Segment Looping Planning Options for a C-Dory

[Gulfcoastjohn]

C-Dory Loop segment options

If you’re considering trailering over to the Hontoon Gathering in March, also consider that as an opportunity to cruise the entire coastline of FL and the Keys over 4-6 weeks after March 7. The biggest challenge for a trailer boat is getting across the Gulf Big Bend in the middle of winter, when there is an Artic blast every 7-10 days and the Gulf remains riled up for days after that. Last Dec it took 21 days for a weather window to appear for a clot of Loopers holed up in Carrabelle. That time and money was wasted.

In April or May the chance of those fronts (or hurricanes) in FL is near zero. You won’t need air conditioning. By late March Loopers and yankee cruisers have departed for the Chesapeake so marinas are uncrowded. Free rig storage at Ed Stone landing is possible, or if you want to trailer to JAX and park your rig in a secure outside lot that’s available too (JAX Storage Solutions).

Biscayne Bay Lighthouse/National Park has 3.5’ so no big boats compete for slips (side tie to walls), honor kiosk for overnight, no shore power.


ANY entrance into the Everglades requires a Boater Certificate:
https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/boater-education-program.htm
Print it out to show the Rangers since there is no cell service if it’s only on your phone.

Bahia Honda State Park Marina in the Keys has 3.5’ so no big boats. Reservations for up to 14 days total. Call early.
https://www.floridastateparks.org/BahiaHonda

We found the Florida Municipal marinas to be the best compromise between services and cost. Although Cedar Key is a traditional anchorage stop, there's no real Marina there, just bay boat rentals and a low bridge.
https://www.ckmarina.com/

The long entrance to Crystal River is unforgiving..at least one CD22 bent the shaft on rocky spoil. You can row your dinghy to see the manatees or pay $100 each for a private snorkel tour. Pete’s Pier and several other marinas there quit taking transients. Twin Rivers Marina has very limited transient sips but is the FL C-Dory dealer.

Call ahead for Tarpon Springs marina city docks space.

Clearwater has two city marinas…Clearwater Beach Marina on the Gulf side and Clearwater Municipal Marina (Clearwater Harbor Marina) east of the ICW.

Another “Clearwater Beach Marina” is private, $7/foot and requires $500,000 liability. Adding your boat to an Umbrella policy with your home insurer is usually the cheapest way to get coverage (under $500 for us).

https://www.snagaslip.com/gulf-coast-marinas/florida-gulf-coast/clearwater-beach-marina?utm_source=waterway_guide&utm_medium=referral

We recommend Clearwater Beach (City) Marina because you can walk to the Gulf Beach. There's a free Trolley system for getting around and a giant 2-story Publix (with parking underneath) nearby.

https://www.myclearwater.com/My-Government/City-Departments/Marine-Aviation/Make-a-Clearwater-Beach-Marina-Reservation?utm_source=waterway_guide&utm_medium=referral

Pensacola is a few miles from the AL line with good airline connections or one-way car rental back to JAX or Deland. Seville Marina has security and is not too far from the airport (but no ramp at the marina). The next major city is Mobile, but it’s far from the airport and there are no good marinas near Mobile.

JAX to PNS is 1,300 water miles and 105 engine hours for us. Getting your boat back on your trailer will save you some money as opposed to paying for a TravelLift or forklift ride for your required 100 hour engine maintenance. If we’re in town we’ll help with the airport ride etc if it’s not TOO early. Mid Jan we’ll trailer down to our fav 5 star marina in Key West until the Hontoon Hoot in March.

You will encounter sea grass that floats at the level of your engine water grate intakes on the lower leg of your outboard in both the Keys and the Gulf Big Bend. We had 12 engine Overheat alarms in two days on the Big Bend. When you stop, the grass slides off, so when you raise that leg you will see nothing at all. Just be prepared and not surprised by this. It took us many winters in the Keys to figure this out.

Trip report here:
http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=31563

The next Prizer/Meet in the Middle Gathering would be a great opportunity to cruise the Tenn Tom to Pensacola one way and car ride back to fetch rigs.

Regarding Canada vs NY Canals, we’d advise doing the Triangle Loop into Canada in reverse on a fast C-Dory…take the Hudson R to Lake Champlain to Canada on the Richelieu, left at Sorel on the St Lawrence to Montreal, through the Lachine canal, Ottawa River, and Rideau to Kingston. Stop a few days at Montebello. A pumpout was only $25 instead of $50 because we bought over $1,000 in gas.

https://www.fairmont.com/montebello/?cmpid=msn_lcm_search-generic-na_resort-p-revsh&msclkid=80755ab9721d12e6177c3fd44672f161

Get your air draft under eight feet for the Lachine canal. The alternative Seaway locks are expensive with long waits and priority for seagoing cargo ships.

https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/qc/canallachine

Skipper Bob advises very strongly against this because you’re fighting 2-3 MPH currents and up to 8 MPH (depending on water levels) for a few miles north of Montreal. Many underpowered sailboats and trawlers simply can’t make way against that. (Neither can Colby at 2.5 MPH). To do that loop clockwise from Oswego then to the start of the T-S would require crossing 54 miles of Lake Ontario twice and doing the eastern Erie Canal twice, so that option would waste some gas and time. From the end at Kingston don’t miss cruising the Thousand Islands in the St L (the Thirty Thousand Islands are in Georgian Bay, and the Ten Thousand Islands are off the Everglades). Depending on how much of a hassle (politics, COVID etc) it is to enter and re enter the US and Canada you may choose to stay on the Canadian side of the St L. Kingston ON is relatively close to the entrance to the T-S at Quinte West (Trenton) ON which ends in Georgian Bay. Take the Inside Passage to Drummond, enter the US and over to Mackinac Island. We explored the T-S/Georgian Bay by car, bike, trails and float plane in 2018 and plan to trailer up there in August.

You’d miss the Erie Canal this way, but it might be too much hassle to try to include that plus the Triangle Loop AND the T-S in the same cruise. If you have lots of time (or trailered from the PNW) crossing Lake Ontario to the Oswego Canal then alternating town walls to the end at Tonawanda then backtracking while staying at the towns you missed might be better than the Welland Canal with hiring a professional captain etc.

The busiest cruising season in Canada is “Construction Holiday” (July 21-Aug 3, 2024) in Quebec but Ontario tends to copy it. The best time to cruise Canada is early Aug to mid Sept, when kids are back in school and you will have the canals and walls to yourself, vs conventional Looper lore that ‘you should be past Chicago by Labor Day’. In peak season get to your marina or lock wall or town wall before 2PM to ensure a spot.
https://csdconstruction.qc.ca/en/construction-industry/construction-holidays-and-vacation/

Tell Santa:

Canada considers pepper spray a ‘weapon’ but ‘bear spray’ is OK (because it is more concentrated than pepper spray?).

You will eventually happen on a marina or wall which only has a 50 amp pedestal available. The adapter you need is a 50A 125/250V to 30A 125V (not 50A 125V, which would only be found in very old marinas). Be sure the marina agrees to charge you the 30 amp rate. Many will rent you one for $10/day, but even at $100 mine has paid for itself many times over. This is the cheapest one I’ve ever found but note it is not UL approved.

https://www.amazon.com/CircleRiver-Adapter-SS2-50P-L5-30R-Dogbone/dp/B0BVFNN79R/ref=pd_ybh_a_sccl_35/144-2411321-2273368?pd_rd_w=dsszf&content-id=amzn1.sym.67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_p=67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_r=WKDY426K4PSNGZAVGMCB&pd_rd_wg=xnk0o&pd_rd_r=830a75b7-4076-477c-87bd-5b0a0b715d0a&pd_rd_i=B0BVFNN79R&th=1

I use this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/253525743818?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5338678874&toolid=20006%26customid%3Ds%253AGS%253Bgc%253Ac56424b83fc91881416d41899b0f632f%253Bpt%253A1%253Bchoc%253A1&customid=s%3AGS%3Bgc%3Ac56424b83fc91881416d41899b0f632f%3Bpt%3A1%3Bchoc%3A2&msclkid=c56424b83fc91881416d41899b0f632f

50 amp Adapter for 30 amp boat inlet:
You need 50 amp side marked “SS2-50P”, which has 2 not 1 main pins with an “L” bend (and an additional ground plate).
Credit to Bob Austin.

A EZ Pass account and $4.99 windshield transponder allows you to trailer through FL and Ohio and NY (I-80) for about half the price of stopping and paying cash tolls.

To legally transmit on VHF (even AIS transmit) in Canada requires a radiotelephone and shipboard Operators License from the FCC, about $265 and several months.

I see Santa is getting exasperated.

Boating on Lake Champlain requires (both NY and VT state law) you to physically remove the section of plumbing between your Y diverter valve and the ‘overboard discharge’ thru hull. That took me a full day, weird tools and a hair dryer, so do it before you depart so you can plug the ends very well. The whole Loop is a No Discharge Zone (not including ‘gray’ shower and sink water) so you might as well configure this in advance if you have any chance at cruising Lake Champlain.

This is a good time to plan your cruising, since it’s less than 70 degrees here, the HOA pool is not heated, and soon we will have to flee to Key West to avoid the miserable Pensacola winter.

Hope this is helpful to some C-Brat somehow somewhere!

John

[colbysmith]

John,there is another free ramp in Jacksonville, comparable to Ed Stone, but much larger. Several of us parked our rigs there for a couple of weeks after Hontoon, while we cruised the ICW. The name of it is Jim King Park and Boat Ramp at Sisters Creek. The one other big difference from Ed Stone, beside size, is you are launching in tidal water, with the associated current. Although, the ramp itself is somewhat protected from current with sea walls on both sides. Colby

[Avidmagnum12]

Morning John
Thanks for the great information. Last week I applied on line for my FCC licensing so that I would be legal in international waters. If you apply on line and can work through the somewhat complicated system you can now print your paperwork right away. They assigned a new MMSI number and my Icom radio could not be updated as it too old. So we ordered a new radio and antenna. Nice to have two VHF radios anyway. Now for bear spay and a newer power cord.

[ssobol]

[Gulfcoastjohn]

NY and VT State law (at the time) referred only to black water (even if it has been sterilized by ElectroSan type devices to the point of being cleaner than the effluvient discharged into the river by the local city sewage treatment plant). The AGLCA forum has the most info on this subject (although limited to loop areas, not California etc). The Director is on record that there are no marinas on the loop that prohibit gray water discharge (which includes water heater PRV, overboard discharge of non-oily bilge flood water, rain water draining through scuppers + shower and sink water).

Although not on the loop, one boater noted that Isle Royale Natl Park (west Lake Superior) required a ranger inspection to ensure the sink had a stopper and to discourage any water discharge. Tom and Colby can comment on that, we’ve never been there.

We prefer marinas for the unlimited hot showers and think it’s gross to wash anything on the boat except dishes (with a drop of non sudsing camp soap) as part of being a polite visitor. Boats builders are not required to provide a gray water holding tank. From what I’ve read, the Clean Water Act of 1972 is what required them to start providing a sewage holding tank (and prior to that, some boats didn’t have one)! Gross.


Burton State Park, Inland Sea on Lake Champlain

Safe Travels!

John

[ssobol]

[colbysmith]

5x in Isle Royale and never been inspected. It is an environmental sensitive area, but common sense goes a long ways. Just remember hikers are pulling water out near the boat docks to drink! Yeah they pull it thru the purifying things, but still... Anyway, the park newspaper says: Gray Water
Gray water must be dispensed outside of park waters (which extend 4.5 miles from the outermost land areas of the park) or at a pump station in Windigo or Rock Harbor. I say common sense goes along way, as we know boaters and hikers brush their teeth and wash up. And are not going to transport that water to two dump stations on opposite sides of the large island, or swim or boat to 4.5 miles off shore. There are outhouses at each campground, and if one was religiously following the rules, I guess they would not be useable! Colby

[Gulfcoastjohn]

Thanks, Colby
Sometimes I wish 'common sense' was more common than it is...

Stefan, yes that license covers you but technically you also need a FCC station license for the radio on the boat.

"US law requires US boaters to have a FCC issued marine radio station license (for the boat) and an FCC issued marine radio operator license (for a person) if traveling in foreign waters. Canadian law effectively requires the same thing for visiting foreign vessels."

I plan on paying for both, but keeping my free BOATUS MMSI (which I obtained many years before learning about the Loop) rather than converting to a new FCC MMSI. The FCC MMSI is an international database visible to international SAR agencies. But I have Garmin legacy ship VHF, send/rec AIS, three legacy HH VHF, that would all have to replaced plus a ACR EPRIB to return to change the MMSI.

The FCC operator and station license are legal requirements (though the AGLCA experts doubt any US cruisers will ever be fined); the FCC MMSI is not (but a good idea).

It's five well marked left hand turns and a right while following a caravan headed to the next marina. The Canadian LE we interacted with seemed to have bigger fish to fry than being the Potti Police or US FCC Police.

If you've traveled (by land) in the Bahamas or Mexico, maybe not so much.

I don't mean to make cruising sound complex, it mostly is not.

Safe and simple travels,
John

[colbysmith]

FWIW, the Canadian officials converse with their counterparts across the border, and they can easily get information on any "free" MMSI signaling a distress. I and other US Citizens have even been pinged when in Canadian waters when they are putting out a call for an overdue or vessel of interest. So they make use of the MMSI system rather you have paid for it or not. I've also never been asked for my radio permit when checking into Canada or being checked by their customs. Although I also have my old FCC Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit that was required during my airline piloting days.