Cape Fear River

chuck1

chuck1

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Do we have any Cape Fear River Boaters? Sounds like a neat run. Can you still go all the way to Fayetteville? Are the lock and dam still in operation. What kind of depths does the channel have?
 
What happend to the Carolina Gang? Nobody has boated on the Cape Fear River?
 
Chuck,

It's a great area, but the river can get nasty with a little wind. I've been up the river as far as Wilmington. Try going through Snows Cut. You pop out on the other side and suddenly things get calm. A few years ago I went as far up the ICW as Wrightsville Beach. Wish I could have kept going. Don't miss Southport and Baldhead Island at the mouth of the river. Both nice stops. I'm sure there are locals on CSR who can give you much more detail.
 
Thanks Sadler. Yes I thought there would have been CSR boater on the river??? The article I stumbled onto about the river sounded like a neat trip.
 
Not sure about the upper river, we have only been to downtown Wilmington. But we have been to Bald Head, Southport many times, The river from Snows Cut down can get very nasty. We once left Bald Head, the river was rolling 7 to 9 feet, had 1 foot of water ON the bow. We have a 500SD. I thought it was fun, wife not so much.
 
Wilmington resident here.... you can still get from Wilmington all the way to Fayetteville via the Cape Fear. The lock and Dams are still in operation (at least in the spring and summer). You want to give them a call before heading that way to get thier schedules. most will open on demand but I have heard that one of them only is manned 3-4 days a week. the last time I made the run was in '91 on a 16ft skiff (camped on the river on the way up). I don't think I'de try it with my 260'


If you are looking for a nice day trip up the river I'de recommend running from Wilmington up the Cape Fear to the Black River. The Black river is a beautiful unspoiled black water river that will make you feel like your in a time machine looking back into what untamed nature really looked like.
 
Although we do not go far up cape fear river (usually on the eastside around Wrighstville) I have never seen the weather there with high seas. We do make the trip out of Beaufort down to the inlet by upper Wrightsville Beach. From there down its all good and a good ride to Southport.
 
The mouth of the Cape Fear can get easily get 10' swells when the wind is up and the tide is coming in. Once you get past Southport it calms down. Southport and Bald head Island are great overnight stops. There is a lot of ship traffic that can come up behind you very fast and quiet so keep an eye out. The run up the ICW to Wrightsville Beach is worthhwhile. Lots of great places in WB to eat and drink.
 
chuck1 said:
Why? Draft issue??
Click to expand...

Not really. After you get past Elizabethtown (which is near Lock & Dam #2 I remember a few spots that were hairy as far as depth but those were in my less experienced days when I just ran WOT and didn't care if I hit ground or not (remember it was an old 16' aluminum jon boat).

I wouldn't try it now in my 260 mainly because of the turbid (and often muddy) water conditions. You can't forsee shallows and I draw 3' now as opposed to 8 inches :) once you get past lock and dam #2 you won't see commercial traffic any longer and the river is only maintained/marked around the lock and dams.
 
JimT said:
The mouth of the Cape Fear can get easily get 10' swells when the wind is up and the tide is coming in.
Click to expand...

I'll echo that, normally it's a beautiful open ride but when the wind kicks up opposing the river's flow/tide the swells can get big and ugly real quick. some of the worst seas I've seen (inside the sea bouy) have been in the mouth of the cape fear between Bald Head and Southport.
 
Chuck,

We made the trip several years ago with a group from the Charlotte Power Squad. We put in near Elizabethtown and went to Wilmington. We went thru two locks. One of the locks had a rocky area at one end and was a little tricky coming out of it. The 215 hit bottom in a couple of bends in the river. There is a railroad bridge across the river before you get into Wilmington that has low clearance unless it is low tide. We could not find anyone to open the bridge on Sunday morning so we had to put the top and antenna down and slid under it. When we made the trip it had rained the week before and there was a lots of "stuff" in the water. It was an experience, but I wouldn't do it again unless I had a small boat with an outboard.

The trip from Santee to Charleston down the Cooper River is much more fun if you have never done that run.

Larry
 
Larry,

Thanks for the heads up about the river. If you bumped bottom in the 215 I'm sure I would in my 240SD since it's draft if about 1/2' deeper. It just looked like it would be a neat trip.

Yes "Santee to Charleston" is a cool trip. A group of us CSR members made the trip a couple years ago.

Chuck
 
We attempted the trip last summer but it wa after a decent rain there was just to much debris in the water. The river was about 15ft deep around Fayetteville, however, we only went about 10mi south before we turned around do to floating "stuff" hitting the boat.

We've launched in Southport a few times last summer and yes, the waves are rough going across the entrance between bald head and oak Is. OK, yeh, they were pretty rough even for the sturdy ol' 185. One trip we made we went to north MB. It was a nice treck.

We also launched at the SP @ Crolina beach @ snows cut. Now that is a nice area. We went north, close to Onslow Beach.
 
I'm in Carolina Beach at Snows Cut. I can't add much other than not to run the river at night, in the fog. Our last trip trip up to downtown Wilmington, we hit a railroad tie that was just barely submerged, luckily only at idle with no damage whatsoever. I won't head up river from Snows Cut for at least a week after any significant rain, just too much crap in the water.
 
SP to DC how long a trip is that? Have friends in DC never considered it....
 
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