Up the Mississippi

sailaway78 · Jun 25, 2012

What part of the river?

If your talking about the upper Mississippi, I don't have any answers. If your talking about the lower part of it, I have only this to say. Forget it. On the lower river, the barge traffic is unbelievable, marinas non existant, and even the ability to purchase fuel questionable. You would have to have the capacity to run for several hundred miles, non stop, and more than likely with what ever fuel you could carry. I would bet that if you questioned some of these boats you see that come from the south, they either came up the Ten Tom, or the great loop. I have, out of necessity, been in the river through New Orleans. All I can say is never again. Keep in mind that you will be meeting, or passed by, 600' barge strings, that are not going to give you an inch, and take up most of the river in turns. You cannot cross the river at Baton Rouge and not see 10 to 50 barges, either in the channel, or tied up alongside, waiting to go. I once did a google earth search and could find absolutely no small boat faciliity of any kind from New Orleans, to way up past Baton Rouge.

Ross · Jun 25, 2012

Re: What part of the river?

No more Huck Finn times?

Robert 47 · Jun 25, 2012

The man from Louisiana is telling you like it is. I live on the Mississippi, and sail on it from time to time when the elements are right. You are good for marina's and services from where you are in MN, till you leave St. Louis, MO. You can fuel up just below the city, but there are no fuel stops to the Ohio River junction. Long way, and no decent anchorages. You may get fuel in Memphis, TN, but can't guarantee you that. You will share the river with barges. Channel is narrow at times, and very shallow on the edges. Everyone I know has gone the Ten Tom, which in my opinion is the only way to go. I have made the trip from Mobile, AL. to St. Louis, MO, and is a very interesting and fun trip to make. Good Luck. But as the man say, Better off going the other way.

Juice6576 · Jun 25, 2012

Muscatine to Clinton, IL

I can speak with some experience for the upper Mississippi form Muscatine IA to Clinton, IL. Start with a chartbook of the river from the Army Engineers. Time of year is also important. River heights and currents are tougher in the Spring, so going up-river will be slow and you will use more fuel. On the plus side, the water depths are higher which will help with clearing wing and lateral dams. On the down side, you will have less bridge clearance. Sailboats are a minority on the river and don't get much respect. Larger cities like Davenport, Moline and Dubuque have decent size marinas with fuel, although I had a gas outboard, so I'm not sure about Diesel availability. River tows are smaller in the upper Miss, but they get priority at the locks and dams. Give them a lot of room and don't run directly astern. They have been known to kick up submerged logs, which will pierce a fiberglass hull like a torpedo.

kloudie1 · Jun 26, 2012

Different boats are different in fuel, etc but conservatively, with that size boat and engine, diesel will be consumed at 1/2 gallon per hour at 5 knots. then the current has to be considered as adding or subtracting from that speed for distance calculation.

Duke · Jun 26, 2012

FWIW: My Yanmar 3GMD burns 1/2 gal. of diesel per hour at 2000 RPM. Naturally my SOG varies with wind and current conditions.

Ross · Jun 26, 2012

With my 10 horsepower volvo I get about 20 miles to the gallon at about 4 kts.

Benny17441 · Jun 26, 2012

Only the salmon swims upstream. Regarding your burn rate it will be the same as in a quiet pond, about 1/2 gallon per hour for the 2GM, you just will not get very far in an hour upstream on the Miss. When trying to calculate range and amount of fuel required for a leg the burn rate is a constant and speed, distance and required fuel become the variables.

Al Garrett · Jun 28, 2012

Right after retirement, I ran downstream from Little Rock to the Gulf in 2001 in a 36' Gibson houseboat. It was the ride of a lifetime and I survived the 2000 mile "southern circle" without any great calamity. However, I agree that the barge and ship traffic, are a serious and constant threat to small boats.

It took me ten years to pay for and install all the basic equipment for the boat. Another two years were spent in study, preparation and adding the additional tankage, charts and other equipment needed.

Now, I'm converting a MacGregor 26X into a trailerable mini-trawler with the hope of doing at least parts of it again.

Al in Arkansas

cephius (Dave) · Jul 1, 2012

I've done it.

I've run my boat from Pepin, WI up to the St Croix confluence, had them raise the highway and railroad bridges at Prescott. We then took the St Croix up to Hudson, WI. There were a couple of lakes on the St. Croix, so we were able to sail part of the trip.

There was plenty of marinas and fuel docks on that two day trip up river (6 Kts against an average of 3 Kts current). We spent the night in the Treasure Island Casino marina, a very nice facility which includes $10.00 in chips for staying.

Between Lock and Dam #3 and the Cities the channel is very narrow with no passing room to get around the commercial traffic. The barge tows make about 5 Kts, so it takes plenty of time for me to pass. They take up the full channel on turns, so I stay well behind and hope the wind blows their exhaust away. I was glad to leave the Mississippi for the St. Croix. If you meet them going the opposite way, its a good idea to get on channel 12 and contact the Captain to know which side he wants you to pass on.

Sailboats are virtually unknown once you leave Lake Pepin. The average recreational boater will stare in wonder. Few will give you a break with their wake. They run fast even when the river doesn't provide a good line of sight, so us slow boats have to make sure we are on the correct side of the channel. The green and red nav buoys do mark the channel well.

Note that there is only one lock and dam and no wing dams above Lake Pepin. Going downriver from Lake Pepin there are 3 lock and dams between Wabasha and La Crosse with plenty of wing dams. There is no water big enough to sail, so we haven't made a downriver trip yet.

cephius (Dave) · Jul 10, 2012

I believe it is a market issue. People buy power boats to go fast. Few buy displacement hulls, and even those want max HP. The idea of a lazy river barge is foreign to the American phyche.

Not many "green" or hybrid power boats seen on the upper Mississippi.

Al Garrett · Jul 16, 2012

anchorclanker:

On the 2,000 mile southern loop in the Gibson houseboat, I used almost $ 1,400 in gas, or about $150 per month. I had all the time in the world but not all the money so I went as slow as possible the whole way stretching my gas mileage with the 12 x 40 boat underpowered with a single 135 hp Volvo gas inboard. I ran just hard enough for steerage downriver, a little above idle for steerage. Up flooding rivers, I ran up to 3600 RPM to make headway. I averaged 3-4 mpg counting generator use. No mechanical failures and few prop strike accidents. Almost no gas stops on the lower river so I carried 300 gallons of gas just in case.

My sailboat conversions get around 10mpg so that's my current interest in boating. Narrow rivers and bridges limit sailing in most places I've been in Arkansas. The complexity and space taken by sailing equipment convinced me to strip the 26X into a minitrawler. Hopefully, it will be comfortable and well equiped upon completion and the best economy cruiser I can afford.

Al in Arkansas