Association Forum - Living on board full time and going South (PART 8)

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Living on board full time and going South (PART 8)

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

Canada
1314 Posts

Initially Posted - 02/22/2007 : 13:34:03

Living on board full time and going South (PART 8)

Hi y'all... traveling long distances and finding places to stay every night can be a tiring business...

Thanks for the many comments and glad you're following our trip... We're enjoying it... It surely beats the cold and we still love to travel with our 25 ft boat although a 39.5 ft motor coach with triple pull-outs, sounds awfully nice... smaller will do fine too... in fact anything with more than 5-5ft head room sounds attractive by now... (hear lots of you saying "told you so but you chose not to listen")...

Yes... this trip report is to keep the snowed under, “frozen solid back home”, counting the “sleeps till splashdown”, on alert that spring will come and with it wonderful sailing in the San Juan's and Gulf islands and elsewhere in the North.

Our towing vehicle, the '05, 1 ton, 6 cylinder Ram Diesel, auto tranny, quad cap, 4 wheeler and short 6' 4” box, purchased with this trip in mind, is a delight. A little too stiff in the springs, a ¾ ton would have given a better ride on some of the wash-board roads we encountered but the flip side is that it has no problem tracking the trailer/boat at higher speeds and has lots of power without changing gears on steep inclines. Braking ability including the trailers 2 wheel surge brake system seems sufficient but... planning ahead, driving defensively and leaving plenty of room is key. So far so good... had only one close call on the road in the middle of Texas when a gas tanker truck wandered into our lane and by a fraction missed us. Don't want to imagine what could have happened!!

To answer the question of weight we recently stopped at a roadside trucker scale (no need for you to weigh-in sir... nice boat...!!) with the following results: truck front axle 4520 lbs, truck rear axle 3200 lbs, boat trailer wheels double axle 5240 lbs... total weight 13,460 lbs. This includes 2 people (weight is confidential), full fuel tank, empty water tank, (porta-potty just emptied) provisions for about 10 days, tools/spares for both truck and boat, personal belongings, hitch mounted spare tire, 10 gallons of gas, 8 hp outboard motor and our dingy “Someday Baby”.. . Given that 10% is transferred to truck's rear axle the total boat/trailer wheel weight is approx 4740 lbs. The trailer's radial tires rated at 1648 lbs each (total 6584 lbs) provide a load margin of approx. 1800 lbs total.

Having driven with boat and trailer from Vancouver, BC south to San Diego mostly along 101 South, then East along interstate 10 to Mobile Alabama, average diesel fuel consumption has been 15.2 miles per gallon or 15.4 liters per 100 kilometer averaged over 7350 miles or 11830 km. This includes city driving, some trailer-less side trips but mostly long distance trailer/boat hauling.

Land, sand and desert cruising is perhaps the best way to describe the latest segment of our trip...

By the time we reach Van Horn, Texas 100 miles past El Paso and stop at the Eagle Nest RV Park, Texas on the way to St Antonio we really enjoy the beauty of the area we drive through and marvel/wonder at this vast country... Even more so when we take a 200 mile side trip to the Carlsbad Caverns to spend an entire day more than 800 ft underground. The only word to describe this experience is “totally awesome”!!. Whenever you travel this area, don't skip this natural wonder.

Texas with it s three distinct landscapes was far beyond our expectations. Driving the 700 odd miles from Van Horn to the quaint town of Schulenburg made us even more aware of the different climates and history in that state. Settling in for a few days at the rural and attractive Schulenburg RV park we were welcomed and invited for an TV interview to outline our “RV” combination and to plug the surrounding towns and 120-150 year old so-called “Painted Churches” This area has a long history of German and East European settlement

Since our road & float trip has no fixed schedule we decided to head 300 miles further South and visit our daughter's (snowbirds) in-laws via Corpus Christi next to the Mexican border. Of course we crossed the border for an afternoon and shopped just like a legion of Americans do to look for bargains, prescription drugs at a fraction of cost and of all things... have their teeth fixed... Henk got a $4.00 dollar hair cut. For that they even trimmed the wild hair out of his
nose and ears!!

After pulling ourselves away from this retirement community we were planning to investigate the marinas around Corpus Christi but decided against it since the weather was unseasonably cold. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana we were forced to stop. You will chuckle about the fact that we ran sheer out of maps and RV park books we had collected from our Langley, BC, BCAA office before we started the trip... At that time we knew that some sections were missing but thought, “oh well... it'll be a long time before we get there”... sure enough here we were looking for the AAA office in a strange town. Fortunately the AAA office was just off the interstate. The friendly staff promptly provided us with several tons of directions and instructions.

Being from Dutch origin we always assumed that Holland is the country of waterworks until we reached the miles and miles of roads built along the Gulf of Mexico through swamp type land and lakes before and surrounding New Orleans. It is sobering to still see some of the devastation caused by Katrina's incomprehensible power. In one area we overnighted we could see, feel and sense a spirit of renewal together with the overwhelming task ahead.

Oh no... Yet another boat part went overboard! (oh... that's why that guy driving behind us honked so hard/long) This time it is the bilge pump cover. (Must've hit it in open position while taking supplies on board) We got in touch with Kent Nelson at Catalina California who immediately came up with a part number, cost and “all we need now Henk is visa number and a forwarding address please... where can we UPS the part”... so... we located an RV park in Mobile, close to a UPS office and had the part in two days... yes... the right cover and it even came complete with seal tape... Thank you Kent, and Chris... we feel complete again.

Not that it is of interest as part of this trip report but... we received an e-mail a few days ago from the planning committee of the annual Can West Horticultural Trade Show to be held September, '07 in Vancouver, BC. I have been involved in the management, and still am on contract, for this trade show for years. The theme for the upcoming show is “Sailing into the Future”... They requested our Catalina C250 WB #151 to be displayed in the show's feature area... After thinking about this for all of about 5 seconds we e-mailed back that we “reluctantly” would make the boat (our home) available providing they, for the duration of the show, house us in the 5 star hotel... or alternately have us living on the show floor, porta potty and all... Deal was accepted and look forward to deliver the boat in good shape 6 months and 10,000 miles from now...

Stay tuned for the next Florida episode... see you soon...

Henk & Johanna
"Floating", a few off your "barnacles".
"Someday Lady" '95 C250WB #151 ('03 - 2016)
"Sea ya" 30ft Bayliner (04-2018 - 09-2018)
"Mariah" '96 C250WB #191 (05-2019 - 15-05-2023)
"Lady J" '00 C250WK #499 (05-2021 - 09-2022)

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 02/22/2007 : 17:04:29

I just can't tell you how much I enjoy getting to know you both through these updates. And thank you for the kind words about the United Sates and the people you meet. Trust me, we are all in awe of this land as well.

Frank

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 02/22/2007 : 18:46:23

Very cool, Henk and Joanna, keep 'em coming!

Edited by - on

glivs
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
836 Posts

Response Posted - 02/23/2007 : 10:55:22

Henk and Joanna - very much enjoying your adventures....thank you!

I hope when you were passing through the TX hill country that someone shared with you photos of spring. The sea of BlueBonnets (lupines to you NW folks), Indian Paintbrushes, Primroses,...that cover the landscape are astounding.

One point of your documentaries that puzzles me though Henk....you have yet to mention the incredible array of foods that you must have been exposed to

. Don't get me wrong, I love the NE, but having lived about 16 years on the Gulf Coast (Galveston) I would give anything right now for some fresh Gulf shrimp, an oyster po-boy, any TexMex, real BBQ, anything Cajun.... And Florida just opens up a whole new world of delicacies...

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 02/23/2007 : 11:27:59

Henk, great stuff. Request present location or as we older folks use to say, your 20 please?

Edited by - on

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
1314 Posts

Response Posted - 02/27/2007 : 11:56:36

Just a hurried note... we're at present in Port St. Joe on the west side of Florida meandering South to the Key's... We're hoping for a Catalina factory tour and perhaps stay/sail in that area for a bit...

In spite of the invite/offer to assist with marina/slip selection by Ken Davis in the Pensacola area (thank you Ken), we had to rush past to meet friends from BC we'd not seen in years... Now, when traveling north again, we hope to explore the attractive Pensacola area...

Will encourage Johanna to expound "one pot wonders" plus work in progress to rid the lbs gained...

Edited by - on

Alan Clark
Captain

Members Avatar

406 Posts

Response Posted - 02/27/2007 : 19:01:20

Henk,Greatly Enjoy your reports But Do Not be in a big Hurry to go North.. Here in Ohio we Still have snow on the ground even though we are supposed to be over 45 degrees everyday.. it was a big 35 today.. enjoy the sunshine and warmth for awhile in Florida. Best wishes Safe Travels

Edited by - on

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Canada
1314 Posts

Response Posted - 03/08/2007 : 14:21:36

We have "a slip" at the Catalina plant in Lagos, Florida for a couple of days while touring the facility. We will provide a report shortly. If you ever have an opportunity to tour the factory (by appointment Wednesday 3:30 p.m. only) don't miss it...

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.