First Big Cruise on FiddleStix

[K&T3200]

We are just about ready for the big trip tomorrow. I got my 1995 3200 SCR in October, 2 days before Hurricane Matthew hit area. She survived the storm very well docked at our marina. We will be leaving south GA and heading down the Intracoastal. We have 2 weeks off work and are looking forward to this. Not sure how far we will go, hopefully to Daytona. I think we are ready and I'm sure we will learn a lot as we have had much smaller boats before. Bon Voyage to us!

[mmwjr]

Enjoy and good luck. I hope you have plans in case things break, spare parts and researched where repair facilities are along the way.

Oh yeah take pictures to share when you can.

[biggerseagar]

To give you an idea of what can happen in 2 weeks in that area, I helped pilot a friends Nordic Tug from Jacksonville, Florida on the inter coastal down to Stuart, across the Okeechobee waterways ,then up to Clearwater to his marina in that 2 week time frame. If you aren't familiar with this type of boat it is made for comfort not speed. We averaged around 40 miles a day.

So with that said a big adventure can be had with your boat. You will have sections of the intercoastal that will have speed restrictions because of the manatee population there. It means making a no wake speed.

Please let us know what you do!

Roger

[K&T3200]

Thanks! We made it to our first stop, a marina at St. Simons Island, GA. Great weather and so far so good except as we were docking an alarm sounded and wouldn't quit. Think it's gear lube or something (I'm not the mechanic on board). Anyway, thinks he knows what the problems is and will check it once motors cool down.

[mmwjr]

The alarm is one of three things, low gear lube, low oil pressure, hot engine coolant.

[gmc60]

You have a good trip love to try that some day Slow long ride from cape cod to inter coastal water ways . i charted it out already . Hope you got good nav equipment to

[K&T3200]

Update on our trip: Day 5 almost done.
The alarm mentioned previously was low gear lube in one outdrive-solved. Thankful for the courtesy car provided by the marina so we could get to West Marine easily. Yesterday, our next excitement was the 6 foot bow cushion blowing off, hitting both of us in the head. I got it secured on both ends now. Next, a belt broke on one engine. We shut down that engine and started it back up for docking which went well. At one point while following GPS, the depth finder said 3 ft of water!!! Yikes. We waited maybe 5 minutes until another boater showed up that apparently knew the water. We followed them and got in deeper water.

We are enjoying it all...got extra belts and lube now. It's nice not to have every minute planned and we'll know most of the marinas in our path.

[mmwjr]

Originally Posted by K&T3200

Update on our trip: Day 5 almost done.
The alarm mentioned previously was low gear lube in one outdrive-solved. Thankful for the courtesy car provided by the marina so we could get to West Marine easily. Yesterday, our next excitement was the 6 foot bow cushion blowing off, hitting both of us in the head. I got it secured on both ends now. Next, a belt broke on one engine. We shut down that engine and started it back up for docking which went well. At one point while following GPS, the depth finder said 3 ft of water!!! Yikes. We waited maybe 5 minutes until another boater showed up that apparently knew the water. We followed them and got in deeper water.

We are enjoying it all...got extra belts and lube now. It's nice not to have every minute planned and we'll know most of the marinas in our path.

Sounds like you really are enjoying the trip.
And learning to keep a few spare parts.

[Phillbo]

Stow the bow cushions below while under way.

[gmc60]

what are you burning for fuel, per mile or gph

[K&T3200]

Gas.
Looks like 22 gal/ hour or about .5-.7 mile/gallon
Yikes.
Does this sound right? Like I said, this is our first big trip.
At one point, one engine wouldn't idle down. At another point, we used just one engine. The fastest was about 40 knots and lots of the trip was about 10 -15 knots.

[K&T3200]

I posted earlier from my computer about the mileage. Now, I don't see it from my phone. I'll add later.
Kris

[jimq26]

Here's a helpful fuel consumption chart - MerCruiser 454 MPI Fuel Consumption 310 HP (MerCruiser 7.4 mpi v8) MPG GPH Test & Specs US Gallons per Hour

[mmwjr]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

[gmc60]

I went to block island ran a avg of 1.2 gal per mile at 32 miles an hour on plane (barely), there and back im told the avg boat or size class they get 1 mpg. new flow meters this year for me so i will see what i get , .7 you said was you on plane or plowing a rough sea

[shrew]

Originally Posted by K&T3200

Gas.
Looks like 22 gal/ hour or about .5-.7 mile/gallon
Yikes.
Does this sound right? Like I said, this is our first big trip.
At one point, one engine wouldn't idle down. At another point, we used just one engine. The fastest was about 40 knots and lots of the trip was about 10 -15 knots.

10-15 kts is your worst fuel burn ratio. Either full displacement (~8kts) or up on plane ~18 -20 kts (almost full tabs). Anywhere in between and you're wasting fuel. 22-25 kts is the sweet spot.

[K&T3200]

Thanks, Shrew. Trying those speeds today. We're only halfway thru our trip so still gotta a lot of gas to save.
Kris

[K&T3200]

O.k. I recalculated. I looked at mileage between fillups instead of overall.
I got either .7 or .8 mpg. for four fillups of between 30 to 67 gallons.
Shrew your info is helpful. We had a lot of wake zones on intracoastal from st. Augustine to Daytona today and got .8 mpg.
Oh, I reached my goal...Daytona. Made it in 10 days.
Heading back tomorrow.
Kris

[K&T3200]

We ended our 13 day trip, leaving the boat at a marina 2 hours from home (Jacksonville FL) to get the bottom painted, some buffing and to have the motors just looked over. Had trouble finding people to work on the boat locally.

It was a great trip with the only "problems" being, a broken belt and low gear fluid. We're really glad to have made the a/c purchase with this warmer-than-usual April!

Gas consumption was about .8 mile/gal. I guess that's the closest I'll get as the mileage is calculated from printed charts.

We stayed at 5 marinas along the way, spending the most time at one in St. Augustine FL (4 nights down and 2 nights on the way back). We love marinas with courtesy cars!
We stayed at: St. Simons Island GA, Jekyll Island GA, Amelia Island GA, Jacksonville FL, St. Augustine FL and my goal....Daytona. The Daytona marina was a disappointment as there was no courtesy car and it was not very close to anything. We were too tired to walk very far by this time!

I love the first pic....our little 32 footer between some mega yachts.
2nd - sunset at St. Augustine
3rd - our Ms. FiddleStix
4th - our view from our spot at St. Augustine
5th - I love my wake.

Can't wait to go get her and bring her home from Jacksonville!

Kris

[mmwjr]

Sounds like a great time, here's to many more.