Texas to the Exhumas

[Khalid]

Great Video.. of your adventure to Exhuma.. When you say 2 days to Exhuma is that from Bimini or Nassau?

Where are you from in Texas? We are from Dallas but now live literally across the street from Haulover..

Thanks! We're from Houston.

The 2 days is from Miami with perfect conditions and willingness to ride for a long time. 4' seas will slow a boat like mine to 10 MPH and 1 MPG (requiring unplanned additinal fuel stops).

I used Navionics and it worked perfectly throughout. You can fiddle around with it so see how long the trip would take including fuel/lodging stops

I'd love to live in South Florida for its proximity to the best water on earth!

 

[myblueheaven305]

Thanks! We're from Houston.

The 2 days is from Miami with perfect conditions and willingness to ride for a long time. 4' seas will slow a boat like mine to 10 MPH and 1 MPG (requiring unplanned additinal fuel stops).

I used Navionics and it worked perfectly throughout. You can fiddle around with it so see how long the trip would take including fuel/lodging stops

I'd love to live in South Florida for its proximity to the best water on earth!

I love it here.. unfortunately just started boating.. We have the same boat so everything would be the same... Were you affected by Harvey?

 

[Khalid]

I love it here.. unfortunately just started boating.. We have the same boat so everything would be the same... Were you affected by Harvey?

Bimini is a very easy trip in calmer weather.

Thanks for asking. Luckily I was apared from Harvey. How did you fair with Irma?

 

[myblueheaven305]

Bimini is a very easy trip in calmer weather.

Thanks for asking. Luckily I was apared from Harvey. How did you fair with Irma?

We live beach front I was expecting worse, the winds blew open the sliding windows, We had minor damage to my daughters bumper on her car.. Nothing to the boat.. Dry Docked 30 feet up... Bimini Top on... thanks for asking. How did you like Haulover?

 

[Khalid]

We live beach front I was expecting worse, the winds blew open the sliding windows, We had minor damage to my daughters bumper on her car.. Nothing to the boat.. Dry Docked 30 feet up... Bimini Top on... thanks for asking. How did you like Haulover?

That great considering the size and power of that hurricane.

We loved Haulover. We launched 4 boats and 8 wave runners simultaneously. We were all in the water within 15 minutes.

 

[myblueheaven305]

That great considering the size and power of that hurricane.

We loved Haulover. We launched 4 boats and 8 wave runners simultaneously. We were all in the water within 15 minutes.

Haulover is nice.. it is across the street from my house, have nice facilities, the Sand bar always has people partying even during the week.

 

[James R Whitten]

I'm from the Conroe area. What lakes do you travel? I'm wanting to do the bimini run to "Get my feet wet", then I'm want to go to the cheeseburgers in paradise party. Your video looks awesome.

 

[Betik]

@Rick215HO looks like you have a neighbor interested in Bimini ......

@James R Whitten I have no idea what your experience level is, but do not let the videos deceive you. Isaac's video got me screwed, some people just make it look eassy. LOL

if you are serious about going you need to prep. In 2017 we had vessel being abandoned at sea, vessels being towed back to port everglades, people runing out of fuel and drifting for hours, others unable to communicate on VHF and even a tower collapse on someone's head. These are just the life threatening insidents, I am not even going to refer to the boat with cracks on the hull and other repairable stuff.

I promise, if you are new to off shore boating, Bimini will get your feet socked , not wet LOL

 

[James R Whitten]

@Betik thanks for the advice. I'll take all I can get. Lol I'm not gonna be able to make the group run. But I got a buddy with blue water experience wanting to go with me. I've been picking people's brains on it. I'm gonna do some gulf stuff in the mean time to get a little offshore experience first as well. I'm definitely not taking the trip lightly. Most of my experience is lakes.

 

[Rick215HO]

@Betik thanks for the advice. I'll take all I can get. Lol I'm not gonna be able to make the group run. But I got a buddy with blue water experience wanting to go with me. I've been picking people's brains on it. I'm gonna do some gulf stuff in the mean time to get a little offshore experience first as well. I'm definitely not taking the trip lightly. Most of my experience is lakes.

Hi @James R Whitten !, you can try the Kemah-Galveston-Kemah run a few times to start getting a feel for more wave action and boat response/performance (i.e. can you stay on-plane with some wave action of maybe 1-2ft? and do you think you could hold that for 5+ hours?). I used to have a 215 and the ride was too rough for me on those conditions (I seriously worried about fusing my spine), awesome boat though.

You should try to get a good idea of the fuel consumption on your boat under various conditions (which is not what the boat manual says (under ideal conditions)). My guess is that it may be too tight/impossible for a 195HOI to make a gulf stream crossing without extra fuel onboard (and then think of how and what is like to try to refuel with the boat moving/waves) - it should be possible under the right weather conditions as it has been done before, usually hard to time correctly living so far away.

Since I believe there are no outboard cockpit drains/scoopers in the 195, a secondary independent bilge pump would be a must for me. Plus fixed VHF radio/antenna.
Plenty of better advice has been written on the Preparing for Bimini thread also and throughout the site... https://jetboaters.net/threads/preparing-for-bimini.3800/#mods

my 2 cents, good luck.

 

[James R Whitten]

Thanks Rick, I appreciate the advice. I usually go to Conroe or Livingston which on weekends generally stays pretty rough, but wasn't running for prolonged periods of time. While it's not the best ride I can bear. I'm definitely gonna try the Kemah to Galveston run and see how it is.

 

[Betik]

@Betik thanks for the advice. I'll take all I can get. Lol I'm not gonna be able to make the group run. But I got a buddy with blue water experience wanting to go with me. I've been picking people's brains on it. I'm gonna do some gulf stuff in the mean time to get a little offshore experience first as well. I'm definitely not taking the trip lightly. Most of my experience is lakes.

Thank you for being rational about it. If I were you I would consider potentially postponing the to 2019 and making it with the group instead of going single boat. No disrespect about your friend, but 19 footer as single boat would be more risk that I will be willing to take.
As @Rick215HO mentioned reading the Bimini thread is a must. I would then move to reading the threads for the 2015, 2016, & 2017 crossing. It will be helpful to read the write up from @kthrash as well on his 2015 incident.


I also fully documented my own experience and I post it here. I believe this can serve as an example to avoid. LOL
https://jetboaters.net/threads/bimini-me-my-attempt-to-concur-the-gulf-stream.14801/


As final note, if you are set on going, I will be glad to drive South and spend a Saturday/Sunday with you either at the lake or the gulf. The more than you are prepared the higher the chance of having an enjoy-full trip to Bimini.


BTW: you know they will be 2 groups going ( one in June & one in July), right !

 

[Rick215HO]

As final note, if you are set on going, I will be glad to drive South and spend a Saturday/Sunday with you either at the lake or the gulf.

Sign me up too!

 

[James R Whitten]

Oh trust me I'm not taking it lightly. Lol Your warnings aren't falling on deaf ears. I'm thinking I'm gonna move my plans up to go with the group though.

I'll take all the help I can get.

 

[James R Whitten]

Sign me up too!

Sign me up too!

I'm more than willing to meet up and take any advice I can get.