The owner I work for has an idea of going north of Mobile, AL up the Tenn-tom during the summer/fall. Has anyone done this recently? Also, are there marinas to tie up at or will we be rafting up to barge dolphins along the way? Just wanted to get more information before I started buying books. Thanks.
I did it about 8 years ago on a Huckins that ran about 16-18 kts. We went up river so were against the current most of the time. We were able to stay at a dock everywhere except in Cape Girardeau and one night on the Illinois river. Great trip!
Check out: https://**************.com/ http://www.greatloop.org/ http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop And pick up a copy of "Quimby's Cruising Guide". You can get the maps for free here: http://tenntom.sam.usace.army.mil/Maps.html
You didn't say what size vessel you're in, but there are marina's along the way on the Tenn-Tomm, some are shorter hops and others are long hops......
Tenn-Tom easy cruise No problems with a 72 on the Tenn-Tom; longest stretch between marina is from Mobile [Dog River] to Bobby's fish Camp [although calling it a marina is a stretch, really only a landing - but good catfish!] - a distance of about 120 statute miles. Thereafter, another 100 miles to Demopolis. After that, marinas become more plentiful. An excellent cruise, and when you get to the Tennessee [450 miles from Mobile] you'll enter some of the best crusing grounds anywhere.
At 72' you're going to have to pick your stops (sometimes short days) and make reservations. I did the entire great loop in a 75' Hatteras and it was a challenge finding marina's to accomodate us. Either we passed the next marina at 11am and decided to skip it and push on, or they didn't have the depth, shorepower, room, etc........If you are not in a rush though and can take short days you should be able to find accomodations. We anchored a lot, but that too had a lot of issues finding a suitable place with enough room for us to anchor.
