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Question for the Old Salts

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by nealkeith, Sep 26, 2009.

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  1. nealkeith, Sep 26, 2009
    #1
    nealkeith

    nealkeith New Member

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    I'm bringing my 60' ChrisCraft Roamer back to the states from Saint Lucia, and wordered if there was a particular time when the weather would be more favorable, hopefully within the next 2 months. Thanks in advance.
    Neal
  2. NYCAP123, Sep 26, 2009
    #2
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    No problem as long as you don't mind hurricane season which goes to November 15.
  3. nealkeith, Sep 26, 2009
    #3
    nealkeith

    nealkeith New Member

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    Question for Old Salts

    I'm looking for a 2 week window, don't see anything coming out of Africa now, I'll keep lookin.
    Thanks,
    Neal
  4. Fishtigua, Sep 27, 2009
    #4
    Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    Any time after Christmas is good, just to be sure.

    In the 1940's my Grandpa got hit by a Tropical Storm off of Barbados at Christmas time(very rare) but like NYcapt said, mid November onwards is best.
  5. nealkeith, Sep 27, 2009
    #5
    nealkeith

    nealkeith New Member

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    Ok

    Well this is the 21st Century and as we all know the weather is getting stranger all the time, global warming etc..... I am ready to go, I will check weather conditions before leaving, looking for the 2 week window. If I don't get it I will just have to sit on the leeward side and drink local rum until it passes or not. Who wants to live forever? I would rather go living than diyng!
    Regards,
    Neal
  6. nealkeith, Sep 27, 2009
    #6
    nealkeith

    nealkeith New Member

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    Oh yeah a pic of the girl waiting for me in Saint Lucia

    She need some loving!

    Attached Files:

  7. Pascal, Sep 27, 2009
    #7
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    indeed we are still in huricane season but this year is a quiet one thanks to El Nino, everything that tries to form ges sheared up...

    As we get in the later part of the season, it's not the Cape Verde you need to worry about but the western Carib and the gulf. these systems usually move to the N and then NNE/NE and can create a risk on your route, esp. thru the bahamas.

    i'm not sure winter is the best time as the trades become stronger and you would have to deal with that between PR and the southern bahamas.
  8. Norseman, Sep 27, 2009
    #8
    Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    Need some help bringing the boat to the States?
  9. nealkeith, Sep 27, 2009
    #9
    nealkeith

    nealkeith New Member

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    Weather

    Thanks, I brought the boat to Saint Lucia from Margarita Island Venezuela via Trinidad in March, ran out of vacation so left the boat there. Encountered 14 ft seas just prior to entering the bay at Trinidad at night with 1 engine, it was really hairy! Most advice said April was better but I had to take my vacation then. After I docked the boat I spent the night at a hotel on the south side of the island the wind had done a 180 and was coming out of the south! Beware the Ides of March!
    Neal
  10. Capt J, Sep 27, 2009
    #10
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I would say now would be the time to bring it back. Starting November-ish you'll have a lot more days of rougher seas. My favorite time would've been April-July. BUT, just keep an eye out for hurricanes and go. You can always hole up somewhere in the Bahamas, or outrun the storm if a Hurricane is somewhere out in the Atlantic. You can also run most of the banks in the Bahamas and it will be calm regardless once you get north of Long Island. Once you start getting into winter you could be holed up for a week or two at a time waiting on calm seas.
  11. Loren Schweizer, Sep 28, 2009
    #11
    Loren Schweizer

    Loren Schweizer YF Associate Writer

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    I'm with CaptainJ. At this time, the weather prognosticators see nothing in the way of tropical development for the next week for the entire Atlantic Basin, plus there is a high degree of shear over the GOM + Caribbean.

    You have a nice window of opportunity between cold fronts coming down off the CONUS (they just might be a bigger threat to you than any tropical activity) and the winter trades starting to crank up down South.

    IMHO, this hurricane season is done.
  12. nealkeith, Sep 28, 2009
    #12
    nealkeith

    nealkeith New Member

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    Ok

    We're off to see the wizard. I'll take a coupla days to pickup some needed items then head out. My traveling companion will follow in three days, that will give me time to have the bottom cleaned, fuel polished and bilges cleaned. :). Thanks for your help.
    Neal
  13. Capt J, Sep 28, 2009
    #13
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    In my experience polishing the fuel is a waste of time, unless it clogs the fuel filters every 5 hours of running time. Everytime I've had it done, if you didn't run all of the fuel out and use the heck out of the boat right away, within a month it spread back into the new fuel.

    Get a product from power service called "Diesel Kleen", put in the shock treatment amount and I've seen the diesel kleen stuff eat the algae out of the racor bowls. Bring a case or two of primary fuel filters and yank one at the end of the day and monitor the condition. Bring plenty of secondaries also. I would change the secondaries every 2nd or third time you change the primaries.

    Keep in mind Racor's use the bottom half of the filter element when they are clean, then the fuel level works it's way up the housing and filter as the bottom of the filter gets clogged, so if you take the lid off and there is fuel at the top of the filter, it's time to change......but visually if it looks black, change it.......

    Have a safe trip. San Juan PR, Ocean World in Puerta Plata, DR. are good stops there is a great new marina in the turks and caicos about 5 miles away from Seller's Cut in provo and you don't have to risk seller's cut, Long Island is a good stop in Bahamas, (that large marina on great exuma is closed), then you have plenty of stops through the exuma's..... I usually cut through Galliot Cut (north of Long Island) and run the Exuma bank to Nassau.
  14. nealkeith, Sep 28, 2009
    #14
    nealkeith

    nealkeith New Member

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    Fuel Polishing

    I'll take a look at their equipment compare price to multiple filter replacement and condition of fuel. I need to polish the fresh water tanks, after the high seas around Trinidad a lot of sediment got stired up, and the PO had bypassed the filters?:). I'll check your stop over suggestions on my charts when I get to the boat. Do you know anything about the new Google Earth realtime satelite info, any others? I am hoping for a tail wind my last voyage netted me about a half a mile per gallon of diesel.
    Thanks Again,
    Neal
  15. K1W1, Sep 29, 2009
    #15
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Fuel Polishing to rid your fuel of sediment is one thing which does work well, it is really a fine filtering.

    Using the same process to rid your fuel of growth which is what you are likely to have after it has sat down there is a whole other ball game. It achieves the best results when used in conjunction with a biocidal treatment regime and not just done once an then re loaded without any additional treatment.

    Polishing your fresh water tanks- Not sure exactly what you mean by this, I would suggest that you just dump the FW and clean out the tanks then refill with fresh water.
  16. Pascal, Sep 29, 2009
    #16
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    not sure what water tank polishing involves either! if you water tank is iffy, empty it, try to suck out any sediment at the bottom (shop vac if you can reach and you really want to bother?), then refill it. a little bleach can help, run water thru all the line, till empty, refill and you shoudl be good to go. screens / strainers on the inlet of the pump usually do the trick. on the oulet side, a couple of filters will help as well.

    as to the fuel, the critical thing in polishing is having good access so that the return wand can dislodge "stuff" from the bottom and sides. If you don't have a good access plate or if the guy doesnt' go thru the trouble, for the most part you're wasting your $$$.

    what kind of engines do you have? Detroits? if so, they return a lot of fuel to the tank which gets filtered. that alone will "polish" your fuel.

    one thing i like to have on long trips is a dual racor set up so that you can just flip the valve when vacuum gets too high and replace the clogged element on the way. I'd take that over polishing unless you know the fuel is REALLY bad.
  17. CaptPKilbride, Sep 29, 2009
    #17
    CaptPKilbride

    CaptPKilbride Senior Member

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    ???

    When I change Racors I top them up before putting the lid back on ... to me this minimizes any air in the system having a chance to make it further downstream.

    I prefer having vacuum gauges on the racors to tell me how clogged the filters are getting.

    http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|311|314195|314585|316461&id=549139
  18. Fishtigua, Sep 29, 2009
    #18
    Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    Vac gauges on Racors are a big help but I guess on a boat like this the engines are not too thirsty.

    My favourite set-up is double/double Racors. This is where you have a primery course filter then into a medium filter.

    For the double/double you now need the same filter set-up with a switch-over valve. So that after a long trip, after the tanks have had a good stir up, you switch over to the new filters just before you enter the marina. At low engine revs the fuel flow is lower and thus the filters will pass less fuel if a bit clogged. This could stop an engine when manouvering if you've got old or cruddie fuel.

    With this in mind I have, and I hold my hand up to this and take the blame, blown up a DD92 V8 due to pumping in rubbish fuel. The stuff was aweful and mostly lumps mixed with water. The Racors took the lumps and slime out but the water killed the motors.

    Getting the Boss helicoptered off the island for a meeting is a tad embaressing, the waiting 3 days for some fishermen to drop off clean fuel a small hardship, to limp home on one engine, a cow.

    When the fuel guys came to clean the tanks, the crud was unbelievable. Water and greeny/silver slime. A lot of flushing with new fuel and a good dose of Grotamar fuel treatment finally got them clean.

    Never again.
  19. Capt J, Sep 29, 2009
    #19
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I top off the filters also. BUT, once the engines are run, the fuel level will drop inside of the racors to about halfway up the filter. If you take out a filter to check it after running for a while, even with the fuel valves shut off, you will lift the lid and NOT see fuel on top of the filter if the filter is not bad. You can then pull the filter up and you'll see the bottom half will be discolored and the top half of the filter clean.......

    Vaccuum gauges are a terrific help in staying on top of your filters condition without having to take the lid off of one. I always see what the vaccuum reading is on a fresh filter at cruise speed, then check the vaccuum gauge a couple of times a day......
  20. NYCAP123, Sep 29, 2009
    #20
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Can't say you're wrong, because quite frankly that's a new one on me. Theoretically that sounds like you could flip a clogged filter and keep going, but I doubt that's the case. So I've learned something new, but would feel better if I heard more corroboration from engineers. DK why vac gauges aren't standard. They're a real cheap convenience.
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