Great Loop, Chicago to Paducah (Slow Bells ep. 31)
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
- This video describes the portion of my 2019 Great Loop Trip from Michigan City, on the southeast shoreline of Lake Michigan, then across Lake Michigan to Chicago, then down the mouth of the Illinois River, then roughly 200 miles on the Mighty Mississippi River, and finally a relatively short trip up the Ohio River to Paducah KY.
I know it's been a minute since you've been to Peoria, Tazewell area. The pekin dam you passed through has one more oddity. The wickets are made from oak and need to be replaced on occasion.
Great narration and videography. Thanks!
Old towboat engineer here.
With Peoria and Lagrange Locks, the wickets are lowered when the river reaches a certain stage of high water, and there's no need for the dam to maintain a nine foot channel for navigation, and everything can then just pass right over, as you did.
The "Guillotine Thing" is a tainter gate, similar to what you would have seen at Dresden, Marseilles or Starved Rock Dam. It's another way to control the pool level to maintain a nine foot channel. It gives the lockmaster another way to control pool levels within a certain range of river flows that allows them from having to manipulate the wicket dam, which is very time and labor intensive. That way, they have to raise and lower the dam a lot less.
FYI, Marseilles Dam had a huge crash on April 18th, 2013, when the M/V Dale Heller crashed on the dam in extreme high water. Seven of their barges sank on the dam, and damaged the two tainter gates closest to the island and canal to the lock so badly that they had to be replaced. The original estimate of damage to the dam was $60 million. If you're interested, I can send a few photos of that disaster, drop me a note through here.
Enjoyed the video of my old stomping grounds, thanks! 🙂
BilgeDweller: Very interesting information. Thanks for commenting.
I know this is 3 yrs old but its Inspirational,,, I cant wait to do the same thing. Its really amazing and thank you so much for helping future loopers. I love your take on everything.
I crossed that same ferry in 2004, but instead of a cross-country motorcycle trip, it was by bicycle.
I like your LATER and really Look forward to narration of your travel’s
I had just got done binge watching "Sailing Soulianis" taking the same route and mentioning the wicket dam. I found your channel yesterday and binge watching your videos. Great info!
I am originally from the 3 rivers area of Illinois near Channahon (big basin marina) Brandon lock. I was born in Joliet. Ive parked at that millennium park by boat many times. I've navigated from Buffalo Rock state park all the way to Lake Michigan several times.
Glad to see someone use the dock in Paducah.
Awesome! I just love Paducah.
FYI - about 17:45 You see some different size river tow boats The largest ones are lower river tows and the smaller one are upper river tows. There are no locks below Saint Louis and New Orleans and the tows are huge because they do not need to lock thru going to St Louis. At St Louis the tows are broken down into smaller groups of barges sized so they can fit through the locks in two groups. The front half on the barges goes into the lock and is separated and then the remaining barges and tow boat back down and the lock is closed and the barges are raised and pulled out of the lock by cable. The lock returns to low level, opens and the barges and tow boat enter the lock and are raised to the upper lever the gates open and the tow is reconnected and continues upriver to the next lock. Then repeat all the way north to Minneapolis or however far it has to go. Then it leaves it barges and pick up loaded barges headed down river and returns to St Louis. If your curious look at this video. czcams.com/video/WkvhBfAstMU/video.html
Interesting information. Thanks.
Thanks for your vidéos and informations.
Since a long time , i was thinking about this trip and you decide me to do it.
Best regards Captain of Slow Bell
Great video. I am from the Cairo area, I am surprised that you didn't have footage of the confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers. There is a definite demarcation line where the relatively clean Ohio river meets the Mighty Mississippi.
Glad I found you will watch all thank you for posted this
Nice Video! My friends did the same trip the same year in an Erwin 32 sailboat. Everything in your video was just like they described!
I really enjoy your videos. I stream them on my tv to get the most out of them. Thanks so much for sharing your videos, it's great following along with you. Fair winds and following seas.
This was the best and most GL video I have seen to date! Thank you slow bells!
Great videos, thanks for sharing!
Another great video. Very informative.
This was the most informative GL video I've watched to date! thank you SLOW BELLS what a treat!
Saw your vid on my recommended list. Only took a minute of viewing before I subscribed and hit the notification bell. Looks like I"ll have some nice viewing starting at the beginning and getting up to date.
thank you very much for another great video we are actually traveling by RV for a second year down to Texas and must have crossed paths road and waterway.
very inspiring... thank you
Thank you very informative and well done.
Very nice video Sir.
Now I have a tiny boat (17 ft. Cuddy cabin) but I've been through the waters from St. Louis to Herman Illinois many times. My speed because I have a planing hull was much higher. It is a nice day trip.
Thanks for brings us along for the ride!
Blue Sky's and Tailwinds
(Pilots goodbye)
Thank you, someday I hope to do the loop. As for Paducah, yes the National Quilt Museum was really good.
Thanks for sharing
Very well done! Thanks so much for sharing your experience, am a great lakes sailor and have always wondered what it is like to do the loop.
Thanks for this.
thank you boat guy; well done!
Hey Captain, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip out of Al’s place (Chicago). Thank You. Looking fwd onto the Gulf journey. Kate and Dave, NortherN Ontario
They used to make locomotives in Paducah. It's a cool little town.
That's pretty cool. I assume the steam engine by the flood wall was made there?
Always great to hear from you. Hope you stay warm out there and swift smooth current to you. Be safe!!
Hey Boat guy. These videos are great ! We just bought a 40 Mainship for the loop . Looking forward to bumping into you in 2021.
Tom Nee : I see a lot of Mainships on the Loop. They must be pretty good boats. I hope you have a blast in 2021.
Glad to see a new video. Was starting to wonder if something happened. Another Looper that I believe is a bit ahead of you hasn't posted in a month either and it got me thinking you all may have found some pirates or something. Safe travels and try to stay warm. It's been record cold for november up here in Michigan. Good luck "chasing 80".
Jeff Bennett : I suspect all the pirates found warmer locations to plunder.
Just some thoughts from one who calls the Port of St. Louis home...
Transiting St. Louis has intimidated many of the most experienced boaters. The swift current past the Arch...the heavy commercial traffic...all those bridges...and the narrow river spook lots of boaters. Through the years, I have floated past the Arch in both directions as a guest in the pilot house of several tows. Even the most experienced commercial river captains have a great deal of respect for the river as they thread the needle under those bridges and push past the Arch. Several have told me that things can go wrong really quickly due to the current and narrow waterway. No one wants to have the current slam their tows against the bridge pillars and wind up spending the day corralling loose barges floating down the river. Most say you make sure you are pointed straight at the beginning of the transit and push ahead hoping for an uneventful transit.
All those barges add up to an unbelievable tonnage of freight, often putting St. Louis among the top 10 busiest ports in the US - not just inland river ports....but all coastal and inland ports combined.
There have been dozens of plans to build a St. Louis marina, but the liability caused by the swift current and heavy commercial traffic has killed all the plans. Thus, you either end up at a marina north of St. Louis along the Alton lock and dam pool like those in Alton or Grafton....or down south of the port at Hoppie's in Kimmswick.
For those of us who have grown up and lived around the Port of St. Louis all our lives, it's just another day. But even we know that it is a river that demands respect and caution. It's never a relaxing drift down a lazy river when you float through St. Louis.
Glad you made it through safely....enjoy your journey.
Earlwayne Stumpf : A very interesting post. Thanks very much for your insights.
The lemont railroad bridge gets hit probably 10 times a year
It's a pity you did not video yourself navigating under the 19.1 railroad bridge!
Enjoy your videos! Just realized that you are posting these pretty much as you go, so you just missed some single digit temps on Lake Michigan! Hopefully you'll stay a little warmer as you head south! Safe travels!
Daddin458 : Wow, single digits already. It's cold enough in Demopolis. Winter is hot on our heels as we scramble south ... or "cold on our heels" as the case may be.
Great video! What type of boat is Slow Bells?
Looks pretty cool, I've been kicking this idea around for when I retire. However I will only have a 25' to 30' motor boat, I no nothing about sail boats. But it seems to be the better way to go, at least in fuel costs. Did that barg thing they hauled your boat out with to go over land, is that a free service or did it cost money to do that?
3rd largest inland port in the country. Over 1 billion dollars of commerce annually pass through this port!
Really liked your video, so far, the best I have seen. I was wondering if you fished any of the lakes and rivers for a little extra meat?
No fishing, just a nice cruise down the river.
Do you recall the speed of the current going up the Ohio and up the Tennessee?I should be making that trip next summer in a boat with a maximum speed of about 5 knots. I can hug the banks to avoid the worst current, but I would hate to have an over the ground speed of less than 2 miles an hour.
TomJeffersonWasRight: I think the Ohio current was around a knot. I also remember being slowed down a little as I approached the Picwick dam, once again, a knot or maybe 1.5 knots near the dam? Further south in the Tombigbee, I remember there was enough south flowing current to keep the boat parallel to the shoreline at anchor, but I think it was a knot or less. After all the current in the Illinois and Mississippi, the current from Cairo to Mobile seemed pretty tame.
What ship where you on when you was in??
Boating in Chicago in Nov? That's pretty hardcore!
I enjoyed your video. What kind of boat do you recommend for a single person doing the loop?
Hi Linda. I don't think I can recommend one boat in particular, since there are so many to choose from. Your boat needs to be able to get under the lowest bridge in Chicago. Diesel engines are preferred over gasoline. A single engine will be a little cheaper than a twin engine, and a bow thruster will make it easier to dock. Happy boat shopping.
@@seattleboatguy thank you so much, that is helpful.
Great trip, really wish I was young enough to do it myself. Please use more video and less (much less) still photos. You get more of the feel of the trip with video.
I like the video approach, too. The drone videos are especially cool. I would like to try that in the future.
You only showed 14 seconds of traveling thru one of the world’s most beautiful skyscraper canyons?
A pretty amazing place.
If you had gone down the west side of Lake Michigan would you have had less harsh wind conditions than the east side of the lake?
Hi Timmerman. I think I agree with you that the east side of the lake would tend to be a little more wind friendly with a West wind. Not so much for a north or south wind, although my boat does better dealing with head on waves rather than beam seas. I still like the ease side for all the anchorages. I suppose either side has its good and bad points.
How do you know where approved anchorages are located especially on very busy rivers?
Good question. If you are referring to anchorages that have been "approved" by some government agency, such as Coast Guard or Army Corps of Engineers, I predict you will find very few. However, there are anchorages that are commonly used by pleasure boaters, and these are depicted on charts maintained by commercial cruising guide companies such as Navionics or Waterway Guide. There are also the mouths of creeks and the non shipping lane side of river islands, where barge tows are unlikely to visit. On a wide section of river, I have anchored on the side of the river that is clearly well away from the shipping channel, although even there, I made sure my anchor light and my AIS transceiver were left on all night. Of course, there are scattered marinas, and some of the locks will let you tie up to their wall overnight.
Do you have an email I can send a question to?
Hi David. My email is doug@seattleboatguy.com
What speed was the current goin up the Ohio and tennessee?
I would guess 2 or 3 knots on the Ohio, although I didn't go very far upstream on that river. I recall that there was significant current just downstream of Pickwick Dam, but nothing my diesel could not handle. Beyond Pickwick, current was not an issue for me.
Is there any other way from the Great Lakes with a higher clearance? I need 49 ft.
There are so many boaters with that same problem. I wonder if there is some boat trucking company that could benefit from the demand. Better yet, just remove that silly bridge. I don't think it is even used anymore.
@@seattleboatguy I thought there was another lock system somewhere.
Anyone heard anything from slow bells since he shipped his boat to pnw ? Just wondering. Hope all is well.
Hi Bruce! I've been working on various projects aboard Slow Bells in Blaine WA. The boat will be put up for sale this spring. I'm going to try to switch my traveling from a trawler to a camper van.
@@seattleboatguy good to hear. U hang in there
What is the size and make of Slow Bell?
38 foot Marine Trader.
November? Shouldn’t you be doing the loop timed so that you are between Louisiana and Florida in November???
Mechanical breakdowns and lock maintenance closures.
5:22 smoke steam ??
I really don't remember. It is as lot of "something" coming out of that poor boat.
This is the most viewed video I’ve seen to have to do with Paducah haha
I think most people do the Great Loop just so they can say they have boated in Paducah.
Never a fan of voice over and or narration documentary type vdo.