The first 30 hour were a little rough and I was busy steering the boat as the auto pilot could not keep up with the movement of it and kept doing just the wrong thing at the right time.
So because the weather guesser lied to me, I ended up 30 hours non stop behind the wheel. You know that feeling when you want to take your contact lenses out....... but are not wearing any. She dug the more in a couple of times so I had to back off a lot and thus it took 30 hours from Hilton Head Island to Beufort NC.
After that it was plain sailing. Stayed in Morehead city for the night.



Then left there at 0800 and ends up that evening at 2030 on the north side of the Albermarle sound.




Anchor up at 0700 and after 10 hours we tied up at the Blue Water Marina in Hampton Roads at the bottom end of the Bay after going through Norfolk VA



Left the marina at 0530 and tied up at her summer berth in Herring bay south 12 hour later and left her there till I go and get her back down here in November.




A couple of pics of the inside.

Wow an adventure in a beauty of a craft.

They sure can be put together so nice in such quality.

Thanks for the share . Hopefully, next trip will afford more easy travel cooperation !

Still, a neat venture

That's a beautiful boat. Glad you made it safe. Did your wife go with you

Geez your boat is nicer than my house! Lol sounds fun

No we can't go away together. Someone has to stay home and look after the boat and furry and feathery crew. The owner and his wife came along for the ride though.

Wow! Interesting life for sure. That is a beautiful boat.

What no FEESH? Your feathered friends wouldn't be happy LOL. Nice boat for sure.

We had a couple of FEESH jump on board during the night. they apparently did not want to be in the rough sees either.

Doesn't look like much traffic.
Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

Oh that makes sense. Sounds like they are nice and you guys had a good time seeing the bonus that you were given.

Looks like fun. While the mountains have my soul, there is something about the open ocean. I am jealous!

I was wondering does the owner even drive his own boat , take it out of the marina on his own or is it more like a floating condo.

the big boats 50+ feet at my dad's marina seems to spend 99.9% or more of the time at dock and on shore power as weekend homes for the owners , some of their kids are there more often but they just run around in the jet boat.

nice, I've always wanted to run up/down the coast, but never did.

some days I miss living near the Bay - but when I was there, I missed the mountains more.

never trust the weather folks

He was at the wheel for 20 minutes in the albermarle sound. Then he got nervous. No other boats , no buys to hit. just steering comps course. He uses it as a condo and has a 34 foot sea ray he uses as a runaround. She is not going to move until I go and pick her up in November to bring her back down here with a list of things that they will want fixed or changed.

Poor you ! Prayers sent !

She is 73 foot long, 22 feet wide, on the lower deck there are 4 double cabins and the master suite. Each with their own head and shower. Powered by two V12 twin turbo charged Detroit diesels with 1250 Hp each. She carries 300 gal of water and 2800 gal of fuel. 3 fridges, 2 ice makers one freezer and 8 Air conditioning units. All of that gets powered by either 3 x 50 Amp shore supply cables or one of two 20 KW diesel generators. Behind the fly bridge and sun deck with built in BBQ, and bar, there is a hydraulic davit used to launch the tender that is parked on the top deck. On the trip to Herring bay we used just shy of 1600 gal of diesel between the generators and main engines. Traveling at an average speed of 10 knots I had 68 running hours on the engines from A to B. Only stopped the generator in those days to check the oil level.
Next month I am taking a 40 sail boat up to Solomons from here. I think the owner wants to come along. Hopefully he will change his mind as I am not a very good baby sitter.

I know it's not an easy job. But someone has to do it.

Hope you charged him good for your "work",lol.

Yep..With all of the diesel engines and generators running. Do you control the diesel exhaust system for fumes?

They are cold exhausts .... after the manifold, there is a water injector then it goes to the mufflers that are as big as bathtubs. from there out at water level. Once the engines have reached working temperature its a pretty smokeless affair.
Yes Boco I did. You get what you pay for applies to this sort of thing as well.

Yep..So there's just a slight hum of the engines? Or do you hear them at all for the most part? curious is all

Ohh you know that they are running for sure. And you can hear them well enough when you are outside. But its not unpleasant. It gets annoying when they run out of sync. But there is a electro hydraulic engine synchronizer that monitors the revs and adjusts them to match. when that is switched on, you control both engines with one throttle.

Thinking about it, there is a whole load of other systems buzzing and humming along.

3 Raw water pumps for the AC heat exchangers.
1 fresh water pump.
1 Hydraulic pump for the yaw control system
1 Hydraulic pump for the steering
1 Hydraulic pump for the engine synchronizers
1 Air compressor
8 AC compressors
9 AC Air handlers.
1 or 2 generators.
2 Radar transceivers.
And probably another couple of things that I am not thinking about right now

When are you going to quit the bare bones yacht deliveries and sail on some REAL boats?
Looks like a great time. If you ever stop by Wilmington, let me know!

The sailboat next month is going to be one of those back to basics jobs. VHF and depth sounder and a compass is about all she has. I am in the process of replacing the running rigging and give the engine a once over at the moment. Then have a diver clean the bottom, nail some new zink anodes on her butt and off we go.

Scuba, Are they 12v92's?

12V-92 TA DDEC

Scuba,
I worked on a bunch of boats in Charleston that never left mooring. There are lots of owners that refer to themselves as "Captain" and don't even know how to start the engines. When the hurricanes are blowing in they have to hire a real "Captain" to relocate the boat for them.

All ya got to do is buy a couple of six packs, run around in circles with your boat till you run out of go go juice. Then call tow boat US or the yellow guys to get yer sorry butt back to the dock and sure as there is rice in China, when they fill out the paperwork and you hand over your credit card, they will call you Captain.
If I had known that and a younger age, I would have skipped the naval academy lol

It is scary the people out there running boats that shouldn't be allowed to paddle a rowboat in a swimming pool.

Amen to that

At least once a week I have someone following me . They think. uhh that guy must know where he is going. And yep this guy knows exactly where he is going. He is going home. And home is at anchor behind a couple of oyster banks and sand bars. Most only cotton on to that fact when I slow down, tie my boat up and hop on the big boat for the rest of the day. Then usually a lot of discussion amongst the occupants of the boat that followed me goes on and a lot of head scratching. Some make it back to the ICW without running aground and some don't.
When You see a sail boat at anchor, never assume it is deep all around the area where it is anchored. As another guy found out when suddenly the tube he was towing backended him

Its fun to watch those antics.

When you see the search light going from side to side about as fast as the windshield wipers on your car, you know they tried to go too far that day. LOL

Very nice, a lot of responsibility piloting a ship that size. Job well done.

aint that a classic lol


This hattie has two search lights. I set them just off to the side 100 yards or so ahead. The rest I sort out with the radar and plotter. Driving by instruments lol

Now we’re talking! Can’t wait to hear about her journey. I am a believer that sailboats are the superior vessel.

Love the sound of those low rumbling engines of my father's trawlers.

The sounds at the marina docks for me were as powerful as the sights.

Da could dock a craft in elegance , no matter how small or large.

To see himself park an airboat up on land was a thing of beauty.

He could fix anything with an engine , but the memories I hold most dear are of himself in his stunt planes- and in the DC 3 's he would routinely shuttle to the islands and back to Fla.

How amazing the mind is......what memories come back clear as a bell at the mere sights or sounds- or even written words , that remind us of good things.