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Old 01-03-2021, 02:43 PM
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Marian Claire Marian Claire is offline
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Welcome to the forum.
Not crazy. The Marian Claire, a 30ft homemade sailboat with early model A-4, and I have made several trips roaming from Baltimore to Key West and across to the Abacos. Mostly staying in the ICW but doing short, day long, jumps off shore. You can avoid some of the issues the ICW offers this way. The longest was 36 hours crossing to the Abacos but that was my choice. So it is doable in your boat.
My approach on spare parts. I wanted a plug and play spare for anything that I can remove from the engine while it was in the boat. Plus the tools, gaskets and instructions/knowledge to R&R. The A-4 itself has not let me down. It even got me home, over 1000 sm, with a broken ring. I have had electric fuel pump, coil, water pump, spark plugs etc go bad but all repaired or replaced from spares and without hauling out or stopping the trip for more than a day.
As stated the ICW is your friend but you will be motoring 99% of the time and the hours add up quickly. If you have a way to add a oil filter it could cut your oil changes in half+-. Oil you can get most anywhere but it may not be the brand you want. Have enough oil and filters for several changes and restock when you get to a convenient place.


Dan
S/V Marian Claire
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