Hard to believe we left Houston 1 year ago on July 20th! We have assembled some statistics to summarize our first year of cruising.
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| July 20, 2016 - Kemah Texas |
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| July 22, 2017 - Northeast Harbor, Maine |
We have traveled 3900 miles since leaving home, visiting 18 states (see list below). Our twin John Deere engines have burned 3.9 gallons per hour on average at 1650-1700 rpm or 9.3 miles/hr and 2.4 miles/gal. The generator adds about 0.4 gal/hr to this burn rate.
We continue to do
routine maintenance as necessary. The big items so far have been replacing fuel
injector pumps and injectors on both engines, replacing cutlass bearings and
engine mounts and having the props balanced.
Last winter we upgraded the inverter system by adding an additional battery bank and battery monitoring system with data logging capabilities allowing the charging parameters to be optimized. While enjoying "summer" in Maine (temps from mid 50’s to low 70’s), we can go about 16 hours without having to recharge the batteries if necessary but find a different schedule more convenient. We normally fire up the generator first thing in the morning to make coffee and bring the batteries back to 100% charge, which takes about 2.5 hours. Then around 8 pm we run the generator again while we prepare dinner and top off the batteries before going to bed. Thankfully, we haven't needed the air conditioning at all in Maine and only occasionally since leaving New York City.
In 1 year we have spent 337 nights in marinas, 3 nights at free docks, 20 nights at anchor and 5 nights on moorings. We originally expected to anchor more, but Robert does not sleep well worrying about the anchor dragging, so we don't anchor except in sheltered spots with very good holding. We've enjoyed using moorings as a nice compromise on security, privacy and cost. Overall expenses have been about as expected, although we underestimated some costs and overestimated others.
We have been in Northeast Harbor, just outside Acadia National Park, for 15 days and plan to leave tomorrow to begin working our way south. (Next blog post will cover our time in Acadia.) We will spend about 4 weeks retracing our steps to the Delaware River, making stops along the way. From the Delaware, we plan a side trip to Philadelphia before returning to the Chesapeake Bay.
Fall will find us cruising the Chesapeake again with a side trip to Baltimore. (We're told the downtown area is still relatively safe and the marinas have good security.) By late October / early November we will cruise up the Potomac River to Washington DC where we will dock at the Capital Yacht Club for the winter. We hope that close proximity to the National Mall and Metro stations will make up for the cold weather. We plan a trip back to Houston / Port Aransas sometime over the winter for our annual doctor's appointments and for Robert to get his fishing fix.
Next spring, we will again cruise north to New York City and continue up the Hudson River to cruise parts of Canada and the Great Lakes. We do not yet have detailed plans for our 2018 spring / summer / fall cruising - one of our winter projects.
We hope many of you will be able to join us on board in the coming months, depending on your area of interest. Please get in touch with your schedule and come join us!
Finally, as promised, a list of the states we have visited in the past year and number of nights spent in each:
Texas (1)
Louisiana (10)
Mississippi (3)
Alabama (37)
Florida (180)
Georgia (12)
South Carolina (32)
North Carolina (17)
Virginia (9)
Maryland (25)
New Jersey (11)
Connecticut (4)
Rhode Island (1)
Massachusetts (15)
Maine (8)
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| Washburns Boat Yard, Solomons, Maryland |
Last winter we upgraded the inverter system by adding an additional battery bank and battery monitoring system with data logging capabilities allowing the charging parameters to be optimized. While enjoying "summer" in Maine (temps from mid 50’s to low 70’s), we can go about 16 hours without having to recharge the batteries if necessary but find a different schedule more convenient. We normally fire up the generator first thing in the morning to make coffee and bring the batteries back to 100% charge, which takes about 2.5 hours. Then around 8 pm we run the generator again while we prepare dinner and top off the batteries before going to bed. Thankfully, we haven't needed the air conditioning at all in Maine and only occasionally since leaving New York City.
In 1 year we have spent 337 nights in marinas, 3 nights at free docks, 20 nights at anchor and 5 nights on moorings. We originally expected to anchor more, but Robert does not sleep well worrying about the anchor dragging, so we don't anchor except in sheltered spots with very good holding. We've enjoyed using moorings as a nice compromise on security, privacy and cost. Overall expenses have been about as expected, although we underestimated some costs and overestimated others.
We have been in Northeast Harbor, just outside Acadia National Park, for 15 days and plan to leave tomorrow to begin working our way south. (Next blog post will cover our time in Acadia.) We will spend about 4 weeks retracing our steps to the Delaware River, making stops along the way. From the Delaware, we plan a side trip to Philadelphia before returning to the Chesapeake Bay.
Fall will find us cruising the Chesapeake again with a side trip to Baltimore. (We're told the downtown area is still relatively safe and the marinas have good security.) By late October / early November we will cruise up the Potomac River to Washington DC where we will dock at the Capital Yacht Club for the winter. We hope that close proximity to the National Mall and Metro stations will make up for the cold weather. We plan a trip back to Houston / Port Aransas sometime over the winter for our annual doctor's appointments and for Robert to get his fishing fix.
Next spring, we will again cruise north to New York City and continue up the Hudson River to cruise parts of Canada and the Great Lakes. We do not yet have detailed plans for our 2018 spring / summer / fall cruising - one of our winter projects.
We hope many of you will be able to join us on board in the coming months, depending on your area of interest. Please get in touch with your schedule and come join us!
Finally, as promised, a list of the states we have visited in the past year and number of nights spent in each:
Texas (1)
Louisiana (10)
Mississippi (3)
Alabama (37)
Florida (180)
Georgia (12)
South Carolina (32)
North Carolina (17)
Virginia (9)
Maryland (25)
New Jersey (11)
Connecticut (4)
Rhode Island (1)
Massachusetts (15)
Maine (8)
180 nights in Florida? Is that a typo. Love the updates.
ReplyDeleteHappy Anniversary salty folks! Kemah to Maine. Quite a transition.
ReplyDeleteRegards and wishes for lots more safe adventures.
Rick Pratt
Congratulations on a good first year. Here's to many safe and happy more to come.
ReplyDeleteWhat, no 3-D spreadsheet graphics on some of the data? Ha! They grey boat is always ready when Robert needs his fishing fix! What a great adventure you guys are having...live it up!
ReplyDelete