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Betsy Lee's shakedown cruise


Chas231

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Happy to report that my son Ben and I completed a 300+ mile shakedown cruise. We travelled north on the Intracoastal to from Oak Island to the Alligator River (just on the southern end of the Albermarle Sound) and back. The boat performed great; its seaworthiness exceeded our expectations. There still remains work to be done, but it was a great first cruise. We did have some motor trouble, and trailered the boat home for the last leg, but stuff happens - we even enjoyed the experience of unexpected events. The boat is a real attention-getter; we had many complements. I didn't want to make this a long post with a lot of details, so I have attached a PDF file with more details, for anyone wanting to know more.

Chuck

Betsy Lee, a Bluejacket28

Shakedown Cruise August 2016.pdf

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Congrats on the first cruise, you already did more miles than we did.  I'm just piddling around our area and it has been to blasted hot the last month.  Sorry to hear about your engine problem. Henry had also some lower end problems with his Yamaha 90.  

I wish I had roof space left for an air conditioner.  On the other hand I don't need to add more weight to the boat.  

Did you have your issue resolved connecting the engine to the GPS?  

 

Egbert

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It was a new engine. The boat's in the shop now. I'm still waiting for the damage report.

I didn't get the engine connected to the GPS. I had an electronics guy look at it, and was told I would need a different (and expensive) harness. He suggested adding a fuel sensor, which should connect easily and communicate with my chart plotter. I think I'll go in that direction; the Yamaha digital tach provides water temp, oil pressure, voltage and engine hours as well as engine rpm.

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Henry has his Yamaha connected to a Garmin GPS by way of a NMEA 2000 network he should be able to give some insights.  The same I did on my boat.  I needed a starter NMEA network kit ($80) and a special adapter cable ($100) to hook up the motor.  Ridiculous prices for a couple of cables.  But it does work.  It also gives all the motor gauges on the gps screen.

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Chuck,

 

On fender storage and use, we use eye straps bolted to the deck and snaps on the fender lines to attach them to LIZ.  Two 8" fenders are kept attached port and starboard and slung over the cockpit aft of the pilothouse bulkhead and ready for use.  Length is adjusted at the snap knot.  One fender is kept attached in the starboard side of the anchor well and the fourth fender is kept in the well unless we are needing it often as in routes with frequent locks.  The middle fender is handled from the side window and kept where most convenient, depending on need.  Often there is no need to do other than flip these fenders out which is great when landlubbers are doing it.  8" diameter fenders are adequate and highly recommended as sufficient for all Bluejackets.  Small fenders a almost useless.  We do have a cushioned 2X4 fender board stored in the cockpit side shelf for use where vertical pilings limit the usefulness of regular fenders. 

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