JetBoaters.net Bimini Fling July 9th to 14th 2018

[Rana]

 

[Rana]

Farewell @Water Girl

 

[bronze_10]

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Smudge in lower right corner....result... Photo shopped!

 

[justason]

is....this.....our.....next....meme... ????
@Rana @Bruce

 

[bronze_10]

 

[Water Girl]

Our tiny second group made it in some rougher conditions. Took us about 2 1/2 hours. Forecast was definitely wrong lol

 

[AndyD]

is....this.....our.....next....meme... ????
@Rana @Bruce

Please mark all photos of exposed coconuts as NSFW!

 

[AbuAyd]

Our tiny second group made it in some rougher conditions. Took us about 2 1/2 hours. Forecast was definitely wrong lol

It was definitely rougher than going. Thank @Water Girl for leading the group. Watch out for those manatees

 

[Water Girl]

It was definitely rougher than going. Thank @Water Girl for leading the group. Watch out for those manatees

My pleasure!! It was a washing machine out there that’s for sure haha
Shame our trip in ended with an episode of “COPS” Ft Lauderdale hahaha
I said I was leading the group in and he’s like you’re the leader! You should know better! Lol!!
But hey we actually did get to see a manatee, he surfaced right in front of us. So I’m glad I got pulled over or we never would have seen it!
@Betik wish I had your camera equipment when I got pulled over would of made a great ending to your video you posted lol!

 

[Bruce]

We had dinner with the Christmas Drive Crew and played with the underwater lights afterward.

@Mainah, thanks for your help with my upgraded light!

 

[Speedling]

Before leaving i saw 0.8 to 1 foot waves on multiple apps.
I left right with the jet skis thinking i was leaving behind and had to catch up. I did 28 mph but that still didn't catch me up.
Once i had 30 miles to go and had stopped for 2 potty breaks but had almost 3/4 tank left so i slowed down a bit. When i saw the big ships by port everglades (10 miles or so left) i had serious seaweed issues and the rest of the boats passed me up.
I know we got soaked and my kids clothes were crispy.
My wife had salt glitter.
My phone i was using for navionics was coated in salt and my kids were crabby.
I mentioned 1.5' waves to someone and was told probably more than that.
I knew with my older hull and short 21' length made me airborn enough to say i had a nice flight.
I think the current was going one way, the waves another way, and wind at our bow.
This created confused sporatic waves and any splash was blown into the face.
I heard the bigger boats decided to slow down a bit. That makes me feel better i am not a wimp.
Fyi i have about 5/8 tank fuel left and we put the fuel on back into truck.
Bimini fuel dock got less than$300 of my money.
I would have gladly paid a couple hundred more to have a bigger boat with more comfort.

 

[Water Girl]

Before leaving i saw 0.8 to 1 foot waves on multiple apps.
I left right with the jet skis thinking i was leaving behind and had to catch up. I did 28 mph but that still didn't catch me up.
Once i had 30 miles to go and had stopped for 2 potty breaks but had almost 3/4 tank left so i slowed down a bit. When i saw the big ships by port everglades (10 miles or so left) i had serious seaweed issues and the rest of the boats passed me up.
I know we got soaked and my kids clothes were crispy.
My wife had salt glitter.
My phone i was using for navionics was coated in salt and my kids were crabby.
I mentioned 1.5' waves to someone and was told probably more than that.
I knew with my older hull and short 21' length made me airborn enough to say i had a nice flight.
I think the current was going one way, the waves another way, and wind at our bow.
This created confused sporatic waves and any splash was blown into the face.
I heard the bigger boats decided to slow down a bit. That makes me feel better i am not a wimp.
Fyi i have about 5/8 tank fuel left and we put the fuel on back into truck.
Bimini fuel dock got less than$300 of my money.
I would have gladly paid a couple hundred more to have a bigger boat with more comfort.

Yup....I’ve decided unlesss there is an active hurricane directly over Bimini, I’m not believing those weather apps any more haha!
Glad to hear you made it back ok. It was a really rough ride! We had to stop a few times with that seaweed crap too

 

[Betik]

My pleasure!! It was a washing machine out there that’s for sure haha
Shame our trip in ended with an episode of “COPS” Ft Lauderdale hahaha
I said I was leading the group in and he’s like you’re the leader! You should know better! Lol!!
But hey we actually did get to see a manatee, he surfaced right in front of us. So I’m glad I got pulled over or we never would have seen it!
@Betik wish I had your camera equipment when I got pulled over would of made a great ending to your video you posted lol!

I wish there was camera there too. It would have been an epic finale.

 

[Betik]

I just finished watching All Is Lost in preparation for 2019 .....

 

[AndyD]

My pleasure!! It was a washing machine out there that’s for sure haha
Shame our trip in ended with an episode of “COPS” Ft Lauderdale hahaha
I said I was leading the group in and he’s like you’re the leader! You should know better! Lol!!
But hey we actually did get to see a manatee, he surfaced right in front of us. So I’m glad I got pulled over or we never would have seen it!
@Betik wish I had your camera equipment when I got pulled over would of made a great ending to your video you posted lol!

What did you get pulled over for? I got my hand slapped in June for getting to close to the cruise ships going from harbor town to bahi mar.

 

[JROD]

Glad everyone had a safe crossing. Hey JROD, see you soon. No boat, flying over shortly!

Eric, it was great to see you and meet another 82ND ABN DIV brother. AATW!

 

[Mainah]

We had dinner with the Christmas Drive Crew and played with the underwater lights afterward.

@Mainah, thanks for your help with my upgraded light!

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Bruce came up with awesome cost effective outside of the box idea on the lights and I just helped a bit at the end. I may steal the idea and build an underwater light from scratch.

 

[Mainah]

Before leaving i saw 0.8 to 1 foot waves on multiple apps.
I left right with the jet skis thinking i was leaving behind and had to catch up. I did 28 mph but that still didn't catch me up.
Once i had 30 miles to go and had stopped for 2 potty breaks but had almost 3/4 tank left so i slowed down a bit. When i saw the big ships by port everglades (10 miles or so left) i had serious seaweed issues and the rest of the boats passed me up.
I know we got soaked and my kids clothes were crispy.
My wife had salt glitter.
My phone i was using for navionics was coated in salt and my kids were crabby.
I mentioned 1.5' waves to someone and was told probably more than that.
I knew with my older hull and short 21' length made me airborn enough to say i had a nice flight.
I think the current was going one way, the waves another way, and wind at our bow.
This created confused sporatic waves and any splash was blown into the face.
I heard the bigger boats decided to slow down a bit. That makes me feel better i am not a wimp.
Fyi i have about 5/8 tank fuel left and we put the fuel on back into truck.
Bimini fuel dock got less than$300 of my money.
I would have gladly paid a couple hundred more to have a bigger boat with more comfort.

Wave height was in the 1.5 to 2 foot range with some bigger swells IMO. When you look over and see daylight between keel of an ar240 and the tops of the waves at 25 mph it certainly is a bit rough. That said I truly belive the 2017 crossing there was much worse from what I have read and I would cross in the conditions we had yesterday with knowledge that it would be exactly like that. I did not put my radio in 25w mode and radio @Water Girl because I knew it was something everyone could handle and no one needs to build up anxiety.

Trim tabs do make a material difference for the crossing and for the all the time spent there.

I will see if I caught any airborne boats on my fixed rear facing go pro.

 

[swatski]

Wave height was in the 1.5 to 2 foot range with some bigger swells IMO. When you look over and see daylight between keel of an ar240 and the tops of the waves at 25 mph it certainly is a bit rough. That said I truly belive the 2017 crossing there was much worse from what I have read and I would cross in the conditions we had yesterday with knowledge that it would be exactly like that. I did not put my radio in 25w mode and radio @Water Girl because I knew it was something everyone could handle and no one needs to build up anxiety.

Trim tabs do make a material difference for the crossing and for the all the time spent there.

I will see if I caught any airborne boats on my fixed rear facing go pro.

AWESOME!!! Sounds like a fantastic trip!
We need to know more about those lights, @Mainah @Bruce

Sounds like similar conditions to 2016 and 2017 trips.
(well, maybe 2017 on the way back to FL, lol)

--

 

[Bruce]

Ah, you flew home and left Brian to tow the boat?

You have him well trained

We need to know more about those lights, @Mainah @Bruce

Only one light. I swapped the internals of my 2014 vintage 40 watt LED for a single 100 watt LED COB. I was using a 36 volt power supply that was overdriving the LED to dangerous levels of amperage. The LED has a 34 volt forward voltage. Based on @Mainah's suggestion I added a PWM (motor controller) to drop the supply voltage to 31.3 where the LED is drawing 3 amps on the high side and 10 on the 12 volt side. I did not see any visible difference to running higher amperages. The LED COB is a $10 part. In total this was a less than $50 repair / upgrade to an old LED light.

It is less impressive on a lake but still fun. Here in Bimini I discovered that it is so bright that the rear facing LED seems to illuminate the sides of the boat as well.