ICW, mile 0 to BeauforT, NC

[boater 86]

Get unlimited towing from west marine, great benifits, check online, Don, caliber 33

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Keith Puls.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I plowed for miles on the ICW with 6-5" draft... as evidenced by the big plume of mud behind the boat. Trouble is ...there are spots with hard sand also. I ran hard aground twice, hit something hard like a rock once.

Maybe you should try staying inside the markers

Seriously, we did mile 0 to Morehead City/Beaufort with 6 ft draught and didn't go aground at all. Touched some fallen branches along the Dismal Swamp canal, but I wouldn't recommend that route to the OP with 7ft. After Morehead, we cut inside of Cape Fear by going in at Masonboro Inlet and down to Southport - nice place to stop.

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

Water depths are great just now! I was in Norfolk a five days ago and we're now in Oriental, not far from Beaufort.

Here's a photo of us in a slip at Oriental Marina in May followed by a similar photo taken this morning:




We've been rocked by the wakes made by a few passing cars!

You'll certainly have the depth for a while. but the bridges will be lower than the posted mean high clearance for some time!

Not only will the nominally 65' bridges be a lot "lower" for the time being, there will be logs and branches galore floating around for weeks.

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

Maybe you should try staying inside the markers

Seriously, we did mile 0 to Morehead City/Beaufort with 6 ft draught and didn't go aground at all. Touched some fallen branches along the Dismal Swamp canal, but I wouldn't recommend that route to the OP with 7ft. After Morehead, we cut inside of Cape Fear by going in at Masonboro Inlet and down to Southport - nice place to stop.

Agreed, I think the difficulty of this leg is often greatly overstated, unless the water has been blown out of Currituck Sound, they should be fine... With the possible exception, as previously mentioned, of the air draft on the Catalina... If the water is really up at Great Bridge, that 65-footer just past Atlantic YB could also be problematic, that tends to be another 'close one', I've ticked a HF antenna or two there... Damn, how I hate running 64' sticks down the ICW, air draft issues are FAR more nerve-wracking than shoaling, to me... ;-)

As to those suggesting to go out around Hatteras, in my observation boats who travel in company down the Ditch are among the least likely candidates to jump outside, much less out around Hatteras :-) Not to mention, from Hampton Roads out around Hatteras, and back into Beaufort, is a hell of a lot longer than the inside route...

For those wondering about the depth over the top of Roanoake Island approahing Manteo, I haven't been thru there in about 3 years, so I can't offer any recent information... However, the lowest I've ever seen thru there, at the N entrance of the channel towards Shallowbag Bay, is about 7 - 7.5 feet... I'd suggest anyone thinking of going that way call one of the marinas or Sea Tow or Boat/US in Manteo for advice on the current status of the channel... The Old House Channel behind Oregon Inlet can always be a bit of a crap shoot, it can change overnight, but I haven't seen any real problems thru there in recent years...

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

Agreed, I think the difficulty of this leg is often greatly overstated, unless the water has been blown out of Currituck Sound, they should be fine... With the possible exception, as previously mentioned, of the air draft on the Catalina... If the water is really up at Great Bridge, that 65-footer just past Atlantic YB could also be problematic, that tends to be another 'close one', I've ticked a HF antenna or two there... Damn, how I hate running 64' sticks down the ICW, air draft issues are FAR more nerve-wracking than shoaling, to me... ;-)

I agree 100%. Half of the time my VHF radio antenna dings off of each I-beam, or scrapes along the bottom of concrete bridges. And some of the NC ICW bridges have no height gauge at all, and you are reduced to studying the water level on the banks by the plant roots etc.

[Captain Bill]

I just came through the Wilkerson bridge about 30 minutes ago. My mast is 60 ft with with a 3 foot VHF antenna on top. The entire "63" board was exposed and about 2" of the "64" board showing. I did not touch but was careful to avoid the hanging green light in the center. From the stains on the banks and bushes it looks like the water level has dropped about a foot recently.