03/04 - 03/06 - Hontoon Island, Florida 2025

I am looking to install a Windless on the C-Handler.

I would love any recommendations on which one works best for a 22’ Cruiser?

Thanks in advance.
 
Well, another fine gathering comes to an end. Once again, Tom and Joyce did a great job of pulling this all together. THANKYOU! I think in all we had around 20 boats. Some old faces and some new faces. Everyone that attends, adds icing to the cake at these gatherings. Safe travels to all heading home, or hanging around to cruise for a few more days/weeks. I have uploaded a number of photos and made daily entries to my blog at FindPenquins, link listed earlier in this thread. Colby
 
The crew of the Molly Brown seconds those sentiments. Many, many thanks to Tom and Joyce of C-Otter!! Your time, effort and planning are much appreciated. Also kudos to those that took the time to attend. You all are what makes these gatherings a special event.
Best to all!

James
 
Thanks for all that added to my Coloring Book! Also, I uploaded all the photos I took at the gathering (and last night fun with the Manatees at Blue Springs.) to my google drive. You should be able to log on and download any photos you want:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15E5AqRH7b2FAhx3P4W0zXg64Ikg_uIk6?usp=drive_link



405ColoringBook.jpg
 
Tom and Joyce, Thank you so much for putting this together. Hopefully next year I'll be there and able to help more.
Colby, I wanted to talk F150 more but unfortunately I had to leave early. It was so nice to have a look at other boats and not how certain problems were overcome... This was a whole new thing for me and I learned a lot.
Mark, nice job on that bulkhead.
James, thanks for sharing about the loop.
John Highsmith thanks for the tour of your Tomcat. I've learned so much.

In time I hope I learn to be as helpful to others as many of you have been to me.
 
Donald, thank you and there is always more to say so ti’ll the next time.

Colby, obviously we are going to need at least another couple more gatherings to get that page colored in 😁. It trust you’ll be back ( but not for without Rosanne). Safe travels the rest of the year…..

James
 
After action reports for our 12th annual Hontoon C-Brat event. First of all thank you to all that attended this event. 12 years ago I would have never guessed it would still be going strong. 22 boats this year plus a few other C-Brats that attended without their boats. Of course the gathering is more about people than boats. It’s always a joy for Joyce and I to get together with old friends and make new ones. We can be separated for a year or two and pick up right where we left off.

It would be impossible to host this event without volunteers! They are the real stars of the show! Running the silent auction, driving to pick up food, dock helpers, setting up, taking down, cleaning up, touting tubs for me and other miscellaneous chores. I can’t think of anyone at Hontoon that didn’t pitch in….so THANKS 😊

As a group we raised almost $1,000 to help better Hontoon Island SP. I will inform the group about what the money will be spent on after discussion with park personnel. The money was much needed and we will allocate it wisely.

We are presently at DeLeon Spings with 4 other boats and time to cruise to Salt Springs today. Wish you were all with us. More thoughts in a day or so.
 
Well, Rosanne and I headed for the ECON. We made it as far as the Jolly Rancher fish camp by the Hwy 46 bridge. Got under the bridge, but couldn't get any farther due to water levels being too low. We actually made it into the St. John's at the south end of Lake Harney, but propping thru sand at the last pole marking the channel. Entering Lake Harney on the north side, I did ground once and raised the engine to float off. There was a traffic cone, but guess I was on the wrong side of it. Red right returning didn't work. :-( All the fishing boats around here run flat out, getting on plane and decreasing their draft. I don't have the nerve on my own, and would rather end up on a sand bar and very slow speed, rather than full on. :) Anyway, we stopped near the fish camp here to upload some blog stuff and this. Also wanted to point out the link above to my google drive with the photos, will only be available for a few months, before I clean the drive. I'll post before cleaning it however. Tom, good to hear you got into DeLeon Springs. The pancake place, if it hasn't changed, is great. Not sure yet if we will continue north, or pull out and head over to the Suwannie. If we don't see you all on the river again, we'll see you in the future.
Just watched a small fishing boat ground on that bar behind us that we couldn't get over. He was running on plane, but came off quickly.:mrgreen:. He trimmed his motor up and powered thru. He probably draws 6" less than we do. (Small fishing boat). Guess I'm definitely not trying. My hull was hard aground when I tried crossing. In several places.... Oh well. An excuse to try again another time. Colby
 
Colby when we successfully got up the Econ, we were with Molly Brown, and had to pull her off, when she took a "mis-step". We are used to going thru shoal water with our lower unit raised up and that was also necessary. After over the sand bars, the Econ is plenty deep almost to Orlando. The second and 3rd times we were not able to get on Harney because of weeds. The opening to the Econ is a bit of a ways past the bridge. We had a drone with us on the second and 3rd trips, plus had downloaded a recent arial / satellite photo of the region, to help plan out the "attack". On the other hand we always enjoy "Deep Creek" and there is plenty of water!
 
thataway":tnwkvfvh said:
Colby when we successfully got up the Econ, we were with Molly Brown, and had to pull her off, when she took a "mis-step". We are used to going thru shoal water with our lower unit raised up and that was also necessary. After over the sand bars, the Econ is plenty deep almost to Orlando. The second and 3rd times we were not able to get on Harney because of weeds. The opening to the Econ is a bit of a ways past the bridge. We had a drone with us on the second and 3rd trips, plus had downloaded a recent arial / satellite photo of the region, to help plan out the "attack". On the other hand we always enjoy "Deep Creek" and there is plenty of water!
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,
I heard about that trip from James. He did say he made a wrong turn...and you pulled him off the bar. We almost didn't make it into the St. John's River on the south side of Lake Harney. Actually, almost didn't make it into Lake Harney. There is a shallow area coming into Lake Harney from the north. There was a traffic cone, and I started out on the west side of it, but grounded the motor even with it trimmed up. So backed up, and tried the other side. I did get past it, but with the depth sounder reading 1.3 under me. Coming back, a fisherman waved me back to the same side I grounded earlier, and said to go around the left side of it. I did make it thru going back, but again, ran the prop thru sand or mud. That was the side that other boats were going past it on. Most on plane, but I did notice one guy before I got there, going thru slow. On the south side of the Lake, I did find the entrance to the St. John's. I was using the track that Ken shared with me from the last time he and James went up the Econ. There are some stakes to stay between on the entrance there. However, I was churning sand coming in from the north, and watched an oncoming fast boat swing out more to the east. (I went back out a little more to the east after the last stake, and still churned up sand.) Going in and out, staying in the marked channel at the most southern stake, even with the engine trimmed all the way up, I was still pushing the engine skag thru the sand/mud. I would probably have stayed off the bottom if I had tilted the main up and just used the kicker... I didn't have any more trouble until I got just past the bridge at the Jolly Roger fish camp and C Lee Boat ramp. I went under the bridge, and then just beyond the first little island, Ken's track went between that island and a little larger island. That's where I drew the yellow line. I tried in several places, but was putting the bottom of the hull hard aground. NO way was I going to pull the boat across by getting out and walking it. So I tried straight ahead, seeing that channel came back out in the one I needed to be in, but got too shallow even with the main trimmed up. Turned around, went back under the bridge, and tried to get in the channel earlier. But as soon as I passed under the bridge again, it was again getting to shallow even with the main trimmed up. Went back the first way one more time to see if I could find a deeper spot in that bar between the islands, with no luck. Beached the boat to do some computer work since I had cell service, and watched a small fishing boat try cutting across that bar on plane. He quickly came to a stop. He trimmed his motor up and then powered thru. But he probably drafted only about 6", and might have weighed 1000 lbs.
443cnotated.jpg

Anyway, for next time. The water levels need to be higher. These are the two bridges today on the way down. The first being the Lake Monroe I4 bridge, and the second being the Bridge by Gaters SE of Lake Monroe. Both of these are on the upstream side.


450GatersBridgeUpStreamLakeMaryBlvd.jpg

451LakeMonroeBridgeUpStreamI4.jpg

Oh, regarding Deep Creek. We did cruise in a ways. Always so serene and beautiful. Then came back towards the St. John's and anchored in that big cove just a short distance inside Deep Creek. Was a nice night, except around 9p and 10p, when 4 or 5 clowns came in with their airboats! I'm pretty sure at least one of them on the way in took a turn around C-Traveler. I don't understand how they can run as fast as they were in Deep Creek. In Butchers Bend tonight.
 
Colby you cannot count on a previous track in that part of the river. The sandbars shift with every storm. Also the weeds can be a problem in any part of the river.

How about a set of lowable wheels? :)
 
We made it back to Virginia, safe and sound, and want to send along our thanks to Tom and Joyce for all of their thoughtful and selfless work to make this gathering with friends so special.

Now, it's time to follow through on some of the excellent ideas we got from everyone sharing.

David & Dayna
Alma's Only
 
A huge “thank you” to Tom and Joyce for the work you put into organizing this very special event each year! Bill and I enjoyed meeting all of you fellow boaters and we greatly appreciate all of the good information and helpful tips that were shared. We hope to see some of you on the water at some point but if not, we will look forward to next year!
 
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