2010 Hunter 39 Mast Height and ICW

[Roger F]

We are researching a trip from Maine to Florida. I have read many books, waterway guide and talked with folks too that have made the trip. Understanding we will have to head outside in Florida, has anyone else with a Hunter 39 (2010, in mast furling) made the trip? We will be close and need to watch tide and wind. Dropping tape from top of whip we are at about 63.5'.

I know there are a lot of posts out there, just curious if anyone with the same boat has made the trip.

 

[Sailgunner]

Why do you have to head outside in Florida? You can do St Augustine to Lake Worth with no trouble. Active Captain at the helm station is highly recommended. I have it on my Ipad on Garmin Blue Charts.

 

[Harvey18667]

It is true that you can get to Lake Worth without going outside, usually. Most bridges are good for sixty five feet clearance, but can be less if the tides and/or winds are unusually strong(high). Below Ft.Lauderdale there is a bridge called the Julia Tuttle bridge that has only fifty six feet of clearance. We have a Hunter 386, mast height-59.5 and have made the trip many times on the outside. A very easy trip and navigating into the Miami harbor is very straight forward.

 

[Don Lucas]

Understanding we will have to head outside in Florida, has anyone else with a Hunter 39 (2010, in mast furling) made the trip? Dropping tape from top of whip we are at about 63.5'.

Are you sure? My 410 is 58.5' by the manual and I've never come close to hitting and I've been up/down pretty much all of the ICW 4 times. And the whip bends.

 

[Harvey18667]

Check the charts for the Julia Tuttle bridge!

 

[Velero49]

Get the waterway guides and others like it - they have similar info. We did the trip in 2012/13 with 63.5 air draft to the top of the windex. If you take the dismal swamp remove the antennas and windex. I scrapped the bottom of the 64 bridge with a 4 ft antenna and the whip knocked down the windex bird thingy. Most fixed bridges have tide/high boards some did not. I had issues with tides in SC having to wait 2-3 hour for the tide to go down and we could see 64 clearly on the board. Most bridges in FL are vascule type each city along the way manages the opening times some open every 15 min, on demand, every 30 minutes, some do not open during rush hour.

Navigate at your own risk as my experience may be different than yours.................

 

[Roger F]

Belated thanks for the responses folks. From above, a lot of reading and talking to some other friends that have made the trip I think we should be fine, with patience, going inside as far as we need to anyway. Thanks again!