Bertram33 User Forum

Doug... Check your email.. You are welcome to the curves, but I need to get your regular email address to send them. Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

Frank, Have you mad the trip north with Phoenix? If you haven't brought her home yet I hope your heat is working when you do bring her home. It is about as cold as it gets here even in Jan or Feb. right now. Thanks Buzz buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

Buzz... I was in MA the week before last for work. I had planned on bringing her home last week.. so much for planning around the weather.. we had 40-50 mph winds and 2" of rain here the day we were planning on arriving in Wilmington. On Thursday I learned from the foreman of our bulkhead replacement project that in two days from now they will begin working in the area where my slip is, which involves moving the floats out into our basin and holding them in place with temporary pilings, so I have no place to put "Phoenix" until they are finished in my area, which is supposed to be in about two weeks.. so.. another *#@@&**# delay. My guy in Charleston who will make the trip with me is also busy now, and we are hoping that sometime just before Christmas we will make the trip. Last night we had 23F, which is the coldest I can recall in the 2 1/2 years we have been here. I am frustrated, to say the least.. plus I am paying $100 a week for the slip in Charleston! In the meantime I have been looking all over the internet at sites with info about the condition of the ICW. Shoaling is getting to be a concern now, since the Corps of Engineers have almost stopped dredging. The crossings where Topsail, Carolina Beach, and Lockwood's Folly Inlets enter the ICW are all shoaling badly, with controlling depths of 6 or 7 feet, but locals say things change with each storm, so it isn't getting any better. FYI.. I just found that the Wilmington Corps of Engineers office maintains a good site with the latest depth survey info (as late as a couple of months ago).. "www.saw.usace.army.mil/nav". It has lots of info on the ICW depths, etc, from Cape Lookout south to the NC/SC border. I will keep everybody here posted on my progress, or lack of it.. as things develop. Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

Hi Frank, I have been following your postings yeah! boating sure has its frustrations does't it? I know just how you feel at times,some one once said boating, its like standing under the shower tearing up $50.00 bills. But then there are those days where the water is like a mill pond and your are cruising to your favourite mooring and its magic, making it all worth while. Well my boat has finally arrived here on friday 1st December, it took a couple of days before it was unloaded and the custom broker arrange a brief look for me at the wharf. It was still tarped as the boat was in quarratine and I was not allowed on board. It was then taken to fumigation where it has remained untill tomorrow when we can finally take possesion.Due to the great deal of wood content in the cabin has been the reason for the strict rules on quarratine. I am taking Wednesday and Thursday off to prepare the boat for the water and hopefully have her in over the weekend if all goes to plan. Let you know how she looks and how every thing goes after the weekend. Regards Syd

Syd... With new brand new engines and fumigation you will probably have the cleanest Bertram 33 ever! I hope everything goes smoothly. Once you are able to clear out all the government stuff do you have to make a major trip to bring her to your permanent slip? You probably know from reading my string of posts here we are having the bulkhead replaced in our subdivision, and my original plan was to keep "Phoenix" in Charleston until my slip was rebuilt.. then it looked as if the project was going to take more time than first estimated, so I was going to bring her here and move her around to keep out of the contractor's way.. and today I am back with the original plan again.. in about 20 minutes from now I will walk down to the water and see what progress the contractor has made in the past few days. It is frustrating! She sits bobbing in the marina 170 miles away in Charleston ready to travel, and the weather gets colder every passing week.. but I am told that we will have some warmer weather windows soon as our now colder than usual weather returns to normal. Two days is all I need! I am looking forward to reading about your finally being able to launch your boat.. you must be psyched at the thought of having her so close to home after such a long time! Good luck! Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

Syd, Can't wait to hear how she goes, Eddie told me he put 2:1 transmissions in yours (vs. 2:1 in mine) and he said it made a big difference. Good luck with the maiden voyage and hold on! Brian '90 Bertram 33' FBC Never Say Never Guilford, CT (Homeport) Kinnelon, NJ (Home)

Frank you will find a couple of warm days to bring her home. I made it from Myrtle Beach to Morehead in one day and we had to wait for every bridge. We didn't hit one bridge on time. Don't you live at Snows cut? Buzz buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

Buzz.. Thanks for the info as well as the encouragement! I am going to bring her here as soon as I have my slip back.. I have been frustrated for months now! We live literally 1 mile up the ICW from the east end of Snow's Cut, and 1/2 mile south of Carolina Beach Inlet. I am planning on two days, Charleston to Myrtle Beach on the first, then Myrtle Beach to home on the second. Dock Holidays Marina in North Myrtle Beach is just down the street from the Hooters on Rt 17! Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

Frank that should be a very nice and enjoyable trip. You will not have to push very hard. When we came up we docked at Barefoot Landing and I think we ate at Craig Norman's Steak House right on the waterway anyway the food was great. At that time they didn't charge us for dockage but they didn't have power which was OK because we ran the generator. The waterway between Georgetown and Myrtle Beach is really pretty. One good thing about not doing long days is you will be able to stop early and warm up. Do you have front curtains on your half tower? If you do to keep the wind off you will be fine. I don't remember any shallow spots in the waterway until we got to NC. Buzz buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

PHOENIX IS HOME!!!!! Early last week one of my neighbors offered me the use of his slip, after he heard I was waiting for the bulkhead replacement contractor in our subdivision to rebuild mine.. which is not anywhere near completion, in spite of what I was told two weeks ago. In any event, I called my guy in Charleston and we agreed I would drive down on Friday and provision the boat and check on a few last minute things, and we would then head out Saturday AM. I did not say anything about my plans here to you guys, since, to be honest, I have been very embarassed that for the past few months I have been saying.. two more weeks.. soon.. just a little longer and we will bring her north. I was sounding like a broken record. So.. Saturday AM we fueled up and departed at about 10:00.. motored down into Charleston Harbor and at about 11:00 we entered the ICW. Motored continously to Myrtle Beach, SC, arriving there at about 17:45.. which was dark! We had called ahead and a slip was available in the Barefoot Resort Yacht Club.. (The dockmaster was astounded that we were actually heading NORTH! He said they had not seen a northbound pleasure boat in weeks!) We took on 102 gallons of diesel, and according to my fantastic Garmin chartplotter we covered 105 miles.. so, for those of you who are interested in fuel burn.. 1.0 gal per mile it is. For those of you who haven't done any part of the ICW.. it is a mixture of wide and narrow channels, some straight for miles, some twisty like a slalom course.. lots of undeveloped areas where you can travel whatever speed you desire.. and lots of other no wake places with floats and boats tied behind houses where you run for miles at almost idle speed.. so my fuel burn was a true mixture of all types of motoring.. inefficient to on a plane.. slow and fast, short bursts of power for a minute or so, and then idle speed. We were heading into a NE wind almost continuously, with foul current at least half the time. I think on an ideal day we could have a slightly better fuel burn, but 1 gal per mile is a nice round number to keep in mind. We departed Sunday AM at about 7:00.. it was cold for the first hour, with some patches of mist.. and arrived home at about 13:30. The same kind of conditions as Saturday, but with less headwind and a little warmer. Running for a couple of miles up the Cape Fear River with a 2-2.5 knot foul current and a slight headwind, at 2,600 RPM we did 22 knots OTG.. I am one happy camper! No oil consumption, and after cleaning as much of my fuel tank as I could a few weeks ago, and putting in fresh fuel there is not a drop of water or a speck of dirt in my Racors.. everything but my new CruzPro fuel gauge worked perfectly (I suspect I did not install them properly).. the engines never missed a beat, and the temps were steady within +/- 5 degrees no matter what speed they were running.. so in spite of facing into the wind for 100 miles the first day we had a fantastic run. The chartplotter was a necessity.. we had two sets of paper charts and used them as well.. but it was so nice to look at a screen and see exactly where we were and not need to hassle with paper charts flying all over the place. So.. "Phoenix" is now just a 5 minute walk down the street.. Thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions many of you have offered.. now I can start working on her without having to drive 200 miles. It feels GREAT! Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

Frank, That's great news. What a great holiday gift! Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

Excellent! I (we) am very happy for you. It has been a pleasure following your experience to get Phoenix home (and BTW, no need to be embarrassed with this group we appreciate you honesty and candidness). Good Luck and Enjoy! Capt Rich Catch 22 1989 33 FBC

Frank, Now you will be able to get more work done and be home in time for dinner.

Glad to hear you got her home, nice that she's right down the street! Congrats! Bill 1988 33 FBC Ipswich, Ma. > ~------- [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... a_Rose.jpg[/img]

Frank, What a happy ending & beginning all in the same story ! Congratulations and I hope you enjoy Phoenix for many years to come. Rick Ticket 85 SF Falmouth, MA