That is hitting the nail on the head

Well, they swear my boat will be done on the 21st of July.

We will leave South from Atlantic City, NJ to Tampa, FL soon after that.

I will try to post it all here.
dc9loser38912.7476157407

We all look forward to hearing of your cruise. Take OHB with you. he had treasure buried on one of the Islands. I looked for years and could not find it. he knows even after the storms altered the terrain.

I'll go with him on his next trip in the Hatteras.

If he gets a Hatt I will go too. He is really going to get his Captains license on this trip. Do you think he will sell before he gets to Tampa. I certainly hope he gets his craft to Tampa. I would try the trip in a whit or botel,or a Plucky like you had. Not in a pontoon boat. I just wish him luck, with fair winds and following seas

I ran across this the other day and at first was going to ignore, but as a person who has lived and boated on the Albemarle Sound for 8 years I couldn't let it pass.

First off there are a lot of houseboats, pontoon boats and pontoon houseboats in this area. No one around here is going to doubt that the sound can get nasty when the wind picks up, but this place is nothing more than a BIG shallow lake. If the wind is up beyond 10 knots you just don't leave the rivers and even then you can duck around the rivers and points to get from the Pasquotank to the Alligator. You will have to take a little ride getting around the restricted area at Harvey's Point and the Perquimans River.

Second, today I asked 3 other boaters and a lifetime resident about "Deadman's Circle" and none had heard of the sound called that. Maybe the guy at Ace Hardware knows something we don't but my guess is that it comes from Blackbeard's Days when he would trap boats in the shallows.

Third, most of the wrecks you see on the charts came from people running boats way too fast in shallow areas and hitting stumps.

Fourth, the Silverton that was described left Elizabeth City during a severe thunderstorm with 50-60 mph winds. Some people are just determined to try and kill themselves.

I am curious about what was actaully on the Marine forecast the day you guys left. I wouldn't say they don't make mistakes, however while many things are standard, certain items are tailored to different regions of the country and knowing what is/isn't included can be very important. Small craft advisories vary by region. BTW a SCA has no legal definition to size of craft.

If you were to look at this past weekends marine forecast for Albemarle you would find it showed seas of 1-2 feet and winds of about 15 knots. That sounds ok, but it also had a small craft advisory attached to it. The other bigger picture this weekend was a severe weather watch all day (squalls, thunderstorms, winds possibly to 50 mph) for counties on the sound. That is not included in the marine forecast and has to be found within local weather. Marine forecasts won't show the info until it is within 2 hours of approaching. Having all of this weather data in hand should make even the best boater cautious in going across the sound.

The morale of crossing the sound is check all of the local weather and the marine. If the winds are less than 10 more times than not you will be skating across glass. Once out of the mouths of the rivers, if it gets too rough for you. Wait it out. Explore the other rivers and have a blast in your houseboat.

Ah, finally the voice of reason!!

My own story is I was up in New Jersey to pick up the boat last weekend which unfortunately was not ready....again.

Anyway, a tropical storm apparently was out at sea hitting Long Island. Pretty good winds blowing.

Anyway, the wife and me went down to Cape May and spent the weekend. At one point we went up to Delaware Bay and took a look. Looked like one to two foot of chop to me. The weather service said 2 to 3.

If I am careful I just don't think it will be a problem. I don't plan to cross when the weather is even what it was this last weekend.

It just occurred to me that I had crossed a shallow bay during a pretty severe small craft advisory. I used to live off of Escambia Bay by Pensacola when I was going through flight school in the mid 1980s. My neighbor came by one morning and asked if I could drive him in my boat over to Bayou Texar on the other side of the bay so that he could pick up his friend's boat.

No problem - lets go. Now my boat was a 1959 Thunderbird, 19 foot, flatbottomed, runabout with a 1981 Chrysler outboard. It also had a transom that was about to come off. Water would pour under the transom where it was supposed to be connected to the bottom when you ran the motor up to get on a plane. Once up the it would seal back up and do fine.

Well we ran across the shallow bay and it was five to six foot out there. Water came over the bow, over the stern, it was a mess.

But we adjusted the speed here and there and made it across. We picked up his boat, a 34 foot cabin crusier, and drove it back towing my boat.

Hey - it was pretty dumb, but not a big deal. We lived. If we had have gone under I was young in shape and I'm sure I could have swam the few miles to shore.

Crossing these bays in all but the worst conditions is not a death defying feat. Worst case - I damage my boat.

Footnote to the story is that I didn't know at the time was my "friend" was picking up his friend's boat because his friend had been busted for heading a cocaine ring and was in jail. He took the boat to sell it for lawyer money. The DEA showed up and threatened my friend a few days later. The next day he loaded up the car and I didn't see him again for 6 months.... after his friend's trial was over. The DEA got the boat.

Anyplace can get nasty. Years ago I was in a 40 foot houseboat in April on Lake Cumberland. We were out in the middle where you can barely see land in any direction. The weather was easily blowing 25 plus and waves were 3 feet plus. That houseboat was rocking and rolling and I was having the time of my life. Chairs were sliding from one side to the other. Never for a moment did I feel that steel hulled flat bottom 60hp would falter. All the while others were turning green and begging for mommy.

Everyone has a different threshold of security. Knowing the structure your in has a lot to do with pushing the comfort level. If a person has lived thier life on a lake with never more than a half degree of roll then the first 3 foot wave with water down through the center of the boat is going to be pretty intemindating.

Now I would never think of taking an 18 x 80 houseboat in overly rough weather, but if a 40 foot HB sinks because of a 3 foot wave then something else was REALLY wrong. I have climbed through a lot of those aluminum bellied beast and they are built much better than any fiberglass production boat.

Also, while I have never been on a Cat cruiser I have heard nothing but good things about them. Matter of fact, a marina in Beaufort NC on the ICW rents 2 of them. They don't let you drive them, but park you in a spot with a 20 foot skiff for a tag along to play in.

Oh one more thing. If you come down through here and Neptune causes things to go to hell in a handbasket. Throw on your life jackets and call the CG's E-City Air Station. You will have an H-60 there before you can barely get your feet wet.

Also, if you want a tour of some nice new C-130 J models let me know and this crusty old CG warrant officer will give you a nickel tour. The least I could do for a Navy guy. LOL I am guessing you are Navy since you mentioned Pensacola.

LOL I keep editing this thing. I just remembered my experience on Dale Hollow Lake 3 years ago in a rental. When I first arrived I noticed and so did the Marina, that our boat sat lower that the other 70 foot next to me. They said this one always listed to that side and I thought nothing more. A day latter we were in a thunderstorm and I noticed the rain coming off of the roof was running into the forward hatch and disappearing. My thought was no big deal it should be draining over the side. After the rain stopped, out of couriousity I opened that hatch and was shocked. The forward compartment was almost full.

I immediately reutrned to the dock and they acted like I was smoking crack. When they opened the hatch I saw huge eyes. While the 1600 gallons of water was pumping out they were insinuating that I had beached the boat and put a hole in it.

Truth: The forward bilge pump had a wire come lose and wasn't working. Once 10,000 plus pounds of water was gone it sat the same as all of the other 70 footers.

Another morale: Know thy boat, even a rental. I was another thunderstorm away from sinking on that docile lake.
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