On 1/22/2014 6:30 PM, 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....



That particular encounter with the tugs and barges has always remained
in my memory banks. I can recall it like it was yesterday. I initially
tried more distance but the depth gauge alarm would go off very quickly.
The whole time we were passing both barges I had one eye on the depth
gauge and one on our relative position to the barges. The Navigator
drew 4.5 feet. I had the depth gauge calibrated to include a little
safety factor and I remember it sometimes reading under 4 feet.

The space I had to maneuver was less than the width of my boat. Even
being that close to the barges, the alarm would go off a few times.
Nerve wracking.