Things wrt Hanalei

[JimQuanci]

Hey if you need help getting fuel to the beach... just reach out. "A few of us" will have rental cars and be running the Princeville gas station to Hanalei route. I like "options" when getting home which means lots of fuel... I carried about 80 gallons out to the boat in 5 gallon jerry jugs... 4 jugs per morning, 4 mornings in a row. Like others... have moved fuel to the boat a few ways... inflatable dinghy, inflatable kayak, got a folding kayak for this summer, and then there are "friends" with dinghies with motors (not to be planned on but it does happen). Back in 2012 I ran into a cruiser living on the hook whose wife likes a morning Starbucks latte... every morning he picked my up on the beach with 4 full jerry jugs and a latte for his wife (sometimes I got a ride back to the beach... sometimes I swam).

Net net
Plan ahead but also be flexible and opportunistic. You'll get the fuel you need to your boat one way or another...

 

[GBR3068]

Thanks Jim! I have read your advice on the return trip carefully many times. How did you stash 16 x 5-gallon cans? I have read (and everything I know is from reading) it might not be such a great idea to keep them on deck and my Cal 34 has zero deck room anyway. I was surprised when I read that "as long as you have fuel for 700-1000 miles, you'll be fine". Thats a lot of fuel - for me. I am looking at getting a bladder, my friend used one in the PacCup and it worked for him. Maybe a 30 gallon one, in addition to my 30-gallon tank. I only have a couple 5-gallon cans right now. You have a Cal 40, right? What size tank, engine and consumption.

BTW before I forget I might as well put this here for comment: one of the old hands at the boatyard told me to change revs every few hours and back off from hull speed. He has seen an engine a week for 20 years and of the 1000 he can tell which ones have been run for days at same throttle.

 

[Gamayun]

As a friend of mine told me about the return trip when you want to run the engine, you can either go far but slow, or go few but fast. You can't run hull speed if you want to sip from the straw on limited fuel. Also, there are two types of diesel fuel jugs (fat and squat or tall and thin). I like the former because they sit better on my wide deck attached to two pieces of 1x4 board running between the length of the stanchions at midship. I've heard others store the fuel in various places in the cabin but I personally would avoid that if possible. I have carried 60 gallons total in my two trips back with a 20,000-pound boat and a 27-hp engine, but it's slow and that equates to about 5, 24-hour days of motoring at 5 knots or ~600 miles. I've heard others with similar size boats will carry up to 120 gallons so they can go faster and/or for longer.

 

[mpolkabla]

Hey Everyone,

I have been doing some recon in Kauai the past few days and have recently checked out Nawiliwili Bay harbor area (near Lihue). According to the local Olson 30 guy (Chris Jordan), the small boat harbor at Nawiliwili is about a 5 hour sail or motor sail depending on conditions from Hanalei Bay. Nawiliwili has a side tie dock that is reasonably padded at the launch ramp just within the small boat harbor (near the USCG station) that is used by sailors to tie up for short periods and to load diesel jugs using a car and driving into the nearby town. There is a Costco, a Home Depot, and lots of similar amenities nearby too. Not walking distance but certainly a short drive away. Also, they have regular Thursday night races (March through October) with their local PHRF handicap fleet and even have six (6) Olson 30's in the harbor that regularly race. Super nice people there who regularly host the SHTP vessels who come through to the harbor to be shipped back on tankers which are in the adjacent commercial port (also in Nawiliwili). Anyway... Something to consider for those now wanting to provision and re-fuel at Hanalei.

Cheers,
Michael Polkabla
Cal40 Solstice #4