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Who boats in the keys?
PickleRick
Member Posts: 3,886 ✭✭✭✭✭
I rented a 20ft hydrosport CC with a t top this year for our florida keys trip. It did well but after owning cabin cruisers and cabin sailboats all these years i like having amenities like a galley, head, good bimini yop for shade, A/C/generator/ beds for a nap and other home on the water items not going on open bow boats
The entire week had perfect cruiser conditions on the bay side but Atlantic side was a miserable ride in the CC so we mostly avoided it.
On my way out of the keys i saw many many cabin cruisers being trailered(only one rinker) in but saw nothing but CC, w/a, sport fishers and a few rental pontoons out on the sand bars/islands. My cruisers is only a 23.5 so small by many of your standards but we enjoy trailering back and forth to the lake on a weekend basis. 40 bucks to park every weekend for a year. Dumpsters, bathrooms, showers, rv dump station at the park as well. I may move up to a 26 footer as my tow rig could easily handle it but the 23 footer serves her purpose and was a steal of a deal. Sleeps 4 but only has storage for 1!
Anyway, once i spend the season/winter modifying and getting maintenance caught up on my cruiser i plan on trailering her down to the keys rather than renting. Just wanted to see if any of you guys do the same?
The entire week had perfect cruiser conditions on the bay side but Atlantic side was a miserable ride in the CC so we mostly avoided it.
On my way out of the keys i saw many many cabin cruisers being trailered(only one rinker) in but saw nothing but CC, w/a, sport fishers and a few rental pontoons out on the sand bars/islands. My cruisers is only a 23.5 so small by many of your standards but we enjoy trailering back and forth to the lake on a weekend basis. 40 bucks to park every weekend for a year. Dumpsters, bathrooms, showers, rv dump station at the park as well. I may move up to a 26 footer as my tow rig could easily handle it but the 23 footer serves her purpose and was a steal of a deal. Sleeps 4 but only has storage for 1!
Anyway, once i spend the season/winter modifying and getting maintenance caught up on my cruiser i plan on trailering her down to the keys rather than renting. Just wanted to see if any of you guys do the same?
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Plenty of places for fuel as well.
I rent and stay in canal front homes (home base) while the kiddo and i would love to spend a few weeks in the boat cruising down the keys the little lady likes her Wi-Fi and stand up shower. Plus toilets that flush to a septic/sewage system. Unless it was just my kid and me we'd still rent a home although one could easily launch in miami and motor down to key west staying in marinas or hotels with dockage every night with only overnighing on the hook by choice although during the winter months things book up very quickly. The only off season they really have now is hurricane season.
As for the wide load issue i couldn't count on my hands or toes the amount of boats i saw in the 30 ft range being trailered down there from cabin cruisers to large center consoles. Traveling on Saturdays i didn't see any of the transport po po only state troopers and local cops looking for speeders. If im not mistaken many new rvs are 9ft wide technically making them not legal without permits. I looked into towing with permits before but even with permits unless i completely changed my route and only drobein day light when it wasn't raining id still be in violation in many places. So long as my boat is sub 10 ft, the trailer is top notch i wouldn't think twice to tow down therem. Its all hwy down there, long way down 95 to 1 although i really need to research a bypass around Miami. No offense to any of you from there but that city has to have the worst drivers on earth and this is coming from someone 2 hrs away of Atlanta.
-Paul
The rv parks between marathon and big pine are finally all back open now from what i saw. Last year several only had iguanas and security in them!
Cabin cruisers are rare down in the Keys. Most have open fishermans and, frankly, a lot of the Keys are very shallow. If you're going to be boating down here, its GPS/sonar 100% of the time and just accept there will be places you can't get to (e.g., Nest Key).
A skippers ability has a huge role in the ride comfort thru chop. I've watched other boaters needlessly pound their hulls while I'm sipping coffee in a boat much less off shore friendly. Granted im acceleging and decelerating/occasionally chaging courses slightly while they have their throttle mostly likely pegged with a lock on point A to point B. I have no need to damage kidneys for a few fish.
- Can hear the music and VHF
- Bow takes wakes created by inconsiderate boaters
- Easy/safe for passengers to board (especially when you have little kids that need adult supervision at all times)
- Can leave whenever you want
- Boat is floating the whole time (if you adjust as the tide rises/falls)
- Easy access to the grill
Stern anchored step-by-step:- Drop the bow anchor in about 30' of water while facing the beach, then turn the bow slightly (15° or so) into the wind/current and crab into the beach. This keeps the rode from contacting the hull/prop. A Swab with a boat hook can make this easier, and with all cloth rodes you can even use a stainless steel recovery ring to keep the rode above water near the stern.
- Once near the beach Swab steps ashore from the bow with the stern anchor. The stern anchor rode lies alongside the leeward hull - tail secured to a stern cleat.
- Swab buries the stern anchor above the high water mark.
- Motor back out (or have swab push) just enough to float the hull. Kill the engine, raise the drive.
- Use the windlass to gently turn the boat: raise 3' of bow rode, wait about 10 seconds for the bow to swing, raise another 3'. As the current takes the boat the bow and stern rodes will tension, swinging the boat stern-to shore.
- Then it's just a matter of adjusting position by shortening/lengthening the bow and stern rodes, respectively.
Boats with all rope rodes have an easier time with this - the chain tends to let my bow wander a bit, whereas all rope rodes are tightened until the boat is mostly stationary. We did this at absolute low tide (planned it that way) so we wouldn't have to babysit the boat as much, but I usually stay nearby in case someone else's anchor pulls.Once anchored real skinny like this we don't run the motor, the genny, etc. In 4' of water I've sucked sand/mud into the genny. It was a pain to fix. My water intake is on the sterndrive too - so if it's buried in mud under the boat we're stuck unless we can kedge it off.
To weigh anchor with boats packed in on both sides (it happens - folks can be thoughtless)
The only time I've really had an issue was when some really big expensive charter boat ended up 5' abeam us on the leeward of the boat as the tide ran out. Captain of the other boat was rude and on his way to drunk, as were most of his passengers (happens way too often here) because they had gotten beached by the outgoing tide and had a 6 hour party planned to make up for the missed fishing. Current was ripping and there was no way I was going to get the stern anchor back in the boat without drifting into him, and his boat was leaned toward us making it difficult to fend off - his tower was almost leaning over us.
We tied a pile of life vests to the stern anchor, left the Swab on the beach with one for himself, and pulled ourselves out as far as we could with the bow rode. Once under power we dropped the stern rode in the water and motored quickly past the bow anchor before the current would push our stern into the big boat's bow. We weighed the bow then the swab swam out to us with the stern anchor. No good deed goes unpunished: local patrol boat saw us and first commended us on getting out safely, then boarded us for a safety inspection and threatened to write us up for safety - I was on the bow while the boat was under power (in neutral, securing the anchor, with a wrap-around bow rail). Always carry the state's safe boating guide and laws with you - it saved me a court appearance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihr4PaGTves
They don't have 50' of chain on the front - I'm not sure how I'd get that and the anchor to the stern to pay out like they do.