ICW to Florida

[BobHaze]

I've done several deliveries up & down the East coast in both sail and power boats, but this fall I finally got to make a leisurely trip from Cape Cod to FL in our own boat, just me and the Admiral. We left on October 14th and arrived in Port Canaveral on November 20th. There were some weather issues - it took us 10 days with 2 3-day layovers weather-bound - to get to New York City, which should have taken 2 or 3 days, but who cares: the trip was fantastic. The 35 Command Bridge, which we just bought in April, worked great for 2 people: there's plenty of room for 2, both the heat and A/C were appreciated and there's ample storage room for both food and clothing. The 370 hp Cummins is plenty of power for this boat, and at our usual 8-10 knot cruising speed fuel consumption is 4-6 gph, well within "acceptable" range. That said, it was nice to be able to scoot up to 16-18 kts when we wanted, like the 110 mile day from Atlantic Highlands, NJ to Cape May - our only offshore day.
The ICW is tricky in spots but is no big deal if you do your homework, use online updates, and pay attention. Some of it can be a bit boring - long, long straightaways in NC, for example - but for the most part it's scenic and quite enjoyable. And the social aspect of "meeting" folks from all over on the VHF and actually meeting folks at anchorages and marinas was a lot of fun.
We left the boat in a slip in Port Canaveral and came home for the holidays, then we'll cruise FL for the month of January, spend March in the Bahamas, and bring her home in May.
I highly recommend a trip down the ICW to anyone who can put together the time and wherewithal. It was a blast!

[Nancy]

What a great trip, Bob! Love the photos.

[RobS]

That's the way to do it, take your time.... How did you get around Long Island - via LI Sound ?

[DougSea]

Did you stop at Coinjock?

[BobHaze]

That's the way to do it, take your time.... How did you get around Long Island - via LI Sound ?

Yes - we went via LI Sound. It seemed appropriate for the time of year, plus my wife in particular wanted to get her sea legs under her before doing any offshore work. But we ran into gale after gale, all westerlies, which kept us and several others we "met" online more or less trapped in the Sound for those 10 days.

[BobHaze]

Did you stop at Coinjock?

No Coinjock - we took the Dismal Swamp route at the beginning of the ICW and saved Coinjock (and their famous prime rib!) for the return trip in May.

[Jhill]

Bob, how do you like the davit setup. I have a 2004 35 CB and a set of St Croix davits in the basement. I have been just flipping the raft up on the transom but it broke loose this year while headed to Montauk and was quite an issue to get back on. Thanks.John

[BobHaze]

Bob, how do you like the davit setup. I have a 2004 35 CB and a set of St Croix davits in the basement. I have been just flipping the raft up on the transom but it broke loose this year while headed to Montauk and was quite an issue to get back on. Thanks.John

This is my first experience with davits, and I like the St. Croix davits just fine. They're not big & bulky and they swing out of the way when we want to use the swim platform for swimming, or for getting on & off the dinghy. We had Weaver davits on our 28TE and they were great, although with the dinghy on its side on the swim platform it blocked any view over the stern and it covered the name & home port of the boat. The main engine exhaust on the 28TE was on the port side aft, but on the 35 CB it's in the transom under the platform, so I suspect there might be an issue with exhaust fumes in the cockpit with the Weaver davits, not to mention the dinghy probably getting dirty from the diesel exhaust.
Anyway, I do like the St. Croix davits setup.

[rcwhite]

Hello Northbound at the Chesapeake bay bridge. Didn’t think to snap a pic I’m afraid.

[DesertAlbin736]

This is my first experience with davits, and I like the St. Croix davits just fine. They're not big & bulky and they swing out of the way when we want to use the swim platform for swimming, or for getting on & off the dinghy. We had Weaver davits on our 28TE and they were great, although with the dinghy on its side on the swim platform it blocked any view over the stern and it covered the name & home port of the boat. The main engine exhaust on the 28TE was on the port side aft, but on the 35 CB it's in the transom under the platform, so I suspect there might be an issue with exhaust fumes in the cockpit with the Weaver davits, not to mention the dinghy probably getting dirty from the diesel exhaust.
Anyway, I do like the St. Croix davits setup.

We've had our issues with davits. Our boat came with a hard shell dinghy tipped up on Weaver snap davits. One thing a lot of boaters with Weavers in the NW is letter their boat name & home port on the bottom of the dinghy like this:

20160626_202426 (1024x576).jpg

Because while our boat's beam is 8'6" at its widest, the stern tapers in to 6 feet at the transom, and being a round hull less at the waterline. So the ends of our 8 ft dinghy hung out a foot past the transom on each side. Well, one day we got caught out in some rough stuff & a wave came along & ripped the dinghy off the davits. That's another story, but since then I've replaced the Weavers with Garhauer lift davits, which are fixed & don't fold in. We lost that dinghy during the Weaver incident & replaced it with a Gig Harbor Boat Works Nisqually 8 (I'm partial to classic hard dinghies). I'm sold on lifting davits. I added 3 hole-through-the-middle fenders to each side as "MacGyver" RID floats which added enough flotation that I can stand near the sides of the dinghy without shipping water, & I'm over 200 lbs. The base of the davits attach to the swim platform, so the top of the dinghy is at the level of the stern rail & doesn't block the view aft. Plus the ends of the dinghy are less likely to catch a wave or bang into the dock. They don't block access to the swim platform, and by adding cleats to the swim platform I can tie the dink off with fore & aft docklines when it's lowered into the water.

20161029_135533 (1280x720).jpg

By the way, nice shot of Lady Liberty!

I highly recommend a trip down the ICW to anyone who can put together the time and wherewithal. It was a blast!

No plans for that trip (I grew up on Barnegat Bay in NJ), but would like to do the Triangle Loop next summer, trailering our boat out from Arizona to somewhere on the Erie Canal, go up the Oswego to Lake Ontario, to Kingston, down the St. Lawrence to Sorel beyond Montreal, down the Champlain & Hudson & back to our launch point, either at Tonawanda or Lake Oneida. We just returned a few weeks ago from six weeks in the San Juans & Gulf Islands of Washington State & BC Canada respectively (see the thread on BC Albineer Rendevous)

[Bsail18@aol.com]

Bob, how do you like the davit setup. I have a 2004 35 CB and a set of St Croix davits in the basement. I have been just flipping the raft up on the transom but it broke loose this year while headed to Montauk and was quite an issue to get back on. Thanks.John

This is my first experience with davits, and I like the St. Croix davits just fine. They're not big & bulky and they swing out of the way when we want to use the swim platform for swimming, or for getting on & off the dinghy. We had Weaver davits on our 28TE and they were great, although with the dinghy on its side on the swim platform it blocked any view over the stern and it covered the name & home port of the boat. The main engine exhaust on the 28TE was on the port side aft, but on the 35 CB it's in the transom under the platform, so I suspect there might be an issue with exhaust fumes in the cockpit with the Weaver davits, not to mention the dinghy probably getting dirty from the diesel exhaust.
Anyway, I do like the St. Croix davits setup.

[Bsail18@aol.com]

Hello...
Can you help me ..I just purchased a 2002 Albin 35 Command bridge that came with the weaver davits ...and I’m thinking about replacing them with the St Croix Removable type ...that attach to the top of transom and have the added sport fish support..thank you...