First Trip to the Bahamas

We returned from India in early February and started planning our trip to the Bahamas. While we were away, we asked the vendor to resolve the remaining warranty issues. We were gone for almost 2 months, so the expectation was that when we got back, everything would be fixed. We are quickly learning that in the boating world, such expectations rarely work out. While workers were still working on fixing things, we started focusing on provisioning the boat for the trip. We had rented a slip at North Palm Beach Safe Harbor Marina, near our apartment/condo. Because we were gone for 8 weeks, we took a lot of the boat's stuff back to our apartment. In retrospect, I would not do that again. It is a pain to take things from the boat to home and then back from home to the boat.

Admiral, that is my spouse, is very Internet-savvy. She had read on different websites and YouTube videos that food in the Bahamas is very expensive, so we should stock as much as we can. A 60' trawler has so much space. As a result, we have bought too much, in my opinion. I hope that by the time we return from the Bahamas, we will have a clearer idea of what to take with us.

Provisioning mess

Hard to capture in one photo how much food - frozen, snacks, spices etc. - we bought to take with us. We are ready to feed an army, it seems.

One big mistake we made was delaying our testing of all repair work until it was time to leave. The weather window had opened, and travel across the Gulf Stream was feasible on Friday and Saturday. We took the boat out for a spin, dropped the anchor, and lowered the dinghy into a nearby lake basin. To our horror, we discovered several major problems. Our 20KW generator failed. Our anchor winch was jammed, and our dinghy motor would not start. The last two problems turned out to be minor. The dinghy's battery was showing 7V, so we clearly needed a charge. After charging it overnight, the dinghy was good to go. The anchor chain was jiggled, and we got the winch working again. The real problem was the generator. We do have another generator (12KW) that was fine, but 20KW is essential for us, since it powers the hydraulics for the stern and bow thrusters, as well as anchor operation. Fixing that problem was beyond me, so we called a technician who was familiar with our boat. He worked all day on Friday without any luck. We replaced the fuel pump, but that didn't help, even though I believed the pump had definitely failed. So, we scratched our plans to leave on Friday or Saturday and waited for another weather window.

On Monday, finally, the 20KW got fixed. In addition to the fuel pump, the coolant temperature sensor had failed, and the generator kept shutting down within minutes of starting. So, now we are awaiting Friday, when it seems we will have a good weather window.

What is a good weather window for crossing the Gulf Stream to go to the Bahamas? We are looking for winds of less than 15 knots from the north. The Gulf Stream runs with currents of 2-3 knots from south to north. Ideally, we would like winds from the south or southeast, 10 knots or less, and waves of 2-3 ft with a period of more than 4s.