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

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....

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

On 1/22/2014 7:53 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
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



We stopped at Doc Holiday's Marina in SC on the way down. Actually, I
had just passed it (it was early afternoon) and my brother came over to
me and asked me to turn around and go back to the marina. It was my
birthday that day and he had spotted the Hooters restaurant that was on
the main road behind the marinia and he and the two other guys with me
decided it was party time.

It was. And we found a couple of other "interesting" places to visit as
well.

The next morning we got underway as usual, all suffering a bit of a
hangover. Just south of of Doc Holiday's is the area known as the
"Rockpile". I had read about it and was listening carefully for any
tugs that may be transiting the area. As we passed through there were a
number of boats, some official looking over to the side. A Sportfish of
some kind ... about a 40 footer ... was sitting on the rocks with a hole
in it's bottom. Very sobering experience.

(Wayne, I accidentally replied to your post with this to your email
address instead of to the rec.boats group. ... sorry about that.)

On Wed, 22 Jan 2014 21:10:29 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

(Wayne, I accidentally replied to your post with this to your email
address instead of to the rec.boats group. ... sorry about that.)

===

Got it, no problem.

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.

On Wed, 22 Jan 2014 20:45:04 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

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.

===

It's sort of like driving on a one lane road where you try to find a
wide spot where you can pull over and wait for oncoming traffic. The
problem is that there aren't that many wide spots and you don't get
enough warning that a tug/barge is coming. Technology is beginning
to help out a little bit however. Virtually all tug boats have AIS
transponders these days that reach out 10 to 20 miles. When we come
north this spring we'll be equipped with an AIS receiver that
identifies the type, speed, location, size and name of uncoming
vessels. Hopefully it will give us a bit more warning time for
finding a wide spot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System