New York to Bahamas

ChrisOB · April 18, 2018, 12:23:03 AM

Hi All,
I am not a 'real' member here but I have been working on my 34 for 5 years and just got back to Florida after taking the boat from NY to Eleuthera. We did a mix of ICW and offshore inlet hops. Bahamas gets damn windy in the winter too. My 2c is bring a big dinghy, I brought a 10.5 Achilles with a 15 yammy 2 stroke. On Garhauer 1.25" Daviits. Solar on the David's and dodger. New sails from rolly. Amazing few months. I run sams club GC2s x4. TV, laptops no problem. Below deck autopilot was the best thing we did. If anyone wants any advice or just needed a confidence boost to leave, the C34 can handle more than you can, cast the lines and go, you will not regret it!

Set2sea · April 18, 2018, 03:54:29 AM

Glad to hear you had a good run. We are contemplating a run down in a few years in our C34(1988). From Boston. The thought of the long run down, to me is daunting.
A couple of questions for you:
What Year is your boat?
Where do you have batteries 3 and 4?
What do you have for an autopilot. I see so many comments that the raymarines don't last.
Do solar panels on dinghy davits get in the way of climbing up swim ladder?
Can you find enough shelter from the wind in the Bahamas?

NewToTheRoad · April 18, 2018, 05:37:08 AM

Very cool. Living the dream. Where in the Bahamas? I hear the Abacos are colder and more susceptible to the northern fronts (wind and cold) in the winter and that the Exumas are a better choice. I'm curios as to your experience. I'm thinking of doing the same in a few years.

Winged or full keel? Any depth issues for you?

britinusa · April 18, 2018, 06:11:03 AM

Chris, glad to hear you are back in FL, whereabouts ?

We're just North of Fort Lauderdale. Similar Boat :)

Paul

ChrisOB · April 18, 2018, 08:09:09 AM

Andromeda is an 86 and a half I guess. We have all 3 water tanks which was very handy in Bahamas. We have 4 x 6 volt sams club GC2s for batteries. We have 160 watt panel on the Davits and 2 50 watters on the dodger. We see around 15 amps. We run the old alder Barbour, stereo, led lights, tv, cpap machine, laptops no problem. I do have a Honda 2000 in case. I'd get the 1000 if I did it over as I bought a 100 amp charger but never see more than 30 amps acceptance. I had Garhauer make the davits extra high, no issues with swim ladder. We did the abacos mostly, it's a piece of cake, the islands are only a few miles appart you are never more than 20 miles from a very protected harbor. We are in Titusville touring Kennedy space center for the rocket launch tonight.

ChrisOB · April 18, 2018, 08:11:40 AM

Oh, and the autopilot. I installed a raymarine type 1 linear drive. That was a chore to engineer the mounting shelf. For ocean sailing in 10 ft waves and 30 knots it's the best thing I did. You can do Bahamas without those conditions though, once you cross Gulf Stream you are on the little Bahama bank and it's like sailing in the bay.

ChrisOB · April 18, 2018, 08:14:31 AM

Abacos were 75 to 85 degrees, water was 80 degrees.

ChrisOB · April 18, 2018, 08:21:27 AM

130' of 5/8" chain paired with Rocna 15kg. Installed an extended roller to store anchor. In Bahamas you don't need more than 80' of chain though. We anchored for 3 months straight, couple marina stops in between. Had a couple 40 knot squalls no problem with anchor.

ChrisOB · April 18, 2018, 08:41:55 AM

All 4 batteries fit in the battery box in front of the sink. I do not have them in individual boxes, I guess that's not ABYC. I do have them strapped down.

Jon W · April 18, 2018, 02:18:47 PM

Sounds like a great trip. 5/8" chain or 5/16" chain? What do you mean by not a "real member"?

ChrisOB · April 18, 2018, 08:10:49 PM

Yes 5/16" sorry. I'm not a real member as I never joined the association and paid dues but figured I'd share my trip with the group. Side note, Garhauer was very easy to work with on extending the davits Ana he also made a special mount for the outboard crane to attach it to one of the davits legs. Anchored here in Kennedy space center and there is a C34 with a nice big arch on the back. I thought about that but couldn't get the dimensions right. His looks good.

Jon W · April 18, 2018, 08:19:25 PM

If possible post a photo of it. It would be interesting to see the arch. Hey, dues are cheap and sounds like you've made improvements others would be interested to learn (copy) from.

Whiskymac · April 19, 2018, 06:26:33 AM

Hi thanks for posting this, interesting reading for sure.
I am in the market for some new sails (2019) and am just starting the research phase. I noticed you purchased from Rolly.
Do you have any feedback on the process/quality/options etc?

Thanks,

Jeremy.

P.s. I sent this to you as a p.m. then realized it would be better addressed in a open post.