Which way to go?

[BobT]

I have a dilemma. I am planning on a fishing trip to meet my brother-in-law for some fishing near the Moccasin Point area on Lake Vermillion for the opener. A neighbor of mine is planning on going with me and he has access for us to use a friend’s cabin that is located in the Black Bay area. I plotted a tentative route from Moccasin Point to Black Bay using my GPS mapping software and the route total is a bit over 20 miles. Plotting a route by land I find it to be over 30 miles, possibly farther depending on which road we need to take into the Black Bay area.

I know my truck will get about 15mpg, give or take, but I do not know how my boat does for fuel economy. I have a 1998 Sylvan Adventurer 1600 with a Johnson 2-stroke 90hp of the same year. I do know that if I hold the speed down to less than 30mph the fuel economy is much better.

From a pleasure viewpoint, I think I would much rather just enjoy the ride and take the water route to the cabin at the end of the day rather than loading the boat and taking it over land.

From an environmentally friendly view however, I am at a loss to decide. The outboard runs very clean but all things being equal the truck would have to get roughly 30% better mileage than the boat to break even, which means the boat would have to get about 10mpg.

Is it reasonable to assume that the water route would be the “cleaner” route to take?

Bob

[Down Deep]

The way I see using the boat or driving is going to be a pain either way. Driving, launching and fishing all day and reversing the process, or a 20 mile boat ride. Remember in mid May you WILL, unless this is the one opener in 10 years, run into some cold, windy and wet weather. Unless you can button up the boat you could be in for a long cold ride. I think I would opt for driving

[Eric Wettschreck]

Take the boat and troll your way over!!!!

[PierBridge]

I would definitely trailer the boat back.

[TKO_PUNCH]

Trailer the boat.

Nothing ruins a good day of fishing than having to take a boat ride for that kind of distance cross-wind. You will enjoy a quiet ride in your truck talking about the great day.

[marine_man]

Plus, if you take the boat and on the morning of your departure the wind really whips up you're now either going to have to wait it out or attempt to make the trip in the rollers.

I'd drive.

marine_man