Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:23:42 +0000, Larry wrote:

A great day tour is the Cooper River-Tailrace Canal from Charleston to
Moncks Corner. We even took Dan's Hatteras 56 motor yacht up there for
the weekend, much to the dismay of the lock operator...(c; Your only
cost to use the lock is to tell the operator the name of your boat and
where you're from.

Larry, I'm interested in making that trip up the Cooper River some
time.

Some questions: What is the northern limit for a boat drawing 5.5 ft
and with an air draft of 28 ft? Are there any bridges or locks with
restricted operating hours? Would it be a good place to hide out from
a coastal hurricane?

I can reduce the air draft to about 19 ft by dropping the mast but
that is a lot of effort.


I don't believe there are any restrictions below 28'. The River is used
for ship and barge traffic to the steel mill (Nucor) a long ways upriver
and is much deeper than 5' all the way to the lake due to the infrequent
heavy flow from the old electric generators that have been replaced by a
steam plant, now.

It's a great trip. Anyone can go up the 75' inside the lock for free.
I've been through the lock in my jetski many times. They make jetskiiers
stand on the floating dock that rides up on the lock wall all the small
boats raft up to for the ride.

In the lake you MUST be very careful in ANY boat! Lakes Moultrie and
Marion were made by the CCC back in the 30's in an awful hurry, without
too much thinking it seems. Trees were simply felled, their tall stumps
left to rot underwater, creating fantastic fishing habitat...but terrible
hazards to boats in many places. There was no time with the flooding to
remove the logs, so they were simply chained down to the ground before
the water flooded them. The chains have rotted away and waterlogged logs
roam the lakes NOT FLOATING. At and near the dam where the lock is, the
water is over 100' deep. But, this lake bottom was once LAND, not long
ago. There are whole towns underwater! The hilly country makes some
great channels, but some really shallow parts, too. A marked channel
goes across the lake to the "Diversion Canal" that goes between the
lakes. The upper lake, Marion, is far worse in "exposed forest" than the
lower. You just have to keep a sharp watch.

Make sure you have plenty of fuel aboard. Marinas sell GAS to small
boats, but they are very few and far between with very limited dockage
too small for a 28' boat and 5' of draft. I don't think there is any
diesel above Charleston.

The lakes have no commercial traffic above the plants on the river. So,
you can anchor about anyplace your heart desires without fear of being
run down by ships and barges. There's lots of little islands that stick
up out of the water. They belong to the power company and are not
private. The land around the lake is leased to the house owners and has
only recently started to be sold to those who want to own the land their
house sits on. The utility is owned by the state.

Here's some interesting information:
http://www.thamesbassfishingadventures.com/id3.html

http://www.navysailing.org/newslette.../southeast.htm
The Charleston Yacht Club cruises up to Short Stay, the Navy recreation
area right near the lock in August. Those boats ALL have 50-60' masts so
I think that answers your height question I wasn't sure of.

http://kfmaps.com/detail.aspx?ID=46
charts

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/CHS/RECCHS
WX Lake Moultrie - water is 84F for your bath.

https://www.dnr.sc.gov/
SC Dept of Natural Resources....Lakes are very low due to drought, now.
This will make cruising an issue until it improves.

https://www.dnr.sc.gov/water/hydro/gages.htm
Water Guages across SC....the bad news.


Larry
--
Search youtube for "Depleted Uranium"
The ultimate dirty bomb......