Will this make it to the islands?

[Cafka]

Hey everybody,
My brother and I are looking into buying a boat. We came across this boat. It's 17 feet with a 4 horsepower engine.

I don't think it would be safe, but my brother says that it could make it to the islands on a regular day, as long as it's not stormy or anything. I don't think it could make it to the islands, but when we went on a charter dive boat, we did see kayakers(@ the islands) that supposedly made it from the harbor.

I'm thinking the bigger the vessel the safer it's gonna be. Do you think this could make it?

 

[Mo2vation]

Back in my young and stoopid days, we'd cut class and take a 15' skiff with a 10 HP outboard to the island (Caltalina).

Of course, we'd stay the night. No way to take that little boat back across the channel int he afternoon.

It was rough, but it was fun.

K

 

[pasley]

One thing you can count on about the ocean, that is conditions can change. You can leave with a swell of 2 feet and come back in 7 ft swell, or higher.

I would suggest monertiong the NOAA website for a few weeks, or better, look at historical data and see what the typical seas are from here to the islands. Then make your decision on if this is the boat you want to place your life in.
http://www.nwsla.noaa.gov/marine.html

Example of a history is the San Pedro Buoy:
http://cdip.ucsd.edu/tmp/stream_frame21603.html
note the wave height is in M for meters (39")

In the past 12 months the San Pedro buoy (5 miles off the coast recorded waves over 3.5 meters in height. between 1 and 2 meters seems to be the norm, but in winter, it is higher than that.

To me it looks like a good lake boat, but not an ocean boat. But I know of people that go out the San Clemente in smaller.

 

[peterw]

It would be an exciting ride to take that to Catalina. I wouldn't try to come back the same day though. On a nice day the ride over in the morning is pretty smooth but by afternoon the waves start picking up. I would make the crossings in the morning.

 

[PhotoTJ]

I have made the crossing in a 17' Whaler with a 90 hp. It was a blast, got a pod of dolphins to run with us, nice day. Came back the next morning, again, a neat ride.

Having said that, I'll add this. I am exceedingly careful, the sea can be the most unforgiving mistress there is. When we made our trip, we had two marine VHF radios, two handheld GPS units, two cell phones, flares, life preservers, wore our wetsuits there and back, and 5 gallons of fresh water.

If you are confident in your boat handling skills, and take the proper safety precautions, there is no reason that boat won't be fine.

 

[Cafka]

The most important thing for us would have to be safety. The ocean is really unpredictable. I guess we'd have to take it easy and slow.

Where do you spend the night? Do you camp? If we were to go out, we'd only go for Anacapa or Santa Cruz. Can you camp there?

-Tom

 

[RichLockyer]

Cafka once bubbled...
The most important thing for us would have to be safety. The ocean is really unpredictable. I guess we'd have to take it easy and slow.

Was 4hp a typo? I wouldn't think that they would put a 4hp with an outdrive on a boat of that size... 140hp sounds more like it .

My buddy has a 22ft Whaler and 32ft Bayliner. We always take the Whaler for the single-day trips, and either the Bayliner or high neighbor's 35ft Whaler for overnighters.
The Bayliner is nice, but the 22 will get up to 40 knots on glass so we can leave after work, limit out on lobsters at Catalina, and make it home before 2am. Ya... it can be a rough crossing.

He's had it in some conditions that scared the crap out of him, but it's always gotten him home. The smaller glass 17ft... ya... I've seen those out at Clemente. I wouldn't take one out that far, but a well-planned trip to Catalina would be okay.

 

[Cafka]

Actually, I looked at the ad over again and it doesn't say anything about the motor. Sorry about that, must have gotten it confused with a different ad.

How long does the trip take normally?

 

[RichLockyer]

Cafka once bubbled...
How long does the trip take normally?

Huntington Harbour to the isthmus is about 45 minutes on a good day... little over an hour if it's rougher. The Bayliner tops out at 17 knots, so it's a minimum hour and a half.. usually closer to 2.

Add to that the half hour it takes to get through the channel.

 

[pasley]

I know I don't keed to say this, but will anyway. Keep in mind that a beautiful calm day at home, may be a storme at the island. Check the thread from Dr. Bill 22 Nov Dive conditions and his follow up about the dive park being smaller http://www.scubaboard.com/t41553/s.html

On 22 Nov 03 I dove Sequit Point, in Malibu, flat calm sea with 10-15 ft visibility (night dive), The day had been gourgeous with all swell models showing 1-2 ft swells all day, even in Catalina. But in catalina evidently they had a storm that morning and Dr. Bill got soaked just standing at the top of the stairs by a wave. Even as Dr. Bill was making this post, I could find nothing that would indicate the conditions he was seeing there.

What a difference a few miles makes at sea.