Bimini 2018

[cinghram27]

Any dates or discussion for Bimini 2018? looking to make my 1st trip with 3 friends. Never boated in the open seas before, just lakes and rivers. I am going to trailer down to (??????) from NC and leave truck and trailer at (??????) and make the trip. Looking for dates and a group to go with. Any info you can share would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Bruce]

Mid July 2018 is likely.

Lots of prep info at https://jetboaters.net/threads/preparing-for-bimini.3800/

You can read last years prep at
https://jetboaters.net/threads/jetboaters-net-bimini-fling-july-10th-to-15th-2017.11966/

 

[Betik]

I was wondering when the 2018 thread would start. LOL

 

[AbuAyd]

Would love to join in 2018. First timer with no salt water experience. Have been reading previous reports and watching trip summaries. Seeing a ton of Yamahas and some seadoo boats. Was wondering if I can make the cross in 21' Glastron GT207 jet boat single engine Rotax 250 Hp with total of 3 adults and 3 children? Will keep reading the prep material. Thanks.

 

[Bruce]

First timer with no salt water experience

Half or more of the boats will be in a similar situation. The conditions are likely to be shocking. Follow you leader, match his or her pace and you should be fine.

Was wondering if I can make the cross in Glastron GT207 with total of 3 adults and 3 children?

I am not familiar with this boat and could not find fuel consumption numbers. Do you have the 200 or 250 hp engine?

What is the combined weight of the three adults and three children?

I believe that the 20' 6" length includes the swim deck attached to the hull. If so the boat is closer to a Yamaha 190 in size. A 190 is rated for 8 people and 1,240 pounds. The GTS 207 is rated for 9 people and 1,500 pounds. The 180 HP Yamaha 190 tops out at 43 mph and the 250 HP GTS 207 tops out at 41 mph. Those numbers are in smooth water. A 190 is will top out under 30 on a nice crossing.

My expectation is that your GTS 207 would be running wide open for most of the crossing consuming a huge amount of fuel and struggling to keep up.

I choose to limit my 23' 320 HP Yamaha to two adults and two children.

If you make the crossing you will be the first SeaDoo / BRP powered boat to do so with our group. In 2014 a 21' SeaDoo's cooling system melted before we left port. In 2017 a Scarab 255 turned back with a broken windshield.

During the 2017 crossing 88% of the boats completed the crossing to Bimini. Focusing on Yamaha Boats, 97% completed the the crossing to Bimini.

My advice would be to step up to a twin engined Yamaha in preparation for Bimini. Any good condition 23' or 24' or 212 Yamaha would be a good choice.

 

[AbuAyd]

Thanks @Bruce I have the 250 hp engine. The boat is rated for 9 people 1,350 lbs total. The 6 people combined weight is around 1,010 lbs.

Would love to make this work with the boat I have now. Can't upgrade anytime soon unfortunately but I certainly don't want to risk it if the boat cannot keep up. I have seen many folks make the cross on Jet skis and posting on YouTube. I guess they don't need as much fuel.

 

[Bruce]

@AbuAyd, most of what is on YouTube is best case scenario crossings. If you lived in Florida and could go with no notice on a weekend with still water you would likely be fine. Planning long in advance we have to take the weather we are given.

My boat has an 1,800 pound cargo capacity. I take 550 pounds of people plus food and toys. You have to take everything that you will need for your time in Bimini. Those supplies would certainly weigh more than the 340 pounds of capacity remaining after your crew is on board. My guess is that you would need to bring a minimum of 25 gallons of extra fuel which weighs 175 pounds.

As for upgrading, if you could sell the Glastron and buy a well cared for Yamaha 230 for $25K combined with careful planning and packing you would be set.

These are more realistic condtions

 

[Andy S]

Was wondering if I can make the cross in 21' Glastron GT207 jet boat single engine Rotax 250 Hp with total of 3 adults and 3 children?

The one thing that doesn't get discussed much about planning how many people can fit on your boat is "How many people can comfortably sit in the main area of the boat behind the windshield?" What I mean by being comfortable is if the seas are rough and you are bouncing around that passengers are not constantly bouncing off each other. In the 6 trips I have made to the Bahamas and back, only once has it been smooth enough for someone to sit in the bow area. In my previous 2007 Yamaha SX230 I would carry no more than 5 adults or 6 if 2 of them are small children and in my new 2016 Cobalt R5 (25' 8") with rating for 14 people I would only carry 6 adults.

 

[robert843]

The one thing that doesn't get discussed much about planning how many people can fit on your boat is "How many people can comfortably sit in the main area of the boat behind the windshield?" What I mean by being comfortable is if the seas are rough and you are bouncing around that passengers are not constantly bouncing off each other. In the 6 trips I have made to the Bahamas and back, only once has it been smooth enough for someone to sit in the bow area. In my previous 2007 Yamaha SX230 I would care no more than 5 adults or 6 if 2 of them are small children and in my new 2016 Cobalt R5 (25' 8") with rating for 14 people I would only carry 6 adults.

To add to what @Andy S is saying this all includes being able to get most heavy supplies stored somewhere behind the windshield as well. I would't cross in My 240 with anymore then 5-6 either depending on size of people. If I was in a 19-20ft jet boat my cap would likely be 3-4 people. Once in Bimini it is different I would have no issues toting around 8-9 people in Bimini the extras would just have to fly or ferry it over.

 

[AbuAyd]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. Great point on the weight and extra items needed. How about the following: 3 people in the boat ~ 500 lbs and the rest can take the ferry if there is one from Fort Lauderdale. I would still like to cross with the Glastron if possible but will keep an eye on upgrade options if something comes up.

 

[Bruce]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. Great point on the weight and extra items needed. How about the following: 3 people in the boat ~ 500 lbs and the rest can take the ferry if there is one from Fort Lauderdale. I would still like to cross with the Glastron if possible but will keep an eye on upgrade options if something comes up.

That is a much more reasonable load. I would cut back to two adults on the boat so you can carry more supplies and fuel.

You will need accurate fuel consumption numbers from a lake to guess at fuel consumption on the ocean. Please test at 30 mph and full throttle. Perhaps go to the fuel dock, top her off, run around at 30 mph for 30 minutes, then back to the fuel dock, top her off and record how much you burned then repeat at full throttle for 30 minutes. You can use the Navionics app or a plotter to record a track during the test runs to determine how far you traveled. Please post those when you have them.

I would guess that your chance of a successful crossing is a little less than a Yamaha 190 but perhaps Glastron builds a better boat than I expect. The 49 gallon fuel tank is certainly in your favor.

 

[Betik]

@AbuAyd I am 3.5 hours north of you, so if you like we could meet before the end of this season and do some test runs.
You can really load your boat and see how comfortable you will be keeping up on my wake.
The reason why I bring this up is because I stuck on Bruce's rear and ended up burning 49 gallons while Bruce burned 35 gallons.

If your crew is as green as my crew was, it would like to take your crew and cross your wave a few times. It will be nice for them to experience that in the lake rather than ocean.

 

[robert843]

Thanks @Bruce I have the 250 hp engine. The boat is rated for 9 people 1,350 lbs total. The 6 people combined weight is around 1,010 lbs.

Would love to make this work with the boat I have now. Can't upgrade anytime soon unfortunately but I certainly don't want to risk it if the boat cannot keep up. I have seen many folks make the cross on Jet skis and posting on YouTube. I guess they don't need as much fuel.

Your boat I think would fair as well as the 19ft Yamahas do. That being said I have yet to talk to anyone who crossed in a 19ft Yamaha that felt they had a positive crossing experience most upgrade soon after the trip if it's something the plan to keep doing. I have crossed twice on skis and yes the fuel consumption is a minimum half on a ski. Your boat could make this trip fine as long as your prepared to take the beating and stay on plane I think you will make it on your original tank of gas as well but def bring extra fuel in case. As for risking the boat anytime we do these trips you are risking your boat and safety no matter which of these boats your on so always best to except that the possibility is there you could lose it. I would for sure fly anyone over you think could be come iratible taking a 3-4 hour beating as it will make for a long trip if it starts off on the wrong foot with some of your crew. Overall over prepare excisize as much caution as you can and you will have the best experience you can on a boat of that size.

 

[thefortunes]

The one thing that doesn't get discussed much about planning how many people can fit on your boat is "How many people can comfortably sit in the main area of the boat behind the windshield?" What I mean by being comfortable is if the seas are rough and you are bouncing around that passengers are not constantly bouncing off each other. In the 6 trips I have made to the Bahamas and back, only once has it been smooth enough for someone to sit in the bow area. In my previous 2007 Yamaha SX230 I would carry no more than 5 adults or 6 if 2 of them are small children and in my new 2016 Cobalt R5 (25' 8") with rating for 14 people I would only carry 6 adults.

As @Andy S will probably remember, when we did the inaugural Bimini trip back in 2011 I had 8 adults, a huge amount of luggage (in the bow under cover), coolers (swim deck and in the boat), food (in most of the hatches), and even 25 extra gallons of gas (strapped to the swim deck) in our 2005 Yamaha SX230. People thought we were crazy (nah, just too stupid to know any better).

I ended up having to lead on the way over since I really couldn't plane out at the 20-22mph the guide boat wanted to run. Not a great scenario for someone from Wisconsin whose total experience piloting in the ocean was from the couple days before.

Luckily we had great weather on the way over and didn't run into any issues. When we returned 6 days later we purposely were out of food, booze and had used the extra gas, so we were probably 500# lighter which was good since we hit 5-7 foot waves.

As Andy said, do not plan to use your bow, and limit your passengers as much as possible. We were lucky.

 

[Bruce]

@thefortunes, thank you for the info. I had believed that @Andy S and @upperdeck were the only members of the original group to still be active.

Thank you guys for getting this tradition started!!

Do you plan to return to Bimini?

 

[thefortunes]

@thefortunes, thank you for the info. I had believed that @Andy S and @upperdeck were the only members of the original group to still be active.

Thank you guys for getting this tradition started!!

Do you plan to return to Bimini?

I keep talking with my (adult) son and daughter that we will go back at some time. We may even take the jetskis instead

 

[Bruce]

I keep talking with my (adult) son and daughter that we will go back at some time. We may even take the jetskis instead

We now have discounts on lodging and slips in Fort Lauderdale and Bimini, secure parking and customs coming to meet us in Bimini. The reefs were recovering in 2017 but I am sure are not as nice as your early trips.

 

[AbuAyd]

@AbuAyd I am 3.5 hours north of you, so if you like we could meet before the end of this season and do some test runs.
You can really load your boat and see how comfortable you will be keeping up on my wake.
The reason why I bring this up is because I stuck on Bruce's rear and ended up burning 49 gallons while Bruce burned 35 gallons.

If your crew is as green as my crew was, it would like to take your crew and cross your wave a few times. It will be nice for them to experience that in the lake rather than ocean.

Thank you @Betik I would love to meet up and do the test runs. How about we connect after Harvey settles down a bit and arrange something soon. I am very close to Lake Travis and would love to come up and check out other areas

 

[Bruce]

@AbuAyd some of us including @Betik and I are getting together on Lake Ouachita on September 16th and 17th. It would be an 8 hour tow but is another option for you.

 

[Betik]

Mini Bimini ... 3 more weeks but who is counting