Cruise on the Ohio

[K7MXE]

I just got home to Washington from a small cruise on the Ohio River. Took about two weeks and traveled from the Pittsburgh PA area to Lake Barkley in Kentucky. A distance of a thousand miles. Met many towboats on the river.
I think I counted 23 Locks. Fuel at mile 306 took 15 Gallons and the second fuel up was about mile 600 and took 8
Gallons and the rest of the trip was a guess at 18 Gallons as I used out of my on board extra fuel. Mostly ran 1400
to 1600 rpm that gives you perhaps 5 miles per hour and more as the current lets you. Up the Cumberland river
rpms went up to 2800 for about 4 mph. Things I hit included a big green bouy, many many pieces of drift and a
sand bar that still had close to 20 feet under the stern. I even though did move real fast I can say things happen
real fast especially with debris in the water and I got real good at shifting into neutral. Prop did not have any
dings in it at all. Fuel prices for the trip back ranged from 2.09 in Iowa to 2.69 in good old Washington State
where tax is king. I took Greyhound back to pickup my pickup and trip used up like 22 hours. A different kind of
cruise that's not for everyone but worth while doing. I had not been around pushing type tow boats and these
guys do 15 barges at a time and safety is their most important product. The boat was rather nasty but cleaned
up pretty good and think the only thing that broke was the fuel gauge sender and one guide board on the trailer
fell off. Weather went from storms to very hot and muggy and in Montana I saw snow both coming and going.
Thats my story for month of May 2009
Bob Heselberg Eatonville Wa

 

[Texas Steve]

Thanks for the overview of your trip. I'd be interested in knowing whether you stayed aboard most nights or were you able to find marinas when needed. Also, the one big hold up for us to attempt an adventure of this magnitude is use of the onboard head. The placement makes it very unhandy to access, but I have no better suggestion about where to place the darned thing. More details would be greatly appreciated.

Steve Frisch

 

[captain's cat]

I just got home to Washington from a small cruise on the Ohio River. Took about two weeks and traveled from the Pittsburgh PA area to Lake Barkley in Kentucky. A distance of a thousand miles. Met many towboats on the river.

in Montana I saw snow both coming and going.
Thats my story for month of May 2009
Bob Heselberg Eatonville Wa

How the heck did you get from Kentucky and the Ohio into Montana? :shock:

Charlie

 

[K7MXE]

Well the porta potty got dumped afterward at a rest area but the other concern was how I could get
from Kentucky to snow. Well I pulled the boat from Washington to Pittsburgh and left the truck in PA
and after getting to Kentucky I took a bus back and drove the truck to Kentucky where I married the boat
to the trailer and then drove back to Washington. Both times I went through Montana but first time
across the states I mostly drove on two lane roads and only did freeway heading home and when I got
to Missoula I went back to two lane road over Lolo Pass and thats a nice trip. It is Montana SR12 that
changes to Idaho SR12 and in Lewiston is where it changes to Washington SR12. In Lewiston is where
I did my Snake/Columbia cruise. Hope that clears things up eh! Bob H

 

[rt11002003]

Bob,

Loved the account of your cruise. Was this a solo cruise, or did you have company?

When I bought Tuglet, one of the things I had in mind was a similar cruise except on the TN River. My thought is to start at the headwaters at Knoxville, TN and go to KY Lake, over 600 miles, and then if still sane start back East thru Barkley Lake and follow the Cumberland River as far as it is navigable.

Neck problems and the related medical treatments have moved my timeframe, I think. I'm getting the boat shaken down and the engine broken in here on Lake Lanier. We'll see how the neck responds.

Gene

 

[K7MXE]

I was all alone. I did take a bunch of electronics to keep me company however. I had ham radio, ham radio aprs thats kinda like spot. I had vhf marine with two radios, a chartplotter and did not use my radar but did use the ais system and that gave me a great warning on tug traffic. I even tried some digital tv in Louisville and it worked real good. Its a twelve volt job that was 99 bucks at Walgreens at Christmas time. I dined on mostly soups heated and ate in the same pan and had a
fresh pot of coffee every day. There are places to eat on the river but few and far apart as the fuel stops are.
Locks near Pittsburgh require 100 foot long lines and I had some nice ones rigged to each side of the boat then floating
pins are the order of the day. Wind only caught me one time with the long lines and trust me you get smart quick.
I started out with fresh oil in the motor and it stayed real clean at the low rpms. I think the motor had 288 hours when I shoved off.
I had planned on the Tennessee river myself from Knoxville but got going to close to bug time and maybe in the fall would be better for me. Snakes falling from overhead trees also did not do much for me. I would have gone down and back up just as you had suggested. A up to date Quimby guide is a must but you can also get a cruising guide for the Tennessee
and I looked over one from the library system and decided to buy one at West Marine in Knoxville.
Another electronic gadget I used was my laptop with a gps and streets and maps just to give me a better idea of what was
away from the waters edge. I used a Delorme LT20 from ebay that just plugs into the usb jack on the laptop. The laptop also runs on 12 volts and has wifi when you can find it.
It was a good learning experience for me that I will use on the next river challenge. Oh I did not say much about the dinghy, it was my safety if something went wrong. I got a Bombard AX2 from a local guy on C Brats and its perfect for the R21. You could tow it but its so light I pulled it over the back and it set on the motor box and acted as a extra storage place. I left it a bit limp to make up for hot days. Has a built in pump and takes maybe 20 minutes to inflate.
When it got windy I took a ratchet tie down and ran one line across it just to make sure. All my anchor work was from the stern and I kept the anchor, chain and rode in a laundry tub from Walmart. I had used a cardboard box before that to hold the anchor equipment in and got me by ok till it got too soaked. I could use the cleats on the back of the boat to put it where I wanted it to face and then do final tweaking with the rudder position. Sometimes I would have to let out
more line and drive the boat over the anchor to pull it up due to current and old age. This always worked good.
Ok I am yapping too much so will put pictures on the photo area when I get them all ready to go. Always takes a while with dialup.. Bob Heselberg

 

[tuggin aweigh]

Bob,
Read your story with interest. I am amazed at the nember of boaters from the NW that tow their boats to the central and eastern us. My wife and I have traveled each summer on boating trips for the past 12-15 years. Now that we have retired (both teachers) we plan on longer boating trips, this time in the cold winter months in a warmer climate!!
Pam and I are very familiar with the trip, locks and rivers you traveled. River travel has always been enjoyable for us. Lake Barkley and the Cumberland River are two of our favorites. One of our river trips we boated from Louisville Kentucky to Pittsburg, Pa. It was completed over two consecutive summers. You mentioned Quimby's, "wouldn't leave home without it" as the saying goes. Trash in the river is always a concern, although we have, knock on wood, never had a problem. My biggest concern is loss of power in a river with barge traffic present.
We live 1 1/2 hours from the Illinois, 2 hours from the Mississippi. I (we) always have given barges and the tows plenty of room. At least once a year we hear of a boating accident involving a barge and a hapless or careless boater on the river. Pleasure craft 0--Tows 1 nearly everytime.
This fall or at least by winter we plan on traveling the TomBigbee to and I believe the Alabama River to Mobile, Alabama. Follow the intercoastal to the Fort Myers area. At some point, we or I will travel one-way-maybe greyhound or train to pick up the boat and trailer. Details have not been worked out yet--this is still under construction.
Always interested in what equipment, problems and planning others have done. Have you considered doing the loop?

Frank and Pam
Tuggin Aweigh

 

[rt11002003]

We kept our Albin 27 Aft Cabin in Alred Marina at Guntersville, AL (TN River/Lake Guntersville) for a couple of years. I have a set of TN River charts produced by the Corps of Engineers which are really helpful. We've used Fred Meyer's cruising guides both for the TN River and the Tenn-Tom. I'll have to try and find the cruising guide you folks have mentioned.

The fellow who purchased our Albin took it from Guntersville to the Tenn-Tom Waterway, down the Tenn-Tom to the Black Warrior River in AL, up the Black Warrior to his home. Took him nine days, said he had someone with him, the fellow talked too much, wishes he had soloed. He said the radar I had installed on the boat saved him when they got caught in a storm and fog near Demopolis, AL. Between Demopolis and Mobile is the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway, named for those two rivers.

Lots of tow traffic on all the waterways/rivers I've mentioned.

Wish I had kept the Albin; I had fewer and far less serious problems than I have with this brand new Ranger. It had a nice low hour Yanmar and everything my R-21 EC has, except a reefer. I put several thousand dollars worth of electronics on it, including radar. I'm holding off installing anything on the R-21 EC until my problems are resolved, assuming they will be.

Gene

Gene

 

[Old Master]

I'm a day late & dollar short (as usual) in reading the account of your cruise. It's too late in the evening right now (for me) to respond at length, but I did want to say that if any of you are going to do the Ohio River thing again, perhaps we could communicate. I am in Cincinnati, at Four Seasons Marina, and I know of another two R-21s in this area. Maybe we could meet up and cruise together for a few miles. I keep telling myself that I'm going to do a solo cruise of at least 400 miles, someday, somewhere, but never seem to follow through.

Anyway, very interesting posts by all. I enjoyed reading them.

John

 

[K7MXE]

I did know of some 21 footers on the Ohio as talked to a local whom I met in Dayton and he knew all about them.
Hey go for it but note the notices from the USACE so you wont spend your time held up at a lock. I was very
lucky on lock construction and repair in fact in one lock I was way down the list and lucked out as a government
boat with priority one let me lock thru with him. He was a sixteen foot outboard skiff with no radio that I
heard. Mostly tho I used the small lock and the 15 barge tows went through the large locks. After the heat
of the summer is over I would like to do Knoxville to Nashville in the TVA. Bob Heselberg

 

[rt11002003]

Bob, let's keep in touch. I might be able to do the fall trip from Knoxville to Nashville (or maybe the reverse), assuming my neck gets better.

Gene

 

[K7MXE]

I did get the pictures posted finally. I resorted them and ended up wasting my time because they got resorted again and well they are by abc now. I will in the future post pictures with a key number in front.

Bob Heselberg Eatonville Wa

 

[Texas Steve]

Bob:

Nice job. Thanks for sharing the pics with us!

Steve Frisch