East coast, south bound delivery

That's all well and great, but going slow and doing overnight runs in a 1995 43' Viking, I wouldn't know of any paid delivery captain that would do that on this boat. What they got paid and taking an additional crew member would cost more than the fuel savings of just running during the day.

I don't know the size of your vessel, but I'm guessing it's much larger, maintained extremely well, and you know it's history.......none of that is the case with this one.

Yeah...when I ran my 53c at this speed, I went
NY to OCMD
OCMD to Coinjock
Coinjock to Beaufort
Beaufort to Charleston outside

I did have about 1,000 useable gallons, however. So I think your splits look pretty solid.

Which is why I was throwing it out there that he could shadow me for safety. Yes, it's long overnight runs. I'm well equipped with the bells and whistles.

I don't know. I'm betting it has more than a hardtop.

Yeah, it's two week creep down the ditch...that would hurt...

Every boat I've run up or down the coast has been an unknown, and most boats are dock queens, but whatever time I've spent on boats has always been waiting for what'll break down next. That's the business and why we get paid.

So Capt J was right....no tower. That makes trucking very easy. I'd still take it by water, but trucking is a good option.

Yeah, that's not a half tower; just a hard top, but I think it'll still require removal for trucking and it's definitely a wide load requiring permits, escort vehicles and slow going.

Back in the day I made it once in 7 days on a new 46 Post...running sun up to sundown... recently did a run from Charleston to port st lucie...3 days...plenty of fuel stops along the way...stay outside when ever possible so you dont have bridge issues.. 8 days is not unreasonable without killing yourself...you didn't mention his range but assuming he can go all day on a tank he shouldn't have any issues....my guess is 9k in fuel and 8 days

We did discuss range and fuel in the first posts of this thread and indicated 8 days. Now, don't overlook the shorter days and, more importantly, shorter marina days as the time of year being discussed many marinas close earlier. We never did get the answer, to my knowledge, of when in the fall and a big difference between October and December.

I do Charleston to Port St. Lucie in a day and a half........in a 45' EX...... Beaufort,NC to Ft. Laud in 3 days running 8 hours days......

The shorter days aren’t a big deal in the fall. I ve run many stretches of the ICW at night. Obviously at hull speed but no big deal. I always preferred night with high tide than day with low tide if running outside most of the inlets are well marked. I remember one time coming into Cape May well after dark... easy in

If you're running a boat with limited range and needing to fuel at the end or the day or start of the day, then the shorter days are an issue.

I prefer running outside and don't like running at hull speed.

This, the boat has 8 hours of fuel at cruise a day, you need to fuel each day, even if using the ICW.

Personal preference I guess. At 10kts I d refuel in Portsmouth, then osprey and was good to go to Miami.

my point was that night time isn’t a big deal even in the ditch. Sometimes it s worth running past sunset, and refuel in the morning. Or even stop during the day of fuel is cheap at one place.

I would assume that this boat has a cruising range of about 12 hour. (500 gal @ 40gph). From Portsmouth that puts him in Atlantic City, maybe Cape May if weather alloys him to run open ocean. I don't believe in running at night if it can be helped because transporters are generally off the dock at sunrise. By nightfall I wouldn't want to bet on my night vision and attention span being what they should be. I also never anchored out on a transport because a proper anchor watch can't be maintained since on a boat like this you have 2 guys who have both been working since sunup. Plus stepping on shore, a good dinner and fuel are necessary. A transporter is working every day except for weather or mechanical delays, and might do it for 2 weeks on a run like this. That could be 168 hours not including the time spent on engine room checks, maintenance and course plotting. Quite frankly I'm not concerned with saving an owner, who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars buying and maintaining a toy, a few dollars. I'm more concerned with the boat's safety and mine. Now if you're dealing with a large yacht and 4 or 5 crew it's a different story, but this is a 43'.

Sounds like a good shakedown cruise to me if you don't wait until it gets cold up north. Gather up some spare parts and tools and head south. You'll have all the kinks worked out by the time you get home.

This is the most logical post you've written in a very long time and I agree with all of it. I figure liberty landing would be your first stop. First day, get a good fuel calculation as it's all at cruise, etc. etc.

However, the boat holds 500 gallons of fuel, with 400 gallons being usable (10% not usable/ 10% usable reserve), engines burn every bit of 50 GPH, they're 550HP 6v92's. So that leaves you 8 hours of run time @ 23 knots = 184 NM range.........plus the hour of warm up/getting off the dock and tieing up and getting situated, plus the hour fueling, plus the engine room checks etc etc..... and your at 11 hour day working.........

Pascal- this is a 43' boat, hull speed is around 7 knots on it.......so you either do 7 knots, or cruise.......does not make sense to run this boat 7 knots.........