Boating on Merrimack River (Massachusetts) ??
 

Anyone spend time boating on the Merrimack
river in Massachusetts between Haverhill and
Newburyport ???

I'm considering a slip in Haverhill for a
24' bowrider.

Is the river suitable for recreational/family
boating (swimming off the boat, tubing,
wakeboarding, fishing, etc.) ???

And how is it getting out of the harbor to the beaches
north and south ??

Thanks,
Stuart

Henry David Thoreau did it, and seemed to enjoy it very much.

"Stuart J Adams" wrote in message
...
Anyone spend time boating on the Merrimack
river in Massachusetts between Haverhill and
Newburyport ???

I'm considering a slip in Haverhill for a
24' bowrider.

Is the river suitable for recreational/family
boating (swimming off the boat, tubing,
wakeboarding, fishing, etc.) ???

And how is it getting out of the harbor to the beaches
north and south ??

Thanks,
Stuart

Hi,

I had my 22 footer docked at the old 3R marina, about 2 miles upstream of
the RT 1 bridge. We spent as much time up the merrimac as we did in the
harbor or out in the Atlantic.

We waterskied and just anchored and swam. The river is very nce between
Newburyport and Haverhill. You will enjoy it.

It is easy to get out to the Atlantic unless the tide is rolling out and you
get an easterly wind. If that happens the mouth of the river becomes very
rough and treacherous. Can be dangerous in fact. The problem being
parallel jetties designed to keep the mouth free of sand bars. However,
under the above conditions you get big standing waves.

John


"Stuart J Adams" wrote in message
...
Anyone spend time boating on the Merrimack
river in Massachusetts between Haverhill and
Newburyport ???

I'm considering a slip in Haverhill for a
24' bowrider.

Is the river suitable for recreational/family
boating (swimming off the boat, tubing,
wakeboarding, fishing, etc.) ???

And how is it getting out of the harbor to the beaches
north and south ??

Thanks,
Stuart

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 15:38:39 +0000 (UTC), Stuart J Adams
wrote:
Anyone spend time boating on the Merrimack
river in Massachusetts between Haverhill and
Newburyport ???

I'm considering a slip in Haverhill for a
24' bowrider.

Is the river suitable for recreational/family
boating (swimming off the boat, tubing,
wakeboarding, fishing, etc.) ???

And how is it getting out of the harbor to the beaches
north and south ??
===================================

Looking at the charts, it is about an 18 mile run down to the ocean
inlet at Newburyport. There's a well marked deep water channel the
entire distance. I haven't boated on that stretch of river but there
are probably some slow speed/no wake zones along the way which will
stretch your travel time, probably to over an hour total. The inlet
to the ocean is deep and well protected by breakwaters on each side.
That said, there will be more than a few days when conditions will be
dangerous for a 24 ft deck boat. The only access to the beaches would
be to anchor out and swim in, probably doable on calm days with no
surf running.

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 17:37:54 GMT, "John" wrote:

Hi,

I had my 22 footer docked at the old 3R marina, about 2 miles upstream of
the RT 1 bridge. We spent as much time up the merrimac as we did in the
harbor or out in the Atlantic.

We waterskied and just anchored and swam. The river is very nce between
Newburyport and Haverhill. You will enjoy it.

It is easy to get out to the Atlantic unless the tide is rolling out and you
get an easterly wind. If that happens the mouth of the river becomes very
rough and treacherous. Can be dangerous in fact. The problem being
parallel jetties designed to keep the mouth free of sand bars. However,
under the above conditions you get big standing waves.

I can vouch for that by the way. I had the hell scared out of me a
year ago going up the Merrimac between those damn jetties.

Later,

Tom