Upcoming trip to Eastern TN

[Pascal]

Interested in tips and advice for our upcoming trip to eastern Tennessee thru the Tombigbee and Tennessee River

I have logged tens of thousands of miles along the east coast from Cape Cod to the Bahamas and a single run in the gulf to Tx

Planning on leaving Miami early June, big change since I ve had my 53 there for 22 years! As mentioned in a previous post where I was asking for advice on marinas up there, we re just done with hurricane seasons, crazy dockage rates (almost $2k a month) and all the only water traffic, wakes and trash… sofl boating has changed so much! And we don’t use the boat enough so we may as well have it up there where we ll be able to go more often without spending an arm and a leg on AirBnBs. Eventually we ll build a house on land we already bought but I m enjoying my job running a 110 Lazzara too much to retire yet.

We have secured a slip at Spring City Marina on Watts Bar Lake just 20 miles from our lot. It s bit rustic but well protected. And about 1/8 of what we re paying here

So…. Questions!

To radar or not radar…. It seems like the odds of fog in June are pretty low, I don’t think it s worth adding a radar. I ve just installed a class B AIS

Other prep including adding an inverter and inverter bank as a back up to the single gen

I ll call marinas ahead of time to check on fuel availability after the recent storms that have impacted the west coast and panhandle. Any favorite / preferred fuel stops or places to avoid ?

Locks on the Tombigbee and Tennessee river, seems like calling ahead on the phone can help speed things up? Any advice? My only experience with locks are the baby locks along the Okeechobee and the one just south of Norfolk on the ICW.

How many miles can be covered upstream each day on the rivers? Planning to run most of the trip at hull speed… 70-80nm realistic in June with 14 hours of daylight ?

Do marinas on the river system fill up quickly in June or is that section slower with most loopers up north at that time of the year?

Any other advice welcome… I m new to this river and lake thing. .

 

[Miss Swivel]

I haven't run the Tombigbee but, I've run the entire length of the Tennessee. I used an Army Corps of Engineers chart and depth finder. Though a GPS is very helpful after dark. Definitely inquire about any major lock shut downs. They usually have them planned well in advance. My longest barge delay was about 5 hours. I just tied up in the auxiliary lock and chilled. I did the entire trip at about 8 knots. I usually averaged 50ish miles per day. Some shorter, some longer depending on where I was staying that night. I never had any problems getting transient docking (July-September). I did find most marinas gave me a discount on docking if I bought fuel. So, i bought fuel almost everywhere I stayed. A friend had an interesting tip that I intend to use the next time I travel. His wife baked homemade goodies in little gift bags for the lock masters. Word spread real quick of the boat bearing gifts and he didn't have any significant lock delays!

 

[rsmith]

I made the trip with Randy delivering a 58. Rivers do get morning fog and a cheap radome radar would be fine. We fought a 3-5kt current all the way to Tennessee.
I see this guy around town he bought the Jag brand new and has had it ever since never restored. Said he enjoys driving the car so much he doesn’t want to take it off the road long enough to restore it.

 

[Pascal]

What time of the year was that trip?

Makes sense to keep it unrestored… a car is only original once! A little patina can actually add value to these cars. Fewer and fewer of these original owners are left and so are unrestored specimen. Mine had to be restored a couple of times since I bought it in 1999

 

[Freeebird]

Radar comes in handy, and so does AIS which will let you know if you need to speed up, slow down, or punt where commercial traffic is concerned.

Locks can develop issues without notice, but the scheduled maintenance closures are announced well in advance.

I call the locks when I’m thirty minutes out. That gives them time to turn them around if there aren’t other boats waiting. They get a little snippy if you call farther ahead than that.

A Southern accent is a UGE advantage where locks and tows are concerned, so you’re pretty much…

Screwed.

 

[Pascal]

You call them on the phone or VHF?
Is fog an issue in June?
Do, I still have two months to practice my southern red neck accent?

 

[Angela]

Hey Pascal, Randy intimately knows all those waters and amenities along the way, especially the best places for the Fried Everything Seafood Platter. He might make an interesting tour guide if you pick him up along the way, maybe somewhere around Mobile, and take him along for the ride to Tennessee.

 

[Freeebird]

You call them on the phone or VHF?
Is fog an issue in June?
Do, I still have two months to practice my southern red neck accent?

Fake a Southern accent on the Tenn-Tom and you’ll get starred and barred.

You can contact them either by phone or VHF. They seem to prefer VHF, but you may not always be able to reach them by VHF when you’re 30 minutes out.

Just let them know your GPS shows you are thirty minutes out and give them your mile marker. Some people fudge or just guess, and it doesn’t fly where turning the lock around for you comes into play.

Fog is generally only an issue after a rain.

You don’t have enough years left in your life to pull off a believable redneck accent. We can make a bet on that if yeon’t to.

 

[Pascal]

Angela, I ll skip the fried everything platter just like you we do much better onboard !

Randy, thanks for the tips. Maybe I ll put Naomi on the VHF instead.

 

[Freeebird]

Hey Pascal, Randy intimately knows all those waters and amenities along the way, especially the best places for the Fried Everything Seafood Platter. He might make an interesting tour guide if you pick him up along the way, maybe somewhere around Mobile, and take him along for the ride to Tennessee.

I actually would consider that if I don’t have anything else going on. It’s boring as hell after you’ve done it a few times, but it’s always fun running it with someone who has never been on it. Sorta like the Mississippi below Saint Louis, but skinnier with more twists and turns. There’s a whole lot of nothing on both.

Good to hear from you, Ang. I still love ya, mean it. We’ll grab some Mezcan next time I’m down by your way. I actually passed through Stuart on the ICW last week and stayed at Scott’s dock a couple of nights. Would have invited you up had I known it was going to be a two nighter. Holler at me sometime.