Upper Mississippi River C-Dory Trip - Sep. 2021

[Dora~Jean]

Man, Colby, you have no idea how much I wish I could be with you all. Odd, here I am finally retired and do you think the stars would align so I could take 1 month away? That's such a bonus to not have to deal with heavy boat traffic or harsh weather events (so far, knock on wood).

[colbysmith]

Again, slid right into the two locks today. (No. 14 and 15). Saw only one tow going the other direction. Stopped for about an hour at LaClaire IA this morning at the free courtesy dock next to the Buffalo Bill Museum. I don't believe anyone went to the museum, but several wanted to go see the Pickers store. An added attraction as we arrived was a local car club having their monthly gathering in the parking lot there. Some souped up "rods". We enjoyed supper this evening at the Lighthouse restaurant here at the Fairport Landing marina in Muscatine, IA. Marine gas here was $3.70 a gal. I believe that's the cheapest we have paid so far on the River for gas. The restaurant had some nice shirts for sale. Check out the photo album to see how they look on Lew and I. (We will be much easier now for the rest of the group to keep track of us. lol. Doris liked them so much, she bought one as well.) Plan to stop tomorrow at Burlington IA at the Bluff Harbor Marina. Rumor has it the water level is only about 2' in the marina there. Should be interesting. I'm thinking spending the night on the hook in deeper water might be worth considering. We've had no problem in the main channel with water usually 12' or deeper. Last night we stayed on the inside of the docks at Clinton (land side) to protect us a little more from wakes, as the marina is right on the River. We had to hug the docks as we moved into our slips, as the water got real skinny next to shore. Some marinas along the Mississippi River have plenty of depth, but some are barely available for shallow draft boats.

[colbysmith]

Yesterday we made it to Burlington. The marina, Bluff Harbor, wasn't exactly a five star operation. I'll leave it to someone else to share about it. However, I did pull in there for fuel. Could only get half way into the fuel slip due to low water. Put the bow hard aground, but was still able to back out after taking on fuel. Since there was only about 2' of water in the marina, I elected to anchor out for the night in a nearby slough. I was told that I probably had better accommodations. And no bugs. We did have some delays yesterday. First an hour waiting for a dredging operation. They had their lines spread out from shore to shore. Actually the dredge was moving sand from a temporary storage dump, to a permanent one. The dredge only had two periods set up during the day to let recreational vessels through. 11:30a-noon, and 4:30p-5pm. Good thing we got there around 10:30a. Then we had to wait at the next lock for another hour or so for a tow ahead of us.
Now for today. Long rough one. After last night's marina, we decided to skip the planned one for today, and to make a long run for Hannibel. About 86nm I believe. And three locks. One with maintenance going on and close to a two hour delay. And the wind. 20 kts on the bow, against the minor current, making for 1-2' chop. So after departing at 8 this morning, we finally pulled into the Hannibal Boat Harbor at 6pm. Mostly set up for smaller boats, and just docks without amenities. But still much nicer than the earlier planned marina. And tonight, as I write this, some pretty good thunderstorms overhead. Our midwest humidity is taking it's toll on the dryer west coast folk. Tomorrow we'll go out for breakfast together, then take in the Mark Twain museum. Just 20 miles to our next stop, so we'll start out after lunch. Colby

[gulfcoast john]

Colby,

I hope you’re posting marina reviews on the online Waterway Guide on your cruise. The vast majority of cruisers we’ve met gave up on Active Captain (with its five year old marina reviews) and now use WG online.

When you submit a proposed review, it only takes a couple of days for the editors to email with questions, clarifications, etc. They send rewards like cuzies; I’m working towards a WG cap.

You don’t have to say anything bad since boaters are looking for the highest ratings…”The depth at the fuel dock is adequate for most human-powered craft.”

Safe travels to you all!

John

[colbysmith]

Hi John,
Nope, I don't use the Waterway guide, so don't have the first clue about posting to it. I will occasionally review on Active Captain, but I've been so busy just trying to get uploads on my Facebook, and some here, and without having internet available every evening, I haven't posted any reviews to active captain either. Guess I'll best leave it at, for now it's not a priority in my list of things to do during this trip.
We had a great breakfast in Hannibal this morning, and then enjoyed the Mark Twain museums and walking downtown. The Boat Harbor in Hannibal has fairly short docks and is within 200 yards of two crossings on a railroad line. And the hourly trains are succinct at blowing their horns at both of those crossings! However, even without any amenities, the Boat Harbor was a nice place to spend the night. Short wait at the lock, and with the wind behind us today, the ride was much better for the short distance we had to go. But I ended my day in a crappy mood. Backing into the slip, the cross-breeze caught my bow and blew it over to the corner of the dock before I could get all the way in the slip. Unfortunately the end of the dock had a sharp piece of angle iron (framing for the flotation tubs under the dock) on the edge of the dock, and sliced a nice gouge into my blue gelcoat trim. So I'll have a repair job to do when I get home. If anyone can tell me the proper gelcoat or paint color blue that will blend in, I'd appreciate it. Other than that, some of the group is finding that locking in the wind is not for the faint of heart. The last few locks don't seem to get much recreational vessel traffic, and will allow you to float in the lock, or if you prefer lines, are only passing down one line rather than two. With one line a few are having trouble keeping their boat square on the wall and with just floating, will lets just say I wonder if the lock tenders are placing bets on us. I'm happy to report I'm doing better in the locks then I am at backing into slips...at least today. In fact I was feeling pretty smug until the dock bit me! We are seeing more tows now, but things are still pretty slow on that front. I've got a few more photos to upload, once I get some internet. My data usage is already a little high. Only two more days to go on this grand cruise. It's been fast paced, but also interesting, educational and fun. Colby

[Hunkydory]

Colby, with your reports, I’ve been following along on Google Earth. I know it’s not easy to give updates & photos, especially when the internet is spotty. Thanks for making the effort to share the group & your adventure down the Mississippi. I’m sure enjoying your sharing.

I hope the damage from the dock is not to difficult for you to repair.

Jay

[colbysmith]

Thanks Jay. For those not aware, you can google AIS Marine tracking to find websites that will allow you to follow AIS vessels. Just search for C-Traveler and you may be able to get real time information where we are currently. (I have an AIS transmitter on C-Traveler). Although, we only have two more days left on the water. Tomorrow we plan to stop in Grafton, close to the confluence with the Illinois River, and then are destination, Alton, the next night.

[Fairbro]

In my first reply on this thread I was going to advise you not to “float the Middle” if offered the experience. I did it…once. I didn’t think they allowed it with a group of boats so I skipped mentioning it. The locks have currents during filling and draining that can make you feel like cigarette butt in a flushing toilet at times. The one time I did it I was alone in the lock and can’t imagine being in there with other boats having the same problem. Thanks for the updates which bring back all sorts of memories,lol.

[Dora~Jean]

Well guys (& gals), your posts are very informative -- and entertaining (Gary). So here I am just waking up in bed and decide to see if there's any new information on the trip. Then I read Gary's post to avoid free floating in a lock if given the choice. I began laughing uncontrollably (and crying) as I pictured my boat spinning and moving around like a "cigarette butt".

[Fairbro]

Cigarette butt was actually my second but more appropriate metaphor choice.

[colbysmith]

I chuckled at Gary's comment! But in all honesty, there really isn't that much turbulence caused by the water being drained from the lock. I've now locked through every lock on the Mississippi from lock no. 1 to the Melvin Price lock (26) and the Chain of Rocks lock (27). I've locked on the Snake and Columbia Rivers, the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, the Illinois River and the Chicago River. I've also locked in some much smaller lake locks, one at home in Madison and two on the Michigan Inland Waterway. I've been in locks from 3' drop/rises to 90'. I've locked with floating bollards or mooring bits, or with 1 or 2 lines dropped down to us. I've locked both by myself and with my wife. Maybe my experience makes the difference, maybe not. But on this trip we were dropping down in all the locks. And most were only 8-9 feet, one being 38 feet. While there may be a little turbulence from the draining of the lock, the problem was mostly due to wind. A pretty stiff breeze on the bow or stern. My experience with locking has been that most lock tenders will only let you float when there is only one or two small boats in the lock, and even then many still require you to take a floating bollard or the lines. And as was the case up until the last half dozen locks, with the lines, they handed you two, one to be held near the stern, the other near the bow. Usual practice was for the helmsperson to hold a line thru the helm window, while the spouse held one from the cockpit. In my case solo, I'd hold both lines amidship. Then towards the last few locks, they were only throwing down one line. Rather tricky to keep the boat parallel on the wall with one line being held from either end, since it was going straight up, unless you held it from the opposite side of the boat from the wall, giving a little more pull on the boat into the wall. With our amount of free board, as soon as the boat sails into the wind, with one end away from the lockwall, it's a bitch to pull that end back into the wall. My trick with one line was to hold it just behind the cabin (amidship) on the other side of the cockpit away from the lock wall, pulling tight to keep both ends of the boat on the wall. Floating becomes a problem if the wind gets you perpendicular in the lock. My trick was to fender up both sides of the boat, start in the middle of the lock chamber, and keep the boat parallel to the wall while maintaining position in the front of the lock, where I was in our lineup. (I'd keep watch either with the lock 500' marker, or a crack in the wall). With the stiff winds we had on the stern, I had to constantly shift in and out of reverse to hold from going closer to the gate. Then turning the engine to keep the boat parallel to the wall. A few times the boat would end up wondering over to one wall or the other, but it didn't really matter with fenders out, and always staying parallel to the wall. For me being solo, it was actually easier to float! The other issue besides the wind, was the chop in the lock from the current and tail wind pushing in. At least until shortly after the entry gate was closed. As for taking lines or the bollards, and entering the lock, it's really not any different than docking. Except you don't have the advantage of being able to just grab the nearest cleat, or jumping off the boat to tie it up quickly. In summary, just as we say in the airline business, any landing you walk away from was a good landing. lol.
I think everyone did a fairly good job in the locks, considering locking experiences, the wind, and a few times, not the best help from lock tenders.
More lock delays today. Actually getting more normal at what I've experienced with past locking on the Mississippi River. The first lock went fairly quickly, as we got around a tow ahead of us about 6 miles before the lock. 20 miles later, and 15 minutes out from our last lock, lock 25, when I called them, I was told come on down, hold at the top and they'd give us the green as soon as the barges were out. Now I should have questioned what I was seeing on my AIS display, but the lock master gave no indication we'd have much more of a wait than what it would take to finish locking thru the tow. After near an hour, I saw the barges moving out, but then it also appeared there was no tug behind them. And my AIS was stilling showing a tug on the other side of the lock. I called and asked the lock tender if this was a split and he replied yes. So then I asked if he had an estimated time for us, and he said maybe about an hour, or an hour and 15 minutes. I was a little beefed that the guy didn't say anything to us about a split lockage, as we could have slowed up rather than hurrying on to the lock. Unfortunately, the tug also had a crew change and was waiting for a new engineer. And then the captain found out he also had to drop and change out a cook. Paperwork (email) has to be sent before the lock will allow personnel on property, and then the tug had to wait for the crewmember to get there. In all, we waited almost 3 hours. But not just us. Two more tows arrived, one upstream and one downstream, and they also had to wait at least an hour. We were still able to get locked thru once the crew change tow left the lock. We were very spoiled getting through many of the locks as fast as we did earlier in our cruise! We still have not seen the number of tows I expected to see, as it is still quite slow right now, for whatever reasons. Nor have we seen many other recreational boats on the river. We saw a lot of boats at the confluence with the St. Croix River by Prescott during that weekend, and just a few more around some other larger cities. And I forget where, but at one place it appeared there must have been a fishing tournament as we saw a number of fishing boats flying up the river. There was also one section of the river that seemed to have a number of local fisherman out recreationally fishing.
I think it was around lock 20 that we started only getting one line or were allowed to float, and one of the lock tenders stated to me that they don't see many recreational boats in the locks down in these parts... I think we are starting to see a few more "loopers" in the marina's the last couple of nights.
Anyway, today marked two dozen locks in two weeks. It is only 15nm to Alton, with no locks in between. We are in Grafton tonight. We've planned to leave here tomorrow morning at 10a, and we all planned our fuel to arrive with near empty tanks for the pull home. The marina here at Grafton has a lot of improvements since I was here 3 or 4 years ago. I think the best marina's have been Red Wing, Two Rivers, Grafton, and I know Alton will be. And of course our afternoon, evening and morning at Doug's boat house in Winona was very special. I'll try to get some more photos uploaded this evening. Colby

[colbysmith]

More photos uploaded. http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_albumName=Upper-Mississippi-River-2021&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&page=1

[colbysmith]

Well, looks like the on water portion of the trip has ended for the other three. (Little Bit pulled ahead and out a day or two earlier.) This morning Jim met another cruiser, who was from St. Paul, and was pulling his boat today and heading home. He offered the others a ride back up to St. Paul, so a deal too good to turn down, since we are only 15 miles from Alton. However, they will miss what I consider the best marina on the Mississippi! They will be heading back to St. Paul today, to pick up their rigs. I'm still heading for Alton, where I had already positioned my truck and trailer. I'll spend the night there, and pull out tomorrow to head home. We had a great trip. And the only damage was the scrape in my boat. No mechanical issues, with everyone's boat performing well. No groundings or collisions with wing dams. And an unbelievable no wait at the majority of locks! Hopefully the others will post their reactions to our cruise. Colby

[Water Bill]

Hi Colby,
Sounds like you guys had a great trip with pretty good weather. Enjoyed your write ups and all the pics you posted. Sorry to hear about the scratch but sounds like it is repairable. Looking forward to seeing you again in October.
Bill

[gulfcoast john]

Riding DOWN in a lock will ALWAYS have less water turbulence than when riding UP. (As Colby noted in only 500 words).

We’ve ended up using the same techniques. I may use a six foot length of ½” line with a knot at each end to capture the cable and allow some surge room at the helm. We cruise with the bimini up, so can’t use the ‘other side of the boat’ option.

Many locks require that engines be shut down, including all Canadian locks. If you’re at the helm with the engines on with your right arm out the window and a few feet from the next boat, be sure not to fall on the throttles.



Towboats may be required to keep engines on in the lock.

Fenders can pop...if one does, it’s your rub rail that will be grinding up the wall, so we use six fenders per side (agree always on BOTH sides rather than the minimum of three). Fenders are so much cheaper than rub rails.

While riding up the very large Joe Wheeler lock, we didn’t have the strength to prevent the fore line from slipping on the bollard, driving the stern and engine cowling to scrape up the lock wall. The two of us couldn’t push the stern away. We added a ‘locking cleat’ forward in the cockpit and now have better control with a loop around that. And no, Colby, I still haven’t fully repaired that cowling, it’s just cosmetic like your scratch.

Other suggestions:

When locking up, scan the lock wall for a niche or hollow that could swallow a fender on the way up. The water forcing your boat into the wall can prevent the fender from getting free, which would tend to pull the wall side of your boat underwater and capsize. We heard the T-S superintendent describe how this happens every year, but mostly to small cottage boats and skiffs. Also avoid the recessed service ladders and rungs that can entangle a fender. Keep a sharp line cutter nearby (one that Canada or the USCG would not consider a ‘weapon’ when they ask if you have any ‘weapons’ on board). This is never an issue riding down, since a swallowed fender would merely fall back onto the boat as the boat rides down. Note the bollards within recessed niches...you don’t want your fender to get ‘trapped’ in one when riding UP.



When approaching a lock, don’t VHF call for the ‘lockmaster’. Technically, a lockmaster may manage a whole flight of locks and not be on site, so no one answers...just use ‘LOCK 34’ etc. Yes, only a jerk would care, and only 1% of locks in our experience are managed by jerks, including the one at Joe Wheeler. Just be aware of this.

We always wear a comfortable auto-inflate PFD in locks. Rain can trigger an auto inflate PFD, so we have two manual inflate ones as well.

Cheers!

John