On Wed, 22 Jan 2014 18:30:57 -0500, Gene Kearns
wrote:

On Wed, 22 Jan 2014 03:45:01 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Here's a quick trip running south on the ICW heading for Isle of Palms,
SC on "Soul Source", the Navigator Pilothouse I had. My older son now
lives about 2 miles from the Isle of Palms Marina where we stopped.

Those not familiar with the ICW might wonder why I was so close to the
the tugs towing the barges, since it appears there is plenty of water on
either side of them.

The reason is because although it looks wide, the dredged part of the
ICW is actually very narrow in places. If I had been 10 feet more to
the left of the first tug or 10 feet more to the right of the second,
I'd risk running aground or hitting bottom with the props and rudders.
The tugs were running right up the center of the dredged channel.

The Navigator's beam is 15 feet so sometimes it can get a little dicey.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA8BpVn6lyo

Around here, you wouldn't want to be that close to a tug because they
suck all sorts of things off the bottom that you don't want to hit....

===

There are some narrow/shallow stretches on the ICW where oncoming tugs
are a real problem. Too close and you run the risk that you point
out, too wide and you risk obstructions outside the channel. We've
had some real dicey encounters on the Alligator-Pungo Canal in North
Carolina and a few other places.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Pungo+River+Alligator+River+Canal,+Fairfiel d,+Hyde,+North+Carolina+27826&hl=en&ll=35.47521,-76.092682&spn=0.771667,1.209869&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=13.400972,19.35791&geocode=FdH_HgId u0R0-w&hnear=Pungo+River+Alligator+River+Canal&t=h&z=10