Boat delivery Chesapeake City to Narragansett Bay

Boat Delivery Cruise

May 28, 2015

            We left Bohemia Bay in Chesapeake City MD at 0600 to begin our journey north.  The engine hours were 3035.  The weather was beautiful the seas were flat and the winds light.

            Elaine and I, along with Capt. Bill Madison, cruised up the Elk River and into the C&D canal.  From there we then headed southeast down the Delaware River with the outgoing tide at our backs.  The boat handled better than expected and we made great progress entering Cape May Harbor NJ at 1400. 

            We took a slip at the South Jersey Marina and settled in for the night.  The marina was hit hard by Sandy so most everything was new construction.  The docks were great, the service was excellent and the marina facilities were very clean.  It was a stern tie with pilings, no finger piers.  We had dinner at the Lobster House restaurant which was a short walk from the marina.  If you tell the marina you would like to eat there they will get you in without waiting. 

 May 29, 2015

            We left Cape May NJ at 0550 with the engine hours at 3049.  Again, the weather, seas, wind, and tides were perfect.

            The trip up the coast of New Jersey was as good as it gets there.  Everything lined up perfectly.  The water was as flat as being on a lake.  We were not sure how far we would get.  We were hoping for Sandy Hook, NJ but also considered Atlantic City, Barnegat Light, and Manasquam it the weather or seas were bad.  Luckily everything held and we made Sandy Hook, NJ at 1900 with the engine hours reading 3073.  We got a slip at Atlantic Highlands Marina.  This was also a stern tie with pilings and no finger piers 

            We had a little incident while getting into our slip.  It was very windy and the wind was pushing us into the next slip and boat.  The dock hand had trouble catching a stern line and when he did he put one wrap around a cleat without tying it off.  When the cleat slipped the line went into the water and wrapped the prop.  Fortunately the line was old and did not wrap too badly because we were able to spin it off. 

            The marina was no big deal.  It is a municipal marina. The people on the dock were nice.  The showers were clean but very basic.  We had a nice dinner on the boat and drifted off to sleep.

May 30, 2015

            We left Sandy Hook, NJ at 0530 with the engine hours at 3073.  Once again the weather, seas, wind, and tide were perfect for us.

            We crossed Lower bay and under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into the Upper bay of New York City.  We cruised toward Manhattan, went east of Governor’s Island and into the East River to cruise up the east side of Manhattan.  This was the most picturesque day of our journey with beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.  We continued on up the East River, through Hell’s Gate and past Riker’s Island and up into Long Island Sound.

            We took advantage of the perfect conditions and made it all the way to Old Saybrook, CT by 1800.  The engine hours were 3085.  Here we had our second incident of the journey.  After clearing the breakwater and entering the Connecticut River we called the Saybrook Point marina to request a slip and to tell them we were coming to the fuel dock.  However, about 200 yards from the fuel dock, we ran out of fuel.  We dropped anchor in the channel, may our securite call on the VHS and called for SeaTow.  Fortunately we had purchased the unlimited gold insurance only weeks earlier.

            SeaTow was very prompt and courteous and got us to the fuel dock.  We fueled up with 98 gallons in the starboard tank and 80 gallons in the port.  We had a little bit of a back flow problem and I got a little soaked with diesel.

            This marina had the best staff on the docks that we had encountered.  They knew exactly how to work lines and got us into our slip and hooked up quickly.  The facilities were beautiful.  They were affiliated with the Saybrook Point Inn & Spa.  However, the Inn did not treat the marina guests very well.  We felt a little like second class citizens.

            We again had dinner on the boat and slept well.

May 31, 2015

      We left Old Saybrook at 0745.  Engine hours were 3085. The early part of the cruise was calm and we had the tides with us.  As the day continued the wind and waves continued to build.  As we neared Point Judith we ducked into the harbor for a few minutes break.  After leaving Point Judith harbor we headed northeast toward Narragansett bay.  We surfed a few waved and broke 15mph on the GPS a few times.  Once we reached Beavertail things calmed down quite a bit.

     As we made our way up the bay the Quonset air show was going on.  We got to see the Blue Angels perform as well as a few other aircraft.  Bonus.  We reached our slip at Brewer Cowesett at 1500 with the hours at 3092.

Choosing the RIGHT Trawler

     When it came time to choose the type of trawler we wanted many people would ask us "how are you going to use the boat?".  This is probably the best piece of advice we got.

     We made our list of wants, they included:

1.  Plenty of outdoor space for entertaining (flybridge, cockpit, sundeck)

2.  Be able to fish from the boat (cockpit)

3.  Be able to sit on a very comfortable chair or sofa at the end of the day. 

4.  Separate shower stall in the head.

5.  One engine, diesel.

6.  Small enough to take out and handle easily with two.

7.  Sleep 2 with the very occasional 1 or 2 guests.

8.  Large open saloon.

9.  NO OUTSIDE TEAK

     We looked at different types of trawlers.  We considered a sundeck style trawler.  It offered plenty of outdoor space but it was not easy to fish off the sundeck.  The saloons of these boats, in our size range, have too many built ins that are not comfortable to sit on for long periods of time.  We would be giving up saloon space for a second state room that we really didn't need.

     We then looked at trunk style trawlers.  These are similar to the sundeck trawlers.  They have the same limitations and less outside space.  Most of these boats had too much outside teak, including teak decks.

     The sedan model was the most attractive for our wants.  They offer a large flybridge and open cockpit for entertaining and fishing.  The saloons are large but most have built in setees and dinettes.  Finding one in good shape in our price range was also proving difficult.  Most had teak decks that we did not wish to deal with.

     Then we discovered the Mainship 34 trawler.  It seemed to fit all of our wants.  Most importantly it was within our budget.  It had a large flybridge and a large open cockpit for fishing.  The saloon is wide open with no built ins.  We can add a sleep sofa and/or a couple of very comfortable recliners.  It is powered by a single diesel.  It is easily handled by two.  NO TEAK.  

In the beginning. Our journey toward owning a trawler

     I was sitting in my office one day when a colleague came in and asked "do you like to sail?".  When I said that I did he then asked if I would be interested in chartering a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands.  I said that I would ask my claustrophobic wife and get back to him.  To make a long story short, my wife said yes. We chartered a 39' sailboat out of Tortola and we were hooked.

     We chartered three more times and loved our experiences in the BVIs.  Here are links to our sailing charter videos.

  We also joined the Coasters Harbor Navy Yacht Club in Newport RI and sailed with many new friends on lots of boats.  Here are links to our Narragansett Bay sailing adventures.

     Although we loved the boating life and loved sailing we soon learned that we did not really love sailboats.  We learned that we could sail almost anytime we wanted as most sailboat owners are always looking for crew to help sail their sailboats.  However, after we were done sailing for the day and came back to the dock, grabbed a mooring, or dropped anchor we noticed that sailboats were not all that comfortable for relaxing.  We noticed that we almost always ended up on the big power boat for cocktails at the end of the day.

     So after five years of sailing and thinking about owning our own sailboat we came to the conclusion that we were really more suited to be power boat owners, but what kind of power boat?

     We decided on a trawler because since we were sailors we were used to going 6-8 knots.  We loved the space and comfort.  We also liked trawlers because of the fuel economy and range.

     Next:  Which trawler to choose.

The Boat. Anegada da Vida

Anegada da Vida is a 1979 Mainship mk1.  She is powered by a Perkins T6.354 160hp turbo diesel engine.