Anybody want to cruise to Dry Tortugas?

[Koinonia]

Im new here as a few months ago I bought a C27 (Koinonia).  My wife and I are going to be trailering her to Punta Gorda FL where we will launch and sail her over to the Torgugas during the second week in July.  Its 20 miles from the ramp to the inlet and 130 miles from there to the tortugas so deffinatly an overnight.  From there we well work our way up to the Marquesas and Key West before heading back to Punta Gorda area to cruise and visit sanibel island, ect.  If the wind is up we will be sailing at around 6knots or motoring at around 5knots if the wind isnt working with us.   There is an excellent ramp at the municiple marina with docks on both sides, its a double ramp.  The ramp also has ample depth for a water launch. 

    Josh

[Wiggs]

Josh,
At the risk of a serious flogging I must admit that I have not been on this sight in a while, so I did not see your post. This evening I was coming home across the Peace River into Punta Gorda. What should I see but your boat in the hotel parking lot. Truth be told my wife spotted it first with an exclamation of "what a beautiful boat". Long story short (I know, too late) I came home and went on this website and found your post. The dates were not specific so is this pre trip or post trip? If you need help putting her in the water please let me know, I live about 2 miles from the ramp. If your trip is over I hope you enjoyed you visit to sunny Florida.

Wiggs

[Koinonia]

Our trip was nice but not as planned.  we got to fl on the july 10th and the laishley ramp is just barely usuable but most others will be just find as my trailers keel pad is about 20 inches off the ground.  Weather in the gulf and southern fl was not anything normal.  There were large cells every way out inthe gulf so we delayed our crossing a day.  We were about 35 miles out with wind and waved comeing from the south directly on our nose slowing us to 2.5 knots so we turned back as I didnt want to spend my whole vacation bobbing around in the gulf.  We played around Coyo Costa and docked at tween waters marina on Captiva island for a couple days.  We ended up taking the key west express over to key west after pulling the boat out and leaving her at the storage yard.  Its been about 25 years since ive been to key west and wow its just a huge tourist trap now.  We still plan on doing the tortugas with the boat but most likely two years from now.  In that time we deffinatly will repower with a 3 cylinder diesel, either universal or yanmar.The chop is really what slows the boat down so we diffeinatly need more muscle.  Id prefere the Universal so I can rebuild the motor before installing since the parts are so much cheaper when going through and industrial engine supplier.  Also Im looking to sell my current trailer and build a new torsien axle trailer to get our keep about 5 inches off the roadbed.  With that Id fabricate new stainless dingy davits that can stay mounted during transport and also put my solar panel  accross the davits to make for easier setup and take down.  In all we still had a good time and I got to know the boat better, anybody wanna buy a 2 cylinder universal diesel?