Hello!! We are Chris & Lisa, two Aggies and retired Texans who decided one day to do this thing called America's Great Loop!! We bought a Mainship 390 and named her Cool Beans, and we left Kemah, Texas on Valentines Day to embark on a trip of a lifetime!! Follow along on our adventures, as we travel the waterways of our great country, and feel free to ask any questions you may have!!
Hi there, oh yes we are getting close! Very exciting! We are loving the Trent Severn, it's been so beautiful and peaceful! Thanks so much for watching! :-)
Hello there, so once everything is all set up, it creates a Wi-Fi connection and you set a name and password when you first connect. Then, go on your device and connect to it, just like you would any other Wi-Fi. I hope that makes sense! It's amazing! Works great in Canada! Thanks for watching! :-)
Hey Peter! Oh, Clayton is AMAZING! That restaurant (Di Prinzio's) was wonderful! Have you been there? And the Wooden Boat Brewery was so good too! We could have stayed another few days for sure. Thanks for watching! :-)
Yes I say it's DEFINITELY a must-see destination! We honestly could have stayed there for another few hours, just really looking at each room. For example - he designed his library with grandkids in mind - he has carvings on the fireplace of Hansel and Gretel and the witch in the middle - he envisioned reading stories to his grandkids in that room! He never got to do that, so sad. He also had hearts put everywhere, in honor of the actual island called Heart Island. They have an audio tour on an app, you download the app and then as you are walking through the castle, it talks about each room. SO INTERESTING! Thanks for watching! :-)
Oh yes, that tongue depressor! I notice it when I am filming and I have thought I needed to 'address' it - it's interesting, huh?! OK well it was a gift from another Looper in Pawley's Island, SC that she made for her fellow loopers. It's a simple yet effective way to remember what side of the red and green channel markers we need to be traveling which change depending on what body of water we are on at any given moment. We flip it to whatever it should be. I think we'll explain it in depth in a future episode, thanks for the question! :-)
Awww thank you Debbie! She IS my mini-me for sure in so many ways, mostly my personality! Haha! We are safely tied up to a wall today in a cute town in Canada, and are LOVING it up here! Life is good! :-)
If your fellow loopers wouldn't mind, we would love a quick introduction to them and the boats they are using. It is interesting to see the different boats that make the loop. Thanks for the Starlink info too.
Hello Scott! I will ask if they would be willing to share their boats in a future episode! It really is interesting, there is a boat for everyone, you just have to find it! :-)
You were in our neighborhood. We live in Baldwinsvile and are around 10 miles from Phoenix. We camp a lot in Clayton actually we are camping there a lot this summer. We are camping in Pulaski NY next week. Great video we really enjoyed it. Glad to see you did sight seeing in the 1000 Islands
Hello! We loved your neighborhood so much! There is so much to do and see and we only touched on it - we could have stayed a full week and not done everything! We just don't have the time to do it on the Loop but we sure do appreciate and love that area! The 1000 Islands were amazing! Thanks for watching! :-)
Glad you loved Oswego if you have time come back for harbor fest its an amazing festival celebrating the harbor caped off by a MASSIVE Fire work show off the sea wall!!!!!! I totally saw my car at work in one of the photos lol
No way! You saw your car in our video??? That's such a coincidence! We really did like it there and wish we could have stayed longer, in fact, there are so many of these towns where we could stay a week and have something fun and interesting to do every day! But we just can't stay too long anywhere because we are chasing these seasons! Thanks so much for watchind and ENJOY the festival!!! :-)
Other then the crab on board, was there any issues with your boat when you got back? Glad you made it back safe and looking forward to seeing you go through the great lakes.
Hello, thankfully and gratefully, no issues when we got back to the boat EXCEPT about 1,000 spiders had taken up residence and are still fighting to stay aboard! It's been awful but we did get some spray yesterday to hopefully encourage them to "jump ship"!!! Thanks for watching! :-)
Hello, yes I did another segment today on the cost of Starlink! I had a few questions so I figured why not put it in another video! Thanks for watching! :-)
Hello, yes I did another segment today on the cost of Starlink! I had a few questions so I figured why not put it in another video! Thanks for watching! :-)
I am so glad you were able to be with family and friends over the last 3 weeks. Bonus of friends on the loop for the next week! I was able to see my eldest Step Daughter for the last week. We had a lot of catching up to do as I haven't seen her in 7 years. We had a great time. I do miss the grandkids, but work is holding me back. I need to retire soon and do the loop! thank you for your stories, and travels. Love the channel.
Family and friends mean so much to us, and I'm sure to so many people also! Good luck planning your retirement and then the loop - it will be one of the neatest things you do in your life for sure, we are having the time of our lives! Thanks so much for watching! :-)
The name of the village you stopped at is St. Johnsville, NY and not Johnsonville. And of course this part of the river had a high water flow which is why there is so much debris in it.
Thank you so much for letting me know - I think I was really tired and misread it the first time, which made me misread it the entire video! Correction noted! And yes we know about the water flow and debris, really tough to control but also tough sometimes to navigate. Thanks for watching! :-)
Hi! I was happy to see a new video posted this morning! Thanks for sharing your family fun! Looking forward to seeing you when you get down to KY Lake. Safe travels!
Hey Jenna! Glad you watched and thanks for the kind comments! Yes we are excited to see KY Lake this fall for sure and if we can at all make it happen, we will see you! :-)
Thank you very much! I live in a small town also, and we do the parade also. My 4x4 club usually does the parade. This year I didn't do it, but had fun watching. Unfortunately, we have had a very dry year, so our Fireworks show was canceled, but we still did the BBQ! Fun with family and very good friends.
Thank you so much. We have many friends back at our home port, and we’ve checked in with them and they all are ok. Lots of rain and wind but no damage so far!!
So, today, July 5th, is our 28th wedding anniversary. As we were reflecting on our years together and looking forward to starting our loop next fall we realized it’s quite likely that we’ll spend anniversary #30 in Canada on The Loop.
Hope ya'll are having a great 4th of July. On July 1st we celebrated Canada Day. High 50s & damp up in cottage country, north of Toronto. But we had fun & I'm hoping that you guys are having fun with your family & friends. Cheers!
Thanks so much! Happy Canada Day to you, and you have WAY better weather than we do - it's SO HOT here! Yesterday was 101! We have had more fun than we can imagine with our family and friends, thanks so much! :-)
I live about 2 hours north of Port St. Joe. We enjoy taking day trips down there and grabbing a bite to eat and running to Mexico Beach. Enjoy your home time and have a great 4th.
@@davidplamondon1827 oh I bet you do enjoy going to PSJ! It’s a great little town and we’ll go back some day! Thanks for watching and we’re definitely enjoying our home time but are excited to get back to our journey next week!!
@@stephentaylor8217 thank you and Happy Independence Day to you too! We’re enjoying this time but looking forward to getting back to Cool Beans soon and continuing our journey!
@@thomasbranic thank you and happy Independence Day ! Glad you enjoyed the Top 5. We are actually really looking forward to returning to Cool Beans next week!
Hey there, that is very cool! So you are super hot in this miserable heat wave too, huh?? Good luck loop planning and be sure to watch tomorrow's episode - we are giving our Top 5 favorites for different categories!!!
The "antenna" is there so that the fire hydrant can be located in the snow. That part of NY is in the snow belt. 150" or more of snow in a season is the norm.
You are welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. We do NOT have a washer/dryer. We do laundry probably about once a week/every 10 days in marinas. Most of them have laundry facilities! And some are even free! :-) Thanks for watching!
With the outboard motor and coolers on the Starboard side; it provides you a counter balance to leaning to the Port side like all Mainships do since all the weight is on the Port side. Good thinking! I will do the same on mine!
@upanchor all the batteries are on the port side as well as the refrigerator, stove; cabinetry, water tank. There's a lot on the port side and thus they list to port.
Do you have an EPERB in case of sudden emergency ? I m not a boat owner but it seems as if being prepared for any possible emergency no matter how outlandish would be wise . They send out an emergency SOS automatically on contact with water .
Hi there, we do not have an EPIRB. Since we didn't go to the Bahamas, and we knew we'd be pretty close to shore the entire trip (other than the Gulf Crossing), we didn't feel the need for one. But I do not discount them at all - they are a GREAT tool for safety!! Thanks for watching! :-)
Great one! I was very curious about your flouting home. Looks very organized and clean. Loved the stairs instead of a ladder. Have fun back home in Texas. Be safe and thank you for the great show.
Hi David! Thank you for watching! We organized and cleaned it up before we filmed, haha! We try to keep it organized but it can be so hard! And YES we wanted stairs instead of a ladder, that was on my MUST-HAVE list. I am not the most graceful! and if you've been watching from the beginning, you might remember that I fell down the stairs in Louisiana before I added the seadeck on the stair treads!!! Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week! :-)
What manufacturer and model is your new refrigerator? Are you happy with its performance? I like the pullout freezer drawer! We just completed the loop last July on our 2005 Mainship 400, and may be in the market for a fridge in the near future. Thanks!!
Hello! We ordered the NovaKool model RFU6400D and had to request the hinges to be on the left which is very easy to do through the company that we purchased it from - www.suremarine.com! We are VERY VERY happy with the performance! The pull out drawer is a game changer, trying to bend down every day to see what we have in the freezer was maddening! Very cool that you are now a gold looper, congratulations!!!!!!!!
Hey Debbie!!! Thank you and YES we are LOVING visiting with family and friends! It's good to be back home but we are getting antsy to return to the boat and get going again! Thank you for all of your fun support, Mafree!!! :-)
Stairs a must over ladders. Especially if dog aboard and I turned 62 today, so done w ladders. Is the TV large enough? See previous on age! If watching football or baseball can you see it well enough? Have a 65" now and hate to watch the 42" upstairs. As a Tennessee fan, I hope you enjoyed the CWS. Two pretty equally matched teams and could have gone either way. Your former coach is a jerk for the way he handled leaving. Looks like it will be another couple years for the football matchup with the way they are doing 24 and 25 schedules. We'll probably be in College Station in 26 since you were here last. Daughter in Ft Worth so that's a game we'll try to attend. Maybe we'll have a chance to meet up and talk about looping
Hello! Stairs were a MUST HAVE for me, I am not the most graceful! And when I added the seadeck on the stair treads it helped tremendously! The TV is large enough for sure! We can see everything just fine! We did watch the CWS and were VERY proud of our Aggies - as always - and yes the coach didn't handle it well, but we are excited for our new coach and next year, we LOVE Aggie Baseball! Tennessee played an exceptional tournament and we congratulate them! Thanks for watching! :-)
@@coolbeansloop2024 Well now it looks like your AD was the one that didn't handle it well. Who knows, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I don't know if you ever watch SEC Shorts but the one that dropped today on RU-vid is worth the watch.
Thank you for all the tips of the week. Im writing them down and plan someday to use them , i will absolutely let people know where i got these amazing tips. Enjoy the time with family i turn 58 on the 4th Gig um AGGIES!!!!
Oh wow, thank you so much! Glad you are enjoying them - I have to tell you that Chris came up with that for future loopers, he thought it would be helpful and he's so glad that you are taking his tips to heart! Happy Birthday! What a great day to have a birthday, always fireworks and celebrations! Thanks for watching and Gig 'Em Aggies!
Bye the way what's the difference between a Berkeley water fiter and a Brita water filter? It seems a Brita is smaller and more compact. Space is a major concern on a boat.
@@scottarmstrong5273 The quantity, probably! We drink a lot of water and also need it to refill the ice maker, so the Berkey has a 2.5 gallon capacity! I don't know if Brita makes a bigger version but also we don't have room in our refrigerator for a Brita pitcher!
I would like your thoughts…. I will be heading from Mobile Bay to NOLA in late January or early February….I know you came east on that route. Any advise, re. Marinas along the way, Is it inter coastal or out to sea??? Thank You in advance. Don
Hi Donald! Well working the other direction, here are the marinas we stayed at Mobile Bay to NOLA: Point Cadet Harbor in Biloxi, MS, Bay St. Louis Municipal Harbor in Bay St. Louis, MS, and Seabrook Marina in New Orleans, LA! We stayed inside on the Intracoastal the entire time. For us, the weather dictated our route. If you have low waves/wind, you might consider the Gulf but honestly the ICW was just wonderful and protected. Do you have AIS on your boat? If not, watch for tugs and barges and contact them on the VHF to find out where they want you to pass them! I hope that helps! If you have any other questions please let us know! :-)
Hey Kari! Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! YES it is so fun to see how other people handle storage and what they use! We are pretty simple low maintenance people, OTHER THAN the ice machine that Chris HAD TO HAVE!!! Haha!!! But I have loved it too - my favorite is the Berkey water filter! Thanks for watching! :-)
maybe some docking videos and locking. those are always great to watch and lots of people pick up different tricks to try on their own. loop on guys. and stay safe
Hello! Great suggestions, we have been wanting to show going through a lock but I am not sure how we can film it - we are BOTH so active in the locking process but we will look to see if we can set the GoPro somewhere to catch us both in the act! Docking too - we are both so busy with the process! But yes, it would be VERY helpful because I remember watching docking videos on RU-vid before we left and I kinda got confused so if we can show how we do it, it might help someone! Thanks for the suggestions and for watching! :-)
We spent a couple of nights on a friends Mainship 390 about 10 years ago. They had a ladder to the flybridge so I appreciate the stairs. Great boats for sure. I noticed in the stern section Chris had 2 lines, one from each side, to the rear dock cleat. What was the purpose of that second line? We appreciate the info screens like that stats screen. Thanks for the extra effort that I know those took.
Hi Scott! Yes stairs were on my MUST HAVE list, I am not the most graceful and when I added the seadeck to the stair treads, it was a game changer - I am so comfortable going up and down now! We did the second stern line just to keep the stern stable. Every marina, we have to assess the current and wind to see how our boat is holding, and in that particular slip, we couldn't get a starboard stern line tied on so we just went across as we did - also helps stay close to the dock since that is where we get on/off board. Hope that made sense, if not, let me know and I can try to have Chris answer in more technical terms! Thanks for watching! :-)
Great video tour guys! Question: you said it took two years to find your loop vessel. What other boat models were under consideration for purchase and what was the final deciding factor for you? Space? Safety? Fuel consumption? Ease of use?
Hello! I wrote out a big reply but I guess it didn't get posted, so bummed! OK so let me try to recreate it: we had specifics that we wanted (full walk around, stairs instead of ladder, specific engine makes) so we looked at Grand Banks 42 and 36. We also looked at some DeFevers and a few others that I can't remember now! When this Mainship came on the market we were excited, it had everything we were looking for! The deciding factors were: stairs, full walk around, Yanmar engine, & location of vessel). I hope that helps but feel very free to ask any other questions! :-)
Hello! Yes, we have REALLY enjoyed the Honda generator - it was so handy when the Kohler went out in North Carolina and we had to stay in the Dismal Swamp without shore power! And we use it while on anchor every time. We try not to have to fire up the Kohler and keep it running for a long period of time so the Honda is perfect for running the ice maker, tv's and the lights - we just plug it into one of the 30 amp plugs and use it for one side of our panel! We have this down! :-) Thanks for watching and let me know if you have any other questions!
Love your reports on your journey and adventures. I was wondering if you changed the name of the boat when you bought it? Can’t wait to start my own GAL adventure.
Hello and thanks so much for watching! We did change the name - her name was Sandra Kay (after the owner's wife) and we changed to Cool Beans! Very exciting that you are planning the Loop adventure - we highly highly recommend it to anyone who can do it! It's been (so far) a trip of our lifetime!!! :-)
If I may. Its like your house, each appliance requires power/amps to run, so he is just suppling more amp service to his power panel (probably its 2 20 or 30 amp service per cable totaling 40 or 60 amps). So if your running your Ac's, stove, lights, pumps at the same time each item is rated for a certain amount of amps. It also depends on the shore power pole on what options you have. A'm I kinda correct Chris? LOL
Timothy, you are exactly correct! We have two 30 amp plugs and a Y-splitter that we use to plug them in to a 50 amp receptacle - if that isn't available we plug them each into a 30 amp receptacle, it totally depends on the marina's offering! Sometimes we have only had one 30 amp and we know which one we like to use to run the ice maker and tv's and microwave! Haha! Priorities! Thank you for answering!
Hi Jack! Timothy below is right, but here's my answer too: We have two 30 amp plugs and a Y-splitter that we use to plug them in to a 50 amp receptacle - if that isn't available we plug them each into a 30 amp receptacle, it totally depends on the marina's offering! Sometimes we have only had one 30 amp and we know which one we like to use to run the ice maker and tv's and microwave! Thanks for watching! :-)
