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This week we finished the Great Lakes segment of our Loop…1,116 miles. We had three weather days waiting for Lake Erie to calm down, but none for Lake St Clair, Lake Huron or even Lake Michigan, the UP or Green Bay or the “Death’s Door” area between them (with over 111 shipwrecks, most before...

TenMile, Great boat! We don’t have a CD25, but just replaced our 15 year old Yamaha F150s with new ones with Helmsman EX option 2 (fob engine disable, integral electric steering, digital shift, throttle and steering). 3 adds AP and 4 joystick controls. The fob makes it useless to steal one...

Hi Don, Your AC/DC fridge will automatically run on AC power when that is available, and automatically switch over to run on 12v DC from your battery when no AC power is feeding it. You should find a circuit breaker for the fridge on your AC distribution panel, and a 10A fuse for the fridge on...

Congratulations on your new ride, great boat! The ‘Group’ number is just an external case size dimension. Agree with Rob that the charger should also be adequate. My TC255 came with three Group 31 batteries, and a puny little Guest 10/5/5 charger. If you anchor out a lot, you may want more...

Tom, We are quite sure it's Yamaha gray.

This website was less expensive than Jim. https://marineflooring.net/ The Deckadence is so tough that we actually can shove the entire cockpit section and cabin section into two big commercial washing machines with hot water, Tide pods and Clorox. They’ve been through 20 or so cycles with not...

Don, There are no good deals and no inexpensive options in the Keys (or anywhere in FL in winter (except for our little secret). The Keys are made of coral, and if you anchor on coral you damage it and pay a big fine. What’s not coral is sea grass, and if you anchor on it you pay a big fine...

Bahia Honda is a deal for small boats but has a 2 week stay limit. Free reservations but much harder to get into in winter so make one now. 30 days at Pink Shell for $858 for you is a steal. Massive free buffet is open til 1030; you won't need lunch. Metered shorepower with no AC will be...

Just replaced the septic system with an Airhead, delighted so far. Zero smell, even if the #2 container is TOTALLY OPEN. You'll never have that with a conventional system, and it frees up cabinet space without the pump, diverter valve and plumbing.

Don, Pink Shell Marina, Ft Myers Beach FL. Next to Sanibel Island, renowned for some of the best shelling. We saw no shelsl at Cedar Key or islands off the Everglades See Feb 23 entry here, stay over 30 days: https://findpenguins.com/ancient-isles/ ... ll-hontoon Best overall value 5 star...

Hi folks, Firstly, we want to extend our thanks to Bob and Marie Austin, who invited us to their home to meet Pat and Patty, crew of Daydream from the PNW, who were cruising the Great Loop back in 2017. Their blog on this site. Thank you all! Since 2017, we have completed 5,300 miles and...

Hi Don, You are getting excellent advice here, and good for you to seek info on some RARE situations and issues in order to be better prepared for them. Memorize and share Bob’s anchoring advice (I did). If you anchor in thigh deep water in your boat (where you could wade to shore if you...

Don, Every underwater thru-hole in a boat with a valve (made by humans in Bangladesh who are not nearly as concerned about their work as you are about yours) is a valve that might someday fail. If/when it does, you and your crew are in a disaster. The TC255 only has that one, and the first...

Hi Jim, We had enough clear roof space that a $149 100W Renogy panel, Victron MPPT controller and Blue Seas circuit breaker gives us unlimited nights for under $250 grand total if there is some sun during the daytime. The typical marine fridge uses no 12v power (other than the LED door...

Hi Michael, We’ve been trailering our TC255 for 13 years now (is that a record?). We didn’t plan on much distance towing at purchase, but over the past 10 years typically trailer over 1,300 miles one-way to our next cruising grounds. We were never happy with the real life on the road...

Hi Colby, I don’t see any significant difference between the Mantus photo and your photo. https://www.mantusmarine.com/mantus-swivel/ But then, I’m an old fart with glaucoma. I’ll get a picture soon of my connection. I agree Mantus engineers have the oblong SS pin as the strongest link...

Mine is placed like your original ducer and does well at displacement speeds. None of our 13 trailer boats in 40 years reliably read the bottom at planing speeds…but by then I’m looking at the charted depths on the MFD display. I always just considered it a fact of life. All my current...

Hi Larkin, We have let many couples over the past 12 years check out Cat O’ Mine in it’s dry slip (mostly Loop Planners), and had 175 folks board our boat at the Jan 2022 AGLCA Rendezvous Looper Boat Crawl here in Ft Myers (including the now Gold CD26 Full Circle crew), and we wrote the only...

Schuster, If I wanted to run my generator off the boat fuel tanks, I would start with a 3 way valve in the fuel line to the engine AFTER the filter and primer bulb at the transom (you’d cut the hose to install it). Once the primer bulb is full, the gas is right there and doesn’t have to be...

Great Job, Mark! I think multimediasmith managed to plumb a three way fuel valve after his fuel filter into a plumbed Honda Extended Run gas tank cap to make a semi-permanent system that never requires pouring gas into the Honda. https://www.amazon.com/Extended-Compati ... 6146&psc=1 Get...