River body from Great Lakes to Mississippi River.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by dennymusic

Yep. If I have to do this I'll stay off the Might Miss-Sipp.

The commercial tows deserve a lot of respect but not fear. We almost always found them very professional but always keep in mind they don't have the maneuverability you do (hence a big part of why sailing isn't viable).

[Lodesman]

You know, depending upon where in the Great Lakes you'll be starting from, the other side of the Great Loop is possibly an option. Then you'll have the option of popping out and sailing some of the trip.

[River Cruiser]

Originally Posted by dennymusic

I read that Alton Marina is a good stop just past Grafton. I'm taking in as much info as I can and if I end up doing this I will refer back to this thread. Thanks for this good info.

Grafton is about 15 miles farther south. I have never stopped there but have heard nothing but good things about it. There's also several marinas on the Missouri side in the Dardenne slough, it is about 6 miles long and the upstream entrance is around the 227 mm.

[nesscapade]

Ship the mast from Chicago to the gulf then restep it there. Done that before on the Erie Canal. Having the mast for 30 days on cradles makes boating very uncomfortable and the mast is longer than the boat so handling is easier. Btw lots of traffic on Miss. maybe take the tenn-Tom?

[dennymusic]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

You know, depending upon where in the Great Lakes you'll be starting from, the other side of the Great Loop is possibly an option. Then you'll have the option of popping out and sailing some of the trip.

That just might happen.

[smillard]

Hi - Question for anyone who has done the Great Loop: I am in Lake Michigan and I was wondering how much time one should allocate to get down to Florida from Lake Michigan. I can come with standard sailing numbers (i.e. figure avg. speed of say 4 knots * X hours/day of sailing) but I figured those who may have done it would offer insights my simple math would miss entirely. Thank you for any insights!