Ohio river to the gulf ?

[sailersteve]

Dose anyone know if its possible to sail & or motor from Cincinnati Ohio's, Ohio river to Mobile Alabama , With a sailboat that has a 2ft draft & a 8ft air draft with the mast hinged down ? At the end of December ? Or a second choice ,Ohio river to the Mississippi river then to the gulf ?Is this possible ? thanks in advance for your input on this . sincerely .

 

[Bob McL]

Check this:

http://www.greatloop.org/

 

[Bill1565]

Dose anyone know if its possible to sail & or motor from Cincinnati Ohio's, Ohio river to Mobile Alabama , With a sailboat that has a 2ft draft & a 8ft air draft with the mast hinged down ? At the end of December ? Or a second choice ,Ohio river to the Mississippi river then to the gulf ?Is this possible ? thanks in advance for your input on this . sincerely .

Possible yes. Comfortable no. Gets COLD In December. Also some marinas and fuel stops will be closed.

 

[sailaway78]

Lots do it.

Lots of people come down the Tombigbee to Mobile Bay. Other than cold this time of year, should be no problems.

 

[Johnb]

The attached map is a summary of navigable waters of the eastern US.

The army corps of engineers has a website with all kinds of interesting information on it

 

[gettinthere]

Your drafts will be no problem on the route thru the Ten-Tom. But as has been said, it will be cold. It was pretty chilly in Oct when we did it with our 5'6" draft and roughly 12' air draft.

 

[kloudie1]

Depending on your "air draft" you may not even have to hinge the mast down..
http://business.tenntom.org/using-the-tenn-tom/bridges/
I am thinking the Ohio has big bridge clearance too as does the Mississippi, if you are thinking of going that way..

 

[sailersteve]

Thanks Kloudie1for the bridges page to look up. I'm thinking about 40' mast air draft, antennas and all. I've got plenty of room for those bridges . thanks again ,

AND THANKS TO ALL thats answered this thread . It's encouragement, that will help me get to paradise or anywhere but Toledo !

 

[bletso]

If memory serves me, the controlling height for the Tom Bigbee route is 52ft and controlling depth is 9 ft. You can download all the chart books to your computer and then to your ipad or similar. When you're ready i would then buy the paper chart books.

 

[sailersteve]

thanks bletso. well height & depth is not a problem, i'm at about 40ft and 2ft respectfully. The thing i was worrying about are a dam or low water late a the year . Joining the AGLCA & activecaptain should be enough to learn the route and things too know . Thanks again .