09/22 Lake Powell 2012

We were at LP this summer in late June, with 95 degree heat in the daytime. We handle the food situation with two inexpensive coleman coolers that we keep block ice in and keep covered with big wet bath towels that bout doubles the life of the ice. My wife and I are water babies and spend many hours during the day, including cruising days over the side. No reason to ever need air on Powell in my opinion unless you are not mobile enough to spend time IN the water. Also, a big wet bath towel on your shoulders on lap keep you plenty cool even when you aren't in the water. We had a grand 6 days in that dry heat and only hit the marina's at BF and at Dangling rope twice...for more ice and of course, ice cream.

September air conditioning just isn't necessary for sure, and in my opinion, AC at Powell is never necessary during my years going there. SHADE is CRITICAL however, when on the boat, and CD's are great for that.

Mistakes made with small cruisers on Lake Powell are:

Take too many clothes, too much food, be in a hurry and have to run WOT all the time. Off plane at Powell is the best speed to enjoy it. Oh, there are times when you will plane to move quickly as needed, but up the canyons is a waste of gas and scenery for sure. No reason that any CD would need to worry fuel if you start with topped off tanks from The south or north or middle marinas and run at speeds that are, "scenery slow."

Regarding food, we take as much non-refrigerated stuff as possible, and don't plan on any culinary extravaganzas. I know, a lot of people boat to eat, we boat to see stuff and to get wet. If I can't eat it by tearing open a sack, or opening a can and sticking in our fingers, I get real choosy about taking it with me. We do bacon and eggs and other refrigerated items, but very few. The ice in the cooler is mostly there to chip off and put in our drinks.

Good to keep some foul weather gear on the boat for that time of the year, though I've never had to break it out.

There are many "whales" in Powell that start popping their heads up or near the surface. You CAN'T fully rely on even the best of Powell charts and chart plotters to see them and the Lake cops do only a moderate job of keeping them marked. You will find as many LP boats stuck up out of the water on those shoals and submarine mountain tops as you will in ocean venues, only with a lot more trouble to get them back off the grounding than on near shore ocean venues. Another reason to stay between the buoys in the main channel, and OFF PLANE anywhere else, and absolutely no night time cruising unless you are an expert on that specific piece of Lake Powell turf.

Powell kills people every year for dozens of different reasons and, in my opinion is due to the attitude that, "hey, its just a lake." It requires as much in the way of boating skills as any where else, including winds, and heavy water.

BUT it is a magical, unlike any other place in the world. I've not been to the gatherings for CD's, but still plan on the Powell one this year. For new folks at Lake Powell, the gathering is, I'm sure, the place where you will be up on the learning curve the quickest, and not up on a shoal.
 
Thanks for the helpful post! It's been so long since I've been in dry heat that I might have forgotten about the evaporative cooling bonus, so I appreciate the reminder/towel suggestion.

I have long thought Powell looked like a neat place to cruise/swim/explore, so I'm really excited to not only finally go there, but to also meet up with my (now) fellow C-Brats -- and with the bonus of guidance from experienced folks with local knowledge there :thup

I can't wait to get in some extended in-water time - really glad to hear it's good swimming territory.
 
I would like to echo Sunbeam's comment. Mary and I really appreciate all of the feedback being offered as it will help us prepare for this trip. We may not have completed all of the little projects we want to do on our boat - which is new to us - but at least we'll be in proper order for this voyage. We look forward to exploring Lake Powell, and to meeting and learning from all of you!

Rob
 
I would agree with potter water...the "its just a lake" attitude will get you in trouble on Powell. Most of the hazards are not marked. The only channel marks are over the old river course in the main channel. It pays to honor them. Once away from the main channel of the Colorado you must watch for light water...that is...light colored water to indicate decreasing depth. If the sun isn't right...you best be dead slow...or you will not see the rocks. And because the lake is a flooded canyon...the rocks come up from the depths in a vertical fashion...so the sounder is only so much use. At low water there are numerous examples of rocks with lots of prop marks across them.
Speaking of low water...it looks like the level will be down a bunch this year. Could even be marginal for Castle Rock Cut to be open. May need to go around the long way if it is not passable. I think the level will be near what it was for the 2008 gathering. Fabulous fishing that year.
On the subject of fuel...usually not a problem for C-dorys. Although you can get into trouble if not paying attention. About the only real stretch range wise would be if you were to explore the San Juan River arm in a high water year. That trip could easily approach 200 miles between fuel stops which is enough to make me want to carry cans.
Otherwise...important stuff to remember would be your Ivory soap...it floats. Also...plan to provision for the trip before you launch...the marinas have a very limited, expensive selection of groceries. We usually try to plan a stop at a marina every other day or every third day...mostly for fuel and ice...and of course ice cream. Potable water is available at the marinas. There are floating dump stations at several locations around the lake as well as the marinas. Shade is important...we can't always site our camps in the shade...so if you have chairs with the canopies...or other shade...bring it along. Also if you have little tables of some sort...they are convenient on the beach. We will have at least one potluck type thing...the rendezvous on Saturday night...but other potlucks pop up from time to time. Fire wood is great for the campfire at night. We can usually gather some...but some beaches don't have much...others have cords.
I'll mention the Stan Jones map again...essential. And the Kelsey book on Lake Powell is very useful.
Keep the questions coming...we are happy to help. This will be an absolutely wonderful experience for everyone as most veterans will attest.
Oh...and mouse traps...don't forget the mouse traps!
 
Hi to all,

Just listed those boats (27) which plan to attend the Lake Powell gathering. Is there more? Also, in review of everyones comments, I wanted to say thanks for all the good information.

See you at Oak Creek Canyon on the 22nd.

Mike
Kestrel
 
Starting to think more seriously about this trip now that we're back from Des. Sound. Made up some 50' mooring lines to run from rear cleats to beach.

I found that I still have a 26' Parachute canopy with the riser cords intact. I'm thinking that with my extension pole and some long tent pegs, it would make a pretty good sun shade. Has this been tried before? Did it work?

Found the water toys from years past. Testing them now to see if they hold air. Lots to do in a month!
 
At one of our family trips to Bearlake we tried a parachute for shade and everyone came away with nice sun burns. The one we have is pretty thin. Can't say they would all be the same. Maybe a test would be in order.
 
Diana and I are hoping to leave for Powell on 9/15, heading down I-5 to Mt Shasta, over to Reno, then out through the Nevada desert to I-15. Not sure if we want to go to Page or Bullfrog...

Anyone from the NW up for a caravan down and/or back?
 
We have the camper enclosure but we also have this sunshade we used to use for our last trailerable sailboat (not sure if it will fit on the C-Dory)... but we're going to test it out. It looks like a calistoga wagon, and used to work great on the Delta when we would anchor out. Since we have the camper enclosure, it would just be providing additional shade over the cabintop. We also bought the relective "bubble" wrap that was suggested... what a great idea!

We are wondering about the potluck and what to bring for that.... Food in a C-Dory for a week is a bit of a challenge.

Rob also has invented a mouse thingy for the lines with some pie-pans... and we've bought the mouse traps.... So you can see, we are thinking about the important things.

Mary
 
I have been assuming that the Lake Powell event forum is the same as the sign up for the event list. If not, please put Still C-razy on the list...Harry and Susan Ames (potter water).
 
potter water":3otj88ov said:
I have been assuming that the Lake Powell event forum is the same as the sign up for the event list. If not, please put Still C-razy on the list...Harry and Susan Ames (potter water).
Click to expand...

Your already on the list. So your good to go. :D
 
Thanks, I hoped that would be the case. My wife and I are really looking forward to the get together. We had planned to be there last year, but a death in the family put an end to that. We are fairly frequent lake powell visitors, but are excited to meet with some of the people from the CD "tribe."

I assume we will be kept up to date on any service we can be in terms of contributions to pot luck or other needs? Is there a general itinerary that I can look up other than the 22nd meeting at oak?

Hope to see you all there at one of the 5 greatest inland lakes in the U.S.

Still C-razy
 
We are not so organized on this trip to the point where we actually have an itinerary...or assignments for the pot luck. The veterans will usually take off on their own individually or in small groups...sometimes with a rendezvous for the next night in mind. I'm happy to take those not as experienced to see the highpoints of the lake...but that is not real organized either. For folks that want to hang with the group to get started...we will leave Wahweap Marina store around noon on Friday. Sometimes we overnight uplake and go into Oak on Saturday...sometimes we head for Oak Friday night.
The potluck on Saturday in Oak is the only planned potluck...but there are usually several spontaneous potlucks that occur during the cruise.
 
Spontaneous or planned, what typically is brought to a pot luck. I suppose we could carry an extra few bags of chips, or three or four 8 packs of hot dogs? That general class of thing?
 
I can only speak to the potlucks here in the PNW. Here they are true potlucks, Folks Bring whatever they want, some bring salads, some desserts others a main dish of some kind. Hot dogs and the fixins would be fine as would chips and dip, whatever works for you. They are very informal. Chairs and small tables are nice, the cheapo 15$ "chair in a tube" kind works well
 
We will have the freezer and some well traveled spagetti!

We have found a problem with heating up of the V berth in the summer months, and not cooling down well by bed time. We have not used AC so far on Powell, but with the current heat wave....we have the unit in the truck. It would be only for cooling down before bed time.

We use an "endless Breeze" fan over the fore hatch--and have several other fans in the boat in both the V berth and main cabin area.

We do put sun shades over the foredeck and side windows. we also have a shore side shade. If you have a dog, bring shade for it also.

After our other adventures this year we have changed out the Guest 10 amp charger for a Master volt 20 amp charger, and use a 30 amp charger to power the group 31 dedicated freezer boattery with 2 to 3 hours of genset time a day to keep it topped off.

We are planing on launching on the 15th of Sept. and heading up river then. Almost every time (about 11 trips) we have rescued another boat out of fuel, battery power etc. so be prepared.

We carry 4 anchors. A Delta 14 which works well 95% of the time. We have a back up of a 7 lb Fortress for the bow. That is normally one of the two stern anchors. We have a 6 lb Fortress and a 2.5 lb Danforth (use lots of rocks with that one if we need it for the Stern, but also a good dinghy anchor.) We have at least 100 feet of line available for each anchor. We also have at least 6 to 8 feet of chain for each anchor--and more on the primary bow.

We usually run up lake at a low plane--it is 40 to 50 miles to Oak Canyon. ( depends on lake level.) Always slow in side canyons. Also "read" the water. Obstrctions are visiable. Poloroid glasses help to see the items under water.
We like to pick the contour on topo maps which show the current level. In May this year, the lake was well up, but even then care is necessary, and if you take a short cut, be very alert.

Take plenty of sun screen and lip balm/sun block.

Communication: A T & T is only available from towers near Page. Verizon has worked in the past when in view of Navajo Mountain. Kindle does not work, nor does I pad. I am Ham (KA6PKB) operator. The 2 meter repeater on Navajo is 140.960-, with a 100 hz tone set. There are also a 448.75 and 223.93 repeaters listed. We will moniter the 140.960, when in view of Navajo Mt.

Wayneswords.com is a web site with information about Powell. (mostly fishing, but other info there) Lake levels are at: 3626.29 and dropping an average of .20 feet a day currently. I suspect will be down about 8 more feet by Sept 23. The minimum at Castle Rock cut is 3608. There is about 18 feet there currently (according to Waterdb at Lake Powell.)

As for the deaths-most are from drowning (often involving alcholol and drugs), C O poisoning was high, but improved. PWC present dangers (fewer in Sept) Also watch out for boat wakes, espceially in the Antalope area, where the channel is fairly narrow, and there is a lot of echo of waves. The tour boats can put out a nasty wake. Also the storms can be serious. Seek protected shelter--Lightning can be a risk also. But all in all if you practice safe boating habits Powell is a great place and is safe.

We are leaving S. Calif. tomorrow to put the boat back in storage at Big Water and will then head North in the RV for a month. Too crowded for us to boat there until after Labor Day!

We look forward to seeing the "Gang" and making new friends at Powell! The current plan is to join Wandering Sagebrush and go up the San Juan Arm before the gathering, so we will probably be out of touch, except by Ham radio after we are on the lake.

Safe traveling and boating!
 
Navigation: We have the chip on the Garmin chart plotter; but better yet is the Navionics I pod app. It shows a projected heading line which will help orient your position and course in referene to the land marks. Also we have used the Topo Maps app, wiht details of the Powell area, using contour lines, for precise location and canyon topogrpahy.

Potter, call sign entered on my "cheat sheet" 73's
 
thataway":uexx635q said:
Navigation: We have the chip on the Garmin chart plotter; but better yet is the Navionics I pod app. It shows a projected heading line which will help orient your position and course in referene to the land marks. Also we have used the Topo Maps app, wiht details of the Powell area, using contour lines, for precise location and canyon topogrpahy.

Potter, call sign entered on my "cheat sheet" 73's
Click to expand...

Bob, did you pick up a GPS puck for the iPad, or are you running with the cell contract?
 
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