Bahamas 2025 Planning

[Starscream]

I am starting to plan a Bahamas trip, around Christmas of 2025. I'm not sure if it will actually come true or not, but we are beginning to outfit Bear Hunt for the voyage. I think that a thread documenting my thought process and contributions from others will be very useful.

The destination isn't planned yet, but it'll be the Berrys or the Exumas, and we'll leave Montreal around December 15th, returning approximately 6 weeks later. Crew will be me and my oldest son who is currently 17, and possibly my middle son who is currently 15. The youngest is only 13, and will still be in high school during the trip, so with exams and the short high-school break he won't be able to come. The two older ones will be in college at that time, with a longer break. He and my wife may come down and join us for a week or two over Christmas, to be determined.

Ideally we'll leave from a fresh-water marina in the ICW north of Miami, if that exists (this is stage 1 planning), and head to Alice Town. The route planning and waypoints will be done over the next year and a half. This thread is more to document the boat preparation.

Current Equipment:
100W solar on flexible panels
Full cockpit enclosure
4-day Igloo cooler under the dinette seat
Flush toilet with holding tanks and pumpout (no through-hulls for discharge or intake)
New sails, new furler, newish standing rigging
13lb Mantus anchor on 6 ft of chain and 50 ft of rope.
100L flexible freshwater holding tank and pressure water system
Raymarine Axiom 7 chartplotter and EV100 autopilot, with RealVision transducer
Raymarine AIS700 transceiver with GNSS antenna (not yet installed)
Original steering gear, with the BWYachts upgraded steering system sitting in storage waiting to be installed
VHF radio and handheld VHF radio, with masthead antenna
Suzumar MX-240-0SL inflatable 3-person dinghy
Honda BF2.3 stern-mounted kicker, transferrable to dinghy
Portable fridge/freezer 27quart. Can make ice.
PFDs
Dual Optima Blue-top AGM batteries, about 7 years old but no signs of degradation.
Suzuki DF90A, with about 30 hours total time.
Dual 9-gallon fuel tanks, 2 years old, require manual disconnect and reconnect of fuel line to switch.
Multiple sizes of portable fuel cannisters.
Origo 1-burner alcohol stove
Rail-mounted propane BBQ
Dual-axle trailer with new tires and new bearings, electric brakes.


Upgrades to consider
1) Katadyn Powersurvivor 40e watermaker (~$6k cdn). I hate the idea of being dependent on marinas for questionable water. I know this is a big spend and not truly necessary, but I think it adds an element of safety and also trip flexibility. Imagine being in a beautiful Exumas bay and having to leave to find water...or worse, finding a leak in the water tank or something like that.
2) More solar, possibly a rigid panel mounted on a stern arch of some sort. This would be ideal, but the stern of the 26X is already pretty busy, and with the cockpit enclosure in place there isn't an obvious way to do this.
3) EPIRB(s). Thinking about a personal AIS locator beacon like the Ocean Signal RescuME MOB AIS beacon, maybe even one for each person, instead of a true EPIRB. Or maybe a PLB-1, which is an actual EPIRB, person in the cockpit alone carries it. Or maybe a permanent one for the boat, plus a personal one. To be considered.
4) Offshore auto-inflating life vests with harness points (remember, I'm sailing with my kids and I'm going to err on the side of caution)
5) Swim and dive gear
6) Rain gear
7) Inverter (to power AC)
8 ) AC. The idea would be to occasionally run the AC for a few minutes on the inverter, just to cool things down.
9) Professional no-see-um netting inside the cockpit enclosure, and covering the hatch
10) New batteries.
11) Racor fuel filtration system
12) Fuel management system (Tee's and valves to quickly switch tanks without disconnecting the lines)
13) I wonder if any kind of personal hygiene washing device is required? Ocean, we're just boys? Or a solar water heater suspended off the boom? Or a garden sprayer?
14) Mast fitting replacement (especially halyard block and fittings)


Comments or advice about any of these things, or what I've forgotten, would be much appreciated.

[NiceAft]

1st off, there are a lot members (me included) wishing you all the best; successful planing and a successful trip.

I remember years ago reading reports of trips by the Conch Cruisers suggesting back up items. I mention this because I see only one anchor. A 13lb Mantus is good, but you need a back up anchor. My personal belief 30’ of chain is important, and 200’ of rode.

Hopefully experienced board members who have made that trip respond. Chinook is one who comes to mind.

[Starscream]

1st off, there are a lot members (me included) wishing you all the best; successful planing and a successful trip.

I remember years ago reading reports of trips by the Conch Cruisers suggesting back up items. I mention this because I see only one anchor. A 13lb Mantus is good, but you need a back up anchor. My personal belief 30’ of chain is important, and 200’ of rode.

Hopefully experienced board members who have made that trip respond. Chinook is one who comes to mind.

Thank you!

I agree, at least 30' of chain is a must, with as much rope as will then fit in the locker. We have a stern-mounted 8lb Mantus "lunch" hook which has held in everything my local lake can throw at it, and I'm not sure if we're going to upgrade that or not.

Chinook has me a bit worried. Hasn't posted in a long time, their website is not maintained, and a PM went unanswered.

[Chinook]

Hi All,

Not to worry, Chinook crew (Mike and Sandy) are alive and well, and our boat is in service. No big trips since the Vancouver Island circumnavigation in 2019, and as you've noticed, I haven't been on this site for some time. My son maintained the blog site, but we opted to let it go a while back. Last spring we sold our house in Leavenworth and moved to Sequim, on the Olympic Peninsula. We have a nice view of Sequim Bay, and John Wayne Marina is just a 10 minute drive from home. I plan on slipping the boat there this season, with hopes of getting out on the water more often. Still dreaming of making it out to Haida Gwaii, but the years are creeping up on both us and the boat. We'll see.

I'll try to check in here more regularly, since I always enjoy exchanging thoughts on sailing and cruising.

Cheers, Mike Cecka/Chinook

[Chinook]

Hi Starscream,

Your Bahamas plans sound exciting, and bring back fond memories of cruising those waters. Just a few preliminary thoughts. First off, with just 6 weeks available for the trip, including trailering from Montreal to Florida and back, I'm thinking that hopes of cruising the Exumas might be just a bit too ambitious, especially during the winter season. At that time of year northers regularly blow all the way down to the southern Bahamas, and they have the capability of rendering the Gulf Stream crossing a "No Go" option for extended blocks of time. I recall looking at winter weather records and seeing only a couple of suitable crossing windows in an entire month for some years. It's really easy to get pinned down for a week or longer, waiting for the north wind to stop blowing in the Gulf Stream area, and that can happen going either way. Getting out to the Exumas involves 4 significant open water crossing (Gulf Stream, Great Bahama Banks, Providence Channel and Yellow Banks) and any of them can stop you when the northers come down. Getting to the Berry's just involves the first two passages, and it's easy to spend several weeks there.

Regarding departure point for a crossing to Alice Town, launching somewhere north of Miami is fine, if you've got a ramp and parking location there in mind. However, I wouldn't recommend departing through Government Cut, opposite Miami, if you're heading for Bimini. You're better off starting your crossing a bit further south. I've taken off from No Name Harbor at Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne, and also from Angelfish Cut at the north end of Key Largo. Those starting points line up better for a crossing to Alice Town, given the northward flow of the Gulf Stream.

Feel free to contact me regarding any specific questions you may have.

Goodl luck, Mike

[pitchpolehobie]

Sounds exciting - this is on my list of Mac trips too so looking forward to following along and contribute what I can.

For water... not sure of the size or complexity of that set up. I have a Sawyer Squeeze I pack for trips to 3rd world, back country etc. Basically any freshwater can be filtered extremely cleanly - its essentially sterilized via fhe equivalent of a hemodialysis filter size which elims bacteria, protozoa which cause most GI disease from questionable freshwater. (Viral diseases arent covered but most of those come from someone not washing their hands after they poop at your favorite chain restaurant.) They have different options but you could last for months w 4 people on 1 filter. It doesnt take chemicals out youd need charcoal and/or RO.

https://www.sawyer.com/products/squeeze ... ion-system

Anchor looks up to the task..agree w more chain and rode.

AC sounds lovely. Have you seen this? Actually could run off battery too for an evening to cool off and sleep... https://www.zerobreeze.com/products/zer ... _b37a0fb25 obviously pricier but looks easy to vent and battery +++. Id wanna test and make sure it can cool the cabin enough to be worth the significant expense. I think without insulation the mac will only be cool when the AC is running I doubt there be any worthwhile residual coolibg effect after its off.


Solar & Power... I dunno what the right answer is. My perspective personally is to have a minimal electric need. Id probably aim for less if I planned to spend >1/2 of the nights at marinas and Id just leech their electric and save boat space for other QoL stuff. Carrying a generator, gas, oil, spare stuff seems complex. I also dont want my boat covered in solar when it probably couldnt power AC anyway which is my big need. You can probably run a good fridge off a 100watt panel w good charge controller to a decent pair of your AGM batteries. I think they need like 6 to 8 amps. Could consider an icemaker too that could be used as needed.

Cooler... I used to watch youtube videos of cooler reviews they all seemed to vary slightly in what was really the best - but over the yrs I ended up w a bunch of gifts of rotomolded coolers (yeti, orca, igloo, lifetime) and theyre all good. Id consider one w dryice but it has to be handled safely and will deepfreeze anything in the cooler. This could eliminate the need for a big draw of electric. However if I had 100watt id probably put that toward a fridge/icemaker.

[Chinook]

My thoughts regarding current equipment and possible improvements:

Current equipment - Your preparations are impressive, and will serve well on the trip. Full cockpit enclosure, 100 watts of flexible solar, dual axle trailer, new sails, main and kicker outboards, water system, electrical and frig are spot on. I'm thinking your solar should be adequate, given motoring time and the strong sunshine out there, even in winter. Good house battery capacity will work well with your existing solar.

I think the pair of 9 gallon fuel tanks is a bit light for the trip, affording less than 100 miles of range. You'll want to either install more capacity (2 custom 18 gallon aluminum tanks can fit - barely - in the X). Alternately, you can fit 3 two and a half gallon plastic containers under the steering seat, and perhaps a 5 gallon container on the stern. The added fuel and accompanying range will be appreciated in the Bahamas, since fuel docks are rather spread out, and crossings long. You'll definitely want plastic containers, since in some places, like Morgans Bluff, Andros, there is no fuel dock and you need to hitch a ride to the nearest gas station.

Your batteries sound good but if you're going to replace one or both, I'd suggest going with a lithium battery. Pricey, but I'm impressed with the performance of the one I put into my pickup camper.

If my math is right, 100 liters or 25 gallons of fresh water should be more than enough without the expense, maintenance hassle, and electric draw of a water maker. We had about that capacity of fresh water on our trips, and we never ran too low for comfort. We used paper plates and bowls to save on dishwashing, and used a composting toilet so didn't need flush water. You shouldn't be more than a week away from fresh water access out there.

You'll definitely want to upgrade your ground tackle. I feel that a 30 lb or heavier anchor and 30 feet or more of chain to be overkill. I like the rule of thumb for chain length about equal to boat length, say 25 feet. My current anchor is a 10kg (22 lb) Rochna. I used that on our last Bahama trip, and used a similar sized claw anchor for the Exumas. Both worked great and we never dragged. When I felt the need for added holding power, I clipped a 7 lb kellet to the rode. Having a backup anchor rigged up for Bahamian style mooring is a good idea. I have a Fortress anchor with 15 feet of chain and 150 feet of rode in the bow for that purpose.

Bugs aren't much of a problem in the cooler months, but bug netting is always nice to have.

Snorkel gear, including weight belt, is really nice to have. Water temps in the winter months will be on the cool side, mid '60's typically, so a mini wet suit, at least, will be needed. Lobster is open till the end of March, so bring a pole spear. Spear guns are prohibited. Strongly advise a heavy fishing rod and gaff, with feather and/or plastic jigs for your deep water crossings. Always a chance for a mahi mahi. Solar shower will be very handy. Be sure to figure out a good way to attach to the foredeck. They're easy to lose overboard if not well tethered.

Be well equipped with charts and cruising guides. The Explorer charts are very good, and there are some fine cruising guides available.

Good luck with the prep and planning.

[Starscream]

So good to hear from you Mike, and what good advice, thank you.

I remember about a decade ago Quebec1 towed down to miami in a Bahamas attempt, also on a short schedule, and he never ended up making the crossing because of weather, but had a blast in the local waters. That's always an option. We'll take it one leg at a time and adapt as required. Even if we only make it to Bimini it'll be a success. Berrys even better, Exumas is the dream. At the end of the day, if I have to find a place to leave the boat and fly home to meet a deadline, I'll do that and come back later for the boat. It's just money and I'm willing to risk taking a financial beating vs. not doing the trip.

I have considered Lithium, but it seems like they don't have the starting power to get the outboard going (I emailed Battleborne and they said this: "Our batteries are not designed for cranking/powering an outboard like Suzuki's DF90a". I like the idea of either battery being able to crank the motor more than I like the idea of the additional power and weight savings. Maybe someone knows a brand of lithium batteries that could start the big motor? Costco has some nice Energizer AGM batteries at about $300 CDN each, and those look pretty tempting as replacements. The Optimas will go in my shed to store solar and power its lights.

Where to leave the truck and trailer is a big issue. To be figured out...

Def need more gas than just 18 gallons, even though the DF90A seems to be very economical at 6mph, turning the 15" prop at pretty low RPM. I haven't done extensive fuel testing with it yet, but the old Etec90 could do better than 15mpg at hull speed and I'm hoping that the suzi will be better, with the big prop. Will experiment with it this coming summer. I don't think I'm going to modify the fuel tanks if I can convince myself that 18 gal main tanks and 10 gal in fuel cans will be sufficient. The plan is to sail as much as possible, but I know how fast that plan can fall by the wayside.

The PowerSurvivor compact watermaker would fit under the port bench seat, and it's power draw is minimal. Having water on board is just one less thing to think about, one less chore, and gives a certain sense of security. The biggest body of water I've sailed on is Lake Champlain and I have visions of being stranded on a tropical island somewhere. I know it's overkill.

The north wind thing is a bummer. That may ruin the trip with delays, but we'll just cross our fingers.

Based on this advice, it looks like my 13lb Mantus should become the lunch hook, and I'll consider a larger Mantus for the main anchor. It's a hard thing for a lake sailor to understand: the 13lb Mantus seems so overpowered for our day to day, and we often use the Mantus 8 pounder instead and even that's never budged. I've even used a 2 lb Mantus dingy anchor as a stern anchor, and that's done great too. I'm obviously underestimating the ocean, a worrisome start.

I doubt that AC will come true, but it sure would be nice. I'll research all the options. At the end of this, Bear Hunt will be a much more pleasant cruiser for our local trips.

Thanks for all this food for thought!

[Starscream]

Ah, after a convo last night with my boys, we have two other things to possibly add to the list: Starlink and a generator. Added points 15 and 16 to keep track of.


1) Katadyn Powersurvivor 40e watermaker
2) More solar, possibly a rigid panel mounted on a stern arch of some sort. I'm now reconsidering, maybe 100W is OK, with an occasional motor-run to top things off. I do want a better mounting system, because now they're just velcro'd to the top of the bimini; lake-safe but not ocean-safe.
3) EPIRB(s). Thinking about a personal AIS locator beacon like the Ocean Signal RescuME MOB AIS beacon, maybe even one for each person, instead of a true EPIRB. Or maybe a PLB-1, which is an actual EPIRB, person in the cockpit alone carries it. Or maybe a permanent one for the boat, plus a personal one. To be considered.
4) Offshore auto-inflating life vests with harness points (remember, I'm sailing with my kids and I'm going to err on the side of caution)
5) Swim and dive gear
6) Rain gear
7) Inverter (to power AC). I have a 2000 watt inverter ready to install.
8 ) AC. The idea would be to occasionally run the AC for a few minutes on the inverter, just to cool things down. I doubt this will happen, but we'll see.
9) Professional no-see-um netting inside the cockpit enclosure, and covering the hatch
10) New batteries.
11) Racor fuel filtration system
12) Fuel management system (Tee's and valves to quickly switch tanks without disconnecting the lines)
13) I wonder if any kind of personal hygiene washing device is required? Ocean, we're just boys? Or a solar water heater suspended off the boom? Or a garden sprayer?
14) Mast fitting replacement (especially halyard block and fittings)
15) Generator. I really don't want one, but will it make a huge difference in convenience or safety?
16) Starlink. Wouldn't it be great to have reasonably accurate weather at our fingertips? And be able to stay in contact with the fam? More weight, more power, not optimized for boating yet, but man, I'd feel much better than having to tune an amazon SSB to a local forecast.

[Wyb2]

I’d skip the generator and AC.

The inter-webs claims the DF90A can produce 27 amps at 12V. Depending on the batteries, a generator may only do better for about an hour of bulk charging, then the batteries will stop accepting current much higher than that.

For A/C, the time I spent in the Bahamas in December/January wasn’t oppressively hot. Days could be hot with the sun beating down, but nights usually cooled down comfortably. There is also often a breeze to help air out the boat. When we came back through in June it was a different story, high 80s and dead calm was common. Check out the monthly averages: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/bah ... wn/climate

[Be Free]

AC is doable but (in my opinion) you will either need shore power, a generator, or a lot more solar to keep up with even 4 hours of run time each day. These are rough, back-of-the-envelope calculations but where they are wrong they are all wrong in the same direction. You may experience slightly better performance but you probably won't see worse.

You mention running the AC "for a few minutes ... just to cool things down". That may be effective in Montreal but I expect you will want to run it a bit longer in the Bahamas (even in the winter). All of these numbers will scale linearly without too much distortion if you want more or less run time.

The Zero Breeze is designed to cool <40 sq feet and will use 840Wh to run 4 hours. As reference, if you exclude the V berth and the rear berth you are looking at around 40 Sq feet. It costs about 10 times as much as a small window unit that is actually large enough to cool the cabin. Recharging its 24V battery with a 12V solar panel is going to be "tricky" and will introduce some inefficiencies. On the plus side, it is small and does not block any of the companionway.

A small window unit in the companionway will use around 1880Wh to run 4 hours. It can be run off your 2000w inverter if you have a large enough battery bank and if you have wired it with at least 1/0 wire. You will pull approximately 160Ah out of your bank in 4 hours. A 100W panel can't put that much back in the next day. Even your 27A engine alternator would take >6 hours and I don't think you really want to run your engine 6 hours a day every day. I've not done the math but my ballpark estimate is that a couple of hours with the engine or an equivalent generator along with 200W of solar would probably do the trick.

To pull 160Ah plan on at least 320Ah of true, deep-cycle (ex: golf cart batteries), 800Ah of "marine", AGM, or dual-purpose batteries, or 200Ah of LiFePO4. This is in addition to all of your other house loads. Realistically, only the deep-cycle and the LiFePO4 are viable from a space and weight standpoint. I have 430Ah of deep cycle batteries now (without running an AC on my inverter) but that is about all I'm willing to carry. If I need much more than that I'm going to switch to LiFePO4 even though that will require a non-trivial modification to my charging systems. If you are starting from a relatively clean slate LiFePO4 is probably a better choice if you want to run an AC on your inverter. It will cost a bit more but it will work better in the long run.

Either style AC can be run as long as you like on shore power or generator without any recharging concerns. I hope it goes without saying that if you use a generator you have to be aware of CO in the exhaust. No sleeping with the generator running.

Also, before we go down the "swamp cooler" or any kind of evaporative cooling they don't really work where you are going. The humidity is normally too high for them to be effective. They work; they just don't work well enough at these latitudes to be worth using them (most of the time).

I've not mentioned the small, portable AC units. Their cost is between the window unit and the Zero Breeze. They share most of the positive attributes of the Zero Breeze (size and placement). They use approximately twice the power as the window units for the same BTU rating. Some here have used them but I don't know if they are using an inverter or just shore power.

[pitchpolehobie]

As far as Starlink goes....i also think the new samsung galaxy and iphone lineup have direct to cell texting as another option.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213426

https://www.pcmag.com/news/samsung-is-b ... galaxy-s24

https://bullitt.com/en-us/

[Chinook]

Regarding anchor size, something in the 10 kg size is definitely advisable. The winds can really get strong down in the Bahamas, and the islands are very low lying, so even in a protected cove, you can rarely find any shelter from the effects of wind. Also, many of the anchorages are more line roadsteads, protected from one direction but open to the other. You have to pick which side of a Cay to anchor on, based on forecast, and you really want to be able to count on your anchor being able to reset. A middle of the night 180 degree of shift in wind direction can easily happen. I got up at midnight to 35 knots of wind from the opposite direction from when I set the anchor, with a nasty coral shelf for a lee shore. Fortunately, the anchor reset itself and held.

On the AC topic, I don't count myself as a fan. In the winter, temps down there rarely get too hot for comfort, and if they do, it's during the day when you can always take a quick dip in the water to cool off. A good cabin fan should be sufficient for down below. You also could consider getting one of those air scoops for the forward hatch. They do a great job of ventilating the cabin. You might also pick up a reflective sunshade tarp which can be adjusted to give shade at lower sun angles, when the bimini doesn't do the job. We used one of those in the Sea of Cortez and it was very helpful.

Really, the one big benefit of AC is for comfort while sleeping, when you're someplace with nighttime temps too warm for comfortable sleeping. And for that, you would need to run the unit all night, which would only be practical when plugged into shore power. As far as a short time run to cool things down, our boats are so poorly insulated that the cabin temperature quickly reverts to ambient air temp.

[Be Free]

...
On the AC topic, I don't count myself as a fan. In the winter, temps down there rarely get too hot for comfort, and if they do, it's during the day when you can always take a quick dip in the water to cool off. A good cabin fan should be sufficient for down below. You also could consider getting one of those air scoops for the forward hatch. They do a great job of ventilating the cabin. You might also pick up a reflective sunshade tarp which can be adjusted to give shade at lower sun angles, when the bimini doesn't do the job. We used one of those in the Sea of Cortez and it was very helpful.
...

I'm with Chinook on the need for AC in the Bahamas around Christmas but I'm a Florida native and don't really consider it "hot" until the temperature is approaching triple digits. My point re: the AC was IF you think you want one you should size your system to run more than "a few minutes".

On the other hand, it's about 60F here this morning and I'm wearing a jacket while cutting and stacking firewood. I doubt that Chinook or Starscream
would think it worthwhile to even wear long sleeves in this weather.

[Starscream]

A couple of small advances:

AIS transmitter & GPS backup: completed and functional. Also replaced the VHF antenna and all the CoAx cable on the boat.

Anchor: in progress:


Mantus 17 lb galvanized anchor
Two Mantus 1/4" shackles
30' of Laclede made-in-USA G43 hi-test 1/4" chain, working load limit 2,600 lbs, breaking strength 7,800 lbs
Mantus Chain hook
Amazon anchor bungee
0.02 stainless whipping wire for the shackle bolts. I need to do some research on the proper technique; for now I just wrapped and twisted the wire in place with a pair of pliers.

To be purchased: the anchor rode. I'm thinking 100 ft of 1/2" double-braided nylon like this: https://www.entrepotmarinemart.com/en/d ... ue-1610003 This particular product is made-in-China which makes me think it's going to be the most likely to have some sort of defect, and I'm looking for US-made alternatives that have the built-in eye-splice and stainless thimble.

The 17 lb Mantus isn't much different than the 13 lb Mantus we currently use, in fact when I originally unpacked it I thought it was the same anchor. The extra 4 lbs is mostly in the roll-bar and overall width; it still seems to me that the actual wedge part is essentially the same, but I haven't done a side-by-side comparison yet.