Long Trip on Tomcat

joeC · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:15 pm Post subject: Long Trip on Tomcat

Guys an Gals
Left on a long fishing diving trip last Saturday morning. Mission plan was to go from Baytown Tex ramp to West flower gardens then to Boom Vang platform. We did accomplis the mission and both dived and fished for tuna.
The boat performed well and we used 200 hundred gallons of fuel to go 380 Gps odometer miles. Sea's during the night were approx 4 feet with a short period so it was quite rough during the sleeping hours. On the trip I took a 55 gallon drum and a 15 gallon drum which we consumed before switching to the mains. Boom Vang platform from Baytown is approx 164
statute miles. When we got back to Galveston channel the fuel was quit low much lower then I normally like to be only about 25 remaining.
Joe

C-Hawk · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:59 pm Post subject:

Sounds like one heck of a trip. Thanks for the post.
Any tuna??? Cool

Byrdman · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:33 pm Post subject:

That is 1.9 mpg....on the GPS which also does not take into account the tide currents... and...the fact that you were really loaded......with extra fuel too....so.... as all cat hulls do....you loose that mileage with the more weight you put on them basically because the sponsons are "pushed" further into the water creating more drag. 25 gallons would have given you almost another 45 miles.....and you are right for a trip with no land... that is pretty close. But.... you could have always just idled down to about 4mph on one engine if you HAD TO stretch your legs/distance. Would have been cool to be able to have gotten...and you might have, the mileage when you were done with the two extra tanks....then, know what you burned with "on board tanks" and compare the mileage....and see what differance the extra weight makes....or made. I know when I unloaded my TC244 when I sold her.... I had at least 1,000 pounds of stuff on board....of which at least 1/2 I did not really need on the boat. But, one thing I did was never used a dock box, and kept "stuff" on the boat as to not get use to having something...then get on a trip....and ....wow...it is in the dock box. I was self contained. Just toss the dock ropes and go!!!

Thanks for the report.... AND DO TELL ABOUT THE FISHING!!!

Byrdman

Bob Cat · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:56 pm Post subject:

Wow! Big trip in the middle of a big sea! Usually don't see many boats our size out that far, just big crew boats and work/supply boats. Hope the fishing and diving was great. Let's see: @ $3.00 per gallon x 200 = $600 by lbs of fish caught??????

The Flower Gardens are amazing. I worked on pipelines out there in the mid-70's. Watch the weather!

Any pics?

Bob Cat