Prologue
A little about us and how we dreamed up a trip like this in a small open boat:
Juan and I had worked together for a couple of years. (We're both in the IT business) Juan is a Colombian national, a voracious reader of everything, and isn't afraid to try anything within reason (One of his favorite sayings is "It's a good day to die")
I've been interested in boating for many years, but mostly because I like to fish. I bought this boat (a 21' Sylvan Smoker SuperSport) to catch walleyes in Lake Erie. (I had to add 10' to the back of my garage to accommodate this boat, which replaced a 17' Rinker)
On a rainy May (5/16/97) evening in a Livonia, Michigan bar (Mason's), Juan and I were having a few beers and contemplating the coming of warmer weather. The previous fall Juan had taken a US Coast Guard Boating Skills and Seamanship class, and the USCG Coastal Navigation class. I had taken the BS&S class a couple of years earlier, and had talked Juan into taking the Coastal Navigation class with me even though he didn't even have a boat. With all this knowledge, Juan said, "Let's take a boat trip". I had thought about taking a day trip from Bolles Harbor in Monroe MI (Lake Erie) to downtown Detroit, but as my boat was not set up for overnight cruising, a day trip like that was about as long a trip I had ever thought about.
I mentioned about taking the Monroe to Detroit trip, and Juan said, "How about going to Sault Ste. Marie?". Discussions about not having any bunks or a head came up, but Juan said that with enough beer he could sleep anywhere. A couple more beers and I was convinced that this was a doable undertaking. The next task was to work out the logistics, like how long would the trip take, and how were we going to get back from the Soo.
My friend and co-worker Cheryl, and Juan's wife Susan, were in a golf league together. A couple of evenings later Juan and I met them for dinner after their golfing and sweet-talked them into picking us up in the Soo. Actually it didn't take that much convincing. Juan told me that Susan would help out even before he asked her. I was hoping that Cheryl would go along, and was elated when she said that she would. They were the key to the success of this trip, and I can't thank them enough.
We started making plans, and spending copious amounts of money at Boat/US and every other marine supply store in the tri-county area (Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb, Michigan). Juan and I split the expenses along the lines of items that were solely for this voyage (e. g. charts and logbook), and improvements that were made to the boat that made the trip more safe or enjoyable (e. g. Teleflex NFB steering upgrade and sea anchor).
We plotted the complete course on paper charts and in the Lake Huron Richardson's Chartbook. On the charts we plotted bearings (both true and magnetic), miles, and waypoint designations. These waypoints were then entered into the GPS, and listed on an Excel spreadsheet that had all the course data (Latitude/Longitude of the waypoints, bearing, and mileage) plus additional comments like the availability of fuel, transient dockage, ice, etc. This way we were not dependent on any one particular piece of navigational gear. If the GPS failed we still had our charts and two compasses. (Actually three compasses, the Azimuth electronic compass on the dash, the compass in the Tasco Offshore 7x50 binoculars, and a small, liquid filled, hand held, compass, just in case.) We put together checklists, even an inventory list of where everything was going to go. (Are the cigars in the livewell or the glove box?)
Boat preparation included changing the steering system to a Teleflex NFB system. We then built hold-downs for an additional 2 1/2-gallon oil tank. (The Evinrude 90 HP outboard has an automatic oil injection system, but in case we got somewhere that we couldn't get oil, or in case of automatic oil injector failure, we wanted a back-up) I also added an additional 6-gallon portable fuel tank in the event that we ran out of fuel, or got a bad load of fuel. Water or dirt contamination is not unheard of with marina fuel. I plugged the livewell input and drain holes, we planned on using the livewell as a dry storage area for the meager amounts of food and other things that we didn't want to get wet. (like PopTarts, coffeepot, cigars, etc.) We kept our clothes in waterproof bags like one would use for kayaking.
Making sure it all worked together was done on a shakedown cruise a couple weeks before the trip. Juan couldn't make the time available, so my stepbrother Tom Snyder and I went out for a couple hours on Lake Erie. The main thing we tested was the GPS and the new steering system. Both those items worked fine, and the auxiliary tanks and their associated hardware held up too. The sea anchor was tested at my cottage from the back of a 12' aluminum, trolling motor equipped, boat. It worked fine there, but it was never tested in the great lakes. The floats, bridle, and trip line were all in place for the inland lake test, so I had a degree of confidence that it would perform in case of some extreme emergency.
A pretty complete list of what we bought additional is below. The equipment that I already had is not on this list, but the major items were spare prop, two anchors (danforth and navy type), mooring lines, and VHF radio. Added up it was about $2000. About $1500 was for the boat, so the next time we take a trip of this magnitude, it won't cost near as much?
Each page of this website has a link at the top of the page to a map or chart for those unfamiliar with the geography of Michigan.
One caveat, anytime you venture more than an arm's reach from shore, you are out of your natural element, and do so at your own risk.
| Navigational charts and associated navigational gear |
| Magellan Meridian XL handheld GPS (I modified the mounting bracket so it turned out to be a semi-permanent mount, but still removable when we left the boat) |
| Log Book (you really need this, it makes great reading in January when the water in Michigan is "hard") |
| 147381 #29 Lake St. Clair & St. Clair River |
| 147365 #28 N. W. Lake Erie to Detroit River |
| 14848 Detroit River 1:30000 (Rev. 10/12/96) |
| 14850 Lake Saint Clair 1:60000 Rev 9/5/96) |
| 14852 Saint Clair River 1:40000 (Rev. 12/7/96) |
| 14860 Lake Huron 1:500000 (Rev. 9/21/96) |
| 14862 Port Huron to Point Aux Barques 1:120000 (Rev. 2/12/94) |
| 14863 Saginaw Bay 1:120000 (Rev 3/4/95) |
| 14864 Lk. Huron 6 miles N. of Oscoda to Forty Mile Point Light 1:120000 (Rev. 2/11/95) |
| 14881 Lk. Huron Straits of Mackinac DeTour Passage to Waugoshance Point 1:80000 (Rev. 9/2/95) |
| 14883 St. Mary's River Munuscong to Sault Ste. Marie incl. Lk. George 1:40000 (Rev. 6/10/95) |
| 14884 St. Mary's River Head of Lk. Nicolet to Whitefish Bay 1:40000 (Rev. 12/18/93) |
| Richardson Chart book (Lake Huron) and plastic holder |
| Chart tube to store the rolled charts |
| Coast Pilot CP#6 |
| Safety gear |
| Type I PFD (Mike's) |
| Type I PFD (Juan's) |
| Flares, handheld |
| Flares, meteor |
| Para Sail Sea Anchor (9' diameter) along with 100' of Poly (floating) rode, bridle, and shackles/clips, etc. |
| Ground Tackle |
| A danforth type anchor and a navy type anchor, we attached the rodes with stainless swivels, |
| five feet of 1/4" anchor chain and 150' of 1/2" rode for each anchor. |
| Two 75' lock lines |
| Anchor rode bags |
| Spare parts |
| Spare fuses - 10A/20A/30A |
| Spare light bulbs (anchor and navigation) |
| Spark plugs |
| Life-caulk |
| Kill switch clip (an interesting single point of failure, if this is broken, the only way to keep the motor running is to hold the kill button in continuously. If you release it, the motor stops immediately. It could be very difficult to steer, run the throttle, and hold this button in all at the same time) |
| Air cartridges for horn |
| Miscellaneous Equipment |
| Teleflex NFB Steering system 17' |
| AM/FM/WB Radio (Audiovox) |
| Automatic antenna for radio |
| Mounting bracket for radio |
| Wire (14 gauge 2 conductor 100') |
| 2 1/2 gallon fuel tank for auxiliary oil storage |
| Aux. oil and gas tank hold down hardware (strap, buckle, and screws) |
| Additional lighter for port side |
| Area light for inside illumination at night (this was a twin tube fluorescent rechargeable (12v or 120v) camping style light made by Coleman that worked great) |
| Screening for window and attaching method (a home made screen that covered the walk through area of the window and the canvas above to keep bugs out at night, we used it once one evening when we went out, and that was the only time. Had it been hot at night, this would have been a real life saver, as there were no other screens.) |
| Plugs for livewell overflow 1 1/4" |
| Plugs for livewell inlet 5/8" |
| Cable clamps |
| Miscellaneous hardware - (Pop rivets, washers, etc.) |