Ive taken my 4.55m Savage Tinny with a 50HP 'rude to Rottnest many times.

All about the weather though, pick your days, pick your times.

Certainly if its under 10kts, 1M swell, the convoy would be a great idea.

Fuel is all about the conditions, so hard to estimate without knowing the boat.

He was a bit worried obout going to rotto for the first time with it as well. The morning we went was a 10kn easterly with 1m swell leaving from hillarys his boat went no problem. Coming home in the arvvo wind picked up to an unexpected 14-15kn SW. We left from Thompsons and coming home was pretty bumpy and uncomfortable for him but he was never in danger. That first trip was invaluable for learning what his boat could do and since then he's much more confident going out.   Sounds like you've got a fair idea of what the boats like so drive to the conditions  ie trim up and give it some juice if you get caught going down the front of a steep wave etc.  As above its all about choosing your day. Check Seabreeze of course and i find BOM "Meteye" really good for predicting offshore winds as they tend to be stronger than seabreeze says. You see 4.5 m bayhunters pulled up on the beach in thompsons and have even seen a couple at the FADS your boat will be fine just check forecasts  

 No better way to do it than with the convoy. That's exactly the whole purpose of organising it.

No better way to get the feel of a rotto crossing than to do it in the safety of a convoy.

Ultimately the weather will dictate if you go, but with reasonable conditions you should be fine. You may want to work out what your fuel burn is first then you can calculate how much fuel you will use. Bearing in mind that rough conditions and load will increase your fuel burn.

 Been to Rotto a few times on my open 510 trailcraft profish and never had any drama's. Just be wary of the following sea on the way back and know what to do to prevent the boat broaching. 

 If never done it before especially in a little boat going in convoy is the best way to go. If worried about fuel throw an extra jerry in and leave from Leeuwin and you shouldnt have a drama in the world.

ive done it lots of times in small boats, some significantly smaller than yours (btw nothing wrong with your rig mate, if it is safe and you feel confident then all good; lots of big boats around nowadays - as a kid I fished out of one smaller than yours and we fished west side of rotto a lot back then )

only real advice to be had is take it easy if the swell and wind picks up especially in a following sea ( no shame in slowing down and letting the swells past, and keep square on mate and you'll be apples).

Cheers for all the advice, any idea on the distance from Rocko, so I can do a few test runs on distance with fuel?

Is there fuel available at Rotto these days?

What is the average speed the convoy travels at - any ideas?

its expensive and can be a pain in the arse if theres a queue of boats. best to get one of those plastic 25l jerry cans and take out with you.   

web app. I use it alot at home to plan trips very useful.

Cheers, frigging work PC is blocked for that Navionics thing, but Google puts the distance at 32KM...

1 Knot = 1.85 km/hr, so aT 15 Knots speed average(if this is possible on the day?), it should be about 28km/hr..?

This seem right?

That would be a good 90 minutes odd travel, from Rocko to Rotto, allowing for occasional speed decreases, on a good day?

Now just to test the range of my tank at around a constant 15Knots..

 Found this on sebreeze forum 

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/General-Discussion/Chat/Boat-to-Rottnest/

Bit old but some good pointers..

Newbie asking if it is a good idea to take 6 guys on a 19ft inboard boat to rotto..

At 6 knots most 19 foot planing hulls will be ploughing their noses and will be almost impossible to steer. The direct line to rotto from the heads is around 12 nautical miles. With the average 2 metre swell and cross shore seas you will encounter once you move out beyond the wind and wave breaking lee of garden island to your south you may find that you will actually travel a whole lot more than 12 nm as you travel up and down the wave faces and in and out of troughs. Most sub 6 metre boats in perth are pertrol sterndrive powered, with either mercruiser, or volvo motors, or heaven forbid,old chrysler sterndrives. Even the old 4 cylinder mercs and volvos will burn around 25 to 50 litres per hour depending on load, conditions and trim. At dispacement speeds ie under 12 to 14 knots most of the older engines couldnt get enough water into them to cool them down, glazed up spark plugs etc etc. ie in general older sterndrives generally dont like prolonged low speed work. I too would love to,see a pic of the vessel because different hulls perform better at different speeds. The best advice for a novice going to sea in a new vessel is to find your planing speed, that is the speed that the bulk of the vessel lifts itself out of the water and raises its nose out of the waves. In most older planing hulls this will be somewhere between 10-14 knots. When on the plane your boat will handle appropriately, you will ride over most smaller,waves and chop and not plough trough them and you will remove the strain and load off your engine as you will have substantially less volume in the water for the engine to push. On a good day with a light easterly and low swell a good 14 to 18 knots is an excellent speed to tackle this trip. At this speed you will get to rotto from the heads in under an hour and your trip should be comfortable. At 19 feet your vessel shoud have enough displacement and volume for 6 passnengers if your engine has enough power and torque to reach planing speeds with the weight of six passengers . I wouldnt take 6 people to rottnest though in a small boat,if it was my first attempt. Without knowing your vessel im just speculating, however most earlier sterndrives had a very narrow performance band, that is the point where they could provide enough power to lift a heavy fibreglass hull out of the water onto the plane. In many instances a 4th or 5th passengers weight was too much for these rigs and they just couldnt get out of the hole. Its essential to know your vesses and its capacity. Ive seen the trip to rotto done by crazies in a 12 foot tinnie on a perfect day with no swell and no wind and they did it easily, ive also been out there in my old vessel the former marine and harbours pilot boat mv wyndham where on the same route ive taken a wave that broke into the flybridge, and taken a couple on the side that almost broached the old girl. Last year fremantle sea rescue had to help, nearly 700 vessels, most of those attempting the rotto run. Hence get as much advice, and prefferably go with some one or another vessel that has done the trip before and as previously said use common sense. If you get to the boat ramp and its blowing onshore and theres anything over a 2 metre swell happening, go to the pub instead!

Seems it really depends on the weather..

Have now done the convoy at least twelve times in the past seven years. Our boat last November used 75 litres there and back and that included all the bays that the boys (and girls) take you around giving you first hand experience on how to get in and out of the most popular bays. This weekend also includes a quiz night and dinner at the Lodge where there are excellent prizes up for grabs. The Saturday afternoon also is a chance for you to learn how to tie ropes, operate flares and master the use of the marine radio. The boys decide on the day if it is safe to go or not and whether the Sunday will be safe to return as well. It is the best $150 you will ever spend for a weekend away in your boat bar none.