OneMoreHour
New Member
- Jun 14, 2007
- 92
- Boat Info
- 2004 280 Sundancer,
Kohler 5E Generator, Garmin 740S GPS
- Engines
- Twin 4.3L MPI w/Alpha 1 Drives
Here’s the late TN River trip report. Two long boat trip weekends and a lot of work haven’t left me with much spare time lately. Anyways, the 2008 TN River Rendezvous didn’t exactly turn out as originally planned.
Based on the people that stated they were not coming and the lack of communication from anyone else leading up to July 4th, I didn’t think anyone from CSR was going to show up for the rendezvous. My wife and I decided we were going to go anyways, and just make it a short family vacation and do our own thing. If someone else from CSR showed up, we would figure out what to do then.
It turns out that we were the only boat from CSR there… sort of. Times Like These was there also, but his family has a place at Euchee and they were going to be there no matter what doing family stuff. So the 2008 CSR TN River Rendezvous was just our family, but that was what we were expecting and that was fine.
We arrived at Euchee Marina Wednesday afternoon. When we arrived, their transient docks were literally empty except for one large river cruiser at the end that hasn’t moved in three years. A few more boats showed up before the end of the day, but from talking to people, it seemed that there were less boats there than in previous years. More boats showed up over the weekend at the docks, but their transient docks were never close to being full. We ran over to the Spring City Dock Restaurant for dinner.
Thursday, we were going to run down to Pine Harbor Marina on Chickamauga Lake to eat BBQ at Steve’s, but a phone call informed us they were not open for lunch during the week. We reverted to plan B which was to run to B&B Marina on the Hiawassee River and eat at Paradise Point. So off we headed down the lake. Got to Watts Bar dam, hailed the lockmaster on the VHF, and he had the lock doors open for us when we got there. No waiting and no one else in the lock. A short easy trip down and we were on Chickamauga Lake. Made the run to B&B, and we were not very impressed with the appearance of Paradise Point, but the interior was nice and we ended up having a decent lunch.
Made the run back up to Watts Bar, and this time there were two other small boats in the lock going up. One was an older bass boat that basically only had a thick piece of string to tie up while in the lock. Why is it so difficult for some people to obtain proper lines for their boats? Later, back at Euchee Marina, we had another bow rider come loose from the adjacent slip and almost hit our boat because he was using a two foot piece of old thin poly rope as a dock line which came loose while they were away.
Friday, we ran up the town of Kingston which was having a July 4th festival on their waterfront. There were food vendors and displays right by the river. But the highlight of the festival while we were there were the drag boat races. They were having a regional drag boat competition on the river. We had some lunch, watched the loud fast boats race for a while, and headed back to Euchee.
We decided to avoid the crowds on the water at night on the fourth, and just stay at Euchee to watch fireworks. The Euchee Marina and Resort put on a good small fireworks show, but we could see several other larger fireworks shows in the distance at other towns or marina’s. My wife and I sat on our boat in the slip and watched the show, and our kids actually fished from the dock and caught mostly tiny fish during the fireworks. When it was over, we just walked back to our room instead of dealing with a bunch of boats on the water, many with dock lights and spotlights on screwing up everyone’s night vision. We also saw the TWRA (law enforcement) stop several boats with one, two or all lights out.
Saturday, we drove down to Chattanooga by car. We visited Ruby Falls, the Choo Choo, and walked along the waterfront. Chattanooga was a nice place to visit. We drove back to Euchee, and boated over to Blue Springs Marina for a very good dinner.
Sunday, it was time to pack up and head home. The trip home was uneventful except for battery problems in my suburban. Sunday morning, it wouldn’t start, and I had to use my battery jump box to get it started. When we stopped in Knoxville to get gas, it wouldn’t start at all even with my jump box or another one we tried. Very luckily, I had stopped at Sam’s Club to get gas, so I bought a new battery inside at Sam’s, the auto tech walked over to the gas pumps with the new battery and installed it. The problem was solved. No sweat.
Overall it was a great trip. Euchee Marina and Resort is a good place to use as a base for visiting the area. It would have been nice to meet up with everyone, but we still had a very good time.
Here’s some photo’s:
Based on the people that stated they were not coming and the lack of communication from anyone else leading up to July 4th, I didn’t think anyone from CSR was going to show up for the rendezvous. My wife and I decided we were going to go anyways, and just make it a short family vacation and do our own thing. If someone else from CSR showed up, we would figure out what to do then.
It turns out that we were the only boat from CSR there… sort of. Times Like These was there also, but his family has a place at Euchee and they were going to be there no matter what doing family stuff. So the 2008 CSR TN River Rendezvous was just our family, but that was what we were expecting and that was fine.
We arrived at Euchee Marina Wednesday afternoon. When we arrived, their transient docks were literally empty except for one large river cruiser at the end that hasn’t moved in three years. A few more boats showed up before the end of the day, but from talking to people, it seemed that there were less boats there than in previous years. More boats showed up over the weekend at the docks, but their transient docks were never close to being full. We ran over to the Spring City Dock Restaurant for dinner.
Thursday, we were going to run down to Pine Harbor Marina on Chickamauga Lake to eat BBQ at Steve’s, but a phone call informed us they were not open for lunch during the week. We reverted to plan B which was to run to B&B Marina on the Hiawassee River and eat at Paradise Point. So off we headed down the lake. Got to Watts Bar dam, hailed the lockmaster on the VHF, and he had the lock doors open for us when we got there. No waiting and no one else in the lock. A short easy trip down and we were on Chickamauga Lake. Made the run to B&B, and we were not very impressed with the appearance of Paradise Point, but the interior was nice and we ended up having a decent lunch.
Made the run back up to Watts Bar, and this time there were two other small boats in the lock going up. One was an older bass boat that basically only had a thick piece of string to tie up while in the lock. Why is it so difficult for some people to obtain proper lines for their boats? Later, back at Euchee Marina, we had another bow rider come loose from the adjacent slip and almost hit our boat because he was using a two foot piece of old thin poly rope as a dock line which came loose while they were away.
Friday, we ran up the town of Kingston which was having a July 4th festival on their waterfront. There were food vendors and displays right by the river. But the highlight of the festival while we were there were the drag boat races. They were having a regional drag boat competition on the river. We had some lunch, watched the loud fast boats race for a while, and headed back to Euchee.
We decided to avoid the crowds on the water at night on the fourth, and just stay at Euchee to watch fireworks. The Euchee Marina and Resort put on a good small fireworks show, but we could see several other larger fireworks shows in the distance at other towns or marina’s. My wife and I sat on our boat in the slip and watched the show, and our kids actually fished from the dock and caught mostly tiny fish during the fireworks. When it was over, we just walked back to our room instead of dealing with a bunch of boats on the water, many with dock lights and spotlights on screwing up everyone’s night vision. We also saw the TWRA (law enforcement) stop several boats with one, two or all lights out.
Saturday, we drove down to Chattanooga by car. We visited Ruby Falls, the Choo Choo, and walked along the waterfront. Chattanooga was a nice place to visit. We drove back to Euchee, and boated over to Blue Springs Marina for a very good dinner.
Sunday, it was time to pack up and head home. The trip home was uneventful except for battery problems in my suburban. Sunday morning, it wouldn’t start, and I had to use my battery jump box to get it started. When we stopped in Knoxville to get gas, it wouldn’t start at all even with my jump box or another one we tried. Very luckily, I had stopped at Sam’s Club to get gas, so I bought a new battery inside at Sam’s, the auto tech walked over to the gas pumps with the new battery and installed it. The problem was solved. No sweat.
Overall it was a great trip. Euchee Marina and Resort is a good place to use as a base for visiting the area. It would have been nice to meet up with everyone, but we still had a very good time.
Here’s some photo’s:
Last edited:
