New England weather from October to January

Two boats I am interested in are in Rhode Island and one in Maryland and I live in South Carolina I am a total newbie to boats of this size ( 35ft and 42ft ). I will have help to transport, Cruise to home. What is the weather and sea state during this time frame? Or would it be smarter to leave where they are until spring?

We routinely boat on the Chesapeake through November.

It can get a bit nippy in December/January, if you don't have heat at the helm. An enclosed flybridge can be OK, though, as sunlight adds some comfort.

If you move a boat south from Rhode Island, one route would be north on the Delaware Bay, across the C&D Canal, south on the Chesapeake Bay. Not difficult navigation.

Both bays are manageable, the Chesapeake more so, with decent weather planning. In general, 2-3' head seas with a long-ish wave period can be OK enough. And sometimes Autumn weather on the Chesapeake is even more benign. Do plan to avoid "wind against wave" (tide) to the extent you can.

The Chesapeake also offer more potential stopover locations on the route south.

The AICW between Portsmouth and SC is just a series of hops, usually easy enough.

You might have a look at the Waterway Guide and similar, if you haven't already.

-Chris

Dnnsmrgn said:

Two boats I am interested in are in Rhode Island and one in Maryland and I live in South Carolina I am a total newbie to boats of this size ( 35ft and 42ft ). I will have help to transport, Cruise to home. What is the weather and sea state during this time frame? Or would it be smarter to leave where they are until spring?

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The short answer is, highly variable. October is often the most beautiful, nicest time to be in the water in New England (IMHO). November is iffier. Some days could be warm, nice, and calm; other days nasty and stormy. The Narragansett Bay outside my windows can go from flat as glass to 4-5 ft whitecaps in a half hour. December and January, only the commercial fishermen go out. The days of ice are probably long over but you probably wouldn't enjoy it. You don't want to be caught off Pt. Judith when a Nor'Easter blows through.

A bigger issue you'll likely encounter is that marinas in New England largely close up shop after the end of October. You can still find slips into November, but fuel, pump out, and other services harder to find, you'd have to seek out the commercial docks where the fishermen go.

Maryland, depends where on the Chesapeake Bay. Restaurants and other services start closing in November, but on the southern part of the bay, Solomons and south, boating goes on year-round. The northern part of the bay less so.

Nick gives wisdom. We leave our boat in the water until the end of October. Warm water and no jerks on the water. Can get a tanker to show up for fuel or use a commercial dock.
For getting back to SC your issue any time of year is the NJ coast. There will be places for fuel around NYC and in Cape May. If leaving from R.I. Port Judith as well. So far the NJ part has been cold in late fall when I’ve done it but not unbearable. Wouldn’t make buying decisions on anything other than the boat. If it’s a really good boat for you just put it on the hard until the spring. Now with MMCC wet storage is also an option but you still need to winterize the boats systems to be safe.

It will obviously be cold so you need to prepare for that. You will also have shorter and less frequent weather windows, so will need to be prepared for waiting out wether more often and longer. Other have mentioned marinas closing up over the course of mid october to mid november. I think the biggest issue is water since that gets turned off most places. You will still be able to get fuel, but will need to check ahead. And I expect you will be able to get dock space, again with more advance planning. But even if you get dock space, water is likely to be turned off. A bunch of long hose lengths might let you draw water from a building or spigot that is winterized.

I bought my boat last fall and moved her from Stonington, CT, to Kilmarnock, VA, over Halloween. Right at the beginning of the window you mentioned. Weather for the most part was delightful. My boat is definitely ocean going, and were I to make the trip now, I'd wait for a good off shore weather window and go directly from RI to Cape May and up the Delaware and down the Cheasapeake Bay to ICW, or better, straight to Cape Henry (always have the option of cutting in at Cape May) and then ICW. Overnight run from Morehead City to SC.

I did take Long Island Sound-NJ shore-Delaware Bay-C&D Canal and Chesapeake Bay route because the boat was new to me, and when there were strange noises or bumps, I was not sure where to even begin. So caution ruled. Just wait for good weather. I had to hole up one day at Manasaquan owing to a crew member becoming ill. The weather was really rotten coming out of Raritan Bay and dictated waiting. Should have waited at Staten Island or Atlantic Highlands. Another lay day at Cape May as the wind (20 knots) was coming from the North down the Delaware Bay. Just no fun. We waited a day, enjoyed the town, caught a good tide next morning, and ran from Cape May straight (28 hours) through the C&D and Bay all night to Kilmarnock. So, out of seven days, 5 good enough for passage making.

Two words of prudence: marinas along the way are shutting down or limiting service hours, so cheack all that as you do youre route planning. You don't want to find youself needing to duck in for some reason to discover the place is closed. And the second word is when planning your runs, make sure you keep track of daylight hours if you plan on heading for shore for the night. You are losing 20-25 minutes a day of daylight.

Cool at night; pleasant in the day. Sweat shirts.

A lot will depend on your cruising speed. More speed = more options.

First year heading south I left on October 28. Froze my ass off because of unusually cold weather, but made it south easily by just moving on decent days. In January, I wouldn’t expect to have a boat in the water, so not sure what you mean, but I wouldn’t do it. So here is the thing, later in the year there are less folks around to lend a hand if you get in trouble, especially off the NJ coast. God forbid the boat sinks and you get wet, that time of year you are a goner. So big difference between October and January. Don’t worry about fuel, there are plenty of places open year round. Water, yeah, but even in a trawler water is not a limiting factor. Bigger issue is pumping out the holding tank. If you are stuck somewhere because of weather, that holding tank is still getting that daily dose. A lot depends on how fast you go.

As to closed marinas, don’t worry about that. They don’t roll up the docks.

Sea Tow and the USCG (both boat and helos) man the Jersey Coast all winter. Not sure if some BoatUS boats are available too. There is all year tug traffic close to shore as well as some Party Fishing boats.

As far as holding tank, easy enough to duck to the 3 mile line and pump out. Bigger issue would be from Cape May to Norfolk where marina pumpouts might be closed and no place to overboard discharge unless you have a treatment system. I did so that was one less worry for me.

Water can be an issue but fuel and dockage should be available in Manasquan, Barnegat, Atlantic City and Cape May inlet areas.

I used to leave NJ from north of Cape May snowbirding to Florida quite often in December and Late November, only remember one trip up the Delaware I should have waited for better weather. One year went under the Annapolis Bay Bridge in the Chesapeake on December day and it was so nice there were dozens of PWCs out fishing under the bridge for striped bass. When I wasn't snowbirding, was a professional captain on the water in NJ all winter on smaller craft that a 35-42 foot trawler/similar.