2026 Hontoon Island Gathering. March 3,4,5. DeLand Florida on St. John’s river.

I am making name tags for Hontoon Island gathering. There are quite a few new names coming this year. These are no charge. These are the ones I have so far. If you do not see your name can you message me if you would like a name tag for the gathering. I need name of boat. Your first name and boat accent color. These have a magnetic backing. So no hole in your shirt. Can’t wait to see everyone again.
Rick & Berni on Willow.
 

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Thanks Ricky for offering to make name tags for the Hontoon Gathering! We treasure the ones you gave us last year.
I checked with the park yesterday and they still have a few slips available, so reserve now. We plan on doing our pizza lunch and chicken lunch as we have done in the past. As things have changed at Hontoon, no folding tables or chairs will be available. We can of course use any available picnic tables. Please be sure to bring your own chairs. Unfortunately, we will not be able to have the silent auction this year, but if you have something to sell to others you are welcome to do so. Strangely, with the new concession the park is NOT accepting donations but feel free to purchase items at the camp store.

Question….we normally have speakers that will give talks on boating hints and safety. What topics would benefit you? What topics might you want to share with the group? Please PM me with replies.

When you approach the park, please be on Channel 72 with your lines and fenders ready.

One of the best places to launch is at Ed Stone park on Hwy 44 Please park as far away from the ramp as possible.

There are many manatees in the area ….be aware.

Also, be sure to register on this site so that we know you are coming,,,,it also lets Ricky know what name tags to make.

I’ll post more in a week or so…..see you at Hontoon!
 
Avidmagnum12 said:
Thanks Ricky for offering to make name tags for the Hontoon Gathering! We treasure the ones you gave us last year.
I checked with the park yesterday and they still have a few slips available, so reserve now. We plan on doing our pizza lunch and chicken lunch as we have done in the past. As things have changed at Hontoon, no folding tables or chairs will be available. We can of course use any available picnic tables. Please be sure to bring your own chairs. Unfortunately, we will not be able to have the silent auction this year, but if you have something to sell to others you are welcome to do so. Strangely, with the new concession the park is NOT accepting donations but feel free to purchase items at the camp store.

Question….we normally have speakers that will give talks on boating hints and safety. What topics would benefit you? What topics might you want to share with the group? Please PM me with replies.

When you approach the park, please be on Channel 72 with your lines and fenders ready.

One of the best places to launch is at Ed Stone park on Hwy 44 Please park as far away from the ramp as possible.

There are many manatees in the area ….be aware.

Also, be sure to register on this site so that we know you are coming,,,,it also lets Ricky know what name tags to make.

I’ll post more in a week or so…..see you at Hontoon!
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Hi, I'd like to find out more about Radar and Chart plotters. I'm waiting for the Simrad HALO 20+ to go on sale again lol. it was $2000 and went to $2499 right when I was ready to buy it. ugh.. now it's at $2280. hopefully by spring it goes to $2000 again lol
 
We will have different brands of chart plotters and radars to look at. I’ve used Garmin for years and find the equipment easy to operate. When we did the Loop on a Californian 45 in 2022 it was equipped with Ray Marine chart plotters and radar. That equipment worked well but I had a bit of a learning curve transferring over. Not familiar with Simrad.

We can discuss various radar systems at the gathering. I find I actually only run my radar in actual fog a few times a year but when I do it sure lowers the stress. We also run radar in clear conditions so that we stay comfortable with the presentation.
 
Are there any activities or anything you guys do on any days in particular during this meetup? I made arrangements to be down in Florida during that week and I'll for sure come by at least one or two days but since I'll be driving up from a different part of Florida I figured I'd wait until the week of to decide what day so that I can avoid coming up during a nasty weather day if possible. Does anyone go out cruising or does everyone pretty much stick around the park? I wasn't sure if I needed to worry about showing up mid-day one of the days and wonder where everyone's at. I'm looking forward though to meeting you guys and seeing these awesome boats in person, not just through a screen.
 
Most attendees hang around during the day. We have various discussions during the day, boat tours and group meals.
Someone may lead a group cruise around Hontoon Island but Colby is not coming this year so someone else would have to volunteer. We will also have a boat/galley gadget contest again this year. Not sure what day that will be yet. I’ll have a schedule up in a few weeks. The ferry to Hontoon runs from 8am to 6pm.
Most years I lead a one week tour of the St. John’s leaving on Friday morning after the gathering. I’ll do the same this year if I’m available. Just depends if I get scheduled for minor surgery.

As far as weather….we tell everyone to plan for 30 degrees to 90 degrees. And one year we had the full spread! Most years the weather is pretty nice but you never know.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Hontoon.
 
RDiemidio said:
I am making name tags for Hontoon Island gathering. There are quite a few new names coming this year. These are no charge. These are the ones I have so far. If you do not see your name can you message me if you would like a name tag for the gathering. I need name of boat. Your first name and boat accent color. These have a magnetic backing. So no hole in your shirt. Can’t wait to see everyone again.
Rick & Berni on Willow.
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Thank you so much. These are great. David and Dayna (Alma's Only)
 
Thank you so much, Rick & Berni. These are great.
David and Dayna (Alma's Only)
 
gregariousford said:
Hi, I'd like to find out more about Radar and Chart plotters. I'm waiting for the Simrad HALO 20+ to go on sale again lol. it was $2000 and went to $2499 right when I was ready to buy it. ugh.. now it's at $2280. hopefully by spring it goes to $2000 again lol
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Hi Gregarious,

The marine electronics playground can be mean. Each of the Big Five companies have proprietary processors and ethernet like comm cables for all visual info that are NOT compatible with any other manufacturers devices. You won’t be able to see a Raymarine radar image on a Garmin MFD (preferred over ‘chartplotter’ for clarity). Also, only the top of the line MFD from each maker can display images (radar, sonar, CHIRP, FLIR, video cameras, drone footage etc). For example, you need the Garmin GPSMAP series (not the cheaper Garmin Echomap series) to display that stuff. I believe the others follow suit but I’m only a Garmin guy.

So choose your MFD first with the features that are important to you… some like only touchscreens, some swear by buttons etc. You don’t want to save $1000 (a Boat Unit) but end up with a MFD that’s not compatible with your other devices. If in the future you want CHIRP or sidescan sonar and SIMRAD doesn't make one, you’re out of luck.

Data that can be displayed as a number, such as wind speed, direction, gallons remaining, engine temp, RPM, heading, MMSI #, all AIS data, etc can be carried on your N2K backbone (five plug cable) with drop lines to each sensor. If you don’t have one, you can install it yourself for $67 (Garmin). They should all work with any brand (that was the idea behind this particular invention), but they don’t so stick with your MFD brand.

I would only invest in the newer digital radars. The old style magnetron tubes are only good for a few thousand hours, Bob Austin has observed. And if you DO have radar, you are expected to be using it while underway at all times per COLREGS. I think Class B+ send/rec AIS is more helpful at closing speeds of >20 MPH with target and just trashed my old Garmin 800 for a Digital Yacht B+ 2500, which is totally compatible with my MFD’s. All MFD’s also have a N2K input for your sensors digital data.

Hope this gross oversimplification is helpful, and that Bob comments. PM me to exchange phone numbers if you’d like to chat or have questions, knowing I’m no expert. Panbo.com is a trusted source on this stuff.
Cheers!
John
 
I have had my reservation in for a while. Hoping to make it this year with the new boat.

In the meantime, I have perhaps some items of possible interest to an esoteric few.

ENDEAVOR Salvage Sale

Best to All
Dale
 
RDiemidio said:
I am making name tags for Hontoon Island gathering. There are quite a few new names coming this year. These are no charge. These are the ones I have so far. If you do not see your name can you message me if you would like a name tag for the gathering. I need name of boat. Your first name and boat accent color. These have a magnetic backing. So no hole in your shirt. Can’t wait to see everyone again.
Rick & Berni on Willow.
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Hello. We attended the gathering for the first time last year. Our boat is a 22 Cruiser. We have now decided to call it C-Drifter. Debbie and Joe Williams. Thank you.
 
We have made our reservations atHontoon 3/2-3/6.
 
Avidmagnum12 said:
Announcement. After 3 years of no camping on the island I am happy to announce that we will be able to make reservations at the park
The last years have been a little challenging for our gathering however we always had a great time. C-Brats are always ready to be part of the adventure. Joyce and I are looking forward to visiting with friends…both old and new. Hontoon does NOT have an onsite park manager at this time so I am not sure what tables and chairs they will allow us to use but we will work things out. We are going to spend 5 days on the river by Hontoon starting Nov. 14th and will gather additional information.

To make a reservation you must call this number. 833-953-2583 THE FLORIDA RESERVATION SYSTEM DOES NOT COVER HONTOON AT THIS TIME. If this changes I’ll post here.
Please do not say this is a group reservation. I was told that they were not set up for groups but we can make reservations as individual boats. There are only about 30 slips available and it’s first come first served by reservation.
Slips are $23.00 per night with power available for $9.00 additional per night……plus tax.

Will be posting more in a week or so. Looking forward to seeing C-Dorys and other trailer trawlers on the St. John’s.

For anyone having questions needing a quick response please send me a personal message with a phone number and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Thanks …Tom and Joyce on the C- Otter

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Hello there. We plan to attend and have made our reservations at Hontoon. Debbie and Joe Williams.
 
Tom & Joyce suggested I sign up for the name tag.
Thanks
See y’all soon
Dale Smith - Marinaut

Note on the “salvage sale” they claimed all the cushions. Happy to see them being useful again.

multimediasmith

Thread 'CD-25 Cruiser ENDEAVOR Salvage Sale'

Since I have now replaced ENDEAVOR with a different boat (from the same designer), I am finally ready to clear some storage space.

The salvage sale has two sections:

ENDEAVOR - Exterior Enclosure

ENDEAVOR - Interior cushions etc

Exterior - Bimini with Custom Camper Enclosure $1,800 obo with local pickup New Orleans area.
I could bring it to Hontoon

This space has greater length and height than standard. The custom three bow frame covers all the way to the transom sheltering the stern corner seats.

It does require a 25 with stern railing for mounting.

New Cadet Grey...

A75DF76B-21A1-410A-9881-D4AB7389570B.jpeg
 
djstelly said:
What slip did you folks get assigned? We were assigned 21 on T.
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Hi Dan,
We're in 22...that will be a calender shot next year for sure..and a Hontoon record if the third TC255 makes it!
John
 
Gulfcoast John said:
...I think Class B+ send/rec AIS is more helpful at closing speeds of >20 MPH with target and just trashed my old Garmin 800 for a Digital Yacht B+ 2500, which is totally compatible with my MFD’s. All MFD’s also have a N2K input for your sensors digital data.
...
Click to expand...
I would argue that radar is more useful than AIS because most recreational boats are not required to have AIS, and the people likely to be bombing around a high speed not paying attention to things are not the sort of operator that is going to have AIS out. There is also the option to turn off your AIS out if you don't want your boat tracked.
It is much more difficult for a boater to make their boat invisible to radar.
 
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