- Feb 4, 2007
- 7,251
- Boat Info
- 1996 450DA, TNT, Caribe dink w/15hp OB.
- Engines
- 3126 427HP TD transmissions
ummmmm. This thread states that it's a month long Cruise. We are only 3 weeks into it. turn around, head back out and give us our 4th week.
Month Long Chesapeake Bay Cruise on 480 DB/Four Suns
- Thread starter Four Suns
- Start date
It will be 1 day shy of 4 weeks.... sorry...
gredmer
New Member
Gary,
Did you get anymore Thomas' English Muffins on the way back? :smt043
Did you get anymore Thomas' English Muffins on the way back? :smt043
- Feb 4, 2007
- 7,251
- Boat Info
- 1996 450DA, TNT, Caribe dink w/15hp OB.
- Engines
- 3126 427HP TD transmissions
Four Suns said:
No, this thread started on july 3rd. Give us until Aug 3rd. Turn that boat around and fire up those oil burners. :smt014
I am with Turtle. You need another week :thumbsup:
You are now my SeaRay hero.
I am envious of all the cool electronic gear you have on your boat. If I upgrade, it won't be for the cabin: It will be for all the cool electronics I can buy :grin:
You are now my SeaRay hero.
I am envious of all the cool electronic gear you have on your boat. If I upgrade, it won't be for the cabin: It will be for all the cool electronics I can buy :grin:
We are all enjoying your postings, comments and pictures Gary. :thumbsup:
Bottom Line
Well-Known Member
- Oct 6, 2006
- 1,809
- Boat Info
- 2003 360 DA
2002 Sea Doo GTI (sold)
2002 300 DA (sold)
- Engines
- Twin Mercruiser 8.1L
Westerbeke Generator
Thanks for the stories and the pics......who are the people in the pic on the cockpit of Frank's boat? Just wanted to put a face the screen names.....
RiverRat
New Member
- Apr 1, 2007
- 1,137
- Boat Info
- 03 280 Sundancer
Kohler 5 KW Gen.
95 13' Boston Whaler Dauntless
- Engines
- Twin 4.3 MPI
Alpha 1 Gen 2
Thanks again for the great read Gary. It has really sounded like you and your family have had a great time.(outside of remembering chew toys for the dogs :wink: ) You have definatly lightened my days over the past few weeks with your posts!
Have a safe trip to home port...
Have a safe trip to home port...
Nehalennia II
New Member
He's got to get his "Back to School" shopping done :lol:TurtleTone said:
At least he may get and "A" for his "what I did this summer" report.
Good Stuff Gary :thumbsup:
Big Al
New Member
- Oct 13, 2006
- 293
- Boat Info
- 370 Sundancer
- Engines
- Twin 454 Mercruiser
V-Drives
Westerbeke genny
I hope that you will print this subject and keep it safe in some kind of photo album. Many years from now you will be able to read and look at this with a lot of good memories....It is a very nice vacation story ! Many of us would like to have one like that one day... :smt001
- Oct 4, 2006
- 2,335
- Boat Info
- 2003 280DA and 1995 Sea Ray 175
- Engines
- Twin 4.3l and 3.0l, all w/ AlphaI GenII drives
.
I was on Pax River NAS across from Solomons on Monday and saw all those sailboats. Turns out it was the Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge races, http://www.screwpile.net/default.cfm?action=main . Beautiful day with some wind, the bay looked beautiful.
Loving your writeups, just hit the end here now, was wishing it would never end. :smt089
I was on Pax River NAS across from Solomons on Monday and saw all those sailboats. Turns out it was the Screwpile Lighthouse Challenge races, http://www.screwpile.net/default.cfm?action=main . Beautiful day with some wind, the bay looked beautiful.
Loving your writeups, just hit the end here now, was wishing it would never end. :smt089
CJ Martin
Member
Four Suns said:
I'll agree Frank is a nice guy, but no, he didn't buy our gas.
That was the smaller fuel bill for the day - just getting enough to have a reserve. The more painful bill came when we got back to our home marina.
I need a diesel boat... :smt009
-CJ
Tyree Too!
New Member
Thanks for the fun trip!
Gary, thanks for sharing your family trip with the rest of us! We're so sad to see it end!
Gary, thanks for sharing your family trip with the rest of us! We're so sad to see it end!
xravenx
Member
CJ Martin said:
Me too............ .66 mpg is somewhat painfull. All that diesel talk this past weekend has really got me thinking, and the wifey is o.k. with it. Spent a few hours last night looking at 410DAs and 450DAs.
John
ImpulseIII
Active Member
John,
As soon as Dominic picks his 460 you can step in and take control of his 410...There, problem solved.....
Sorry to hear that the boats that headed south on Tuesday ran into some less than perfect weather. Our run from Baltimore to the Sassafras might have been the nicest run I have ever taken by boat! Two hours of a 6 inch chop on he bay (might as well have call it flat-flat), 5 knots of wind and a beautiful sunny sky. What a day for a boat ride!!!
Now if we could only get rid of the crab traps........but I guess thats the price we all pay for delicious Maryland blue claw crabs.
As soon as Dominic picks his 460 you can step in and take control of his 410...There, problem solved.....
Sorry to hear that the boats that headed south on Tuesday ran into some less than perfect weather. Our run from Baltimore to the Sassafras might have been the nicest run I have ever taken by boat! Two hours of a 6 inch chop on he bay (might as well have call it flat-flat), 5 knots of wind and a beautiful sunny sky. What a day for a boat ride!!!
Now if we could only get rid of the crab traps........but I guess thats the price we all pay for delicious Maryland blue claw crabs.
Tonight’s write-up, and the FINAL CHAPTER of this droning story, is called “No one died.â€
Well, the trip is over. And before I write about our final day, I must say that we as a family learned what happens to bananas and potatoes that are left in the kitchen at the house for a month. We also learned what happens when you don’t pay the natural gas company $41.32 on time. Four weeks is a long time to be away from a house.
We left Solomon’s Island this morning around 9:30 after fueling up. There were some showers over the Richmond and Washington area from a low pressure system over the Ohio valley but it looked like that would not affect us. The winds were calm.
We got out of Solomon’s and I must say it was flat as a mill pond. It was eerie it was so flat. What a difference from yesterday evening. The problem though was visability. The haze on the bay was such that the sky was the same color as the water and after awhile, I felt like I had vertigo and couldn’t tell up from down. Here’s a shot of the bay as we left:
And off the back of the boat:
And this is a creepy shot. This ship looked like it was just floating in the air because it was hard to find the horizon:
The extremely flat water held up for the whole length of the bay and my wife was cleaning up downstairs for a few hours. I am really glad we decided to wait until today to finish the trip. No one got sick either. It did clear up after noon and here are a few shots of some lighthouses on the way. This is Smith Point:
And this is Wolf Trap:
We got into the Hampton Roads area and by the Norfolk Naval base and I think a carrier group must have been returning today. It was a zoo of warships and helicopters and they get cranky when you get close. Here’s a shot of the George Bush under construction (that’s “Sr.â€)
And here’s a shot of the “Ghost Fleet†that is up on the James River by Kingsmill/Busch Gardens. If you need a project boat, these are available:
I even got my wife to drive a little up the James River today:
As we came up on the Chickahominy River where we have a summer cottage and keep the boat, my son decided he could be a rebel with regards to our life jacket rule:
I noticed as we came up to my dock, that a boat was parked on the north side and was plugged into one of my shore power outlets. And when I got home, there is a $120 electric bill for the dock waiting for me…. Hmmm… maybe whoever left the boat meant for it to be a gift. Anyway, here’s a shot of our dock and where Four Suns lives in the summer:
And if you ever wondered what it would be like to make it four weeks with four kids and two dogs on a Sea Ray, this sums it up:
So that’s it. Trip is over and it’s good to be home. Thanks for all the nice comments as I wrote this up. We met a lot of great people along the way and I hope the kids look back at this when they are older and have good memories. Ok… I just hope they don’t hate me.
From a financial standpoint, we spent a little under $3K on fuel for the month and a little more than that on dockage. Eating out and spending money for everyone put the trip at around $10K which isn’t bad for 6 people and 4 weeks.
My wife now wants me to go get a job… so back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Well, the trip is over. And before I write about our final day, I must say that we as a family learned what happens to bananas and potatoes that are left in the kitchen at the house for a month. We also learned what happens when you don’t pay the natural gas company $41.32 on time. Four weeks is a long time to be away from a house.
We left Solomon’s Island this morning around 9:30 after fueling up. There were some showers over the Richmond and Washington area from a low pressure system over the Ohio valley but it looked like that would not affect us. The winds were calm.
We got out of Solomon’s and I must say it was flat as a mill pond. It was eerie it was so flat. What a difference from yesterday evening. The problem though was visability. The haze on the bay was such that the sky was the same color as the water and after awhile, I felt like I had vertigo and couldn’t tell up from down. Here’s a shot of the bay as we left:
And off the back of the boat:
And this is a creepy shot. This ship looked like it was just floating in the air because it was hard to find the horizon:
The extremely flat water held up for the whole length of the bay and my wife was cleaning up downstairs for a few hours. I am really glad we decided to wait until today to finish the trip. No one got sick either. It did clear up after noon and here are a few shots of some lighthouses on the way. This is Smith Point:
And this is Wolf Trap:
We got into the Hampton Roads area and by the Norfolk Naval base and I think a carrier group must have been returning today. It was a zoo of warships and helicopters and they get cranky when you get close. Here’s a shot of the George Bush under construction (that’s “Sr.â€)
And here’s a shot of the “Ghost Fleet†that is up on the James River by Kingsmill/Busch Gardens. If you need a project boat, these are available:
I even got my wife to drive a little up the James River today:
As we came up on the Chickahominy River where we have a summer cottage and keep the boat, my son decided he could be a rebel with regards to our life jacket rule:
I noticed as we came up to my dock, that a boat was parked on the north side and was plugged into one of my shore power outlets. And when I got home, there is a $120 electric bill for the dock waiting for me…. Hmmm… maybe whoever left the boat meant for it to be a gift. Anyway, here’s a shot of our dock and where Four Suns lives in the summer:
And if you ever wondered what it would be like to make it four weeks with four kids and two dogs on a Sea Ray, this sums it up:
So that’s it. Trip is over and it’s good to be home. Thanks for all the nice comments as I wrote this up. We met a lot of great people along the way and I hope the kids look back at this when they are older and have good memories. Ok… I just hope they don’t hate me.
From a financial standpoint, we spent a little under $3K on fuel for the month and a little more than that on dockage. Eating out and spending money for everyone put the trip at around $10K which isn’t bad for 6 people and 4 weeks.
My wife now wants me to go get a job… so back to our regularly scheduled programming.
:smt038 :smt038 :smt038
Converse48
Well-Known Member
Congrats on the completion of your trip. And I agree that $10K for a month-long vacation for six people and two dogs really isn't too bad! Also, what kind of boat was plugged in to your dock and what did you do with it? The nerve...:smt021
It was like a 26 - 28 foot cuddy cabin sport fish boat with 2 outboards. I forgot the name on the back but it was from Florida. I'll deal with it tomorrow... The next few days will be getting the boat cleaned out and back to normal so I'll be out there working and find the dude who thinks it's public docking. We are all beat and just wanted to get home...
Bridog
Well-Known Member
Do it again, do it again. I'm going to miss your post's. This time pretend your on a 580 Sedan Bridge heading for Alaska for 6 months. Your bringing your wife, mother in law, 4 boys, their girlfriends, and your dogs just had puppies which happen to resemble Elvis and a chicken.Four Suns said:
