Hi Don,
Since it will be your first overnight pocket yacht cruising boat, it’s hard to impossible to know what you and your wife and dog (I’m under the impression you plan to boat with a dog from some other post somewhere) will end up enjoying (and not enjoying so much) until you actually try it. That’s OK, and should lessen your anxieties, especially with your wise decision to spend your first season cruising locally rather than committing to Looping in an unfamiliar boat with unfamiliar systems in unfamiliar waters. Soon enough, you’ll find out what works best for you and crew…but if 99% of us make other choices, don’t feel like you made the wrong choice. You did not.
Bob has excellent points as always.
Should you choose to Loop with a dog, consider a dinghy (with 2 adult seats and capacity rated for the dog) absolutely, positively, 100% mandatory. There are sections where you can’t reach the next marina before dark even at 25-30 MPH, such as Bobby’s Fish Camp to Fairhope, AL with locks and a long no wake zone through Mobile. With a dinghy you can row the dog to a boat ramp in a public park. Without one, you’d have to hold the dog in your arms on the bow while your wife gently motors (grinds?) the bow onto the slippery concrete ramp…what could go wrong? How will you get back onboard holding the dog in your arms after he does his business? He might do his business IN your arms if he’s a really smart dog. Other problem areas include the marshes off SC and GA, the granite islands throughout Georgian Bay and a few other places. Otherwise, you can easily get you and the dog on land or to a marina 100% of the time locally and 90% of the time in a fast trailer boat on the Loop. But not 100% of the time.
We bought a 12 ft Saturn HP air floor inflatable kayak years ago off a Brat crew who only used it once, on our theory that it might be useful in Georgian Bay this summer, but never inflated it. The bag alone is 24” in diameter and 30” high when tightly packed (which you won’t do in the dark in the rain on the boat), plus inflator machine, paddles, V tow lines with buoys etc. That all takes up a lot of room on a small boat. Make up a dummy model and see. It would interfere with the solar panel if we put it on the roof, and we have a 15k BTU Coleman up there plus Garmin 24HD radar + stand, hailer/foghorn, and VHF and AIS antennas. Maybe you’ll want bikes up there instead. You won’t know until you start boating on your boat.
You can’t know what nav suite the boat will have, but used C-Dorys are likely to have a Big Five brand plotter. You can delay the ‘tablet vs MFD’ Looper controversy and decisions until you see what your boat includes. For local boating, all you really need is a HH floating VHF radio ($200 w/o DSC), and anchor appropriate for your boat and local conditions (although NEITHER are required by the USCG,oddly enough) and a simple digit depth sounder (+ the USCG signals). For all Loop and US areas including penetrating 10ft of Eurasian millfoil in upstate NY canals, the PNW and catching a crack in the smooth pink granite bottom Escarpment in Canada, the Manson Supreme 25# with the release slot plus a Mantus swivel is great for a CD25 but can wait.
Deciding on a rough overall budget for boat purchase will help, and the ‘For Sale’ listings will give you a general idea about asking prices. Upgrades and repairs will depend on the condition of the boat, and your surveyor should be helpful with that. Modern well maintained outboard engines are about as reliable as car engines (many Hondas ARE car engines). Your Surveyor will require the Seller to prove the boat will reach the specified RPM at WOT at sea trial. They/It may not know much about trailers. Check the VIN plate for capacity and ensure tires are less than 36 months from MFG date stamp (week/year format on the tire). Bring a 12k bottle jack to the Survey and ensure each trailer tire spins smoothly without grinding or play when you twist it. If you’re handy enough to do your own 100 hour engine service you can save the $125/h shop fee.
Re Budget, you’ll likely get 2-3 MPG on plane on a CD25 and somewhat better at displacement speeds. Marina E-0 gas is FAR more expensive, so fill up on the road. Marinas serving outboard boats under 30 feet with 3-5 ft entrance depths are not listed in WWG or the AGLCA Forum we both read, but avg $1.50-1.75/ft/night vs $3.50/ft at ‘resort’ marinas with a 35 or 40 ft minimum. Call and ask.
When we’re onboard, we eat (and drink) the exact same items we do at home from Publix. Our monthly expenses are exactly the same at home or away cruising…but we still go places and do things while not cruising. YMMV.
Re cost logs, we simply use my Mastercard for all cruising purchases and review them online using our Verizon phone mobile hotspot, not marina wi-fi of course due to poor security. Anywhere you’re likely to boat in Canada will take your credit card, and the exchange rate you get is better than you get with Canadian cash + fee from a bank. A few little fruit stands and farmer’s markets want cash, but they will take your Dollars at par without the 20% discount they SHOULD give you..so no tips needed. In 4,900 miles and 214 locks on the loop since 2017, we have encountered exactly three marina fuel docks that will give a 3.5-5% discount for cash or even an out-of state check, but they still accept the card. Although we had been cruising parts of the Great Loop for 40 years, we didn’t know it until we met a CD25 crew doing the Loop in 2017 at Bob’s house and decided to start it ourselves. Thanks, Bob, Marie and Daydream crew for getting us started way back then!
Regarding voyage logging, your engine (2010 or later for Honda, 2006 for most others) will record hours and odometer as it will be on the N2K backbone with the GPS antenna or MFD GPS. For amazing gold-plated voyage logging, the fixed NeboLink ($125 with ACLCA discount) and Nebo Gold plan ($100/yr) is awesome, including automated starts, stops, times, locations, speeds, mapping, temp, altitude, weather, etc etc all reported and saved online in PDF format for your records with zero input required of me. It is both totally awesome and totally unnecessary! Sadly, we always fall for that particular combination of attributes. Again, YMMV.
For family/friends blogging, nothing beats the balance of ease of use vs features of the free no ads Find Penguins app since we are not Facebook fans.
I fear you are sweating way too much ‘small stuff’ way too far in advance of your actual boat purchase. A ballpark boat purchase budget is good. After purchase, your actual experience will determine how much your cruising costs will average. I suspect it will be less than you estimate. Although I agree that the Boat US estimate that outfitting a NEW boat will add 20-25% to the purchase cost, that does not apply to a used C-Dory 95% of the time if you choose wisely with a good Surveyor.
If you ask about Looping with a dog on a trailer boat without a dinghy on the AGLCA forum I suspect my impressions would be confirmed there, but you might choose to try it anyway. Stay mellow, curious but patient. Best wishes for a fast and painless recovery! PM or call for any questions. Hope something here is helpful.
John
