Driving my 2007 21v to Charleston SC
Every year a group of us drive from Charlotte NC, to Santee SC and put in at Blacks Camp Marina on Lake Moultrie. The drive is about 2.5 hours from Charlotte. This year we had 4 boats and 2 jet skis with a total of about 20 people on board. This is the first year I have taken my 2007 Supra 21v, it has been a great boat but I was worried about 2 things, my continuous vapor lock issue and the small gas tank. We had 9 people on our boat and about 5 coolers plus food and gear, so we were definitely pushing it on the weight limit.
I wanted to mechanically solve the vapor lock issue before we left but I was not able to get a mechanic or the parts in time. I simply draped a wet towel over the fuel pump at the front of the engine, right behind the bench seat. This solved the issue for the entire trip... the boat did not vapor lock once. We ran with an engine temp of about 160 the entire trip.
Gas was a definite issue, I felt it would be so I brought an additional 10 gallons and I am damn glad I did. I pored all 10 gallons in the tank on the trip down right as I got into the bay of Charleston. I was running at 1/4 tank when I got to the bay, so I figured i would poor my reserve in just to ensure I did not run out. On the way down we were running with the tide so there was no burden on fuel consumption there. The next morning, while in Charleston, we filled up at the marina (3.63 per gallon), the boat itself took 24 gallons and I filled the gas cans again for an additional 10 gallons. We were running against the current coming back so I was super worried about running out of gas. When we stopped for lunch I pored 5 additional gallons into the tank. I tried to poor all 10 gallons into the tank but couldn't get the stupid nozzle to work correctly on one of the tanks. By the time we got back to the put in, I was running on fumes and barely made it. I had an additional 5 gallons if I had to make it work so I wasn't too worried about running out. My gas needle was pegged on E, I suppose you have a few extra gallons once your officially on E.
Overall the boat did great, I would 100% do the trip again but I would probably bring about 15 gallons of extra gas with me for comfort next trip. I encourage anyone to do this trip, feel free to PM me for details. We saw alligators, dolphins and went through the lock between Moultrie and the Cooper river. Its a great experience if you have never been through a lock. Boating down to the coast is a different experience for most ski/wake/surf boat owners. In our group we had a Mastercraft x35, Regal 24ft, aqua patio pontoon and 2 jet skis.
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