Lower Miss. River travel

E

Edward Thieme

New member
I am thinking of going on my next trip to FL from Tulsa, OK. I have the Corp. of Engineers charts and the Ark. River looks great, but once on the Miss. R there is a 400 mile stretch with out any marinas. I like to anchor out but the lower Miss. R. seems to have no creeks, streams or wing dams to hide behind for hundreds of miles, just revetments and commercial docks.
I always try to anchor where the tow boats couldn't hit me if they wanted to so I am worried about the Lower Miss. R.
Does anyone know of any guide books for this part of the Miss. R, or have information I could use?

Thanks Ed on "Rambler"
 
sorry, don't have the info you have request but am interested in your planned trip. what part of florida do you hope to visit and what would you guess, your one way total nautical miles traveled? do you plan to trailer your boat during parts of your trip?
linda and i would like to float from ohio to the gulf and on to venice fl. can't say when that would happen but life is short and we need to kick ourselves to get going.
good luck,
pat
 
Edward, We did the whole Mississippi 2 years ago and loved the lower section. There are plenty of places to "hide" from the tugs at night. And places to get fuel. We can't wait to go back. You will have more options than we did since our regular cruising speed was 7mph on the little houseboat and you can easily do 2 or 3 times that.
Due to life getting in the way we had to defer our Ohio River trip until next year and are doing a shorter trip next month down the Arkansas River from Tulsa to PineBluff, AR. and may continue down the Mississippi to Greenville, Miss if time allows.

Tex and Sharon
 
Because of the difficulty of traveling this stretch of the river, I don't believe that there are any guide books. Maybe Tex and Sharon could share where they stopped and how they got fuel etc.

There are also several other blogs about the lower Mississippi. I suspect that doing the lower Mississippi in a shoal draft boat is much easier than in a trawler. I have gone up and down several sections of the lower Mississippi--and found that there was heavy shipping traffic, and that the river is constantly changing. I had investigated about running a trawler up and down the river and decided against it. One of my friends who lives near Morgan City LA suggests that the Atchafalaya River is a bit more boater friendly. I have also boated segments of it, and found it very nice. I suspect that obtaining fuel may be jerry jugging it in many places in any case.

In your favor is the current behind you. Here is a blog about paddling the Mississippi: http://soggyscience.blogspot.com/
A bit of search will probably lead you to some more stories about the voyages. I remember reading one of a small sailboat which went down to the Mouth of the River.

However there is a reason that the Great Loop became much more popular after the TenTom Waterway opened--and why that is by far the most popular route. Also remember that the summer is hot and muggy on the river. The Spring has high waters and some increased risk of debris and flooding.

A well written blog on the C Brats would add to all of our knowledge.

We enjoy cruising the Gulf Coast and Rivers of Florida.
 
A quick summary of gas options for the Lower Mississippi:

From Hoppies (mile 158) just below St Louis it is 387 miles to Mud Island Marina (mile 735) in Memphis.
You can cut 41 miles off of this with a stop in Evansville on the Kaskaskia River, 11 miles off river at mile 117. There is a small lock into the Kaskaskia. There is gas and food at the marina. There is a small grocery store in Evansville, Illinois a short walk from the marina.

If you can't quite make the 346 miles from Evansville to Memphis, you have the following gas options:

It is a modest walk to get gas in cans at mile (921 1/2) in Hickman Ky. On the
left descending bank up a side inlet about 1/2 mile off river
or a short walk at mile 889 right descending bank at New Madrid Mo.
Kidd's (delivery) in Cape Girardeau (mile51)is hit and miss, Hoppie or his wife usually know the latest as to the fuel availability in Cape Girardeau.

Gas is available at Mud Island Marina in Memphis (mile736) If you do no other sightseeing do the River exhibit and museums at Mud Island in Memphis.

After Memphis gas is available at the marina in Greenville, MS. (Mile 537), 4 miles off river up an old channel. Casino next door. Several block walk into town to small store


You can tank up again in Vicksburg (mile 437) left bank 1 mile up old river channel, cans and short walk. There is enough activity at Vicksburg that someone with a pickup truck will usually give you a ride. Nice restaurants and historic sightseeing in walking distance. Wireless internet
It is another long run of about 340 miles to New Orleans, No on river services or gas in New Orleans. We left the river in New Orleans to Lake Pontchartrain at the Industrial Canal (mile 92.5) there is a marina with gas a few miles down the canal.
To make this stretch your 3 gas options are Natchez (mile 363) walkable, There is a bar and restaurant on the Natchez side. A casino is also on Natchez side. On the opposite bank is Vidalia, La. Nice hotel right on the river and a nice new park with boat ramp at Vidalia. Its pretty easy to get a ride for gas at Natchez or Vidalia.
St Francisville ferry landing (mile 266), you must get a ride, it’s a bit too far to walk. or Weber marine (mile 167) Weber marine is a barge terminal but the owner has a soft spot for river runners and will usually have an employee give you a ride for gas and groceries, They are open 24 hours and usually will let you tie off for the night to one of the barges. Next gas is the Marina in the Industrial canal (mile 92.5)
We did not go the last 92 miles to the gulf so have no info on that stretch, but we believe there is gas at Venice.

Tex and Sharon
 
More fuel calculations thoughts... Lower river. We went in August at a very low water time of year.
We found little current to help above St. Louis due to the pools behind the dams. After the last lock at St. Louis the current averaged close to 3 mph. In higher water conditions this may be a bit faster. So for all of your fuel calculations on the lower river you should be able to count on at least 3 mph. My boat gets 4 mpg so by staying in the channel for 10 hours, I gained 30 extra miles and was able to subtract about 7 gallons from my fuel needs for that day. Remember, the mile markings are in statute miles.
 
Plenty of fuel in Venice--this is a major sport fishing destination.

Your description pretty well fits with what others have said--a lot of jerry jugging.
 
Thanks for the info. I travel at 6mph 99% of the time and get 6mpg with my C-Dory 25 so with the 100g tank and river current fuel should not be a problem. Still don't know if I will do the Lower Miss. or take the usually way on the Tenn-Tom but you are encouraging me to try the Lower Miss, I have done the Tenn-Tom 9 times. Thanks again for the Info
Ed on "Rambler"
 
Most of us who have owned C Dory 25's figure that the safe crusing "Range" is just a bit over 200 miles. I think that the longest stretch I went was about 230 miles, and part of it was at just above idle speed because of my concern of range in Alaska. If you are getting 6 miles per gallon, then you are running at 5 knots or less--or a heck of a current with you.
 
thataway,

I do get about 6mpg at 6mph. I have a Pro-Pluse four blade, carbon fibre prop and I adjust the pitch to 21in, the max with this prop, sought of like shifting to overdrive. The 135hp Honda will not reach near max rpm with this setup, I install the 3 blade Honda SS prop if I want to go fast. This prop has individually replaceable blades and is very light so the time I broke a blade coming out from behind a wing dam on the Missouri R. it wasn't panicsville since there was very little vibration.

Ed on "Rambler"
 
If I am running at planing speeds, we usually see around 2.5 mpg; drop down to displacement speeds of around 5 - 6 knots and we get 5+ mpg. CD-25 with a Honda 135. At 1800 rpm, with the boat loaded for cruising, we consistently see 1 gallon per hour fuel burn. Speed will vary with conditions, but usually 5.5-6 knots.

The first two years we ran faster more often; these past two have been the reverse... go further and see more on a tank of fuel. 200 miles on a half tank of fuel is doable... I rarely put more than 1/2 tank of fuel in when we're around home; keeps the weight down and fuel is readily available.

Just putting some numbers out there for comparison.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
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