Bayliner Pilothouse 4550 – Kiwi registered in USA, Ready to enjoy the Great loop

Bayliner 4550 Pilothouse, US built production launch, powered by twin Hino diesel. She has been cruising the great loop through the USA and is set up to continue the trip. See our Vendors comments below.

Looking for a novel cruising experience overseas, in the comfort of your own boat?

We spent 18 fabulous months cruising the East Coast of the USA, the canals and rivers in Canada, and the mighty inland waterways of the mid-west, plus we wintered for 3 months cruising the azure waters of the Bahamas, an easy passage from Florida. Our comfortable vessel, Plenty, a 45 foot Bayliner pilot house, was the perfect boat for our amazing adventure.

For most of our spectacular journey we travelled “America’s Great Loop”, an approximately 6,000 mile (almost 10,000km) boat journey encompassing the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), the Great Lakes, the mighty rivers of the mid-west and the Gulf of Mexico. Cruisers largely follow the seasons in an anti-clockwise direction; the AICW during spring, the Great Lakes in summer, the inland rivers over autumn and the Gulf and Florida in winter, however, it really doesn’t matter where you begin and end, as it’s very much a personal journey. In common with many, we customized our trip, cruising through New York and the Hudson Valley, through Lake Champlain and into Canada for the summer, rather than going through the Erie Canal and potentially staying in the US. What an experience! Imagine docking in downtown Savannah, Georgia, with its beautiful antebellum mansions and elegant oak trees festooned with Spanish moss; or posing for photos on deck as you cruise directly in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour; navigating the pretty canals and historic locks of the Rideau or Trent-Severn in Canada; or travelling right through downtown Chicago with its soaring skyscrapers. We did it all!

Plenty provided us with a roomy, comfortable floating home, with easy access on/off and around the boat, extra accommodation for visiting family and friends, and a spacious pilot house and enclosed flybridge for keeping warm and dry in inclement weather. We anchored as many nights as we stayed at marinas or free docks, taking the dinghy to shore for exploring and sightseeing. The “Looper” community provides as much or as little social life as you want, and we met many wonderful people along the way.

If you want to know more, the AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association) website is a great resource; you can also listen to us on RNZ Sunday Morning programme from Easter 2024, where we talk to Jim Mora about our experiences.

If this is something that may interest you, please enquire to find out more details.