Opinions?
 

Figured I might as well ask here.

Got a deposit on a 44 foot trawler in Florida that if all checks out with the survey I'll be bringing up the coast via the ICW. My concerns are first that it will be a new to me boat that while I've checked it out and had it surveyed will still be a whole lot different than what I'm used to as far as piloting and handling and my more or less maiden voyage with her will be a 4 day trip. A good friend of mine is concerned about the ICW in Georgia due to large expanses of wilderness, strong tides, large sounds with large mud banks and sandbars etc. and really thinks I should hire a delivery captain to what I feel is basically babysit me while I bring the boat back with my wife. I'm on the fence. While I know that mother nature around here and especially a little further south is no joke, I feel like if thousands of retired mid westerners with little or no experience can do it, why not me. What y'all think?



SSIRedfish, any local knowledge or advice?

Can you ask around local yacht clubs/ marinas to see if there’s a retired guy or someone wanting some time away who’s experienced with the run and larger boats? I’d be concerned about tides if they’re faster than your hull speed - it’s not like a planing hull where you have the speed to keep you out of trouble.

This is way out of my pay grade but it seems there should be an option between going it alone and hiring a licensed captain. It doesn’t seem like something I’d want to do alone without a lot of studying, if then.

Check with Boat USA (Boatus) They did several articles on the ICW not long ago. (Less than a year) Seems the biggest problem with the ICW is misplaced buoys due to shifting sands and such. But as long as your GPS, Chart plotter, Depth sounder(s) and Radar are all working properly I say why not? Oh and make sure your Membership to Boat US is up to date so if you do get grounded you can get towed off for the cost of a radio call for help. Truthfully, if it was me I'd do it in a heartbeat. (And at 44' why are you wasting time with the ICW? As long as the weather was okay I'd go ocean as much as possible). :head:

And Congrats on the Trawler. You're doing what it's been my dream to do. Yes, I'm jealous..... 44' is just about the right size to do the loop.

And for those of you that don't know what the great loop is... It's described as the Appalachian trail for the aquatic set. Every year around a hundred boats prove this point by completing a circumnavigation of the entire eastern U.S. The path, called the Great Loop, is a continuous waterway connecting lakes, rivers, sounds, canals, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway."

Also referred to as America's Great Loop and the Great Circle Route, the trip varies from 5,000 to 7,500 miles (8,000 to 12,000 km) depending on route options and detours taken. The boats used range from personal watercraft to 60-foot-long (18 m) yachts. Both sailboats and powerboats travel the loop, but the most common boats are 34 to 45-foot (10 to 14 m) recreational trawlers. The main factors that govern the size of the boats are the limited draft (5 ft, 1.5 m) in some locations on the loop and the height of one bridge (19 ft, 5.8 m) in Chicago. People traveling the Great Loop are known as "loopers". The number of people attempting this voyage is growing as baby boomers reach retirement age.[3] In 2007, more than 150 boat owners notified America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association (AGLCA) that they planned to attempt the loop in the coming season.

Travis, this is Meyer, i will be waiting at slip F-18 in Bahai Mar, swing by and get me.

When I made the trip from Boston to Englewood in 05, we avoided the icm from Georgia to Florida until we had to go in at Stuart to go across the state. We stopped in St Mary's overnight, but no way would I consider using the icw through there. You have to go a fair ways offshore from the Florida/ Georgia line north to South Carolina because it is all SHALLOW sand flat offshore of Georgia from what I remembered. Not to mention the icw in Florida is a MADHOUSE with boat traffic.

I’m in a similar situation. I recently purchased a 38’ Egg Harbor and have to make a 80 mike trip home with her, 40 miles down a small river then 40 miles across the Chesapeake Bay. We made the trip in a smaller boat last weekend and fortunutely the river is well marked. My navionics app was spot on with the channel. The boat should of been home by now but unfortunately it has decided to show me the responsibilities of owning a big boat right off the bat. She has twin 454 Crusaders and once I got it in the water and fired up it appears a riser is leaking as it got water in a cylinder and bent a pushrod. Waiting on the risers to come in now.

Anyways back to your situation, I will be bringing my Egg home myself with a few of my buddies. Like suggested above, I have the Gold Unlimited Boat US plan just in case. I’d say with good equipment and a few sets of eyes just go for it. If you weren’t so far I’d be willing to come help out, sounds like a damn good time to me.

Get a tablet and purchase the Aqua Map App. It's downloads Active Captain info which is live updates from participants as they go along the ICW. That info has saved me may times. Read this guys blog:

http://fleetwing.blogspot.com/

Bob cruises up and down the ICW every year in a deep draft sailboat and documents the entire trip. Look at the April posts when he came through Georgia. He also publishes a book every year on Amazon and makes updates on Active Captain.

I have made the ICW trip about a dozen times from Annapolis to Florida and beyond, usually piloting a 65' Flemming with a five foot draft. I prefer to run outside and bypass Georgia but have made the inside run as well. Aqua Maps also has tides and current data. You just have to time everything right and stay alert. Allow extra time so you are not pushing it. Some very cool places along the way.

Really appreciate everyone's responses. Doing the survey today. Will keep y'all posted.

Good luck!

If you buy it are you gonna give away your V-20? Seems to be a some precedent for that. ;-)

Hope you get it...it is also a dream of mine to own a trawler and travel by water.

I don't have any experience with the ICW down that way, but I know each spring and fall the ICW in Brunswick County NC is packed with big boats going north or south with no problem...I don't see how Georgia's ICW could be worse than here as far as being narrow and shallow.

GarageNC is doing the same thing, he's got trawler now. Said he took Trawler School, you might want to contact him. I can put you in touch with some people that frequent those waters, I can get you in touch with a captain for hire if needed

One of the best pieces of advise I've ever herd about running the ditch is plan your trips in 6 hour intervals, leave the dock at dead low, run the incoming, if you run aground, wait it out and you should float off. Try to plan your arrival at dead high tide so its easier to dock. Never go thru an area you're not familiar with on a falling tide. There's no shame in tieing off on the T head and waiting for the tide and wind to cooperate

X2 100% agreement!!

Again all good advice. Spare I pmed GarageNC a while back while we were shopping and actually saw a post of his on a facebook page for trawlers that my wife is on, I'll try contacting him again. Survey came back as expected and a few minor items being corrected before the closing and documentation paperwork. I'd like for it to all go through this week to give me time to make the trip before the new moon. Really thinking I'm gonna run her myself with the wifey. Watching the depth, tides, weather and surroundings, stopping when we feel like we should. Like most things in life I feel like after having run her some and gotten a feel for the handling things will be a lot less daunting. Still open to any advice, words of caution, etc.

Here she is, Wait N Sea.

https://youtu.be/vcfe8B3XOJo

Again, any comments, concerns, advice are appreciated from the esteemed fraternity of The Norton Snaggers

Wow Bradford, congratulations on your trawler, she is a beauty and looks well cared for. Very classy looking rig, looks like fun!

Congratulations, very nice!!
Have you considered plotting a path like 5 or so miles offshore to parallel the coast with port locations for food, fuel and rest? Should cut the trip time and distance considerably.
I know the channels from the sounds to ocean getting in or out can be a real bastard when the wind and tide fight each other. If you needed to get from offshore to avoid bad weather.

:love:beatiful!:clap:

Again appreciate the comments.


Pipe, no not giving the V20 away for free, love that ol' girl too much. Seriously.

Tsubaki if I was seasoned with her I might run outside, but right now I like the idea of being inside and being able to anchor up if needed.

Been looking at the tides and times and I'm gonna run her myself, whether it takes 3-4 days or a week. Its crazy, after studying charts and online info, parts that worried me before aren't so bad and others are worse. We're just gonna take our time, watch the tides and depths and get home when we get home. It will be a learning experience.

Still appreciative of comments or advice.

You got yourself a beauty there!!! ENJOY HER!!!! :clap:

WOW!!!! That is a nice boat.

Hey Bradford sorry just saw your post. I've ran the GA portion of the ICW from Sapelo to Cumberland but that's the only experience I have with it. Only place that really sucks in by Jekyll. It's super shallow by the wharf. You have to keep fairly close to the docks at low tide. Otherwise Army Corps and USCG do a pretty good job of maintenance on that run through GA

We made it! Boat, wifey and myself, all did great, really proud of my wife. I'll give a more detailed account later, but was well worth it.

Very cool!!!:sun:

:clap::clap::clap: Congratulations :clap::clap::clap:

Was a great trip, took us 4 days watching and running the tides. Left New Smyrna Beach at 1030am Tuesday morning and made it to St Augustine by 730pm and tied to a mooring in the city mooring field. Most of the Florida run was pretty straight forward, easy to navigate, well marked channels with plenty of depth. Left the Wed morning at 7 am and ran up to the back side of Cumberland Island and anchored in Brickhill River at 730pm. We were the only boat around for miles, awesome sunset and cloud formations, cooked burgers on the grill. Set the alarm for 1230am to see how she handled the tide shift, did fine. Left at 7am again to make it through St Andrews sound before the tide shifted. Was a little hairy with a strong east wind and you have to go out to the mouth of the sound to avoid some huge sandbars with names like "The Coffin" and "The Bulkhead". Went up behind Jekyll Island and sure enough was shallow, especially halfway through just past the wharf. Wait N Sea draws +/- 4 ft 2 in and we saw 4.5 going just above idle. Got out of there and was glad to see St. Simons sound, bought fuel at Golden Isles Marina, Super nice people, ask for Joseph. Took on 160 gallons of diesel. Mackay River was deep and wide. Approaching Altamaha Sound things got skinny and shallow, least favorite part of the trip. Enter Little Mud River on mid tide rising and saw 4.5 feet again at the entrance, though the rest of the stretch was good, the bad part that I was worried about was 14 feet deep. Front River and Creighton Narrows was actually really beautiful and pleasant cruising. Doboy Sound was easy, Little teakettle creek was nice, Sapelo sound is no joke though, big wide, deep and goes on forever, not to mention we were the only boat out there, I'm talking no sign of anybody for hours. Approaching the mouth of Sapelo we find red number 138 to be missing and some pretty big ocean swell coming in with the steady east wind. Channel markers in this sound are just far enough apart to still be able to see them with binoculars. A little bewildered and tired from no sleep we find Johnson creek to be smooth and scenic, St Catherines sound to be not so bad and bear river to Killkinny to be nice. Tied up at Killkinny Creek marina to spend the night and absolutely crashed out and slept. Slept in some the next morning and left on the low slack tide to take our time going through Florida Passage allowing the tide to come up to about half before passing through Hell Gate. Skinny channel with tidal current and again a strong east wind. Made it through unscathed although was constantly on the helm and watching the sounder, saw 6.5 feet through there on mid tide. By that time we were home free in home waters and cruise through Vernon river, Skidaway Narrows, Isle of Hope and finally in our home port of Turner's Creek on Wilmington Island. Was nerve racking doing it the first time alone with only my wife on a boat I just got that I had experienced docking one time when I pulled up to let the seller off before departing New Smyrna. Would DEFINANTLY do it all over again, but would allow some more time to sit back and take in the sights. Would never run some of those Sounds or stretches in bad weather, with approaching nightfall, or without good recent charts, gps, and a good sounder. Was an awesome experience though for both of us and I feel like people really can't appreciate it unless they've been there themselves. If anyone else makes this run, I'm glad to give advice about different areas.

Bradford... AWESOME, JUST AWESOME!!!!! :clap::clap::clap:

Now that’s a great adventure. Congratulations to you and your wife:sun:

Congrats B,

Livin the dream!!