Towing Boat to Florida?

General Fishing Discussion
1

Think about this - - you can rent 19, 20 ft boats in the Keys for $200 a day and up, more for bigger. I did the math, looked at the fuel costs to get there and the other general hassles, and decided on renting when I got there. Google “rent boats Key West”, they’ll pop up. The Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge will set you up with a rental boat.
something to think about,
NaClH2O

2

Not a bad deal.

As much as I like fishing from my boat the next time we go to Islamorada for vacation I am going to rent a boat.

For me it is a 1500 mile round trip and when I hook my boat up that drops my mileage to 9 mpg plus a longer travel time.

Bro/Sis in law always go on vacation with us and he and I always split costs for docking my boat and he puts gas in so I think in the long run we could rent a larger twin engine boat and I am sure offset half the cost by savings in gas in my travel.

Just got back from PCB Fl and it was a great trip but it cost me about $400 extra in fuel to go there and back but it was well worth the trip

Sea Pro 210cc
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge 1500 4x4 HEMI

3

When are you coming to Big Pine? I’m 5 minutes down the road.

yella bote
black motor

4

Ted, similar story… went down in 2005 in May, wind was 25 knots, wind pushed sea foam all over my boat, cost me $450 in fuel and never got out due to the wind there ALL WEEK, packed up and left early, total waste of $ and it took me a NY minute to figure out, I’m gonna rent next time. PS: I live in Charleston during the week now. Gimme a call: eight oh three 920 six nine oh seven - brew at Bowen’s or thereabouts.

5

In Marathon I rented what they had.A 19 foot piece of ugly crap for $100 a day plus fuel.It ran good but man was it ugly and old.Just like me now.LOL Wonder why We do not make friends on FB with people that live where we will vacation.This way we can use their house and boat and if they come here use ours.Kinda like swap everything??? Andy start a swap vacation site ???

Stonoman

6
quote:
Originally posted by stonoman

In Marathon I rented what they had.A 19 foot piece of ugly crap for $100 a day plus fuel.It ran good but man was it ugly and old.Just like me now.LOL Wonder why We do not make friends on FB with people that live where we will vacation.This way we can use their house and boat and if they come here use ours.Kinda like swap everything??? Andy start a swap vacation site ???

Stonoman

Be careful.
http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011/07/plot-thickens-airbnb-renter-horror-story/179250/1?csp=hf

7

Hey Joe, that is not a bad idea provided some precautions are taken. I met a guy in Florida on another fishing/boating website. When we went down in April he invited us to go offshore fishing. My oldest and I went and had a blast. I felt like I had known this guy a really long time. He was so friendly, really great with my son and was former Navy (kind of biased as my Dad was a Navy man). He told us to call him if we ever came down again. Well we did, just a few weeks ago. Went scalloping with him and his wife, cooked them at their house and just had a great time. Feel like we have life long friends down there now. I know there are jerks everywhere but, that is teh kind of person I thin of when I think about the boating/fishing community.

As for towing a boat to Florida, yeah, the gas will kill you. We did it this Summer and last. The next time we go it may just be the kayaks that make the trip unless this economy improves (don’t laugh) and gas prices go down.

8

I mean with people you know or a friend knows that wants to come to Charleston.I am not offering My house to someone i would not trust.

Stonoman

9

There is a vacay swap thingy on CraigsList.org

10

This one has been recommended on Florida Sportsman web site and one of my buddies used this one 2 years ago and said boats were great and service was too

He just said to book WAY IN ADVANCE

http://www.vacationboatrentals.com/

Sea Pro 210cc
Yamaha 200 4 Stroke
Dodge 1500 4x4 HEMI

11

We go to the Keys pretty much yearly and stay at a house we have rented over the years for a couple of weeks. It is on a canal that goes straight out to the Atlantic, about 2 miles from Alligator Reef. We considered towing the boat last time, but after seeing all the “broke downs” along the highway we decided a rental boat was the way to go. Last year we found an Angler 23 with nice amenities. I believe it was $750 ish for 5 days fuel not included.

12

Ted, looks good man! That 25’ ProKat looks dandy! It would be easy to split the $ on a boat and go do some serious mahi work off marathon.