Read this in the local paper a few day ago, not hi performance boating but sounds like a cool boating adventure.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...8212010/568513

The wife and I are planning on doing it if our 401(k) ever gets to the right number. We've been starting to pay more attention to the live-aboard type boats at boat shows lately. We got interested when we ran our Formula 600 miles down to North Carolina in 2004. We met tons of live-aboards who had done the trip several times and had nothing but great (and not-so-great but funny) stories to tell about the things that they had seen and done. Like RV retirees, there are lots of people doing this. Very, very cool trip.

Sounds like a 40SS w/ diesels kind of trip!

I have a 60' Chris Craft Roamer for that trip. It has a set of 1271 TI Detroits and 15kw gens. Fast? No but it will burn some petrol. Figure 4 gpm at WFO. It cruises at closer to 0.8mpg. I will take the wide body salon and 3 staterooms over speed for this purpose. I have had 30 people comfortably on the boat for a booze cruise. For the engine enthusiasts, it has two walk in engine rooms. It is kind of crazy to stand next to a twin turbo 12 cylinder when it is running WFO.

It is kind of like driving a small ship. I actually keep it on part of the loop in the TN river system. We have loopers come by on a regular basis to check out the Tn river Gorge. It is cool to talk to folks from Il and the north east that are just out enjoying life. A whole different kind of fun.

We're looking at:

55' Fleming (Slow, but incredibly high-quality and seaworthy)
52' Maritimo (New model; need to see it at the shows)
53' Carver Voyager (Nice layout, wish it was better rigged)
52' Jefferson Rivanna (Ditto to the Carver)

The diesel 400SS is for after the house is built...

I just re faired and epoxied the entire bottom of one of those. I swear it got bigger every time i worked on it. That really would be a great boat for this kinda trip. I see it cuts across Florida though, i would think as long as your making a big azz loop like that might as well include the Keys

forgot one

That is a HUGE job. I had the front 20' of mine done this year along with a new bottom job. My hat is off to you. There are only 12 of the Derektor 60's built. I would love to hear about that boat. I have found 4 of them.

I would certainly do the Keys. Did that last Fall from Miami to Ft. Meyers in a friends sportfish. It is a large time.

I would also have to remove the radar mast for the Erie Canal.

Fleming, hands down. I will take quality over speed with those types of boats any time. I run mostly at 8-10 knots. So do most on the loop. That is what cruising is all about.

We ran into a party of 4 down in Lake Guntersville in a Sea Ray. They bragged that they came all the way from Knoxville that day while we only went 50 miles or so. They had about 1/8 as much fun as we did that day. We just laughed at them.

As a captain, I have done the whole loop in in sections over a dozen times, on everything from a 40, searay to a 98' Azimut and many boats in between. Its one of the greatest cruises anyone could take. As a paid captain I need to get it done as quickly as possible, but as a pleasure cruise i would allow a full year.