet for my log. Just one line, date, hours, from-to, and brief comments on trip. Separate line for all maintance work & fuel purchase along with costs. PM me for a sample.

Machog

[Pcpete]

Beans, machdog has an excellent solution. Just be sure to back it up and print it at least annually then keep the whole thing in a specific folder or three ring binder. Keep your receipts and manuals together in another binder. I'm surprised at how often I've been glad they were there or had one that was close enough to use to trouble shoot a buddy's boat. I made doing my log entries part of my shut down procedure, now it's a habit.

[CPT.BLAIR]

I think I know that boat. I knew the owner that brought it to Richmond Yacht Basin when it was named Solace. I spent some time on the boat and took a few trips on it. It was the boat that got me into Bayliners. My dad did a lot of service work on the boat.

[Cool_Beans]

Sent a PM to Machdog. . .I'm going to try harder in my records keeping this time!

Yep, this boat used to be named Solace. Was your dad named Richard?

[CPT.BLAIR]

No, My dad is not Richard, The boat left Richmond Yacht Basin and a younger guy bought it and keep at his dads house. He sold it about a year later, he thought was to big. I knew the boat before the last two owners. I know it had 2 new transmissions and all AC units replaced. My dad rebuilt the injectors for him. Earl International worked on it a one time. The owner I knew spared no expense on the boat.

[Cool_Beans]

Oh yeah, I found the receipts for all that work. You must be talking about Chris M. That guy took care of the boat and his impressive maintenance was a driving factor in me buying it! he spent a painful amount of money on it.

The guy I bought it from was riding on the coat tails of Chris when he sold it. . .Earl was out and did the injectors again (found receipt), and told me he adjusted the valves.

I think the guy was named Richard, owns a welding shop. . .he has a 3870 1 year newer slipped in Hopewell where I bought mine. I talked to him a few times after I bought the boat and he was telling me about how he had fixed this and that for the last couple of owners. . .and this guy swapped out for cummins which Earl told me he bought. . .small world

[CPT.BLAIR]

Yep, I knew Chris and boated with him. Chris was not mechanically inclined so when something had a issue he just had someone put a new one in. You are correct, he seemed to have an UNLIMITED boat fund. I also know Robert the welder pretty well. His boat will fly with the new cummins he put in. I keep 4387 in Hampton now, not to far from Little Creek,

[Cool_Beans]

Groovy! I'm down in Norfolk...if you are ever down this way, swing by and say hi. I should have a stocked bar by summer B)

Btw, I'm deep cleaning the boat still and found some old pictures and an album titled "messenger reunion". Do you still have Chris contact?