What Is a Good Sailboat for Lake Ontario to Florida ?

[kennys]

I am very new to sailing and would love to take a trip from Lake Ontario through New York canals and down to Florida in a couple of years.
Can anyone recommend a good boat for that trip. I understand the sail has to come down to get through the canal system and draft may be an issue.
I currently own a Hughs 25 and am looking for something probably over 30' and late 1970s to fit my budget.

Thanx
Kennys

[Avalon119]

A trip down through the canals these days would require something amphibious.

[kennys]

Is that a common condition or a temporary problem. I was thinking in a couple of years.
Thanx

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by kennys

I am very new to sailing and would love to take a trip from Lake Ontario through New York canals and down to Florida in a couple of years.
Can anyone recommend a good boat for that trip. I understand the sail has to come down to get through the canal system and draft may be an issue.
I currently own a Hughs 25 and am looking for something probably over 30' and late 1970s to fit my budget.

Thanx
Kennys

CS36Merlin. Late eighties, early nineties.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Kennys.

[sck5]

almost any boat can do a coastal cruise but you would want to make sure you can do the ICW which means a mast height of less than 63 ft. and a draft of less than 6 (less than 5 even better)

[Tingum]

Why not a powerboat? There is very little sailing on the trip.

[kennys]

Thank you, I hope to do some sailing in Florida for the winter.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by sck5

almost any boat can do a coastal cruise but you would want to make sure you can do the ICW which means a mast height of less than 63 ft. and a draft of less than 6 (less than 5 even better)

I have been thinking of this trip myself and have started to research it. Out lake Ontario to the Hudson and out to the ocean. I am just wondering about the mast height comment, I am only 44ft but I am sure I have to take the mast down as some of the recorded bridge heights are 27 ft, where does the 63ft come to play?

[gettinthere]

The ICW has bridges of 64' and 65'. You can do the entire trip outside, in the ocean, but most prefer to do at least part of the trip inside the ICW such as Cape Hatteras.
With full moons and wind driven high tides, you can see clearance boards reading 62' at the low steel. How much extra there is to the highest part of a given bridge is unknown for certain.
5'6" draft is not hard to manage.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by gettinthere

The ICW has bridges of 64' and 65'. You can do the entire trip outside, in the ocean, but most prefer to do at least part of the trip inside the ICW such as Cape Hatteras.
With full moons and wind driven high tides, you can see clearance boards reading 62' at the low steel. How much extra there is to the highest part of a given bridge is unknown for certain.
5'6" draft is not hard to manage.

Don't forget the Julia Tuttle Bridge, 55 or 56 ft, on the AICW between
Ft. Lauderdale and Miami.

[capttman]

Easy to go around Julia Tuttle

[capttman]

I'm 62 ft high and 6 foot draft