How far have you been in your Bayliner?

[ksanders]

The question seems to come up often. How far can you safely go in your boat?
The answer seems to vary, but the first step is to figure out just how far people have actually cruised in their Bayliners, and take it from there.

I’ve taken two Bayliners from where I purchased them in the Seattle area, to my home port(s) in Alaska.
This trip is over 1500 Nautical miles, and involves crossing the Gulf of Alaska, which as a trivia thing, happens to be the furthest open water voyage required to travel in North America at 210 NM.

The first trip was in 2003 with our 3488 Bayliner, and the second trip was in 2014 in our 4788 Bayliner.
These two trips convinced me that Coastal Cruising anywhere in North America is possible, as long as you watch the weather, and are willing to sit in port for a good weather window.

How far have you taken Your Bayliner??

[Centerline2]

bigger cruisers vs little cruisers? tankage can be a problem in smaller boats.

farthest ive been im one of mine is 65miles off the oregon coast tuna fishing... a 1972 24' bayliner saratoga express with an aq170. we had to carry extra fuel in jerry cans....

my current bayliner, an '89 2556, a 135 mile cruise around the san juan and gulf islands.... it is so easy and relaxing that we could have doubled or tripled it to increase our enjoyment...

its easy to go lots of miles on a cruise when one is near shore where they can refuel and have access to quick help if something should go wrong, but its a bit more of a stressful mind game when one gets offshore over an hour (or several) away from perceived safety....

[RGrew176]

My longest trip was back in 1997. At the time I had my 96 2855 Ciera. I was located in Monroe Mi, in Bolles Harbor. The first day I cruised from Bolles Harbor up to Gibraltar Mi., about 28 miles. On day 2 we, there was another boat travelling with me cruised from Gibraltar Mi. up to Harrisville Mi. It was a 210 mile (statute) trip. We left Gibraltar at 9 AM and pulled into Harrisville at 5 PM. There was one fuel stop. Lake Huron that day was flat as glass, not a ripple in the waters except for our wakes.

We refueled at Harrisville then on day 3 we traveled from Harrisville Mi. up to Cheboygan Mi. That day we covered 120 miles. Once again the lake was flat as glass. We stayed in Cheboygan that night. The following day, day 4 we started up the Cheboygan River. There was one lock we had to transit. I don't remember exactly how high we had to go to get into the rest of the river but it seems like we were raised up 12 or 14 feet. We continued up the Cheboygan River into Mullet Lake. We crossed Mullet Lake into the Indian River. The Indian River took us to Burt Lake. Crossing Burt Lake we entered the Crooked River. If you look at a map you can see how it came by its name. The Crooked River takes us to Crooked Lake. We had to lock into Crooked Lake. It was about a 2' difference.

I don't remember the name of the marina we wanted to stay at. We headed there and found the water to shallow to get into the marina so we headed back out into Crooked Lake. About this time some severe weather moved in so we dropped our anchors and waited out the storm.By this time we had traveled about 38 miles. After the storm blew over we headed back down the Crooked River crossing Burt Lake into the Indian River. We stayed at a marina just off Mullet Lake, I forget the name. That trip covered about 23 miles.

The next morning dawned clear and bright so we once again headed up river to Burt Lake. We traveled about 10 miles total from the marina to where we dropped our anchors and spent a good part of the day swimming and having fun. About 3 PM we decided to head back downriver to Cheboygan and the Cheboygan County Marina where we stayed when we first arrived.That run ended up about 25 miles. This completed day 5.

Here are a couple of links to The Inland Waterway:

http://www.michiganwatertrails.org/t...ait=cv&cid=133

http://irchamber.com/our-community/i...rway-michigan/

The next day dawned hot but it was quite foggy out in Lake Huron. We decided to carefully make our run from Cheboygan up to Mackinaw City. It was a 15 mile run. It was still foggy when we arrived at Mackinaw City. It took some time to find the entrance to the marina but we were successful. About that time the weather radio beeped stating that severe weather with possible tornadoes was headed our way. The marina was full but they managed to T us off one of the docks. The bad weather did hit and there were severe storms and tornadoes in the area.

We were weathered in Mackinaw City for 4 days. It got so cold that the lows at night were in the upper 30's and the highs only in the upper 40's. This was the beginning of July. July 4th dawned clear and bright so we decided to start back downstate. Before heading back we did run out to and underneath the Mackinaw Bridge. It's even impressive going underneath the bridge and into Lake Michigan.We went 5 miles west of the bridge so we could say we sailed in Lake Michigan then we headed back. The boat travelling with me had a mechanical issue so we headed back to Cheboygan County Marina.We covered about 30 miles that day.They were lucky enough to find a mechanic on July 4th who could come out and work on their boat. So concluded day 6.

Day 10 dawned clear and bright so we decided to head back down to Harrisville. The trip started out pretty good. The waves were less than one foot so we made good time. Once we rounded Thunder Bay the waves rose from 1 foot to 8 footers. We had to slow down but we finally made the 120 mile trip back to Harrisville where we spent the night.

The next day the winds were still up and out of the southwest. We decided to make a run from Harrisvill Mi. to Caseville Mi. The trip started out good enough and the winds were off shore until we hit Saginaw Bay. We went from 2' waves to 14' waves in a matter of a few minutes. It took us 4 1/2 hours to make the cruise from Harrisville to Caseville. The distance by water was about 38 miles.Crossing Saginaw Bay we took the waves from our forward starboard quarter. It was quite the roller coaster ride but we made it safe and sound. I spent the night in Caseville but because I had a bad case of swimmers itch I decided to head for home the next day.

Day 11 dawned clear and bright and the winds had died down completely. I headed out from Caseville into Saginaw Bay. Unlike the day before it was once again dead calm. I cruised around Michigan's thumb and into Lake Huron headed down to the St. Clair River. Once in the river I continued downbound crossing Lake St. Clair and into the Detroit River. Conditions were great all the way. Continuing down the Detroit River I came to Lake Erie and then on to Bolles Harbor. I covered about 195 miles that day with one stop for fuel.

The total mileage for the trip was about 852 miles give or take. In 1997 gas was still pretty cheap. That whole trip, fuel, dockage, food cost me just under $2400. I would like to make that trip again someday but with the higher cost of gasoline I think that trip today would cost about 6 grand. Who knows, I just might try it someday. It was for me the boating trip of my lifetime to date and a trip I will never forget.

[Jeffw]

In 2013 we towed our 2858 to Lake Powell, launching at Wahweap Marina near Page, AZ. We traveled upstream (it's the Colorado River) to MM 105, just past Bullfrog Marina in UT.In that distance, there is ONE fuel stop, so planning is paramount. In addition to the 210 miles on the main channel, we traveled at least another 100 miles exploring almost all of the side canyons, as well as about 10 miles up and 10 back on the Escalante River as well as about 22 miles up and 22 back on the San Juan River. It was a great 3 weeks, maybe we'll do it again someday. I posted here on BOC about the trip, with photos, not sure if that made the software transition.

[HueyCrew]

Well.... since purchased July 2016 It's made 72 highway miles on the "tow" cruise home. But almost every weekend since, and some weekdays before someone stole a bunch of daylight I managed to get out for 1-6 hours for "stationary cruises"..........in the driveway. Weather was usually perfect and the money I saved on fuel allowed me to buy stuff for her. I'll start trying to catch up to you guys by fall '18. Ya gotta start out small and "build up" for big adventures!

[oldcrow]

the Crow's Nest on the loop so far from Barrie Ont. to Engilwood Florida 364hr at 8.5 mph give or take a few miles The Crow's Nest is a 1984 3870 with twin yanmar BY260 Our blog is
"crowsnestadventure.com"

[Alaskanmutt]

175 in my 1993 2002 WA
120 in my 2000 2452.

[MonteVista]

I have owned two boats; First was a Stingray 250 CS cruiser (gasoline) and the second, present, boat is a Bayliner 285 Cruiser (diesel). I took delivery of both boats in Istanbul/Turkey and brought them to my summer home base at Turgutreis/Turkey, which is 500 miles away. As much as the size of boat/engine that matters, gasoline versus diesel also matters a lot since it is much more difficult to find gasoline fueling stations so that it becomes a distance (cruise leg) limiter.

[Glasply1]

We travelled 8,500 miles doing the Great Loop from Sept'16 to Oct'17 on our 288 Command Bridge.....

[SprinterX]

and the winner is................................................ .............

[Rocky57]

I'm looking forward to doing the Great Loop in my 3258 in 2022. Had originally planned to do it in a 2858 / 288, but thought it might be too tight. Great to hear that it can indeed be done in a 288. Do you have a blog or did you write about it?

[knuckledragger]

I have taken my 490 from Portland up to Vancouver and then down as far as Ensenada Mexico. Currently I am in San Diego and can not imagine a better place to be!

[talman]

It's 50 miles RT to FH but I do it 30 times a year, so 1500 Miles. Does that count?

[Foster]

6000 miles on the Great Loop 2014/215, since then down the Chesapeake Bay about 250 miles each summer.

[All_In]

We where blessed to be able to cruise around Puget Sound, Gulf Islands and up into the Alaska Panhandle twice, really missing my boat

[ardoski14]

Does trolling for 42 miles count
https://webapp.navionics.com/maps/#s...6545018094.kml

[Jim_Gandee]

Long Beach, Ca. to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico but it was in a 65’ Hatteras so technically it doesn’t count since it wasn’t a Bayliner.