How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 8, 1:36 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in
ooglegroups.com...





On Feb 8, 9:04 am, Wayne.B wrote:
On 7 Feb 2007 20:30:55 -0800, "King5899" wrote:

I just purchased a '98 Sundancer 250 with a single 5.7 EFI/Bravo III.
The boat is in excellent condition, and a full hull and engine survey
proved it was quite the solid boat, with many hours to go on it.
While
sitting waiting up here in the northeast for the weather to warm up I
keep reading more and more about fishing off the Jersey shore. I have
read articles about catching Tuna, Dolphin and all sorts of
interesting fish in locations like the Mud hole, which is 15 miles
offshore. I purchased the boat primarily as a Hudson river and bay
boat for the family,

The Sundancer 250 is a good river and bay boat but you will soon
discover that it has its limitations there also. It was not designed
as an off shore boat so it is severly weather limited for that use.

I agree with all of the previous advice: radar, liferaft, EPIRB,
kicker engine, navigation courses, SeaTow membership, etc.

In addition, I would encourage you to get a lot more experience with
the boat and its equipment. Over time you will get a much better
appreciation for what it can and can not do safely, and you will gain
experience in how to manage difficult conditions.

The Jersey shore is a dangerous place in conditions that are only
moderately severe. The inlets can have breaking seas even when the
wind is not blowing, all it takes is a large swell and an outgoing
tide. 25 foot boats get rolled and people lost every year after
getting caught by an inopportune breaking wave.

Great point. It's like working the Charlestown Breachway. Perfectly
calm day outside, six foot breakers on the tide going into.

Tough to do in a smallish boat.

Do new boaters still get all nervous about passing through Plum Gut on a
quiet day, or don't you get out that way at all?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, new boaters are nervous about the Plum Gut
and I go there all the time. It's a hop, skip and a jump
from the Stonington launch ramp at Barn Island.


My sister considered it to be like an amusement park ride. But, she was not
the owner of the boat. :-)

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

On Feb 8, 12:13 pm, "RCE" wrote:

I agree with your point of diesel vs gas although modern diesels are
increasingly reliant on electronics to run. There are, however, other
propulsion system failures or accidents that could leave you dead in the
water while doing offshore cruising and/or fishing. IMO being dead in the
water, 30 or 40 miles from land in rough seas is second only to fire in
terms of danger.

Hooking up with a decent sized mako and having it jump
into the boat is one that I've actually witnessed.

Funniest "accident" I've ever seen. The fish was
flopping around the stern and three guys hanging
onto the top of the console and the T-Top.

I know a guy who had the prop shaft supports ripped out
the bottom of his boat by a whale that came out of
nowhere - hit the stern and everything went bye-bye.

Fortunately, it didn't sink - some quick thinking bystanders
came to the guys rescue with some tarps, the CG sent
a pump and two bigger boats came alongside and limped
the owners boat in until Sea//Tow could get to it.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
ups.com...

I know a guy who had the prop shaft supports ripped out
the bottom of his boat by a whale that came out of
nowhere - hit the stern and everything went bye-bye.



We met up with some guys in a big Sea Ray on the voyage to Florida and did
some partying at the marina we stopped at. The next day (nursing hangovers)
we elected to stay on the ICW and they decided to run off-shore.

They ended up wrapping a submerged chunk of 2" hawser on one of their shafts
and ripped the cutlass bearing mounting plate right out of the hull.
Fortunately they were able to stuff the hole enough and maintain headway on
the other engine until the Coast Guard arrived.

Eisboch

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

On Feb 8, 2:21 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in oglegroups.com...





On Feb 8, 1:36 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in
ooglegroups.com...

On Feb 8, 9:04 am, Wayne.B wrote:
On 7 Feb 2007 20:30:55 -0800, "King5899" wrote:

I just purchased a '98 Sundancer 250 with a single 5.7 EFI/Bravo III.
The boat is in excellent condition, and a full hull and engine survey
proved it was quite the solid boat, with many hours to go on it.
While
sitting waiting up here in the northeast for the weather to warm up I
keep reading more and more about fishing off the Jersey shore. I have
read articles about catching Tuna, Dolphin and all sorts of
interesting fish in locations like the Mud hole, which is 15 miles
offshore. I purchased the boat primarily as a Hudson river and bay
boat for the family,

The Sundancer 250 is a good river and bay boat but you will soon
discover that it has its limitations there also. It was not designed
as an off shore boat so it is severly weather limited for that use.

I agree with all of the previous advice: radar, liferaft, EPIRB,
kicker engine, navigation courses, SeaTow membership, etc.

In addition, I would encourage you to get a lot more experience with
the boat and its equipment. Over time you will get a much better
appreciation for what it can and can not do safely, and you will gain
experience in how to manage difficult conditions.

The Jersey shore is a dangerous place in conditions that are only
moderately severe. The inlets can have breaking seas even when the
wind is not blowing, all it takes is a large swell and an outgoing
tide. 25 foot boats get rolled and people lost every year after
getting caught by an inopportune breaking wave.

Great point. It's like working the Charlestown Breachway. Perfectly
calm day outside, six foot breakers on the tide going into.

Tough to do in a smallish boat.

Do new boaters still get all nervous about passing through Plum Gut on a
quiet day, or don't you get out that way at all?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, new boaters are nervous about the Plum Gut
and I go there all the time. It's a hop, skip and a jump
from the Stonington launch ramp at Barn Island.

My sister considered it to be like an amusement park ride. But, she was not
the owner of the boat. :-)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I know boaters who think running the East Passage of
Narraganset Bay in a SW wind seas 4 to 6 as fun.

While I've done it, I didn't consider it fun.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 8, 2:21 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in
oglegroups.com...





On Feb 8, 1:36 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in
ooglegroups.com...

On Feb 8, 9:04 am, Wayne.B wrote:
On 7 Feb 2007 20:30:55 -0800, "King5899" wrote:

I just purchased a '98 Sundancer 250 with a single 5.7 EFI/Bravo
III.
The boat is in excellent condition, and a full hull and engine
survey
proved it was quite the solid boat, with many hours to go on it.
While
sitting waiting up here in the northeast for the weather to warm
up I
keep reading more and more about fishing off the Jersey shore. I
have
read articles about catching Tuna, Dolphin and all sorts of
interesting fish in locations like the Mud hole, which is 15 miles
offshore. I purchased the boat primarily as a Hudson river and bay
boat for the family,

The Sundancer 250 is a good river and bay boat but you will soon
discover that it has its limitations there also. It was not
designed
as an off shore boat so it is severly weather limited for that use.

I agree with all of the previous advice: radar, liferaft, EPIRB,
kicker engine, navigation courses, SeaTow membership, etc.

In addition, I would encourage you to get a lot more experience
with
the boat and its equipment. Over time you will get a much better
appreciation for what it can and can not do safely, and you will
gain
experience in how to manage difficult conditions.

The Jersey shore is a dangerous place in conditions that are only
moderately severe. The inlets can have breaking seas even when the
wind is not blowing, all it takes is a large swell and an outgoing
tide. 25 foot boats get rolled and people lost every year after
getting caught by an inopportune breaking wave.

Great point. It's like working the Charlestown Breachway.
Perfectly
calm day outside, six foot breakers on the tide going into.

Tough to do in a smallish boat.

Do new boaters still get all nervous about passing through Plum Gut on
a
quiet day, or don't you get out that way at all?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yes, new boaters are nervous about the Plum Gut
and I go there all the time. It's a hop, skip and a jump
from the Stonington launch ramp at Barn Island.

My sister considered it to be like an amusement park ride. But, she was
not
the owner of the boat. :-)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I know boaters who think running the East Passage of
Narraganset Bay in a SW wind seas 4 to 6 as fun.

While I've done it, I didn't consider it fun.


Don't remember that, but since I was a kid, I probably just imprinted stuff
that would've made for a good sitcom.

- Wandering into that submarine practice zone, IIRC west of Block Island.
Dad said "Nah..that's not where we are." I'd just taken the power squadron
course, and I was positive we were in the zone. We're puttering along,
trolling for stripers or something, and a half mile away, a sub surfaces,
contacts us, and politely re-educates my dad. I said nothing. I don't know
what he was thinking. Maybe "Hey - I'm ex-Navy. I'm allowed".

- Demo of why plastic dishes are good on boats: Dad didn't care if winds
from a certain direction always meant crazy water (even for a 42' Owens). Ex
torpedo bomber pilots have no fear, apparently. So, one day, north of Orient
Point, things got interesting. The boat was all over the place. The first
sign of trouble was when my mom's stoneware dishes became too much for the
latches on the cabinets below. Big noise, all dishes declared dead. Then, my
sister brings the Chapman book up to the bridge and points out the artist's
rendering of pitchpoling. She had a weird sense of timing. My younger sister
slept through the whole thing.

- Townsend marina, Greenport: Dad & mechanic standing in bilge of 32' Luhrs,
95 degrees, mosquitoes as thick as pea soup, oil up to their ankles. I
must've been nagging him for bait money or some such thing - I don't recall.
He climbs out of the bilge, says "Get over here", I follow him to the bow,
where he picks me up and tosses me into the water. Much laughter from
adjacent boats. No more kid noise till engine was fixed. :-)

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 15:41:09 -0500, "RCE" wrote:

They ended up wrapping a submerged chunk of 2" hawser on one of their shafts
and ripped the cutlass bearing mounting plate right out of the hull.

It's amazing how much stuff like that is out there, most of it
floating polypropolene line and netting from commercial fishing boats.

We heard a distress conversation 2 years ago between a 110 ft Broward
and the coast guard. They had become entangled in floating line
somewhere off the Carolina coast and were dead in the water.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 15:41:09 -0500, "RCE" wrote:

They ended up wrapping a submerged chunk of 2" hawser on one of their
shafts
and ripped the cutlass bearing mounting plate right out of the hull.

It's amazing how much stuff like that is out there, most of it
floating polypropolene line and netting from commercial fishing boats.

We heard a distress conversation 2 years ago between a 110 ft Broward
and the coast guard. They had become entangled in floating line
somewhere off the Carolina coast and were dead in the water.



For the benefit of the OP, the Hudson is loaded with chunks of wood, and
sometimes entire trees. There are so many so-called "creeks" that empty into
the river, many of them big enough to carry lots of debris, especially
during the spring thaw and a month or three afterward. This is why many of
the creeks were used for moving lumber.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

On Feb 8, 12:41�pm, "RCE" wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in oglegroups.com...



I know a guy who had the prop shaft supports ripped out
the bottom of his boat by a whale that came out of
nowhere - hit the stern and everything went bye-bye.

We met up with some guys in a big Sea Ray on the voyage to Florida and did
some partying at the marina we stopped at. *The next day (nursing hangovers)
we elected to stay on the ICW and they decided to run off-shore.

They ended up wrapping a submerged chunk of 2" hawser on one of their shafts
and ripped the cutlass bearing mounting plate right out of the hull.
Fortunately they were able to stuff the hole enough and maintain headway on
the other engine until the Coast Guard arrived.

Eisboch


An excellent illustration of the point that twins don't always make a
boat safer.
With twin inboards, the shaft aft of the shaft log is perilously
exposed. I'd be willing to bet that more sinkings occur each year due
to ripping a strut away from the hull (and creating a 2-3 sq ft (!)
breach) than from a loss of motive power.
Losing headway won't usually put a boat into peril unless there is a
pretty nasty blow going on- but ripping off a strut upon striking a
deadhead, a hawser, a reef, a whale, etc can easily sink a boat in a
dead calm.

For my money, I like the shaft protruding about a foot or so from the
cutlass bearing, protected by a keel, skeg, and rudder. Much safer
than running naked.

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...


An excellent illustration of the point that twins don't always make a
boat safer.

No, not "always". But having twins improves your chances. If the engine
still runs, one
otherwise disabled drive can help by using it's engine as a high volume
bilge pump
while the other is used to head for shallow water.


For my money, I like the shaft protruding about a foot or so from the
cutlass bearing, protected by a keel, skeg, and rudder. Much safer
than running naked.

Certainly agree there.

Eisboch

How far offshore would be reasonable from the Jersey shore? '98 Sea Ray Sundancer 25',
 

After reading through the posts and although I think RADAR is way over kill
for me, I have a few additional suggestions

I've taken my 20' Wellcraft, 200hp merc out 30-35 miles in the Gulf of
Mexico on a few occasions, up to 11 miles regularly, and found the following
to be good practice.

1. Check the weather, both on NOAA's website and the Weather channel. If
the waves are predicted to be over 1-2's or wind hits the 15 knot mark it
will be a shorter trip. By the time we get to the pass, we would have
checked for reports on the VHF from boats already out there and whether the
seas were building or diminishing. Through most of the summer the almost
daily "afternoon scattered thunder storms" are an issue. We take that
seriously and plan the trip to be out and back by early afternoon and may
not go at all. We constantly check the weather, noting direction of the
clouds and wind.
2. Safety: In addition to the required and standard we have spare prop,
prop wrench, plugs, tools, fuses (for radio, engine, etc.) twin batteries
with selector switch, twin bilge pumps (a 700 and a 2000gph), a back-up hand
held VHF, etc. I have a good knowledge of mechanics (having rebuilt this
engine, the transom on the boat, replaced gas gauges, re-wired and really,
been through every sq inch of this engine and boat). We wear inflatable
life vests plus have the others available and immediately accessible. We
go through a checklist before every trip that lists everything from
"sunglasses to bait to GPS. (If you want, I could email you the checklist I
made up on Excel as a guide).

On your fuel, know your normal range. The rule is 1/3 out, 1/3 back and 1/3
for reserve.

Do you have the tools and knowledge to remove a 6/0 hook? How treat the two
inch gash that needs stitches? Can you instantly radio your current
position before you sink? Does everyone on the boat know where the fire
extinguisher is? and how to use the radio? and the proper dialog (Mayday,
Securite, Pan Pan http://www.boatingsafety.com/vhf1.htm ).

Before we head out, we check all equipment--lights, horn, VHF, GPS,
fish/depth finder, bilge pumps, etc. We tell someone where we are going and
when we expect to be back. If we change plans and are still in cell phone
range we let them know.

Get the Coast Guard to give you an inspection and get their suggestions for
additional equipment beyond that "required".

I take my 81 year old Mom out frequently. Just be safe, don't take chances,
if any questions or doubts on the weather, err on the conservative side. We
can not, nor can you go out far any time we like. The weather tells us when
we can.
LD


"King5899" wrote in message
oups.com...
I just purchased a '98 Sundancer 250 with a single 5.7 EFI/Bravo III.
The boat is in excellent condition, and a full hull and engine survey
proved it was quite the solid boat, with many hours to go on it. While
sitting waiting up here in the northeast for the weather to warm up I
keep reading more and more about fishing off the Jersey shore. I have
read articles about catching Tuna, Dolphin and all sorts of
interesting fish in locations like the Mud hole, which is 15 miles
offshore. I purchased the boat primarily as a Hudson river and bay
boat for the family, but would love to venture to deeper waters to do
some fishing with my freinds.

Now I know prior to making any excursion that is outside a somewhat
controlled environemnt (i.e. Hudson river), I really have to get
comfortable with the boat and know how it handles, as well as how I
can handle it. The boat is pretty loaded with VHF, Compass, GPS/
Sounder, and your common safety equipment. So if I can maybe gather
some opinions to the following it would be greatly appreciated.

- How far offshore is reasonable in this style, size, and equipped
boat?

- What else should I consider getting to ensure any offshore trip
would be a safe one?

- Are there any places or clubs to meet up with other boaters heading
out to the hot fishing spots that might allow someone less experienced
to follow them out? (This would offer a level of safety that if
something did go wrong there are other boats in the area)

Thanks in advance. I am excited to get in the water, the waiting is
killing me. I assume if your reading this newsgroup in February you
are also as eager to see the thermometor tip some warmer numbers.

MJK