CHS to Tampa?

[toastchee]

My buddy would like to take his Tartan 30 with 5.5 ft dft down to Tampa from Charleston, SC. Can he go ICW all the way?

[svHyLyte]

With that draft your buddy should have no difficulty. He will have to hang a right at St. Lucie, traverse the St. Lucie canal, cross Lake Okeechobee, run down the Caloosahatchee River to Ft. Myers and then come up Pine Island Sound but that's quite doable although it's a long, and will become, boring, trip. Frankly, I'd truck the boat unless he has lots of time. He'll need to keep an eye on the weather at this time of year.

FWIW...

[FSMike]

Assuming his mast height will let him get under the railroad bridge.
30' boat probably has a short enough stick. He also needs to check in advance to find out the controlling depth and the status of the locks.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by FSMike

Assuming his mast height will let him get under the railroad bridge.
30' boat probably has a short enough stick. He also needs to check in advance to find out the controlling depth and the status of the locks.

The foregoing is a good observation. Bridge clearance on the yacht, ecluding antennas, is 43' (See http://www.tartanownersweb.org/model...s/Tartan30.pdf ). Certainly check lock/lake status is necessary. Added information on that is available at Cruiser's Net (the Okeechobee tab on the right side of the screen).

FWIW...

[creedence623]

I am heading down to Tampa from Norfolk in a week and a half. If he is heading down soon, PM me with some of his details, maybe we could meet up en route.

[johnshasteen]

Any particular reason he doesn't just go offshore? Much quicker and a lot more fun.