Another question about touring the East Coast.

[St8kout]

This person on his website talks about wanting to travel up the East Coast to Canada, into the Great Lakes, down the Ohio river, into the Mississippi, and back to the Gulf Coast where he's from. Of course, he'll be doing it in a trawler, not a sailboat, which brings up the question, is there any reason you cannot make this same journey in a sailboat? Perhaps a problem with bridge clearance or whatever?Now I understand there's a rivalry between sails and powerboats, so please indulge me posting his link here

 

[Ross]

I don't think that you can get to the Ohio River

from the Great Lakes. St Lawrence River to the Great lakes to The Chicago river to the Mississippi River to Cairo, Ill. turn left to the Ohio river.

 

[St8kout]

Ok, I might have gotten that part wrong.

How about where the Mississippi begins up in Minn?

 

[Franklin]

sailboats on rivers

on many rivers, you will not be using the sails because the banks and trees are so high that most of the wind is blocked. All rivers have bridges and some are fixed at around 52'. Many sailboats have mast that are much higher then that. You can counter that by taking the mast down and securing it to the deck. It makes handling the boat in tight places harder but not impossible.In otherwords, if doing the great circle is what you want, then you want a trawler. If you want lake or open water or very wide rivers, then you want a sailboat. Why? Because a trawler will use the same amount of fuel as a sailboat but it has a lot more room and comforts inside that a sailboat doesn't have.

 

[tom]

You can Sail Much of the Way

I think that for the great circle route a trawler would be better thatn a sailboat in some ways. But if you start in Mobile you can sail all the way up the east coast and unless you go through the canals you can sail into the great lakes through the St Lawerence . Then you can sail the great lakes and maybe even down river. I think that it's the IL River through Chicago. You need to Get on the Ohio river and then lock through to Kentucky Lake on the TN river. Then the TN-Tombigbee back to Mobile. There are books and websites about the great circle route. I read one account where the guy engineered a hinge section for his mast so that he could raise and lower it himself. Ideally your mast height needs to be less than 50'. A ketch with two lower masts would be better than a tall single mast. You also run into hull speed!!!! On the Mississippi river the current at times would be greater than many sailboats hull speed. That is why the route goes up the TN and down the TN-Tom waterway. With all of the shallow water I wouldn't want a boat with over 5' draft.  We motored up the TN-Tom last spring and it was a pleasant trip overall. But the lower sections of river were really wild and isolated. After the first section of free flowing river the current was generally less than a knot or so. At the tidal section we timed our trip so that the current was slack or going up river.

 

[LKYusnret]

Check out the

America Great Loop Ass. I'm making the trip from Jacksonville FL north to Jacksonville FL going around the eastern half of the US, many books are out there with help and some different ways to do the loop. The limits can be both draft and bridge clearence. If my memory serves me ( everything is packed up to go down to JAX) the key point is Chicago ILL. with a clearence of 12 feet. The best books on the loop that I have found is Skipper Bob series. I figure it will take me and the wife about 12 to 14 months. We are "doing" the loop starting this March on our Hunter 260. John USNret

 

[bart5008]

A Dream trip

That is atrip I have always dreamed of. A circumnavigation of the Eastern US, but have never been in a finiancial situation to be able to go. Tried talking my brother into it. He has 8 boats at least count. The web site Greatloop.com has the best info on the trip I have seen. wish you luck. Bart Ford, Greenville, SC

 

[tom]

LKY a Hunter 260 sounds great

A trailerable boat where you can easily drop the mast sounds great for such a trip. Also if winter catches you you can trailer it home and resume the trip the following year. The only downside would be the small size in some big water. Is the 260 unsinkable???

 

[LKYusnret]

Hi Tom

I have herd that the Hunter 260 will just stay afloat if filled with water, in doing some of my improvement over the years I have run across a lot of floatation foam. Now as to unsinkable don't want to find out. My goal is to be in Chicago by October 1 to start heading SOUTH. As far as big water well the wife and I have taken Baums Rush to the Bahamas twice from Miami and sailed extensively Lake Erie , Buffalo to Cincinnati and back, the Chesapeake Bay so as far as big water I would say that qualifies. You have to watch for weather windows and NOT be in a time frame crunch. We also have a Corbin 39 that is in JAX and when we get back from the Great Loop we plan on doing a 12-15 year sail around the world. We both just retired this month and have been planing these trip for over 10 years. If you want to find some of the improvement that I have done to Baums Rush look in the photo forum under 260 and improvements. John USNret

 

[LKYusnret]

If interested in the travels of Baums Rush

send me an e-mail and I'll add you to my sailing buddies list and send you an e-mail about the trips about once a week or so. **LKYusnret2@aol.com** I have broad band internet on board. John USNret PS there is a picture of Baums Rush in the Bahamas