tothetrail
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Had a fun week at Lake Powell, Sunday, Aug 28 to Saturday, Sep 3. The trip was planned last minute, so not much time to get ready. The drive is about 10 hours from Thousand Oaks, CA. Launched from Wahweap Marina, near Page, AZ, and made it as far north as we could, about twenty-five miles past Bullfrog Marina, around "The Horn" just before Fourmile Canyon, to where the muddy Colorado River was meandering into the lake. The lake level was about 3533 feet, about 170 feet below full pool, and still a ton of water to enjoy. Boated about 375 miles total, with all the exploring of different arms and canyons. Bullfrog is about 100 miles north of Wahweap.
The boat has a 55 gallon tank, and also carried three 14-gallon fuel caddies, for about 97 gallons total. Needed to bring the extra fuel on this trip as Dangling Rope Marina has closed down due to low water levels, and is not expected to return. They pushed the marina and fuel docks up to Bullfrog where they are set to be dismantled, according to the staff at Bullfrog. This leaves no mid-lake marina for fuel.
We moved campsites everyday, usually leaving camp in the morning shortly after the sun hit the boats. Explored the canyons, and usually found a shady beach for lunch. Then tried to find a beach to camp at by 4:00 in the afternoon. It was about 90-95 degrees during the day, and down to 70 overnight. This was way warmer than our September trip a couple of years ago when it was only about 80-85 during the day and down to the 50's at night. Only very light winds, and otherwise sunny everyday. We retrieved the boats on Saturday night, before Labor Day, and slept in Page that night when the wind howled overnight. I guess that same storm brought a lot of havoc to Havasu over the weekend. The launch ramp was a zoo that night, a huge difference from the Sunday before at about noon, when there were no boats launching.
Used a free two-week trial of Navionics on the iPad for navigation. This worked great, as you can set the lake level to allow you to see the places where the shallow bottom/rocks are not visible above the water. Only hit the skeg on a tree stump going slow near a beach.
A 100 watt solar panel kept the second set of batteries charged which ran a DC fridge, the water pump for the washdowns and sink, and charged the phones and watches all week. The other set of batteries for the motor were also fine all week. This set also runs the helm switches, lights, stereo, bilge pumps, etc.
After seeing what the drive from Minnesota did to the bimini and bimini boot on the way home from purchasing the boat, decided to just keep the brand new bimini fabric off the frame, and install it on the frame once the boat was in the water. This worked out well, it only took about ten minutes, the zippers were super easy to do, and the second bimini added to the front was a lifesaver on this hot and sunny trip.
This boat is a dream to operate and camp out of. Everything worked great. Can't wait until the next trip!
The boat has a 55 gallon tank, and also carried three 14-gallon fuel caddies, for about 97 gallons total. Needed to bring the extra fuel on this trip as Dangling Rope Marina has closed down due to low water levels, and is not expected to return. They pushed the marina and fuel docks up to Bullfrog where they are set to be dismantled, according to the staff at Bullfrog. This leaves no mid-lake marina for fuel.
We moved campsites everyday, usually leaving camp in the morning shortly after the sun hit the boats. Explored the canyons, and usually found a shady beach for lunch. Then tried to find a beach to camp at by 4:00 in the afternoon. It was about 90-95 degrees during the day, and down to 70 overnight. This was way warmer than our September trip a couple of years ago when it was only about 80-85 during the day and down to the 50's at night. Only very light winds, and otherwise sunny everyday. We retrieved the boats on Saturday night, before Labor Day, and slept in Page that night when the wind howled overnight. I guess that same storm brought a lot of havoc to Havasu over the weekend. The launch ramp was a zoo that night, a huge difference from the Sunday before at about noon, when there were no boats launching.
Used a free two-week trial of Navionics on the iPad for navigation. This worked great, as you can set the lake level to allow you to see the places where the shallow bottom/rocks are not visible above the water. Only hit the skeg on a tree stump going slow near a beach.
A 100 watt solar panel kept the second set of batteries charged which ran a DC fridge, the water pump for the washdowns and sink, and charged the phones and watches all week. The other set of batteries for the motor were also fine all week. This set also runs the helm switches, lights, stereo, bilge pumps, etc.
After seeing what the drive from Minnesota did to the bimini and bimini boot on the way home from purchasing the boat, decided to just keep the brand new bimini fabric off the frame, and install it on the frame once the boat was in the water. This worked out well, it only took about ten minutes, the zippers were super easy to do, and the second bimini added to the front was a lifesaver on this hot and sunny trip.
This boat is a dream to operate and camp out of. Everything worked great. Can't wait until the next trip!
