Has anyone taken their 420 Passage up or down the ICW and what advice can you offer? Our boat has the shoal draft of 5’. Air draft is supposed to be a little over 58’ plus our VHF antenna and wind instrument.
Hunter 420 Passage trip on the ICW
- Thread starter galliob53
- Start date
Galli where are you? If you are speaking of Southern Florida you should be OK. Our 41DS has a 5' draft and 63' air draft! Some places are tight but OK on the SW FL coast and the SE FL coast draft is tight but doable.
Hi Nodak7, we will be entering the ICW at Norfolk and making our way south, commencing in early October. Thanks for your insights on FL and with your 41DS which is essentially the same boat as our Passage except for cabin layout.
@galliob53 I think you need to check your air draft
I think the actual air draft of a Passage 420 is more like 63' 3" plus antenna or so, not 58'. The 58' is the mast height (from the deck step) not from the waterline. Unless your mast has been shortened by the PO, you have the same air draft as @Nodak7 and my Hunter 40.5. I've made the trip from Norfolk as far south as Thunderbolt GA and there are some clearances that are tight and may require timing to take into account the tides (depth and bridge clearance) and wind (bridge clearance at the Wilkerson Bridge near Bellhaven NC). Also be aware some bridges will not open if the wind is too strong (I think 35 mph or so). Its a pleasant trip if you take your time.
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Thanks for that info, I figured we would need to pay close attention to the tides as we made our way and this makes it even more imperative. Any ideas on measuring mast height without actually climbing to the top? I have a laser range finder and thought about using that and some trigonometry but any other ideas also welcomed.
@galliob53 Don't take my word for the air draft though. I could be wrong (I have been before
) So hopefully someone here on this forum with a Hunter Passage 420 can answer the question definitivaly (except for owner mods). I'd start a new post with that question (air clearance of Hunter Passage 420 or something like that) to get the focus on answering that question and maybe que up a few answers from actual Passage 420 owners. Best of luck and don't forget to stop by Beaufort SC on your way down the ICW. One of the best and easyist stops for fuel and a visit from a town with a lot of history that has a downtown Marina just steps from many restaurants and shops.
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I wouldn't trust a lasar range finder when it comes to inches of clearance on some bridges (maybe even tinging the antenna once in a while). Even a little error in the measurements and you could be in real trouble. You will clinch your teeth and pucker up the first time you clear one of these bridges and look up at the top of the mast, even with a few feet of clearance
Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions so far. I’ll start a new post as suggested and see what input I get. Also, I’ll try to be diligent with posts about our trip.
We just came up from the keys in our 1997 42 Passage which I think is the same external dimensions. All fixed bridges are 65 except the Tuttle bridge in Miami. The opening bridges are obvious as you come upon them as they only have some 20 - 30 feet of clearance. If the bridge looms way up in the air you are fine.
Just checked and your mast is 2 feet shorter than ours. Even better. Ours is just under 60. The further South you go the more bridges and the more opening bridges you'll encounter. West Palm through Miami must average a bridge every 5 miles ( it seemed at least), but North of West Palm there are long stretches without bridges. Often 20 + miles.
So even though you will be nervous the first several times, you'll get so you hardly think about the bridges after a few.
Also your draft is the same as ours and the only issue we had was going into Stuart. Just West of the ICW there was a very small spot that we actually bumped the bottom one time as we came in. Other than that we had good water everywhere. Staying in the channel is absolutely necessary in much of the ICW. But it's well marked and very easy to follow.
Like my sailmaker said " the biggest problem with the ICW is boredom not seamanship.
Just checked and your mast is 2 feet shorter than ours. Even better. Ours is just under 60. The further South you go the more bridges and the more opening bridges you'll encounter. West Palm through Miami must average a bridge every 5 miles ( it seemed at least), but North of West Palm there are long stretches without bridges. Often 20 + miles.
So even though you will be nervous the first several times, you'll get so you hardly think about the bridges after a few.
Also your draft is the same as ours and the only issue we had was going into Stuart. Just West of the ICW there was a very small spot that we actually bumped the bottom one time as we came in. Other than that we had good water everywhere. Staying in the channel is absolutely necessary in much of the ICW. But it's well marked and very easy to follow.
Like my sailmaker said " the biggest problem with the ICW is boredom not seamanship.
No a 420 but I've taken my 38 between Ft. Lauderdale and Hilton Head, same air and water draft. I actually plan 61' air draft because of antennae and so on. You can't get further south on the AICW due to the Julia Tuttle causeway.
I did a couple of legs outside, St. Johns to Brunswick and Brunswick to St. Catherines but otherwise all inside. All very doable and actually some beautiful and peaceful scenery in north FL and GA, and a couple of lovely isolated anchorages.
A little more info. There's a book called something like "Anchorages in the ICW" by Skipper Bob. Good but not comprehensive and a few of the anchorages recommended were untenable due to current and holding, still worth it though.
There are a couple of places, and this place in particular that you will want to be very careful. The marking here is a bit dodgy and they do move. In our case because of the unclear marking (at the time) we somehow ended up on the wrong side of the river. We were motoring along showing 0.1 under the keel. When we attempted to move back over we bumped, there's a slight bottom ridge between the "wrong side" and the channel so we pressed on sloooooooowly motoring at 0.1-0.3 feet. We made it, but the Catalina 38 traveling behind us stuck and powered out a couple of times.
Lesson learned: If you get confused by the markings in these shallow areas STOP and backtrack to a known good position, then try it again.
We did run aground (on a rising tide on a sandbar) just south of the St. Lucie inlet. The ICW makes a HARD 90 away from the coast but the river continues on. At the turn of the tide the current there is insane (and we were lucky it was a king tide lol) and we literally got sucked sideways onto the bar. Be careful here.
Hell Gate was dredged recently and while narrow is a breeze.
There are a couple of "alternate" cuts in the N FL, S GA area, we did not take any of them, one looked ok the others suspicious for a vessel our size.
Especially in S FL you'll be much more comfortable/enjoyable going outside. The AICW at that point is essentially a canal between concrete walls filled with idiots trying to break speed records and the wakes just bounce back and forth between the walls. On the other hand the winding trip through the GA/SC salt marshes can be lovely and lots of places to drop the hook.
Also in S FL below, say Stuart, where the bridges are mostly Bascule and many of them, you better make sure your station keeping is good and you can back your boat. The bridge tenders want you close to the bridge to open, but at the same time there can be RIPPING currents near the bridges. We tried to figure out the timing so we could hit the bridges on their opening schedule, but we can't go fast enough to do that. As of a few months ago there are several Bascules that only open one span, one due to maintenance and a couple where they are building a fixed bridge next to it. Be extra careful here.
There are a couple of places, and this place in particular that you will want to be very careful. The marking here is a bit dodgy and they do move. In our case because of the unclear marking (at the time) we somehow ended up on the wrong side of the river. We were motoring along showing 0.1 under the keel. When we attempted to move back over we bumped, there's a slight bottom ridge between the "wrong side" and the channel so we pressed on sloooooooowly motoring at 0.1-0.3 feet. We made it, but the Catalina 38 traveling behind us stuck and powered out a couple of times.
Lesson learned: If you get confused by the markings in these shallow areas STOP and backtrack to a known good position, then try it again.
We did run aground (on a rising tide on a sandbar) just south of the St. Lucie inlet. The ICW makes a HARD 90 away from the coast but the river continues on. At the turn of the tide the current there is insane (and we were lucky it was a king tide lol) and we literally got sucked sideways onto the bar. Be careful here.
Hell Gate was dredged recently and while narrow is a breeze.
There are a couple of "alternate" cuts in the N FL, S GA area, we did not take any of them, one looked ok the others suspicious for a vessel our size.
Especially in S FL you'll be much more comfortable/enjoyable going outside. The AICW at that point is essentially a canal between concrete walls filled with idiots trying to break speed records and the wakes just bounce back and forth between the walls. On the other hand the winding trip through the GA/SC salt marshes can be lovely and lots of places to drop the hook.
Also in S FL below, say Stuart, where the bridges are mostly Bascule and many of them, you better make sure your station keeping is good and you can back your boat. The bridge tenders want you close to the bridge to open, but at the same time there can be RIPPING currents near the bridges. We tried to figure out the timing so we could hit the bridges on their opening schedule, but we can't go fast enough to do that. As of a few months ago there are several Bascules that only open one span, one due to maintenance and a couple where they are building a fixed bridge next to it. Be extra careful here.
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Be careful assuming this. True they were specified as 65' but a couple of them somehow ended up a little shorter, in addition subsidence since they were built has lowered a couple of them. If you are one the edge, be super careful/use tides. You might find its only 63'.
Recent thread on this on cruisersforum.net where specific bridges are called out.
Here is a screen shot of the St. Lucie Inlet area that can be confusing. Study the buoyage. There is an intersection of the ICW with the St. Lucie River. Locally this is known as the Crossroads. The St. Lucie River is marked with the US Aids to Navigation system (Red Right returning.) The ICW is marked with red and green with no regard to returning or heading out. There are supposed to be yellow markers on the pole to help distinguish be we found they are often not visible unless you are close enough or in limited visibility situations. Also notice the shoal in the middle of the area.
Along the ICW when it crosses a river the markings shift from ICW to Red Right Returning. It can get confusing.
Here is an example from Novcen.uscg... Note The ICW is running West to East in the example but North to South on the chart above.
Along the ICW when it crosses a river the markings shift from ICW to Red Right Returning. It can get confusing.
Here is an example from Novcen.uscg... Note The ICW is running West to East in the example but North to South on the chart above.
yes, .com
I think the thread title is something about mast height and was started by manateeman as I recall. s/b simple to search for it...on a real screen with a real keyboard.
As I stated on an earlier post. We just came up from Marathon to Port Canaveral and all the bridges we saw had 65 feet. However we did stay out of the ICW from Miami to Ft Lauderdale, and Ft Lauderdale to W Palm Beach.