Activity again on this site: My Getaway 24 & big trips in rough seas

[Atlanticsailingman]

Good morning, all, and to Nancy in particular

It's great to see new activity on this site. I'm thinking kudos are due to Nancy for keeping things going. Thank you.

FYI, to the group: Last December, 2024, I left the Key Largo area bound for the Central Bahamas on my Getaway 24. This was to be my 2nd round trip with this boat after several years of doing so on sailboats. The year before was the 1st in "YOLO." A beautiful, trouble free run both to in November and return in July.

Unfortunately the December 2024 trip was a near disaster due to unexpected rough seas crossing the Gulf Stream to Bimini. Nothing extreme, just short beam and head seas about 4+ feet caused the boat to pound. Of course, I had reduced speed and altered course, to compensate. Long story short, a 3 hour trip turned into 8, made it to Bimini. Unfortunately, the pounding unleased a myriad of electrical and fuel flow issues. Mostly electrical connections loosening causing make/break, and contamination in the fuel caused by sediment being stirred up.

ADVICE, offered: If your boat is older, as are most Albins, spend some time with cleaning the electrical connections and making sure they are tightly secured. Pretty simple maintain-the-stuff work and DIY feasible. Just because all is working in calm conditions do not be complacent. Second, re: fuel. I was running clean, new fuel, topped up tank, good filters. The rough seas -- again, not life-threatening, just damn uncomfortable type -- stirred up enough of the ancient sludge to cause a fuel starvation situation. Engine fired right up, ran fine at low RPM, died once passed 1200 RPM. Not enough fuel getting to the engine. Back in Florida, had the tank drained, scoured and now running 100%. New filters, naturally.

Thanks all, hope this serves some of you well.

Patrick

[REBMystic]

Thanks for the post. Great info.