Spring Lake/ Grand Haven to Chicago

A

artswarlock

New Member
Sep 26, 2009
44
MIssouri St. Louis
Boat Info
1999 340 Sundancer
Engines
454 MPI v-drive
I am looking at purchasing a boat in Spring Lake and cruise it to St. Louis, Can anyone give me an idea of time to travel From there to Chicago?, difficulty, navigation aids I might need and any other advice I would sure appreciate the input. Thanks Art
 
Depending on how fast you want to go and which route you take, it should take a good 4-5 hours if all is well.

You can either cut across right out of Grand Haven, take the Michigan shore down towards New Buffalo or Michigan City, or take a straight shot right across the lake from Grand Haven although I would be concerned with fuel and a new unknown boat to you if you took the direct route.

There are really no navigational hazards on the lake except pick your weather wisely and keep an eye out for floating junk especially in the spring.
 
What kind of boat are you concidering? It is roughly 108 miles from GH to Chicago. Your sales rep should be able to help you. I would not cross without cartplotter or radar. Better to travel in numbers if you are not sure, lots of boaters make that trip and I'm sure you could hook up with someone in the spring. I will be heading to Chicago later in June or July if the gas prices aren't $5 per gal.:smt013
 
The biggest questions are what size boat, and what is your fuel consumption (gph) and how much fuel do you carry. Thats a trip that some boats cannot make on a direct route - my 270 had a range of (about) 90-95 miles on a full tank at cruise. The lake can be flat when you leave and 20 miles later you can be in 5' waves. Sping rains can (and will) flush floating debris out of rivers and into the lake (dead heads). Do you have big lake expierience? On a direct route you WILL be out of cell phone range for a period of time! Do you have radar, GPS?
 
I'll be picking up a 380 Carver Santego, I am looking at it tomorrow.It will have GPS and if it is that cold I will have an inflatable with motor.I want to thank everyone for all your tips it gives me an idea of what I will be up against. The timing may not be right though and I might end up having it hauled. I just hate to waste some time on the water.
 
I know one delivery captain who always take a dry suit with him when picking up or delivering a new boat on the great lakes. An inflatable is not going to save your life in cold water. It will be full of water within minutes. Lake Michigan water temps off of Grand Haven will likely be in a range of of 48-51 degrees in June. With an east wind, we see those temps in July as well.
 
Of course, a friend had a 38' Scarab and we would run from Holland to Milwaukee in 75 minutes for a beer run!!!

His Dad would raise Cain if beer showed up on the marina bill, but never questioned the gas charges!

Saved a lot of OUR money buying beer in Wisconsin and usually stopped at the NOAA weather buoy on the way back for a little swim. Quite remarkable how much chain you can see in the middle of the lake. Very clear water out there.
 
Registered said:
Of course, a friend had a 38' Scarab and we would run from Holland to Milwaukee in 75 minutes for a beer run!!!
Click to expand...

You sure about that? Scarabs are fast but you would have to average 96 MPH to make it in that time.
 
90 miles would be 72 MPH. How fast was the boat?
 
Not positive of the fastest he had it going. The fastest I ever experienced was 80ish on a run from Port SHELDON (Yeah, Clinton would be a helluva run) to near Tunnel Park before he got the pucker factor kicking in.

Seemed to me she had twin Mercs with 575hp each. I can ask my friend what the fastest it went was and get back to you.

Google Earth says 86 miles, so I was off by a bit. I guess we averaged 68.8 mph across the pond. Not quite 96 mph, but still really fast.

Are we quibbling?

sbw1 said:
90 miles would be 72 MPH. How fast was the boat?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
No. I was thinking Holland was further south and Milwaukee was about 120 miles away. Didn't have a chart handy.
 
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