Cruising Lake Norman?

Cliff, you are referring to North Harbor. They have 18 slips for customers. Very good food and bar. Wife and I still go down there often even though we are boatless. Slanting Bridge is also very good. Great ribs. They too have slips or will run a taxi service if you anchor. I have not been to the Rusty Rudder so I can't comment. The 3 restaurants at the 150 bridge have been hit or miss. They seem to change owners frequently. But they have live entertainment and outside bars. Edit: River City has been there a while.
 
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wish i would have seen this post last week but i did not check the forum posts the last couple days last week......we could have hooked up.....we were out both Saturday and Sunday...we camped near Lake Norman Marina Saturday night.....Saturday we stayed mostly on the northern end exploring the many fingers off of the main channel...Sunday we ventured down to the southern end and went all the way to the interstate 77 bridge.....does anyone know the name of the restaurant at the I77 bridge that is at the condos?....is there any docks for visiting boats or are they all for the condo owners only?.......the lake was much busier on Sunday....the water in the main channel was fairly rough but since we are new to the lake this may be normal....i am guessing the waves were 1 - 2 ft on Sunday in the big water....i was pleased at how well our boat handled the rougher water....our old 18.5' bow rider would have beat us to death in those conditions......the water conditions on the northern end were much calmer.....

we are REALLY liking having the boat in the water this year instead of trailering.....it is just more relaxing and less effort needed to go boating....we are loving how large the lake is....we have not hit any restaurants yet but looking forward to that as well.....the boat is running great so far since i replaced the ignition system last year so we are not nervous about being stranded in the water for mechanical reasons.....we have camped on the lake the past two WE's and having a blast.....

next time you go out let us know.....

cliff

I think your talking about, North Harbor Club restaurant. It's a nice fancier restaurant on Lake Norman. I believe they have slips available for the restaurant.
Unless your talking about The Rusty Rudder, they definetly have slips for the restaurant.

I would definetly enjoy rafting up on a weekend with you guys. I've been trying to get the Carolina Boaters, to come up and do a raft up also. One day.....

1-2ft chop is normal on the lake when everyone is running about. Some places it gets larger when the cross chop starts to run into each other.

Sunday, I was in the cove above the hwy 150 bridge. It's on the left (port) side as your traveling north. Sometimes I head up to the cove further up river, but didn't go that far.
Glad to hear you are enjoying LKN, it's big enough to explore, and find hidden areas. I still haven't explored all the coves either.
I'll be in touch when I go out again. See ya on the lake!
 
I was on the north end of the lake Jim. Even Little Creek was full of boats. I was going from creek to creek to find a place to anchor up and hide. I ended up next to the ramp at Little Creek. The water near hwy 150 bridge was ruff, and boat traffic was crazy.

Your right Steve, I wasn't thinking like that. I've been on the lake since March.

We anchored over near Westport. There was only one other boat in the cove where there sometimes is a couple dozen. Absolutely beautiful day.
 
And if you want to keep your sanity, don't go out 4th of July to watch fireworks in the boat. We did it once. We were smart though and took a rental. I was putting my boat out there with all those drunks.
 
Sunday, I was in the cove above the hwy 150 bridge. It's on the left (port) side as your traveling north. Sometimes I head up to the cove further up river, but didn't go that far. QUOTE]

you must be talking about where 150 crosses the lake near Marshall Steam Station, up towards the state park.....our dock is near where 150 crosses the lake near Mountain Creek Marina......there is actually pretty good water up in that creek without a lot of boat traffic and some good spots to drop anchor.....

cliff
 
Sunday, I was in the cove above the hwy 150 bridge. It's on the left (port) side as your traveling north. Sometimes I head up to the cove further up river, but didn't go that far. QUOTE]

you must be talking about where 150 crosses the lake near Marshall Steam Station, up towards the state park.....our dock is near where 150 crosses the lake near Mountain Creek Marina......there is actually pretty good water up in that creek without a lot of boat traffic and some good spots to drop anchor.....

cliff

Yes, you are right. I went up in your neck of the woods also. I couldn't fit under the bridge unless I put my bimini down, so I turned around.
 
We anchored over near Westport. There was only one other boat in the cove where there sometimes is a couple dozen. Absolutely beautiful day.

Nice Jim. I agree with the beautiful day. I wonder why the southern end of the lake was slow. I wish I had gone south now.
 
And if you want to keep your sanity, don't go out 4th of July to watch fireworks in the boat. We did it once. We were smart though and took a rental. I was putting my boat out there with all those drunks.

Steve, I'll probably never see LKN over the fourth either. My Abacos trip usually takes care of that, however this year it looks like we may be going over in September. Hmmm, what to do for the fourth.......
 
Yes, you are right. I went up in your neck of the woods also. I couldn't fit under the bridge unless I put my bimini down, so I turned around.

yeah, even on our small boat we have to lower the bimini top to get under the 150 bridge.......i just about lost my stern anchor light last WE while going under the bridge at dusk.....we had the bimini down but i forgot all about the stern light....it is actually a little taller than the bimini top....a couple fishermen that were tied to the bridge piling warned me just in time...i quickly slammed her into reverse and gave it a little throttle....good thing we were at idle speed......the light pole just touched the bridge and bent maybe a couple inches but no damage was done.....got lucky that time....

we can get under the train trestle OK with the top up as long as we go under one of the sides of the trestle....the center section of the trestle is a little lower than the sides.....

cliff
 
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Isn't Lake Norman Marina under the trestle? I thought I saw some larger boats in there a few years back.
 
Isn't Lake Norman Marina under the trestle? I thought I saw some larger boats in there a few years back.

yes, you have to go under the trestle (but not 150) to get to Lake Norman Marina......i have not seen any large cruisers with arches in that area but there are some large deck boats and bow riders......the 'Boat Rack' marina is just before the trestle....there are many larger boats docked there.....i don't know how far down the water level would drop when the lake level is low.....maybe during very low pond conditions there is enough room for some larger cruisers to get under the trestle.....

LNM sells Cobalt boats....i stopped in there a couple weeks ago when they had a boat show.....those new Cobalts were sure purty and shiney....:smt101...

cliff
 
I can get under the trestle if we are 6 ft or more below full pond. Hasn't happened lately tho. If I didn't have the arch I could squeeze under. Some of the boats at LNM are stranded in there. That's not for me for sure.
 

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