Chicago to Mobile Bay

John,
Water would make for a very fun interesting trip, and not have to tear your boat apart to get it there. Lots of debris in the spring though. As Jeff said, if you head up let us know and we can all get together for a beer at least. Depending on when your headed down, I might be available as well to help crew it down river.
 
Raincoats in my strainer? What next?

Beers and get-togethers sound great. My dealer is dead set against trucking. Let's get a deal first.
 
"My dealer is dead set against trucking"

That's interesting...considering the economy and the market I would think he would be willing to do any thing to insure that you were happy with the deal. Properly dropping an arch and related equipment might be too much of a hill for this guy resource wise.

At the end of the day you are the decision maker and just need to find a competent shipper along with people on both ends that can handle the rigging. This looks like an opportunity, as Frank says to " take another bite out of the apple":thumbsup:
 
John

I am with Joe, and Jeff, lets get together for a beer when you come and take a look see at the boat and discuss taking it down river.
I had my arch taken down when I moved 'Dancing' up from St. Louis.
Not nearly the electronics I am sure a larger boat will have, but a lot of work putting things back together and getting them to work right.

I see no problem taking boat down to Mobile.
Lots of info and a lot of boats do the trip every year.

Where Jeff and I (and soon Joe) are moored for the summer, Hammond, IN.
This is the starting point every fall.
We see 10's of boats come through and I have had 2 friends do the same trip one year apart.
PM me for more info.

Just let us know.

Good Luck.

Dan
 
What marina is the boat at? I have plenty of shipping contacts around here depending on where the boat is at.
 
John,
If the boat is on Lake Michigan and you want to go down the Illinois Waterway where I have my boat currently it will take you 8 hours just to get where my marina is located due to 3 locks, lots of no wake zones and barge traffic. What you might consider is bypassing the Illinois Waterway and the Mississippi River and haul to boat to some place like Paducah, KY the Ohio River and then boat from that point on. However, as others have pointed out you still will have debris to deal with and potentially unmarked shallows. If it were my boat, I would pay the money to have it hauled to Florida even in warm weather. You're likely looking at $3K-$4K in diesel fuel to make the trip which is probably more than 50% of the cost of trucking.

If you decide to make the water trip, I can contact my marina, which has bubblers, if they can put you up overnight since this would be a full day of boating from the Lake just to get that far. I don't know what the docking situation is at any of the marinas down river from me which would potentially be your next night because with current and barge traffic, it would not be a good idea to anchor anywhere.
 
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John

I am not familiar with the height of 44DB, but according this website:

"Boats can’t have more than a 6-foot draft and must be able to pass under a fixed 19 foot 1 inch high railroad bridge on the Chicago Ship Canal. (This is your only access between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.)"

Lots more to read here..


http://www.captainjohn.org/Downriver.html

Edited to add this. Looks like you need about 18ft (20'2" - 2'6" + 6" margin) before you add Radar and other goodies to the arch.


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While thats true, theres another way that you don't need to go down the Chicago River, enter the river system at the Calumet river and avoid Chicago all together.
 
John,
I was talking witha Master Captain Saturday that routinely move 70'+ Azimut yachts for Skipper Buds and he uses the Welland/Erie Canal route to move boats to Florida from the Chicago area. He said the trip takes 17 days versus 30 via the Illinois Waterway. He even provided maps and marinas to stay at overnight. Essentially you go through the Great Lakes and through the Erie Canal to the Hudson River to the ocean and then down to Fl.
 
Just catching up on a lot of this info. Thank you. For now, we plan to truck it.
 
You have a great opportunity here. Buy the boat, spend the summer exploring the Great Lakes and ship to FL when you're done.
 
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