So this is
@pprocacci. I'm not bothering to login since my wife's laptop is sitting right here. Just wanted to provide specifics that might be useful for future boaters that are bringing a large 275SD across.
Occupants: 9 (3 adults, 6 children)
Total "people weight": 1100 lbs (estimated)
+180 lbs in extra fuel (4 x 5g jugs).
Onboard water tank dry. (0 lbs)
The onboard toilet area (that we don't use as a toilet) was packed with our food, and the hatch filled to the brim with an assortment of drinks.
It's hard to put a weight on this. For simplicity I'm going to estimate at 400lbs.
The crossing wasn't at all like a lake (like lake Norman which is virtually flat all the time), but perhaps like one of the Great Lakes.
Like robert said above, the crossing was in our favor. From Ft. Lauderdale to approx 7-10 miles off the cost of Bimini, I estimated the wave heights at a solid 1 for most of the trip with the occasional 1.5. Time between waves was good too. Honestly didn't pay much attention to this as it was negligable and didn't matter one bit.
Once 7-10 miles off of Bimini the heights increased to in my estimate a much more solid 1.5 with the occasional 2.
Fuel Burn: We clocked in at 1.1 mpg @ 30 mph and we ate up 57% of our 90 gallons in fuel according to onboard instraments.
What problems we had? Damn seaweed clogging our ports TWICE. The stuff was everywhere. Other than that, nothing at all. Clear sailing.
When we get back to the states and have the time to post a follow up from our vacation I'll have a bunch of pics and videos to share.
I want to thank everyone who has provided a lot of insight here of the many months we started planning.
It's much appreciated.
~Paul