Sea of Cortez

[richandlori]

Divecoz,

I do have a question for you. Now that you've spent as much time as you did on the Mac....what would you think about spending an extended time on her...like in the sea of cortez?

Rich

[pokerrick1]

I vote no in summer and no in the fall

Rick

[Divecoz]

Sea of Cortez? Actually that one is on the list for a Winter adventure.
But I never made it to the 10,000 islands and there by never made it to the Keys as well. I was never in the right place at the right time to make the weather windows for sailing on the open Gulf for 2 or 3 days.
I need to change and or add some things to my boat. In the winter the waves are often 4 to 6 and even 8 too 12 feet in The Gulf. IMHO those are beyond the capability of this boat and my abilities and my ca-hons or maybe common sense. I dont have auto pilot and the Harbor / Bay of Charlotte is about 25 miles long . In the winter the wind is almost always coming right at you deterring your ability to sail in that direction. So you need a lot of fuel. I only had 26 gallons on board. My next problem as we have discussed, is towing an inflatable! That sucks. I found trying to maneuver into Ports and fuel docks and resturants with 10 to 20 mph wind and a dink behind you is very frustrating. That all aside.....I find that I have about 3 inches of slop either side of center on my wheel , and that adds to trying to even motor long periods of time in even moderate chop. I have to locate the problem and eradicate it.
So its a given , I need an auto pilot for single handing. I also as of right now , still have a hank on jib and for single handing in those conditions......well that was a bad idea at best. I did fabricate a catch system with two lower bars one on each side of the bow and by weaving and tieing some line I could catch the jib, but that really IMHO is not satisfactory in windy conditions when single handing as well. Sooooooo I need a roller furler as well $$$$. Add an Auto Pilot $1000.00 Roller Furler and either a new larger sail or weather strip added to my present jib... another $1000 fix that and I still have he slop in the wheel to fix so the auto pilot works as it should. I still need to do something about towing the dink.
I think my electric power consumption is under control ,as I have almost all lighting changed to LEDs, but for really longer trip durations, and not running the motor for hours as an inefficient battery charger , I need to at least add another dedicated house battery.
Ahhhhanother brain fart I had ......I bought a small portable generator 1600 watts, but its was still in the way, and made the cockpit crowded and it was Noisy IMHO so it will sit in the garage from here on in.
WATER Consumption! I just cannot get that down to a reasonable amount.
I found out to my surprise that I can only put 20 gals in my 25 gal fleaxable plastamo tank, and then I can only really access about 15 of those gallons.....hummmmm more work fixing that! Man the projects are starting to pile up! I also have the original 5 gallon bag still hooked up to the hand pump but with my new thru hull for the sink , and a valve to close that HOLE when I am sailing, and that bag is near to impossible to re-fill. Another engineering foo pa! I have as I see it yettttttttt another problem. The top of the boot stripe at the Bow, is at best level with then top of the water BUT......... at the transom its 6 inches above the water WT-Hull is with that? Well it was tine to reduce the weight forward and after having taught scuba and made hundreds of dives in and around Cozumel MX. IMHO......Diving in the SW portion of Florida at least around the Port Charlotte area sucks! Sooooooo I pulled out both the Nitrox scuba tanks and 3 complete sets of gear and wet suits. I left in place only M-F-S and a wet suit and a hood . No weight to speak of there and the front came up a LITTLE But Dang It...all that is really left forward of the head bulkhead, are two coolers and they may weight at most a total of less than 200 lbs. Hummmmmmm You mean to tell me that , that my 50 HP 4 stroke Merc and 26 gallons of fuel and my 204 lbs and all the dry food and assorted STUFF cannot make up the difference? Just a little more P-ing and M-ng if you can stand it.
Trailer lights and running down the road at night with a lot if rude crude and very impolite drivers ! I have now come to the conclusion...... I need or at least desire to light up my trailer like a dang Christmas tree. There goes another $200 and two days work and about these trailers hahahahaha. Another $1000 to change it to twin axels or $3000 to $4000 for better / more suitable unit. That all leaves me with 7 months and a decision or two to make.
#1. Finish my original trip by launching at Marco
#2. Head to the Bahamas
#3. Head for the Sea of Cortez
It isnt easy being retired but someone has to do it :)In closing : I got 9.9 mpg coming back after running 4 pints of Sea Foam cleaner thru the motor got 12.5 mpg Go figure its a full size Dodge 4x4 Quad cab.......

[richandlori]

Very interesting thoughts Dive. I'm always interested in looking for comments from people that have spent more than a week living/sailing aboard their Mac. Because I've always thought that with a few mods the Mac could comfortably suppport a small crew on an extended cruise.

Rich

[Chinook]

Hi Rich,

We spent 7 weeks on the Sea of Cortez last spring, and found our X to be an excellent boat for the cruise. Its trailerability allowed us to put in at the location of our choice (San Carlos). Shallow draft was an even greater assett than usual, as it enabled us to make 2 ports of call which are difficult to enjoy for those on larger, deeper draft boats. I'm referring to Mulege, where the bar at the mouth of the estuary (3 to 4 feet) discourages the larger boats. Once inside, moorage is also a problem for larger vessels. With our Mac, we were able to tie up to the seawall at the base of the lighthouse, Mediterranean style. The only option available for the big boys is to anchor out in an open, exposed roadstead. The lovely town of Loreto poses similar problems. We were small enough to go right in to their small boat basin, which mainly accomodates local pangas. On our first visit we found free tie up space on a small floating dock. When we stopped on our way back north, we moored Med style amongst the pangas, tied up to the inside of the breakwater. The larger boats must either anchor out in exposed waters or run 10 or so miles south, to Puerto Escondido, moore there, and then arrange taxi service into Loreto. Much more convenient to be tied up right in their little boat basin.

We've done a number of things to our boat in the way of mods and setup which proved very helpful for extended cruising down there. We carry 39 gallons of gas on board (2 twelve gallon tanks in the fuel lockers, a pair of 5 gallon plastic jerry cans on a custom built stern platform, and another pair of 2.5 gallon gas cans under the steering seat). The gas cans are very necessary, since we had to walk into town several times to buy gas at the local Pemex station. A folding, wheeled tote cart made the job practical, although multiple trips were necessary. We used a fuel filter when taking on gas at the few on-water fuel docks we stopped at, since they don't sell near the volume as the Pemex stations, and I was a little more concerned about contaminated fuel there.

For water, we have about 30 gallons of tankage (9 gallon Todd tank and a little over 20 gallon capacity in a triangular Plastimo tank under the Vee berth. We always used either bottled water or water directly from a desalinization plant. Local residents also excusively drink bottled water. Tap water is for irrigation and wash down only. We had no problems obtaining water whenever we needed to, although it generally involved a good hike with the wheeled cart in tow. I could have sold dozens of those folding carts down there to locals. I had a collapsible 5 gallon water jug for use when we got desal water.

We paid particular attention to refrigeration prior to the trip. I bought an Engel 35 refrigerator and installed it in the ice chest space under the rear dinette settee. To help power it I installed a 65 watt solar panel on the sliding hatch. The combo worked great, and we never ran short of house battery capacity. We kept perishable foods in the Engel, and were able to keep the frig temp at 40 degrees for the whole time. I brought a regular ice chest along and we used it for beer and pop. We bought ice where available, and didn't run out that often. I was even able to buy ice out on little Isla Coyote, although it needed to be rinsed off first, since the ice blocks were sitting under a large pile of trigger fish.

I bought a reflective sun shade which, when deployed over the cockpit, helped maintain a comfortable temp above deck. Our full set of no see um nettings (forward hatch cover, full cockpit surround netting, and quick to install companionway hatch cover) kept the bobos out when we were anchored in buggy places. The cockpit surround netting also came in handy once when we got mobbed by bees, which can be quite a nuisance down there.

The other item I added for this trip, which came in very handy, was a portable radio, a single side band/short wave receiver set. Since our usual NOAA weather via VHF is out of the question down there, the single side band let me tune into one of 2 or 3 broadcasts which provided daily weather forecasts specific to the Sea of Cortez. That was very reassuring.

To sum up, we found our Mac to be a fine boat for extended cruising down there.

Mike

[Bill Earnhardt]

Look up the Tucson sailing club web site, they go as a group twice a year. I think it's may and november.
sometimes as long as 3 to 4 weeks. From their pictures it looks like they have a great time.
I hope to join their cruise next year, pending retirement.

[opie]

Chinnook,
Can you give a source for your 12 gallon tanks that fit in the fuel locker? Txs.

[raycarlson]

blue water yatchs sells 12gal tempo tanks with low profile caps for about 75$ apiece. dont sail the sea of cortez between mid june and september with out A/C you"ll be miserable. best time is may to early june,then october-november.I live in tucson where its fairly warm and the late summer heat in san carlos is more than i can bare with out afternoons spent in a/c somewhere

[elvatoli]

What kind of paperwork do you have to make to go into Mexico ?
Can you go to Mexico, driving with your sailboat and all the contents ?
Can you go to Mexico sailing also ?

I'm planning to go to Tamaulipas and Veracruz, Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico

Thank you
Hector
RGV, TX

[pokerrick1]

What kind of paperwork do you have to make to go into Mexico ?
Depends upon how long you will be there! You can easily research what you will need on line - - Google "paperwork to travel to Mexico"
Can you go to Mexico, driving with your sailboat and all the contents ?
YES. But what you may need depends upon where you cross the border - - - REGARDLESS of what anyone says! I crossed at Calexico into Mexicali with the boat in tow and they never even LOOKED at it. They look at at it coming back to the USA though - - man do they look at it!!!
Can you go to Mexico sailing also ?
ABSOLUTELY - -- but you must stop in the first port you come to and register and pay fees - - - also can be researched on line

I'm planning to go to Tamaulipas and Veracruz, Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico

Thank you
Hector
RGV, TX

[elvatoli]

I drove to this first port in Tamaulipas, is in Matamoros and the name is El Mezquital at the little comunity of Higuerillas.
The Harbor Master there, doen't know anything about paying fees or fishing permits, he just said, you can come and I will be giving you directions about where to sail with no problems. But my other sailor friends are concerned tha if we dont have something in writing they have heard stories about confiscated boats by Mexico authorities.
I'm waiting for a response by the Mexico Consulate right now. The have took 3 weeks already, since I asked them by letter, and I want something in writing.
Maybe the things over California are different, but here in the East Coast is very uncommon to cross into Mexico

Hector
RGV, TX

[pokerrick1]

California Crossings into Mexico are VERY, VERY common

Rick Less

PS One thing i've learned about dealing with Mexican Authorities (Bearucrats) is that it is very difficult to demand from them what YOU want

[richandlori]

There are about as many US cars crossing into Mexico as Mexican plates....Mexico is Gringo land and getting more so every day.

Rich
Currently floating in San Blas, Nayarit Mexico