Attempt to cross the Gulf Stream ends in Disaster! E186 

I admire your determination. We just sit at anchor until we have the weather we want for gulf stream crossings. I'm 65 and I just can't a beating like I used to. The last crossing we made, the gulf stream looked like a parking lot. My kind of crossing!!

You need definite "GO NO GO" ruled just like a good pilot has and unless there is an emergency you don't violate it. Glad you guys were able to learn and recover from your ordeal.

Always something new to learn. I add the “not to do’s” to my list for if I ever get to experience this. In this episode I added: 1) the Gulf Stream is unforgiving 2) stowage solutions are important

OMG.... my jaw dropped with the opening footage -- So glad everyone is OK!! Even with the tenseness of the episode you still provided FOUR excellent Roger-Outs, which is really excellent -- Nice! Please, no more near disasters like that.... smooth sailing for you!

We once crossed the Gulfstream with 20 ft waves late November after a cold front had come through South FL. 25 years later I am shocked we survived. It was absolutely horrifying for us guys. The ladies were crying and praying as if the world was ending…lol.

Wow looks like that boat took a beating! Wish I could have seen a short clip from the helm of the bow thrashing through the waves. Glad you're all OK Cheers from CO

So glad you all came out OK!

Recently found your channel and enjoy your videos. I have to say though, seems like.lots of repairs, lots of waiting for repairs, lots of money and lots of stress.

Hopefully you got some of the sporty seas and will post it so we can watch the snot.

And I've hit islands - 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 That has to be the best line ever...

I’ve experienced similar turbulence but submerged at 200 ft. Had to drop down to 400 to get away from the crazy currant .

I have loved your channel and adventures. Wow, I'm glad you all or physically well. Yikes. Much love from Texas.

Been there, done that ! My port engine powers the hydraulics for my stabilizers too. I had smashed crockery, whiskey bottles, everything that was not secured came out of unlocked cabinets, closets, broken glass everywhere . I learned from that Greenhorn mistake to prepare for the worst.

Glad you all are ok. Cheers from Canary Islands 👍👍👍

Great channel and always enjoyed. While in Ft. Pierce there is a Navy Seal Museum that is most interesting. May you have smooth sailing and stay safe too.

WOW what a mess, pleased your all OK 👍👍

Well ya "tried" and ya "didn't" sink so staying true to your name guys! Looking forward to the next EPISODE! ...Roger out

We were in a small cruise ship in the Mediterranean and ran into 60 knot winds and huge swells. It was impossible to even stand up and everything was thrown about and broken. 12 hours of pure hell. You were smart to turn around and go back.

Wow, glad you guys are OK. Good call to turn around!!

Love the black and white pre-disaster segment.

My brother in law was Warren Bohnsack... A legend on his boat, the "Mr. Bones." He used to call it "settling" 😂😂

I hope Lyn got some footage of the sea state, and unfortunately the camera rarely shows what is truly is like. I am glad you guy’s returned safely.😁🛫

Very unfortunate. Good no one was hurt. You’ve got to remember that it’s a boat, not a condo. There is a need to minimize and to be able to stow EVERYTHING. Flying furniture and appliances are dangerous! We have had loss of power in rough seas but never had the disastrous result you did. Having seen many malfunctions of electronic engine controls I prefer good old properly maintained cables!

You guy been having more fun lately on the dock than out on your own power 🍻

I hope all the bottle of important liquids survived and the glasses to drink out of survived as well. Glad everyone is OK.

A rule of thumb: Whatever the predicted wave heights are, expect, minamally, to experience, occasionally, double the height.

Dang north winds on a cross! Glad you made it to George Town!!!

Holy moly! A braver group of people the us. Wendy won’t leave the dock if anything over 2’. So happy everyone and the boat are ok.

Your attempt to cross the gulf stream sounds just like our abort this weekend when running up the north east coast of the UK heading for Scotland. We left on a forecast of 0.8m to 0.9m (2ft to 3ft) swell at 4.5secs. with a 3-4bft NE breeze. The breeze was about right but we had 1.5m to 1.8m swell beam on, with also wind over tide chop. About 10mins before no return point our stb engine shutdown. This forced a return to home. We are only half the size you are, so was a little uncomfortable, and too rough to go down and fix the issue, so ran back on one engine, docking into the sea lock with only the port running. (video yet to edit.)

Glad you are all safe

25 years ago when our 1975, 60 foot Chris Craft as 20 years old, we had the same problem with fuel starvation, so we had the rear deck opened up and changed out the fuel tanks. They mount in the rear of the boat, and unlike yours and not built into the hull. To legally dispose of them in FLorida, they must be cut up. The amount of caked on bacteria that covered the entire inside of the tank, including the baffles was sickening. This boat had a very active life before we purchased her... I'm not certain that there's any way to keep tanks clean. I understand that your boat has clean out access ports in the tank.

Wow ! Some story. Glad yall are safe.

Wished you would’ve recorded it

OMG, you guys have been having a really rough time on this whole trip right from the start... I'm glad you survived ... Without forward propulsion you're at the mercy of the sea... Not a good time have fuel issues.... Over and out. 🍸🍸

I'm jealous! What an awesome experience. It beats sitting in an apartment watching Mayberry RFD for the millionth time.

Did I miss the end result of your air leak in the fuel system on the stbd "? " engine. "Minor" problems can rear their ugly head when conditions are bad and put you in real jeopardy. I know you run the boat at displacement speeds to conserve and because your not in a big rush. Do you ever run the boat at full throttle for few minutes to check performance and blow out some carbon. 2 cycle Detroits thrive on a hard run once in a while. Also if they run up to rated rpm you can comfortably run at 75-80% power for extended periods to avoid some bad conditions. Getting the boat up to its designed cruising speed can add dynamic stability and get you through somewhat rough seas in control and some level of comfort. In very rough conditions you will have to slow way down but throttling up and down and left and right with full engine response can supplement having to steer like crazy to control the boat. I find some of your approach to maintaining the boat to be a little casual for the distances you travel. I've worked on and have run different types of boats most of my life and I am a lot older then you. You can drink a couple of quarts of water after that your in trouble. Be very proactive in maintainence and be safe!

Awesome cruising I had a similar situation on a meridian coming down from New York to Tennessee we made it safely but scared my family

Glad you are all ok.

Just glad you all are safe

Jesus Christ. I can’t believe you didn’t film it

Wow, the opening scene looked like it was shot on the SS Minnow, unbelievable!

It happens…good stories for the future!

Perhaps an RV is in your future? A lot of footage hanging out in the bars, not a lot prepping the boat for rough weather.

You folks should maybe mount front and rear cameras so situations like these can be well documented and you'd be able to show us all what happened instead of us having to use our imaginations... just a thought...

Holy crap! You were taking some SERIOUS rolls. I know, you’re a powerboat. I have done both sail and power. Man you have to stow better. Lockers, drawers lids all should latch. With minimum non fastened furniture. It’s not a house. And don’t feel bad, believe it or not cruise ships do the same thing. I’m sure you have seen videos of cruise ships in storms. I have made lots of effort to install latches on all storage compartments. In the sailboats, so they could do a 360 roll. On power boats, in a 360 roll storage would be your last concern. Ha ha. Anyway, I know that I am being an arm chair sailor here but I have crossed the Gulf Stream dozens of times and much of the Atlantic and Pacific. And took my trawler 36 feet from San Francisco to Sea of Cortez, Mexico and back. So have learned the school of hard knocks and rolls. Love your boat and adventures. Thanks.

I think the more the buoy bell rings in a Trying Not To Sink video the better it is going to be.

oh dear,some one forgot about PROPER stowage befor putting to sea,ah well lesson learnt the hard way,lol

Glad you had the option to go back in. Worst time I ever had at sea were three days of 35 to 45 degree rolls. We were taking these big rollers right on the beam heading into Japan. Completely miserable. No hot food, you quit picking stuff off the floor, nausea for days.

Wow! With all your experience this was a surprise. Makes me nervous for our trip this winter. Is there certain months in the fall/winter that are better then others to go over to Bahamas?

Scary trip…. One issue, the background music is as loud and the person speaking…. So it’s very heard to hear.

Guys, this nearly exact thing happened to us but in St Andrews Sound in Georgia. Right in the middle of rough crossing Starboard Engine failed (Carver 430) and caused bad roll due to going nearly abeam in those seas before recovering with remaining engine. Turned out someone had put an anti siphon valve at the top of the starboard fuel tank but the port tank did not have one. That siphon valve was fouled with gunk from tank kicked up in rougher seas. We had it removed as this type of valve is not needed on diesels. Had tanks and fuel polished.

Wow! Glad your safe.

WOW... Are we going to see some of the footage from that crossing?

This may not be applicable in your situation but I feel it’s worth mentioning. I was on a boat that would randomly hang in reverse. Couldn’t replicate the hang, so it was difficult to troubleshoot. Turn out to be shift cable pin and carter key installed backwards. The carter pin would hang on the transmission housing and hold it in reverse. Flipped the pin around where the carter key was on the other side where there was nothing to hang on. Ran good afterwards.

Glad to see the bird was no worse for the wear!

Lake Worth inlet is my home waters. Been fishing between Lake Worth and the Jupiter inlet going on 40 years. I like to call Sailfish Marina "home of the 29 dollar fish and chips".

A wise move, you live to surf another day:) Cheers, Rik Spector

Sometimes it’s better just to stay put and wait for weather instead of clearing your cabinets and cupboards 😂

Wow that had to be awful! But you made it back to Sailfish.....they have the best conch chowder in Florida!

Great, just the video I did not need to see. In two days I leave for St Thomas to bring a 45 ft sailboat up to Newport RI with a short stop in Bermuda. Now I'm second-guessing my decision.

A lot to learn here no prep for big seas will always end up like this,

Batten down the hatches!!!😀

Yeah, you need to clean your fuel tanks out, get your fuel polished, probably add a fuel polishing system. One day you are going to end up on the rocks if you don't handle this.

OMG! The interior destruction was incredible. At that point, I would have thrown up my hands and listed it for sale! 😂😂😂😂😂

That looked almost exactly like the interior of my 48' Chris Craft a couple months ago after a Sebastian Inlet exit, except my entire refrigerator ended up on its side with its contents quite evenly distributed all over the galley as well lol. 2-3' seas they said.... SE winds they said.... Sometimes I wonder who's working at NOAA.. Whoops... LOL

I have a surprising amount of fuel related issues as well which are compounded by the lousy racor design. I wish I knew how the main tank generates so much gunk. I don't think it comes from the fuel dock (I have 3 tanks - two of which feed the keel tank via a re-usable filter which does not get so gunked up from the same fuel). Anyone have a solution to this? (I have had the fuel polished via the sender port but that's too close to the pickup maybe - anyway it didn't help)

A good man to say, "I messed up, it's on me". Thankfully nothing worse than wounded pride and broken martini glasses, and everyone, including the parrot, is fine.

Damn. Looks like you were in the Bering Sea in winter. Sure wish you had video of it all.

Wow!

And no video during the actual battle?

“Stow for sea” isn’t just a fun catch phrase lol

That must’ve been Saturday Memorial Day weekend we were out there fishing all day they were most definitely 20 footers but we were in a 39 foot SeaVee Sunday was beautiful you could easily have crossed on Sunday

Just a guess.....Did you kids dock at "Shrimpers Restaurant" in Port Salerno, FL ? We always hang out there

Where is this helpful link from Mantis you referred to? We have an M2 as well and I’m interested in checking it out. Thanks

You know, you're really not a "captain" until you puke your guts up at lease once.

Been there. Gulf Stream in rough conditions is highly unpleasant.

5:41 4.39 per gal isn’t horrible, i remember paying 8.00 per gal on the dock in California back in 2005. 7:06 One thing about fellow boaters, they will lend a hand. 8:50 The dock bar is so cool. 10:14 Holy cow, did y’all have any booze left after that mess? Enjoy the Ride-Bell

Still waiting for the "trying not to sink flag" to be offered in the merch section!

Wow, you got a lot of shiff on that boat😂😂😂

I hope my wife doesn't come across this video until AFTER we have bought our boat!!!

Glad you guys are ok, love the video but I had some difficulty hearing you speak over the suspenseful music.

If you were going into rough seas, why would you not lock down the Martini glasses?

Just when you think every piece of machinery has failed……

I don't know man, that couple might be bad juju

And folks that’s what is known as “One Mell of a Hess!”.

Hoarders yacht edition

There was a carnival ship had a huge problem too it was on the news

Nothing like a little pandemonium to put things into perspective. Lives are at stake. The weather will always be worse than they say. Once in awhile on the Gold Star we would take a big roll and the refrigerator door would fly open, oh boy! Everything would go right onto the stairs to the master cabin. The antique writing desk, the chart table, and the wrought iron birdcages were all bolted down, but not the white leather sleeper sofa, which was extremely heavy and never moved. We were rolling around a lot in the ocean off the tip of Abaco heading up to Marsh Harbor and the captain had some kind of anxiety attack and couldn't get up off the side bench at the helm, and we rolled big and a lot of stuff came loose; our dinghy (lifeboat!) was sliding around on the aft deck, the bikes and moped were slayed out right in the way of everything, like access to the engine room, which has to be checked frequently, if there is anybody to check it... but Captain Peter was just probably more based in reality, knowing we were at the limits of the old wooden boat. Anyway, I was just busy trying to keep a course that would take us north and try to steer into the big ones. It was a relief to come in behind some barrier islands at Little Harbor, and the water seemed smooth as glass as I stood on the cabin top steering with the remote control cable, a device that was marginally useful, as compared to the Loran unit, which was ridiculously hard to use.

Like the SS Minnow on Gilligan's Island except you were able to turn around come home ha ha haa

Live an learn when the wind is from the North or the West it's best to stay at the dock and not the Gulf Stream.

the forecast was for "square waves". 4'-5' at 5 seconds. No way would I have gone out in a 50 yo boat with inexperienced crew.

I want to charter a trip to Jamaica one day with a experience captain

now the guy you have with you isn't he the same guy i met in Georgetown last year?

Time to clean out those fuel tanks. If its plugging up the genny and now you lost a motor, then your tanks are dirty,.

Lessons learned - luckily not written in blood.

My area where I grew up. Love your channel. Check out Sebastian last place we lived before returning to NC. Captain harem’s. Was great for boat pirates loft in Stuart. Safe travels

I have to show this to my wife so what I did this weekend doesn't look so bad. All we had happen was the galley refrigerator went across the room.

Look at this experience as a way to discover all the unneeded crap that's accumulated on that boat so that you can clean house, reduce weight, and generally de-clutter your boating life. Glad all were ok.

Are you stabilized?

A well documented 30 years ago history of a high powered and capable 65' Donzi SF that got caught in a hurricane off the west coast of Mexico. Boat had 16v92 engines with electronic injectors and electronic controls . Lost most of the engine controls when a 30+ foot wave over the flybridge took out the electronic controls. An old fashioned MECHANICAL DIESEL doesn't need anything but fuel and keeping the air intake above water. Put a snorkle on it and it will run underwater. Another post about mechanical cables is right on. Many years ago an approximately 100 ft yacht spent a month on the bottom of Long Island sound.The new buyer made the proper plans , salvaged the boat and had the right people waiting for it to be surfaced . They had the main engines running in 24 hrs. The boats new name was PERSISTENCE. I saw the boat in Florida.