Daydream's Great Loop Blog!

Pat, I know it’s apples to oranges comparing a 22 to a 25, but in order for us with our also extremely heavy loaded boat to cruise at 14 smph at 4600 rpm, we had to drop three pitch sizes from the original Honda motor props. If Marc can find you the right prop, I think you will be able to get on plane.

I’ve really enjoyed your blog & will sure miss it when your present adventure ends. How you & Patty have met & conquered the many challenges along the way make for good reading & I think inspiration for others to do the same.

Jay
 
Today's blog post is about our second port day in Apalachicola waiting for a weather day to cross the Gulf of Mexico, and about our day with Marc and Anita Grove, which was a very full and very fun day!
 
Thanks, everyone! Here is where things stand. Yesterday Marc looked through his prop inverntory, and did not find anything suitable, so today he will have his parts guy looking for a suitable lower pitch aluminum prop today. Yesterday I bought the Doelfin / Permatirim work-alike that he had in his little retail area. This morning, I called and asked him to put us on the shop schedule to fix the trim tabs. He said he'd get back to me. Our Guf crossing day now is Friday rather than Thursday, so we are hoping this will all work out!
 
hardee":294n76y5 said:
Those last 2 post are good advice. Always better to have daylight, and good is better, when entering a new, strange, harbor, marina or channel route.

Another trick, even with good GPS, is to induce a known error. If you are crossing to a landing where you are entering a channel that might be hard to find, aim your crossing destination to the right, (starboard) by a mile or so, then when you have good visualization of the approaching coast, turn to parallel it and find your indentation or channel knowing it will be a turn to stbd, and being sure you will find it in front of you, not maybe "should have turned the other way". I know GPS makes that error hard to happen, but this is one I use crossing Juan de Fuca into Cattle Pass, because I cannot see the entrance from this side. I put my marker about a mile to the west, and half a mile off shore, on an incoming tide, to avoid some of the rip, and get a good visual on the lighthouse.

Curious what your bottom growth looks like, as it may have some affect on your planning ability too. Also (and you probably are already doing this, moving weight aft to get up on plane.

Dolefin? How about permatrim? And I think you have trim tabs already.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Sorry, I need to make a correction:

".... aim your crossing destination to the right, (starboard) by a mile or so, then when you have good visualization of the approaching coast, turn to parallel it and find your indentation or channel knowing it will be a turn to stbd, and being sure you will find it in front of you...."

"knowing it will be a turn to stbd" SHOULD SAY knowing it will be a turn to PORT making the chosen destination easy to find off your starboard side.

Now back to Pat and Pattys adventure.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

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Finally caught up on the blog again. Thanks for posting the links here. Sounds like you are enjoying the dessert portion.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Had a very fun day with Pat and Patty yesterday !
11p Honda Prop is on order , we will pull the boat Wed. Its my personal mission to get that boat to plane . We will pressure wash bottom, see what's up with the tabs . Try the "Stingray3" [no holes to mount that one] and see if we can make Daydream come to life .
Marc
 
Way to go Marc! I knew you could do it! 11" was what we had on our 130 at Lake Powell--and planed it well at that altitude with heavy load. He may want to switch it back when he continues at displacement speed--depending on his RPM at 7 knots...

Good on the entertainment and food. No host or hostess like Anita and Marc! Know the area--you bet em..
 
Both Suzuki and Yamaha make an inline four 200 hp outboard that weighs less than the Honda 150 on Daydream now. If you only P & P could find a dealer back there that sells them! Maybe Marc knows of one. :mrgreen:

I know it isn't a good time or place to repower, Pat, but here is something to ponder on the long drive home. My CD25 weighed 8400 pounds on the trailer when I hauled it north last month. That was about 7000 pounds floating on your home waters where the new Suzuki DF200 would push it 35 mph easily and waste no time getting there. The sooner you do it, the more your Honda is worth in trade or resale. I waited too long and my best offer for the old Honda 130 was two hundred bucks at Sportcraft.
 
Wefings":8lvusqmg said:
Had a very fun day with Pat and Patty yesterday !
11p Honda Prop is on order , we will pull the boat Wed. Its my personal mission to get that boat to plane . We will pressure wash bottom, see what's up with the tabs . Try the "Stingray3" [no holes to mount that one] and see if we can make Daydream come to life .
Marc
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We like it! Keeping our fingers (toes & eyes) crossed that this all comes together so we can get 'er up on the plane! Thanks, Marc!
 
Sorry to hear about the delay...If you could get launched--and were able to plane, by 10 AM, I would go today....That is very unlikely.

Right now Monday looks like a possibility, and by then you will know what your ability is to run on a plane, and speed. Tuesday--right now--still looks good.

Could be a worse place to be stuck in...
 
thataway":1218ou8k said:
Sorry to hear about the delay...If you could get launched--and were able to plane, by 10 AM, I would go today....That is very unlikely.

Right now Monday looks like a possibility, and by then you will know what your ability is to run on a plane, and speed. Tuesday--right now--still looks good.

Could be a worse place to be stuck in...
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Yes, getting the prop comes first, then getting launched, then the tests on the water to see if we can get on the plane. Getting underway today is pretty much out of the question, since it is noon right now, and still no prop!

We expect to get the prop and be back in the water some time today. Whether we can do our tests or not depends on what time that happens! If the prop comes at 4:30 a.m., it would be dark before we got back to Apalachicola from Eastpoint, so testing would have to happen on Friday, and we would spend the weekend in Battery Park Marina.

We will reassess on Sunday night whether it is Monday or Tuesday, and one way or another, we will go, whether we are planing or not - I expect we will be, since even with the 15 pitch prop, no trim tabs, and no outboard fin, we were up to 10 mph and seemed close, just needing a little something "more" to get the bow down over the bow wake, which I have to believe we now have!

This morning Marc gave us some poke, some smoked tuna, and some smoked mullet, so at least we will eat or snack weill while we are waiting!

And as you say, waiting in Apalachicola is a whole lot better than waiting in many other places!

 
Today's blog post is about our sixth port day in Apalachicola waiting for a weather window, and the results of our tests with the trim tabs fixed and the Stingray3 fin and the new Honda aluminum 11 pitch prop installed. PLEASE watch the short iPhone video and tell me what you think.
 
I don't know about the 25, but the Tomcat handles very differently with a full load of fuel (150gals) than with 1/2 a tank. Even with baffles in the tank, fuel will run towards the back when you're bow up and stay there. That weight in the back makes the steering sluggish since so much of the boat is in the water. My guess is that by the time you're 1/2 way or 2/3 of the way to Steinhatchee, you will have burned off enough fuel that the bow will come down a bit and the speed will pick up.
 
It is always important to work with the trim of the engines and the tabs when loaded like this--and it may need to change as the sea height and direction, the load and the wind change.

I made comments on the blog and will not repeat, except--you were planing in the video--go for it.
 
You probably are sitting a little lower in the water due to all the weight. But looks to me like you were on plane, and 20 is probably a decent speed for all the weight, and compared to what you were doing. And I believe you have a relatively small engine for the boat. Others I know that are running 200 hp with 25's, fairly heavy loaded, are still pushing closer to 30 at the higher RPM settings.
 
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