Trip home with our new-to-us 400DB

Tom Coombs

Member
Apr 24, 2019
36
Wellington, FL
Boat Info
400 DB, 1999
Engines
2 x 3126 1 x 8Kw Westerbeke
So we arrived at our new-to-us 400DB in Palm Coast, FL at about 11 am this past Saturday, the rented minivan as stuffed with stuff, and people. After a couple of hours provisioning, organizing and preparing to leave, we eventually took off to the fuel dock at about 1:15 or so in the afternoon. $516 later, we set off South on the intra-coastal for our final destination in Palm Beach, FL.

Leg 1: Palm Coast - New Smryna, 48 Miles.
The first afternoon was an easy transit down through Ormond Beach, Daytona and into New Smyrna. We stopped at an anchorage for the night just South of New Smyrna. It was amazing how many beautiful homes, boats, dolphins, and manatees you see in this stretch of the intra-coastal. An easy night, the magma grill did its thing, and we all spent an easy evening figuring out where to put everything and how to get the entertainment systems TV's working. Ran the gene all night to keep the AC on, it wasn't cool enough to turn it off.

Day 2: New Smyrna to Vero Beach, 102 miles.
Continued down the Indian River, into Mosquito Lagoon wide open stretch of water. Right turn into Holdover Canal to get inside of the barrier islands. Manatees everywhere, idle speed down the entire length, even bumped into neutral a couple times to ensure we didn't hurt any of them. Past the NASA VAB (the huge building where they build rockets...or used to). And on down past Titusville, Melbourne, Sebastian Inlet and finally into Suntex Marina at Vero Beach at 4pm, They had a slip for us (even at last minute notice) and Nancy and Wade were incredibly accommodating. Another $500 and change later, we headed out for dinner in Vero Beach and enjoyed a pleasant meal by the shore.

Day 3: Vero Beach - Lantana, 80 miles
We got a late start, had a cooked breakfast, and eventually got onto the cut at about 10:30 in the morning. The sea state was reporting 2' waves, so we made a left out of the inlet at Fort Pierce and started south. The reality was more like 3' to 4' wave and after about 90 minutes we came back in through the Saint Lucie inlet and got back onto the intra-coastal for the remainder of the journey. This was to be the slowest part of the trip. Lots of slow speed zones and plenty of Memorial Day boaters to be careful of. So a lazy trip down past Peck Lake (which is on the list of places to come to visit for a weekend), Tequesta (which was really happening this afternoon), Jupiter and then on down to Lake Worth Lagoon. Past Peanut island which was starting to dump out at this point as it was 4:30pm, and on down to Lantana. We had a little issue getting the boat backed into the slip as the wind caught the bow and pinned us to the pile. A little too-ing and fro-ing later and some help from our new next-door neighbor with the lines and we were in and secured.

As an added treat, everyone on the dock spotted the new arrival and came to introduce themselves, it turned into an impromptu cookout on the back of our neighbor's catamaran, which was all very pleasant and welcoming!

An adventure for the family for sure and the boat ran great, my Son and Daughter both like manning the helm, and the good lady Captain really enjoys the bridge sun lounger and captains chair.

We ran the generator for a couple of hours during the day on the last day, and for some reason, it produced a shutdown alarm and stopped. It has plenty of oil, so I need to take a look at that to see what's going on. There was a ton of weed around so maybe something got sucked into the seacock.

I do have some planned maintenance to take care of including replacing the DSS's and also touching up the bottom paint. I think the whole boat will be Compounded, Buffed and wax before too long too.

All I can say is we are so happy with the way the boat performed and how accommodating it was for our family of four for a 3 day trip in close quarters. I can tell we are going to be super happy in the 400DB.

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What a great trip, great memories, and a great boat, and it performed well to boot! Congrats! I can see my daughter’s “this is awesome” smile in the picture of yours. It’s a great feeling when your loved ones enjoy boating as much as you do (or at least come close!)
 
Thanks for sharing in your adventure!
 
Glad you’re loving it! Thanks for the pictures too!
 
Great write-up! Sounds like an awesome trip. It sounds like you're on your way to having an outstanding summer. Good times.
 
very nice. nothing like a successful shakedown cruise. good to hear about the family of four being comfy... I keep coming back to look at the 400db for the "next one". I have two girls , and the wife keeps hinting to get out of "cave dwelling".
 
Great post! Best of luck with the new boat.
 
Congrats!! Great story! The 3 cabin version of the 400 is my next target boat! Glad your trip went smooth!!
 
I keep coming back to look at the 400db for the "next one". I have two girls , and the wife keeps hinting to get out of "cave dwelling".

We just got out of the 320da cave this season, and into a 400db. Loved our 320,but already love this boat, too. Listen to the wife!

And to the OP, congrats and welcome! Love the upholstery on your captains chairs! If you haven’t yet, join sedan bridge thread. Hours and hours of informative reading and some great folks to help with any issue. Welcome!
 
Congrats on your new boat and a successful first cruise. That pic of your daughter at the helm is a great one. The view from the "penthouse." as some of our guests have nicknamed it. is one of the best parts of the sedan bridge boats.
 

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