TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Upcoming trip to the dark side (PC) :-)

We still have some short notice points and decided to try to fit in another trip prior to our upcoming November cruise.

It is, of course, height of hurricane season and our own boat is apparently on the hard in St. Kitts for hurricane furlough.

The most attractive option Moorings could provide is a less-than-year-old PC403 power cat, so we are going to give that a try. I've never chartered a powerboat overnight before, so this will be a first in several ways.

While I don't see myself constantly zipping around at full speed, it will be interesting to see what the added speed makes possible. Anyone else that has made the switch that can give me some advice on how to use the opportunity to do something a bit different?

Well you can drive it fast if that's what you like. But the distances in the BVI are so short you just putter along at 8 knots and get to your next destination quickly just becuase you are going in a straight line, not tacking back and forth. One other advantage of the power cat rarely mentioned here is that there is a solid front deck making grabbing a ball a lot easier than doing it from a springy tramp with all that rigging in your way.

We have chartered the same before. Wife drove the boat. I was in charge of music, drinks and tying to a ball. Slow is pro.

I'm sitting on the PC464 "Ocean Ibis" right now (The PC403 became unavailable).
It was bound to happen sometime, but we were supposed to arrive yesterday but after circling at Tortola for 45 minutes or so we diverted to SJU and had to overnight there. :-/

There was exactly one boat (two if you count Willy T) in the Bight this afternoon.

We were relieved to find our cooler (Polar 24 with 2 thin foam/foil liners) kept our stuff frozen for the 42 or so hours it took us to get to the base.

What was the reason for the diversion? Was this the AA flight from MIA and the runway was wet? The 464 is a big upgrade from the 40.

Why I still take the ferry..I hear about these diversions way too often..

Yes, AA from Miami - it has become our preferred option, though we lost the gamble this time. There was a stalled system over the area and I don't think it was even close to conditions for landing.

The 464 is certainly a spacious and well equipped boat. The huge fridge alone! Since we are only 2 aboard I think I would be at least as happy with the 3-cabin PC403. I'm sure this boat will grow on my over the next few weeks - they always do :-)

With only two the 403 might have been a better option. Yo will. Judd need to slum it on the 464!

Curious how much you will spend in fuel. I've always wanted to give one a try just to know what the experience was like, but was concerned about fuel consumption.

Fuel consumption remains to be seen... I think the boat holds 475 gallons, and unlike a sail cat with unlimited pre-paid fuel I am supposed to be charged for fuel used on this boat (the turnaround fee is a bit lower to compensate).

It's only day two, but from the fuel flow meter and GPS SOG, I'm getting the impression (slight exaggeration) that every knot over 8 knots doubles the fuel consumption.
We use 3-4 gallons per day when cruising a sail cat, so I don't want a shocker at the end of the trip.

We drove a 47' powercat through the usual BVI loop including Anegada about 13 years ago. Twin diesels running about 8 knots. Fuel cost including that used for the generator was just over $300.

We take out a 514 or 534 and typically it is 750 to 1000 for 8 day tour using the generator

Ouch. We are out 13 days (lost a day to the diverted flight).

How do you handle the refueling? Sorry I don't remember if you are an owner.

We don't typically use the generator unless we have guests, but it is warmer this time of year and the PC has much less ventilation, making AC almost a requirement.

Not an owner and never had to refuel. To clarify $750-$1000 is cost not gallons ($5/gallon 150-200 gallons). We have been out 14 days and cut it very close wihtout refuleing. The main issue we have had is the fuel transfer switch to balance the fuel to the side the that uses the generator (port I believe)

We were out for 14 nights in June on the 46 PC, and we burned 145 gallons total. We were using owners time, so they refilled the boat while we were checking out. We cruise at 1,800 RPMs (8 knots or so) and typically use the generator for 9 or 10 hours per night. We are never in a rush, which helps. Also, we did go to Anegada, and we made a few other long runs. I did learn one valuable lesson on that trip - do not turn on the automatic fuel leveling in the digital control system. We had it on based on a recommendation from the base, but it would kick on during the middle of the night to transfer fuel and it is extremely loud. It freaked me out! There’s nothing like climbing in the engine rooms in the middle of the night in your boxers looking for water thinking it’s the bilge pumps.

Thanks Steve, for confirming that they will refuel back at the dock. That is what we have always done, of course, but the chap who handles owner bookings expressed a preference that we re-fuel elsewhere before returning the boat (which we would prefer not to do). I think the issue is that staff at the base doesn't always record or report the amount.

Bailau, extrapolating your 8 day use to 14 days is what prompted the "ouch", We're still over 90% having left the base last Friday - 89% and 95% - fuel transfer is off at the panel and I have not heard the pump kick on.

Not a lot to dislike about the boat - one thing is that the davit line pulley doesn't line up with the winch drum, so everytime the dinghy is raised the line piles up at the flange of the winch drum until it slips which causes the dinghy to drop 6" or so an puts a lot of stress on the whole mechanism. This was an issue on the L40, but at least the winch and switch were close enough together that you could manage the problem by pushing the line towards the center of the drum. The L42 has corrected this design error, so I was disappointed to be dealing with this again.

We are the only boat in North Sound.

sorry...should have noted we cruise at higher speeds, go farther and use the generator when not cruising as typically I am touring friends for the first time in BVI

We just returned home and both considered the trip an unqualified success. This was our first trip to BVI in September, and though there were some worries and scary satellite images, the weather impact on our trip from Humberto/Imelda was minimal.

We had brief west winds and no more than the typical showers and T-storm activity that we might expect in November.

The temperature was definitely higher making land activities like hiking somewhat challenging, but the lovely warm water had us swimming and snorkeling even more than usual - we hit all our favorite spots, many multiple times.

Very little, of course, was open. We took a mooring ball in White Bay and ate at Hendo's. I typically avoid White Bay, but under these circumstances it was very nice.

The cruising ground was just about as empty as at the height of Covid, with often nobody in Pirate's Bight, no other boats at the Indians. I beleive we were one of only 3 Moorings boats underway for most of our cruise.

We ended up using just under 100 gallons in 13 days, including running the genset and AC every night - really felt necessary with the high temps and reduced ventilation of the 464PC.

Glad to hear...will you come back to the dark side another time?

I might and it was certainly an interesting change, but for the time being I prefer the sailing cat.

First there is the loss of sailing as an activity, which I enjoy. The ability to get around more quickly is not particularly important for what we do - multi week trips in a fairly small cruising ground. I can see a boater who does more weekend trips and has to travel to and from the cruising ground benefitting more from the added speed.

I really missed the ability to put up a sail to steady the roll in a beam sea. The quick roll coupled with the high helm position sometimes made for an uncomfortable motion.

The huge Samsung fridge is an incredibly luxury and it will be missed :-), but I suspect the battery bank would struggle to power all the electric loads overnight without the genset running, and in any case reduced ventilation would make it more difficult to sleep with an open boat, which we prefer whenever possible.

That said, the huge engine rooms, the much better location of genset and watermaker, the smooth turbodiesels, the electronic transmission and silky smooth by-wire throttles, the forward anchor roller, the secondary inside helm and super spacious flybridge with multiple MFDs... I could go on but there were a lot of aspects of the boat that we both loved.

i do like that fridge and totally understand my friend...