Belleair Beach to Baltimore a 30 day adventure

[Alegria]

Thanks for sharing the trip with us all. Love the pictures so far. Hope you have a wonderful and safe trip! Hopefully you can bring some sunshine up to the bay. It's been nothing but cold and rain for past several weeks. Enjoy the Inner Harbor and the game. Hopefully we'll be splashed by May 6th... Still finishing up some fiberglass work on the boat.

Take Care

 

[Turtlesboat]

We need more frequent updates for the people still on the hard in the north.

 

[douglee25]

We need more frequent updates for the people still on the hard in the north.

Is that crazy this year? My marina has maybe 15% of the boats in for the season right now. This weather has been ridiculous.

Doug

 

[Big Daddy II]

Day 3 we left Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart about 11AM and arrived in Cocoa 's Marina Village Harbour at 4PM. A very easy cruise with lots of dolphin and great homes along the way. Slight mechanical issue popping up. Before we left I asked my mechanic to fix the slightly cracked coolant reservoir bracket(A common problem for QSM'11's), but he didn't do it properly. Not sure if the reservoir would actually move, but I'm not taking any chances. I located a coolant reservoir bracket in Atlanta and it's being flown into Cocoa this AM and hopefully installed. May delay plans a bit. I was going to try to get to St. Augustine today but doubtful. Its 120 miles and looks like a lot of no wake zones. To answer a few of the posts-its easy to go across the state in 1 day if the locks are opening on demand; otherwise its tight. There are tons of gators on the Caloosahatchee River and Lake Okeechobee- not sure if its mating season or they are so visible with the low water level. Boat traffic seems low- not sure if it's the price of fuel . Went out to eat last night in Cocoa and for a Friday night in season, it was not busy at all. Could be a result of the NASA downsizing in this area. I have been to Camden yards a few times- yeah, maybe the best stadium in league, but crowds certainly have gotten smaller. I have purchased every ticket to the Rays since inception in 1998, so now I'm a diehard Rays fan. The argument in the Tampa Bay area is to build a nice new stadium and the fans will come- IMHO, initially yes like in Baltimore, but they must put a good product on the field. In St. Pete, we have a decent product but too many other things to do and a lot of the population from other parts of the country still support other teams.

 

[Turtlesboat]

it'll be a little slow going after cape Canaveral

 

[Big Daddy II]

Day 4 We waited until 2PM and no overnite package from cummins. I decided to move on and when it arrives hopefully ship to a mechanic in South Carolina on Monday. The crack has not worsened so I think I'm OK. We traveled past Kennedy Space Center, New Smyrna and ended up at Halifax Harbour in Daytona. As Turtle said a lot of no wake north of Kennedy so we didn't cover too many miles in 4 hours. What a large beautiful marina here in Daytona.. Seems like 50% of the boats here are Sea Rays and big ones. Tomorrow we may just go to St Augustine- looks like a lot of no wake also. Its going to be difficult to average 100 miles a day with the slow moving- but on the bright side, I'm only burning 2.2GPH at idle speed vs 46GPH at cruise. Happy Easter

 

[Four Suns]

Changing that coolant bracket with a Cummins part is a big job... it requires removing the floor in the salon for the starboard side engine... and in either case, it requires removing the coolant tank.

 

[Four Suns]

You may want to check out this link about that bracket:

http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/5036-QSM-11-Coolant-Reservoir-Bracket-Cracking

 

[Big Daddy II]

Gary, the crack in my bracket looks exactly like your picture. Why they never had a recall on this I'll' never know. I had cummins in Ft Myers do the recall on the trans cooler brackets last month and the mechanic said for the port engine to replace the coolant reservoir bracket you need a swivel to get to that one bolt and not remove the resevoir. At least it is the port bracket-I'll see what they say in South Carolina.

 

[Four Suns]

I'm going to bet the guy who said he needed a swivel (I assume that's a socket universal joint) has never done this. The problem is not bolt access. The problem is the bolt that is holding the bracket in between the coolant reservoir and the head is about 1/2" longer than the clearance once you back it out. When you undo the bolt on the head, it hits the coolant reservoir and won't come out... so you have to take the coolant reservoir off to get that one bolt out... You think the idiots at Cummins would have made sure the bolt clearance as it was unbolted was enough... but NOOOOOO...

If it's just the port bracket, it's a big job but at least you don't have to lift the floor....

Also, if you let it go too long, it'll stress the air intake bolts on the crossover piece from the aftercooler to the head. I had 2 bolts snap because of that.

 

[Hampton]

Great pics. We appreciate the updates.

 

[floriduramax1]

Day 4 We waited until 2PM and no overnite package from cummins. I decided to move on and when it arrives hopefully ship to a mechanic in South Carolina on Monday. The crack has not worsened so I think I'm OK. We traveled past Kennedy Space Center, New Smyrna and ended up at Halifax Harbour in Daytona. As Turtle said a lot of no wake north of Kennedy so we didn't cover too many miles in 4 hours. What a large beautiful marina here in Daytona.. Seems like 50% of the boats here are Sea Rays and big ones. Tomorrow we may just go to St Augustine- looks like a lot of no wake also. Its going to be difficult to average 100 miles a day with the slow moving- but on the bright side, I'm only burning 2.2GPH at idle speed vs 46GPH at cruise. Happy Easter

That little floating food barge in your pic in New Smyrna has awesome meatball subs and chicken sandwiches! Great pics, keep em coming!

 

[Turtlesboat]

It'll be slow going for a few days. In SC people will sit on their docks and yell at you if you make a ripple in the water. When you enter Charleston SC, make sure you schedule in an extra hour or two more than you think to get to the harbor and through it so you don't get caught trying it in the dark.

by the end of the trip, Gary will have you so paranoid that everything on your boat will break and sink. And he'll back it up with pics and stories.

 

[douglee25]

I'm going to bet the guy who said he needed a swivel (I assume that's a socket universal joint) has never done this. The problem is not bolt access. The problem is the bolt that is holding the bracket in between the coolant reservoir and the head is about 1/2" longer than the clearance once you back it out. When you undo the bolt on the head, it hits the coolant reservoir and won't come out... so you have to take the coolant reservoir off to get that one bolt out... You think the idiots at Cummins would have made sure the bolt clearance as it was unbolted was enough... but NOOOOOO...

If it's just the port bracket, it's a big job but at least you don't have to lift the floor....

Also, if you let it go too long, it'll stress the air intake bolts on the crossover piece from the aftercooler to the head. I had 2 bolts snap because of that.

Gary - Is there room for someone to get a welder in there to temporarily fix it while he's on the water?

Doug

 

[Turtlesboat]

Oh I forgot, as you get into GA waters, zip up the canvas and break out your fly swatters. the greenhead flies WILL attack you mercilessly.

 

[Big Daddy II]

Day 5. Before we left Daytona, we spent some of the kids' inheritance at the fuel dock ,306gallons. The cruise to St Augustine was much faster than I anticipated; since it only took 3 hours, we decided to continue to Fernandina Beach (just south of the Georgia border) where we arrived at 5PM. We will catch St Augustine on the return trip. Weather has been spectacular. Cruising up the ICW watching my Rays beat the Jays on Easter was not too bad. A lot of activity around the towns due to the holiday weekend. Very easy cruising so far with not too many no wake zones. I will see if I can have the coolant bracket shipped to Charleston and have it installed as there should be alot of capable mechanics there.

 

[Big Daddy II]

Day 6 We had a quick walk thru parts of historic Fernandina Beach this morning before leaving the municipal marina at about 10Am. We seem to always be the last ones to leave the marinas as most people are leaving at 7AM. The cruise thru Georgia was very scenic with the vast meandering waterway cut thru marshes. There was a stretch of 90 miles with no fuel stops.. Seems like most cruisers are doing trawler speed, we were the only boat doing 30mph. We stopped at 5PM at the Isle of Hope marina near Savannah and watched the Lightning beat the Penguines. Fuel time again with 315 gallons. Tomorrow we will head to Charleston. Kudos to Noahs Ark in Cocoa beach for recieving my cooling resevoir bracket and shipping it to Superior Diesel in Charleston. A mechanic will be on my boat early Wednesday to replace the bracket . We will bypass Hilton Head but hit it on the return as it looks to be about 120 miles to Charleston with some no wake and I don't want to arrive in the dark. Those green head flys hurt. I'm not sure I could tolerate them without an enclosure. I think my guesstimate on anticipated fuel use is low, not as many no wake zones therefore higher GPH. I could always go trawler speed and use 1/5 the fuel-"I don't think so".

 

[Searaybio270]

BDII - Thanks for the posting and allowing us to cruise along with you both. I mean all three. My wife and I are reading your posts and truly enjoying it. Continue your journey in safety and peace.

 

[Turtlesboat]

Don't worry, you'll be in no wake zone hell shortly.

 

[Bucit]

Big Daddy, great pics and the trip sounds like it's going very smooth so far. Rays finally back to .500 ball and the Lightning force game 7 Wednesday. Make sure you schedule time to watch that one!