Hi guys

thanks for the replies, interesting to read them.

Now, I will tell you a story or 2 and why I asked the question.

Back when I was a rug rat, my dad would take the family out fishing in the
gulf. It was a 24 foot open boat (pro line I think) with of course a pretty
high HP motor on the back. He would head out to the first spot of the day
(typically 10 -20 miles). We would stay for awhile, giving the fish a chance,
and quite often often hit another site a few miles away, then head home in the
evening.

Now, if you substitute diving for fishing (and not staying nearly as long AT a
site), that would be a typical dive scenario for me, and it sounds, a fair
number of people here as well.

But there were some things about those trips that made them less fun than they
coulda been. Since the boat was going fast/planing, you got beat to hell unless
the weather/water was pretty calm. And of course if you were planing in less
than calm weather you also got pretty darn wet. That big a.s motor made ALOT of
noise and burned ALOT of fuel. And I always got the impression that those high
powered outboards werent (still arent?) the most reliable things around
(probably the result of trying to pack alot of HP in relatively lightweight
package).

Well, fast forward a couple decades. This past summer I was at a campground on
a bay with a friend. They had an inflatable Avon boat (you know, like those
Zodiacs that famous french diver dude used). It was a 9 footer with a 4 hp two
stroke hand start motor. I thought it was pretty neat to have boat and motor
that one person could carry and would fit in the trunk of car, but I really
wasnt that interested in actually using it.

Well, I got bored and decided to use it. The top speed of the boat was  only 4
knots, give or take, but the motor was pleasing quite even though it was only
about 3 feet from my ears. It was about 6 miles down to the channel out to
ocean and the intercoastal water way. Immediatly I realized that this way of
traveling was SOOO much nicer than what I had been subjected to as kid, even if
it was a bit slow. I cruised around ALL day, and didnt even finish of a three
gallon tank of fuel. That sure felt good to the old wallet!

There were monster boats zooming past me constantly, costing gawd knows how
much, and some probably burning gallons per minute at full throttle, and here I
am with a few thousand dollar set up, sipping gas, and probably having as much
if not more fun with the cruising I am doing.

And another interesting tidbit. I had my friends little shitzhu dog (with the
short haircut, not the floor mop long hair) George with me. Well, first mate
george, being safety conscious, had his doggy life vest on. And actually, it
wasnt for looks, he barely floated with it ON, so it was something he needed to
wear. He spend most of the time trying to balance on the very bow of the boat.

Now, here I am putting around, surrounded by million dollar boats and jetskis
that cost more than some cars, yet I'm getting all the attention. That little
dog was the best babe magnet on the water!!. Virtually every boat that got
close enough to see the dog had to slow down and get even closer for a better
look. Man, I should got this set up decades ago! George got photos and videos
taken of him all day long by many passing strangers. If anybody here is a dog
lover, I''ll be happy to email you good pic of him on the "high seas".

Anyways, after that trip I realized that going slow wasnt nearly as bad as I
first thought it would be, and in many ways it was much nicer and probably
preferable.

Well, now I aint gonna take a boat like THAT out any distance in the
ocean/gulf, and trying to scuba dive out of it wouldnt be terribly fun either
probably, but it did get me thinking.

IF I had a boat that could manage 6 to 10 knots and be seaworthy, travel times
to a fair bit of my desired diving spots would be acceptable. Sure, I might
spend 2 to 5 hours putting out and putting back (rather than 30 minutes to an
hour and half), but the trip would be more enjoyable and ALOT cheaper.

I dont know about you, but my typical 2 dive charter boat trip takes about half
a day from start to finish, so in theory I still have half a day left. But in
practice, Im usually so tired/mellowed out that nothing much gets done the rest
of the day. So, if I go slow, its gonna take the better part of a day, but I
can spend the time mellowing on the boat there and back, rather than sitting in
the recliner at home watching tv.

Well, I need to run, so I'll finish this post later, but if you do some
research, you might be surprised at how little gas/hp it takes to move even a
decent sized boat if your willing to go slow. I'll give some numbers in the
next post.

take care

Blll

Yeah, rub it in... I ended up putting 3000 miles on my truck between here,
the Keys, and back...

Move to SoFla. Cheaper than buying, docking, operating, and maintaining
a boat.