Thanks so much for taking the time to post your story and pictures. I find this extremely interesting and very enjoyable. I haven't been constantly checking a thread for updates like this since JapanTiger got back from Africa.

I want to know the good and the bad experiences, and any tips you would have in doing the Loop. I had never heard of your boat manufacturer, but that thing looks very roomy for its length.

Keep the updates coming, and stay safe!

Is your AIS still on? I can see it in my Marine Tracker app. I have added you to 'my fleet' that I can follow.

Yes, I believe so. It is usually on except for when I am doing something with my electronics panel or an update.

Edit....Yes. Confirmed. Showing on Marine Traffic app

I can see myself on Marine Traffic.

Nice. Fun way to follow along. We need to upload some new pics to the site to show your journey! Might also be cool to have someone take some drone shots of the boat along the way. Surely someone on this board lives along your route.

Great to see some pictures of you & your wife on the loop, TailG8TR!! Looks and sounds like a fantastic trip! Looking forward to seeing you both & hearing about it when y'all are back. Traveling & boating mercies!

Where can Staff ship you a TexAgs flag for the rest of your journey?

TX_COWDOC said:

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Where can Staff ship you a TexAgs flag for the rest of your journey?

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This. Make it happen staph!

Try Marine Traffic app

TailG8TR said:

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We searched out the boat we felt would best fit The Loop.....a 1986 Kadey Krogen Manatee 36.... the smallest model from a well pedigreed line of yachts....bought it at a reasonable price.....and put a full year into making her ready.

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What's more, if your next adventure in life is 'ground bound' and keeping the Cool Breeze isn't in your plans; methinks you are building quite a list of potential suitors for her by keeping this thread up.

Thanks for sharing. Also following you know on my FindShip app.

Tailg8TR,
As has been noted already, thanks for sharing not only the trip, but the details also. This thread is the first I've heard of "The Loop", but I'm really looking forward to updates from the rest of your trip.

What a blast for you and your wife. Be safe and have a great adventure.

Load more. Select only American flagged vessels.

This morning the winds laid down and the conditions were "ice cream" in the morning ! Calm almost glassy waters !
I start each travel day with engine and systems checks. Open main engine seacock, check oil level, check coolant level, check reduction gear oil level and check the bilge counter. ( I have a bilge counter that keeps track of how many times the bilge pump cycles. That way I can know if it is pumping overnight or or when I am unaware or underway and wouldn't notice it. Zero is a good number to see each morning !)
Make some coffee and rearrange the dock lines. I remove all but two lines....one bow and one stern. I retie the bow such that it is only AROUND the dock cleat and then tie it back onboard the bow. That way when it is time to cast off and leave the dock I can do that from the front deck myself and not need to go down onto the dock. I retire the stern line to also just be AROUND the cleat so that my wife can easily drop an end of the line and retrieve the line back onboard as we cast off..
I then shut down all systems onboard to make it "a dead boat" before I start the engine. This includes shutting down all shore powered circuits and turning off the shore 120 breaker as well as turning off all 12v circuits. A surge upon starting could fry a breaker, a circuit or a battery fuse. Follow this every time !
Now turn on the engine battery switch which is always OFF unless engine is in use. My starting batteries are twin 8Ds.
Blower on....
Start engine....wait to verify oil pressure....mine is solidly 62 psi....watch volts...I have a "smart" voltage regulator that allows almost free wheeling alternator at start up and then slowly adds resistance and volts as engine warms over next couple minutes....verify voltage....keeping in mind the addition that 600 watts of solar panels may make if sunny/cloudy/dawn/midday.....verify water flow out exhaust for cooling....shoot exhaust elbow with IR temperature gauge....if all looks good...hatchbacks back on in the salon, replace carpet and get off boat.

Shut off shore power breakers. Remove 50 amp cord and between wife and I...bring cable aboard and coil. Fire up 12v systems onboard again....refrigerator, bilge pumps, electronics...start chart plotter, depth finder, radio , bow thruster and AIS
..Communicate departure plan with wife....verify correct operating Temps , pressure and volts...cast lines....leave slip and make for first of dozens of waypoints
I always mark paper charts as well as use Navionics on my chartplotter (Raymarine e125 I believe ) and on my phone.. and AquaMaps on my tablet. Daily. All of them.
Conditions were excellent. Making 7 knots at 2100 rpm...easy smooth morning.
Pretty rocky islands and a few narrow channels and courses to run...nothing too bad. Traveled the famous Whalesback Channel today west toward Blind River.
Made about 34 miles in around 4 1/2 hours...Winds picked up last hour...entered newly redone Blind River Marina....tight fairway and crosswind complicated docking a bit but nailed it on first pass.
No 50 amp service.....pulled out my trusty twin 30 amp splitter...do NOT travel in Canada with a 50 amp boat without a twin 30 splitter...many/most marinas will not have 50 amps....most ALL US marinas have 50 amp. ( btw...the Canadians all refer to electricity up here as "hydro"....as in...do you want hydro or the fee includes hydro...but is not referring to water. Comes from them having hydropower in many places...even the company names are hydro...like Toronto Hydro...)
Like several remote marinas the community center is right beside the marina ....so the "facilities" here are huge...like a school locker room with 10 showers, a dozen commodes....and a dozen washer/dryers...charge community $3 for a shower...marina guests included with dockage. But clean, newish, nice !
Thursday to have 1.6 to 1.8 meter waves and thunderstorms so will remain in Blind River until Friday.
Time to have a beer !

A few from Spanish to Blind River
Rocky shorelines all around
Very calm conditions on Huron's North Channel
Paper chart example
Chart plotter display

Thanks my Brother !!! It will be VERY GOOD to get back down there to see familiar faces once again !!! Tell the family I said Hey !

Smiling ! While I like the idea of that...one of the more difficult issues to deal with on a boat is mail ! We have a forwarding service...but I have to figure out a port and a willing recipient and a reasonable time frame as to when we would be there...just not a sime exercise given weather and other factors while boating....
BUT.....
If such an opportunity was presented I would certainly bust my butt to make sure we hooked up in time to get a mail drop !

Awesome thread

Thanks man ! I love the enthusiasm !
See my response to TX COW DOC

I use "Chart Kits" which cover a specific chunk of the ICW or coastline. Without digging them out...seems like Tx to NO, NO to Fla,, Fla to Keys, Keys Fla to Georgia, Georgia to Chesapeake, NJ and NY, Ontario, Huron, Michigan and then Quimby for the inland section....but I might be missing a couple...Will verify tomorrow...each chart kit is about 120 pages or so and around $150.

I will have a chance tomorrow ( weather day ...staying put ) to get some pilot house pics.

The checklist started off as a legit checklist..
Printed paper laminated with attached erasable marker pen and was pretty handy. ... but became memorized routine soon enough...still have it ..
Made mistake ONCE of not shutting down shore power before swapping shore and house bank connections...ooops....and made the mistake ONCE of not opening seacock before a generator start...only ran it for 45 seconds before I made a mad dash to open the seacock...but also ooops...
First one cost me several hours to track down a blown fuse.....second cost me a couple hours to fish out ripped up impeller vanes and install new impeller on genny but luckily before any temperature rise.....but dry impellers sure get torn into tiny bits if not lubed with flowing water !

Centerpole90 said:

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Load more. Select only American flagged vessels.

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Found him. Thanks!

On the actual ICW sections wife would have the helm 20 to 30 percent of the time. More straightforward. Open water navigation she has done much less.
I am checking/verifying 80 percent of all the ATONS we encounter on both paper and chartplotter to be certain of position. I make notes on paper and on tablet as to time of day and elapsed times since select waypoints.

I, like everyone else on here, really appreciate the details and the pictures you are providing us. I also appreciate the time you are investing in making sure your fellow Aggies get to enjoy this trip as well. Many, many, thanks!

This is great! Please keep posting updates!

Not sure if you and the wife like to fish at all or not, but is that something y'all take time for at all?

This sounds like such a fun trip. I think my dad would be really interested in it. Maybe he'd be open to doing a small portion of it.

I'd love to hear the stretches of the loop that you have enjoyed the most. I'd assume it's mostly driven by whichever areas are most scenic or which marinas are the nicest with the most things to do on land.

awesome thread!

Awesome thread so far, far from boring! Please keep posting pictures and updates. Would love to see your view of the helm and captains station.

Does your boat have dual helms? One on the upper level and one in the living quarters?

I find it interesting that folks worry what the downers say. These threads make being an Aggie great to me. We share we often support and we care. This and the African hunt are amazing. I find them to be motivation to tighten down a little. Should I ever get to seek adventure as planned on retirement I plan to post as well. For now this post and others similar motivate me to keep faith and hope alive my day will also soon come to explore this great planet. Enjoy post keep updates coming. Safe travels.

A previous poster asked about favorite parts of the Loop thus far...hard to pick out "favorite" ...

I like the remote natural areas across souther Louisiana with miles of marsh grasses and then the cypress stands....

Gulf Shores area has lots of nice beaches and is a good getaway spot with rentals aplenty.

Tarpon Springs was a cool surprise ! It is a HUGE Greek community ! They originally came as sponge divers and settled....really awesome foods there !

Crystal River with its clear clear water and swimming with huge manatees.

Loved Jekyll Island, St Simon Island.......Savannah and Charleston.

We took the Dismal Swamp route....awesome history behind the route...George Washington was involved with it building...all done by hand and lots of slave labor. Intensive effort ! Narrow and shallow and unique !

Norfolk was a good stop. Super marina Waterside. Awesome museum of naval history, Nauticus and the ability to climb all over and through the USS Wisconsin is a GREAT stop

Yorktown was awesome. Revolutionary War museums and Battlegrounds....but also...just a couple miles north of the Marina and within plain eyesight sits a massive US Navy ammo loading facility ! Google it. We stayed a week in Yorktown due to weather and watched multiple warships and TWO SUBMARINES come in...dock a couple days and load ordinance...and then leave down the 85 foot deep river out into Chesapeake Bay. Awesome !

Annapolis is super ! Great harbor. Great foods. My second time to tour the Naval Academy.

Steaming up the mouth of the Hudson into NYC...seeing the skyline and landmark bridges...and sailing right up to Lady Liberty in our very own boat...priceless

Going up Hudson River into Central NY state with all its history was cool....West Point A ademy right on the Hudson...

Doing all the dozens of Erie Canal and Oswego Canal locks. Neat experience.

The Trent Severn canal system in Canada is definitely near the top of my list. Its like the canal systems of Europe. Very well maintained. Friendly and easy for boaters to use. Highly recommend it !

And now the open clear blue waters of Georgian Bay and North Channel if Huron. Huge expanses of clear fresh water but with the temperament of an ocean

Those are some of my highlighted areas....but smaller instances of great foods or sunsets or moments of Solitude will stick with me too !

I will attach just a couple related pucks to above mentions...

Other questions about areas on the Loop ?