Beginner Question

[bamafutbal]

Re: Beginner Question

i think just going up down the keys and over to bimini would be good trips for ya. you could even follow the sea doos from lauderdale to bimini in may-july

 

[oops!]

Re: Beginner Question

hey skip, welcome to i boats!
you chose a good place to ask questions !
the people here do lots of things in real life, mechanics, (boat) marine electrical, boat captains and even search and rescue, frogmen!

please read (all) of the post called "can i die!"
just hit search on the iboats forum bar and it will come up.

boating is somthing that you start in little steps, you take a safe boating course then get a 12 foot alum with a 9.9 hp and upgrade to a seventeen inboard to a 25 footer and up. spending two years on each boat,
hence the phrase two foot itis,

your idea sounds like a lot of fun! but there is a lot of things, that you, as a new boater, cant possibly understand, like how incredibly fast a totally calm sea can change into twenty foot snarling, boat eating waves!

you as captain of the boat are responcible for all the souls on board your boat.

just a quick question...but how are you gonna protect thier lives in twenty foot seas and fifty mile an hour winds when the motors have quit cause they got swamped and sucked in salt water. that means your dead in the water. and your so seasick (laying in a puddle of your own puke) to the point that you actually wanna die, and are to sick to stand, never mind fix the boat!

please understand, i dont want to discourage you...at all...!
i would love to make that trip some day. and i hope you actually do make that trip some day. but ....not this day, year or even the next three years.
you need to learn first, even simple things like how to launch a boat at the dock properly.

but with no experiance, it is a recipe for disaster, that will in all likely hood end up in your death, and the death of your son and passengers!

this post may sound very harsh, it is not meant to be, i hope to see you on this forum for years to come and would enjoy reading your posts and opinions.

i hope ive given you some more information to think about.

cheers,
oops

 

[Nandy]

Re: Beginner Question

I have no boating experience at all and not mechanical

The above will get you in trouble real quick.

I have also really considered taking my 6 year old son with me

I would leave the kid at home. Even with the proper boat and experience anything can happen. From real bad weather to piracy.

Other point is that the experience needed for this trip is not going to be acquired by may. It will take you probably over 2 years of frequent boating and experience with the power plant.
You seem to have the hardest part of the puzzle, Money. Now you need to get the experience, it takes some time, but it is fun!!!! As other recommended get a boat and start your babies step then go for it!
In the other hand, to charter or hire a skipper is really not a bad idea is you can afford it. If you could hire a skipper you could learn a lot and speed your learning curve. Group boating is good too IF you know and create a relationship with these others boaters.

 

[kwikk9]

Re: Beginner Question

boating is somthing that you start in little steps, you take a safe boating course then get a 12 foot alum with a 9.9 hp and upgrade to a seventeen inboard to a 25 footer and up. spending two years on each boat,
hence the phrase two foot itis,



i hope ive given you some more information to think about.


oops

oops, your whole post was great common sense advice. I'm forever telling my sons to slow down and think it through.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Beginner Question

skippinout:

Use your rational thought and not your emotion. Lord knows I am a risk taker as I have taken a wood fired open steam launch to sea and am seriously contemplating going to Cuba and the Bahamas with it. The difference is that I know what it means to be in thirty foot seas in a small boat, the fuel requirements, the vessel reliability and my navigational skills. I worked up to my boat handling skills over the years.

Could the experience be gained in a few years? Absolutely! Only under serious tutalage from a master! Take my kid out in such an adventure? Yes! You bet! If and only if I had been in the seas where I was going and in the weather that I MIGHT encounter with the vessel that I had chosen.

You make mention of your young age as being up to piracy. The only two that I have known that were troubled with it and survived were over fifty. They were calm, determined and knew that the bastards were going to kill them. Do you seriously want to risk your kid on a unresearched and inexperienced lark?

Do not take this as a dissuasion from your passion, just that I reccommend that you get some experience under your belt before shoving off. 25 K can get you a good used trawler. Two years of study can get you the needed mechanical, navigational and sea skills that you need to make your dream come true.

I am concerned that if you shove off this year we may read of you adventures in the "Lost at Sea" column.

 

[AguaSki]

Re: Beginner Question

it takes some time, but it is fun!!!!

Although you may be a few years away from your ultimate goal, there is still a lot of fun to be had as you prepare. Don't get over anxious to make the big trip when you could have a great time on smaller trips gaining the experience you will need. I live for my little weekend getaway's.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Beginner Question

Sounds like an awsome dream vacation. Maybe buy a big RV and pull a cool Harley and head up to Alaska. Same open feeling only without the drowning part.

Funny I was going to mention something like that myself RubberFrog.

My father always had a dream he wanted to fulfill to buy an RV (if he came into some money). He wanted to travel all over the united states. He was a cross country truck driver for 30years and he really knew his highways and locations. Unfortunately I don't think that this dream will ever come true for him. From what I understand there are a couple of Iboats members that do travel and live out of their RV.

I don't have any intentions on traveling long distances at a time in a boat or in an RV for that matter. I would think that traveling in an RV that you would see some great views. Traveling in the ocean you might catch a great view here and there, maybe a whale, or a shark, or a nice sunset, or a nice sun rise, or an illegal alien trying to sneak into the US by boat . Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Beginner Question

here are 2 boats that would work, a project for a year, while you educate yourself on proper piloting.
ebay#320197670827 41 foot hatteras twin cabin

ebay #140191491943 31 foot diesel trawler.

 

[skippinout]

Re: Beginner Question

Thanks for ALL OF THE IMPUT I am going to rethink this whole thing, look at buying a cheap big boat like the ones on ebay that were suggested and do a restoration project on them so I can get a complete idea on how to do all of the repairs. Strech it out over a year and do some smaller runs from fla to islands close by to get my feet wet and gain a little bit of salt. Then maybe do that for a year and decide about making some bigger trips in 2010/11. I was planning on talking boating classes as well. if anyone stumbles across a good project boat please let me know. I also think by doing it myself and learning I can probably go into the 40 foot range maybe. I saw a 44ft project boat for 34k and repair it over a years time in bits would not be that bad

Merry Christmas

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Beginner Question

Great news, there skippinout!

Have your kid around while you learn seamanship and boat building/maintenance skills. The bond betweeen the two of you will go much deeper if you do. One of my favorite pictures is of my son when he was nine years old, swinging away with a mallet, chiseling out the stem rabbet on our steam launch. He was comfortable with the boat and the power plant in just a few operating hours after it was launched, as he was there during the building of it.

He likes the MFG fish and ski more now. As a sophmore in college, I trust his boating skills more than most people of any age.

Keep you dream of the long voyage alive and work on it every chance that you get. Think of the legacy that you can pass on to your child. How better to teach determination, patients, overcoming adversity and how to have good clean fun?

Merry Christmas, ya hear?