Healing a Boat To Clear ICW Bridges

[lifeofreilly57]

OK Guys, I have a tough one to solve
I have 64 foot mast with wind instruments and a VHF antenna atop it, which probably puts me at 65.5?
I need to be able to clear a number of 65 foot bridges and a couple of 64 foot clearances.
My thought is to use my RIB to hang out on the boom end to heal the boat enough to reduce the vertical height. It's a ten foot RIB which I could fill with water if needed to get the weight.
Do you think this is feaseable? In my earlier life as a millwright/rigger I moved, rigged and fit large heavy pieces in unlikely places, which is what you do with a hoisting license.
This is not a theoretical question, it's problem I need to find an answer to.
Any suggestions are appreciated, especially from those who have had similar experience.
The boat is a 47 Cheoy Lee Pedrick, 6 foot draught, encapsulated modified fin keel, 64 foot mast height+. The boat weighed 40,000lb on the scale with tons of provisions on board and still floats above its waterline.
Doable or just a pipe dream on my part? We got off to a late start due to multiple issues outside the boating part of it and are now transiting south, I do not want to go outside at this time of year due to the short weather windows we've been experiencing this year.
All suggestions appreciated.

[Paul L]

Far easier and more reliable to remove tbe masthead light and any other hardstuff. No need to remove a flex wire antenna, they just act like parking curb feelers. Then avoid the 64ft bridge by heading out the Roanoak Island way.

[lifeofreilly57]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Far easier and more reliable to remove tbe masthead light and any other hardstuff. No need to remove a flex wire antenna, they just act like parking curb feelers. Then avoid the 64ft bridge by heading out the Roanoak Island way.

Thanks.
I thought about it but removing the wind instrument package would only gain about 6". The antenna would definitely just bend and whip back.
My main concern is that documented height is not always accurate within a foot or two, don'task me how I now that.
I need little safety factor figured in, it would be irresponsible of me to topple a nice, perfectly good rig this early on in a trip.

[Paul L]

The reader boards next to the bridge are accurate and mostly conservative. They don't tend to include the hanging light fixture, so stay clear of them. Taking 6in off is meaningful. Also accurately measuring your height off the water is important. We made the trip with 64ft4in air draft and 6ft6in water draft.

[lifeofreilly57]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Far easier and more reliable to remove tbe masthead light and any other hardstuff. No need to remove a flex wire antenna, they just act like parking curb feelers. Then avoid the 64ft bridge by heading out the Roanoak Island way.

I know this has been an unusually wet year rain wise, do you know if this has effected river levels much?

[AndyEss]

After you heal your boat, can you come and heal mine?

[lifeofreilly57]

That would require a virgin to pee in the bilge.
Hard commodity to come by these days.
I know I'm out.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by lifeofreilly57

I know this has been an unusually wet year rain wise, do you know if this has effected river levels much?

I have a friend with a 64ft+ stick who just did Norfolk to Beaufort via the Hatteras route without any bridge removal. PM me if you want his email

[sailorboy1]

think it would be a better plan to just past under during low tide, lots of bridges probably don't have the horizontal span for a healed over sailboat

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

think it would be a better plan to just past under during low tide, lots of bridges probably don't have the horizontal span for a healed over sailboat

My thoughts exactly..

[denverd0n]

Heeling the boat is certainly feasible. There's a relatively low bridge on the Okeechobee Waterway where this is routinely done. Whether or not that is the best/easiest way to deal with this is another matter. If you are only inches too tall, I think waiting for low tide would be the smart approach.


Good luck.

[LoudMusic]

Man I was hoping this was in the multihull subforum

[Caribbeachbum]

I think this is a bad idea. Many bridges don't have a lot of horizontal room under the navigable section, and -- especially in cities, like Daytona, for example -- there is a great deal of traffic that simply will not politely wait for you to do your thing. I've just done a piece of the AICW in an equally poorly suited boat. Here are my notes:

- The bridges that claim to be 65' are. Engineers generally get this kind of thing right. The marker boards are made and installed by state highway workers, I think, because they often showed less height than was available according to my VHF antenna.

- Working the tides can help, but some bridges are so far from inlets as to have no significant tidal range.

- A Garmin gWind (~$700 retail) will not emerge victorious from a battle with a bridge.

- There are very, very long stretches of the waterway where 10' of depth turns into 1.5' of depth a mere 2' out of the channel. You will probably run aground several times. But it's soft, nasty, black mud that you can easily back out of (mostly).

- Unlike sailing outside, you have to actually drive, or at least pay close attention and adjust often, all of the way. If you go sailing outside, you just have to stand watch.

- Your boat, like mine, really wants to be outside. Go sailing. You will have to go outside in at least two places: Daytona (Port Orange, actually) and Miami.

- Read all the notes about every bridge in both Waterway Guide and Active Captain, and hope someone else already made the mistakes you might otherwise make.

Fair winds (or, I guess "good fuel" if you take the ICW).

[billknny]

It's not what I would do, but here is some practical advice:

Measure your ACTUAL mast height above the water. I would do it with empty tanks to be conservative. Remember, you will sit a little higher on your lines in salt water than in fresh.

Calculate how far you have to heel the boat to get the heights you want. If you don't have an inclinometer, get one. As someone has suggested, be sure you know your overall width at various angles of heel. I don't think this will be a problem, but again you want to know ahead of time.

Test at the dock to be sure you can do what needs to be done without breaking something.

Be sure to practice driving the boat around under power heeled over like this way before you get to the first bridge. You might have some handling surprises.

Be sure you know ahead of time how far you want to heel the boat to clear various bridge heights. The final approach to a bridge is not a time to be winging it.

Be VERY aware that your highest point will likely not be under the middle of the bridge.

Rather than using the rib, you might want to get the kind of bulk shipping bag known as a "super sack" and just fill it with water. It is designed to lift heavy loads, and will be faster to fill and dump than the RIB would be. You also get your heel control by how high you lift it out of the water rather than the amount of water you have in it. Much easier and more predictable.

When you are going under a bridge, just pray nobody comes by throwing up a big wake. That's only one of the things that can go wrong...

Last idea, this one might be a bit pie-in-the-sky: you might consider hoisting a wireless video camera to the mast head as you approach a bridge. It might help. Certainly it is impossible to judge clearance from the deck.

[Vasco]

Can be done fairly easily. Lots of room in the span and others will give you room while they watch the show.

As for tides some bridges have no tide and water levels are mostly wind driven.
https://www.waterwayguide.com/latest...some-big-balls