Mississippi river cruise from Lake City MN. to Rock Island IL-gctid400165

[Guest]

I bought a Silverton 312 sedan cruiser out of Lake City MN as mentioned in title I plan on a river trip to get her home. I know its not a Bay liner but I still have my 2755 so I figure I'm safe posting on here lol. So I'm hoping to get info and or advice from my fellow boaters about any info I may need pertaining to fuel docks along the way,hazards etc. I gotta say I'm a little nervous about the trip this is the longest trip I've ever been on and theres plenty that can go wrong. As you all know the usual weather, break downs and all the unknowns. Any info is from you guys will help to calm the nervs and is greatly appreciated!

[Guest]

I have only been to lake city for southern trips. You will be about 30 minutes from myself and a few other BOCers

Pepin is a nice lake, lock is at the south end. Theres no real issues here just get a copy of the mississippi river maps because some areas of pepin can be quiet shallow. Storms are nasty there and often turn into a logrun the next day.

Lake city is a great place though, you might wana spend a night there before you leave The marina is very nice and 2 blocks from downtown.

[Guest]

I was there this past weekend to purchase the boat yes very nice river town everybody I dealt with was very nice and helpful and the scenery was great nothing looks like that down in the Quad cities. As far as the shallows I'm not going to chance anything I'll stay in the channels that reminds me I hope my garmin gmaps cover that area

[Guest]

my lowrance had built in maps for pepin, its a fairly popular area.

[Guest]

Bio, I think Bob brought his boat up from there. We could put him in touch with Bob. He would find out everything he needs to know and most things he doesn't care about. Scotty might be helpful too.

Good luck with the move. I no longer have a Bayliner, but they let me hang around.

[capt._ron]

I've only been as far north as the Quad cities so can't help with any info other than "stay in the channel and it's a river you can't get lost", advice I got from the po of my 38. I will suggest a quimby's guide they are great when cruising to unfamiliar area or planning the stops you want to make. There is no info in it for areas to anchor but the USCOE charts will help you there if your not planning to stay in marinas. Good luck & have fun.

[Guest]

Saintjon wrote:
Bio, I think Bob brought his boat up from there. We could put him in touch with Bob. He would find out everything he needs to know and most things he doesn't care about. Scotty might be helpful too.

Good luck with the move. I no longer have a Bayliner, but they let me hang around.

oH I completely agree! Bob would be sure to give him every detail known to man that will have nothing to do with the trip

[Guest]

I've no specific info for that far north but I boated the upper Mississippi in pool's 25 and 26 for years. So as most of you river rats already know what im about to say, it should still not be left unsaid.

Stay in the channel OR follow other big boats when out of the channel. When I was new to the river, the advice I got was to follow someone else in an unfamiliar area.

Wing Dykes, or in some areas wing dams (to guide water) can kill your dangly bits in a second, know where they are, or stay in the channel, or follow someone else

You'll need a marine radio to lock through, I "think" you can use a cell phone to call USACE but a radio is much better. And don't forget, when locking through you'll need your oar handy and are required to wear your life jackets.

Always watch out for logs, and as was mentioned in an earlier reply, particularly after a rain.

One good way to find marina's is to just use google maps and zoom in and type "marina" in the search bar. Make sure to call the listed phone numbers to make sure they are actually open and still exist.

[Guest]

Thanks to all for the advice/replys :coo- I have two weeks to plan the trip so I have plenty of time to check the leads you have given me and I agree staying in the channel is a good idea !by the way who is Bob and how does he know so much? Did he stay at a Holiday Inn?

CAPt RON I hope they let me stay I got on a silverton forum and asked some questions and got next to no returns on any of my questions BOC has always been a great place to get info and read about others adventures

[Guest]

dwoodford wrote:
Thanks to all for the advice/replys :coo- I have two weeks to plan the trip so I have plenty of time to check the leads you have given me and I agree staying in the channel is a good idea !by the way who is Bob and how does he know so much? Did he stay at a Holiday Inn?

CAPt RON I hope they let me stay I got on a silverton forum and asked some questions and got next to no returns on any of my questions BOC has always been a great place to get info and read about others adventures

Make a little 30 minute detour to treasure island casino and you can meet us and bob Bob is a real big fan of silverton, swears by them. He thinks he was at a holiday inn, but it was more of a motel 6

If you have any questions about the river let me know, I assumed you knew about wing dams. They are about a foot or so under the water, and cause significant damage if you hit them, they dont move. Stay in those channels, get out of the way of barges, should be good to go. Locks are a piece of cake, only sucks if your waiting for commercial traffic, I have seen people wait 2+ hours so keep that in mind. There is an app you can download that monitors traffic on the river so you can time it a bit better. A buddy of mine damn near made that trip in my old 98 2355 a few weeks ago.

[Guest]

biohazard wrote:
Make a little 30 minute detour to treasure island casino and you can meet us and bob Bob is a real big fan of silverton, swears by them. He thinks he was at a holiday inn, but it was more of a motel 6

If you have any questions about the river let me know, I assumed you knew about wing dams. They are about a foot or so under the water, and cause significant damage if you hit them, they dont move. Stay in those channels, get out of the way of barges, should be good to go. Locks are a piece of cake, only sucks if your waiting for commercial traffic, I have seen people wait 2+ hours so keep that in mind. There is an app you can download that monitors traffic on the river so you can time it a bit better. A buddy of mine damn near made that trip in my old 98 2355 a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the invite if you were down river I would take you up on it but time is limited so a trip up river isn't in the cards maybe the next boat I buy lol. Yes I'm aware of wing dams I've been cruisen the river awhile now just havnt made such a long trip as this in unfamiliar waters my biggest worry is not running out of fuel or hitting something submerged or being caught in a storm and of course the mechanical issues I suspect the new boat jitters will subside after I've cruised a while

[Mocoondo]

As you know already, just watch the wing dams. Many are not marked and submerged and it is very easy to get hung up on one if you are not careful. Also, absolutely no deviating outside the published channel. I have seen firsthand where the depths went from very deep to ankle deep just a few feet outside the edge of the channel as marked on my GPS.

If you stay in the published channel, it is pretty hard to screw up this trip.

[Guest]

Mocoondo wrote:
As you know already, just watch the wing dams. Many are not marked and submerged and it is very easy to get hung up on one if you are not careful. Also, absolutely no deviating outside the published channel. I have seen firsthand where the depths went from very deep to ankle deep just a few feet outside the edge of the channel as marked on my GPS.

If you stay in the published channel, it is pretty hard to screw up this trip.

Thats my plan I am concerned when I have to stop for fuel whether the course to the marina will be clear I dont know if theres any rule of thumb or if common sense prevails or just the luck of the draw if you make it in saftly

[Guest]

Read this before reading post. I must apologize for improper spelling, lack of paragraph breaks, lack of editing and lack of punctuation. This is a rough draft that hasn't gone to the editor yet. With that said I hope your not to narrow minded that you cant enjoy the read. If not again sorry! OK the trip is over its taken awhile to update I've been to busy catching up on things and enjoying the boat. All in all the trip went well,although after gassing up,filling the water tank and having the holding tank pumped out the left engine failed to start, it took no time at all to flood and it relied to heavily on the para start switch. It was apparent there was a carb issue and perhaps a battery issue. I tried holding the throttle down all the way but being unfamiliar with the boat and what technique it took this didn't work. It just so happened the P.O. was driving back past the marina heard the engine alarm and came back to help he did the same thing and it started for him, I guess I wasn't holding my mouth right. At that point I questioned the P.O. and he proceeds to tell me everything is in good mechanical condition and how I must of flooded it. Were running now It seems to idle fine alt was showing it was charging battery lets give it a go. I proceeded to pull from dock at which point I saw a boat parked across from the fuel dock which said pay Hana across the back i thought I recognized the name from B.O.C. but wasn't sure in hind sight I wish I had stopped to introduce myself and sorry if I missed another occasion to meet a fellow B.O.c.er. Most seem to be quit nice and worth knowing. If he is the the B.O.Cer shout out to you. I pulled out from the marina out to the lake cruised out about .25 mile or so and stopped to take the time to do a little practice maneuvering and to find 12 volts to hook up gps and a couple of fans. At that time I left the engines running I didn't want to chance a no start. After about a hour hooking up a couple of things and making sure bilges are staying dry and last minute checks were on our way. I get to the end of lake Pepin and there seems to be a bottle neck with some fairly heavy traffic including a barge so still being a little nervous about the new boat and handling I throttled back and there goes the left engine shutting down. I decided to get past the traffic and the barge then I would try starting it again. A few minutes later I try to start it and same thing happens right away without giving it any gas it smells flooded , holding the throttle down all the way and hitting para start still no start so I have the first mate take the controls while I climb into the engine hatch to pull the spark arrestor off to check the choke which is wide open I have her hit the starter while I'm watching the carb no fuel running out so float isn't stuck so I have here put it in neutral. I hold the throttle all the way open I have her hit the key, after holding it open a bit it started at that point I turned the idle up slightly and closed the hatch and were on our way. Were cruising along toward lock 4 one of 12 locks to go through things are going good all systems check good we lock through #4 without problems sitting back taking in the perfect scenery on a perfect boating day we pass towns and lots of very large hills/bluffs wing dams and channel markers. The trip at this point became uneventful the locks came and went at lock #6 we did get hung up by barge traffic so we decided that I would make an unscheduled stop at Trempealuau marina (I planed on making lacrosse) for fuel. A couple of hours passed at that point we decided to spend the night up stream on the hook were we would have dinner and get rested up for an early start.The first night on the hook was good we got rested up and decided to get through the lock before a barge beat us there. we got through and had breakfast on the fly made Lacrosse without problems and fueled up. We decided to stay there for a little while there were heavy rains all around us so we sat in a pocket of sprinkles keeping an eye on the weather the storm decided to wrap around the back side of our pocket and there was some red associated with it so I decided to continue on and ride out the area of the storm in hopes if the timing was right we could dodge the worst of it. Well the plan worked out pretty well I did have to run through about two hours of chilly light rain but at 20 knots even light rain stings a little. By the end of it I was wet in places and a little chilled I did have my rain gear ( no lower drivers station) by this time I was thinking I wished the trip was over. We had a pretty aggressive schedule which took the fun factor out of it. Pretty much made it to lock #10 without any unwanted events BUT after getting through #10 I decided I needed a break so I told the fist mate to keep the green markers off the starboard bow and keep at 12 knots if you have any problems call me so I'm in the cabin washing up getting coffee etc and thought I had better get up top side when I do I see a green marker off the port bow and knowing the dangers of being out of the channel ( she got confused)I grabbed the throttles and pulled them to neutral well guess what the left engine died after trying to start it to no avail I went down and held the throttle down and it would not start so I decided it had always started before I would just trudge along on one engine and I would keep trying it along the way after about a mile I decided to look at the river map and see where the next town was it so happened after this lock you were in the middle of nowhere so I thought I'd best turn around and head back to the small town at the locks i pulled up to a gas dock and as I was tyeing up a lady asked if I needed gas I said no but I need some starting fluid and spark plugs she said there were a couple of places in town she could drive me to get the plugs but her husband may have starting fluid in his stuff so we checked and she pulled out some foamy carb cleaner I said I didn't think that would work and she stated thats what her brother uses OK so back to the boat and the engine compartment pull the spark arrestor off ( by this time I could do it in my sleep)sprayed some and after some coaxing she fired up I paid the lady for her carb cleaner and her troubles and thanked her and on our way we go (were running out of time and needed to get going) so get about 100 yards away and left engine stalls have to go down and spray again got it going. (The first mate is down in the cabin shes upset) off we go need to make it through the locks at Dubuque by end of day so we just lost 2 hours so gonna have to push it and probably have some night driving which being in unfamiliar waters was a little scary.After a little while the first mate came back up to the helm and I told her ( in a gentle tone while still counting)you really need to learn how to navigate if something happens to me you need to get somewhere safely, she had taken a coast guard course long ago and I had through the years shown her some basics and thought she really was paying attention but i guess not. So we spent a good many miles working on channel markers' reading the water, land markers, reading the gps' working the radio etc. a perfect example arose while we were doing this the markers were in a confusing arrangement at a bend and at that point there was also a fork in the river I couldn't see the gps because of the sun so I headed the way in which I thought was the channel and upon reading the water decided it didn't look right throttled back and made the correction to the left fork that was the correct decision and we both learned something. (again wheres the corps of engineers) OK approaching lock #11 by this time had been driving a couple of hours through the dark thank god for navigation and spot lights (although along the way there were plenty of markers that were moved or missing because of floods, ice what happened to t

he corps of engineers)about 1 mile or so upstream theres 2 b

right lights pointing my direction wasn't sure what it was it wasn't the typical barge spot lights that panned and being stationary they were bright and they were blinding me so I really had to crawl along and watch every Gage and really search for the markers by this time the bright lights and I are right on top of each other and its a barge the lights are so bright and fixed so there shinning right at me i couldn't see any thing but the lights and the profile of the barge so I stopped the engines I lost all sight of navigation markers. As this barge started to pass me and the lights were not as intense I could see this was not a long barge i think only two were attached to the tug but for some reason this DUMB A$$ :rif- was right on top of the green channel marker that I lost sight off because of his lights which meant to get out of his way I had to go out side of the channel, you couldn't of squeezed a bow rider between them.At that point the depth Gage was reading 4.5 foot once he passed (and i flipped him off ) I proceeded to the lock and through to make it to a cove right out side of my planned gas stop at Dubuque wow what an adventure to make it to that point from the last dock! Was I wore out! I got anchored cooked dinner on the grill had a beer and went to be knowing I had to get up early to make it home on time. Next morning we at breakfast and got an early start proceed to go up the channel to the fuel dock (no markers) I could see off the starboard bow there was a sand/mud bar so I slowly proceeded staying what I thought was far enough away keeping my eye on the depth Gage knowing my min draft was 2.8 feet (keep in mind the transducer is in the back which never made a lot of sense to me) and low and behold I'm aground I immediately reverse engines and pull away with out any problems and start checking the active captain for an alternate sight there was on just down stream about a mile so we went there and they were closed no number to call nothing posted so I called the number of the first one and the recording said they opened up at AM so much for getting up early to get an early start. Went back up river by this time it was 9:00 I called the marine they told me where the deep water was to get to the dock so I got gas etc and headed down river to the home port without any "misadventures" got docked at approx 6 pm that to be home! I don't remember at which point I decided on the name for the boat but this is what I decided some form of "Miss Adventures" would be appropriate. The trip would have been a lot better and more relaxing if I had enough time to make it at least a 5 day trip all in all it went OK after all it could have been a lot worse!

[capt._ron]

Sounds like a stressful trip, almost like work. More fun next time.