LuvBoating
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2009
- Messages
- 718
Do you use a Tide Table where you boat?
We put our boat into St John's River here in Jax......right across from NAS at Goodby's Creek Landing. Haven't thought much about looking at a Tide Table for launching or retrieving until lately. The area where boats "exit" from the creek into the river is pretty shallow. There is a new buoy there (wasn't there last year or before) and we've grounded a couple of times on both sides of it. Did lift the drive and get out, but sure did scared us. Wife told me, due to the draft of our 20' cuddy, we must have of 3 1/2 feet of water to run in. Our depth gauge warning is set to 4 in hopes we will have enough time to pull up the drive when we go by this buoy. I also figure that since we have a 5.7L engine and approx 90 gal gas tank, that makes us sit lower in the water? Right now, we have almost a full tank of gas. A 5.7L engine and 90 gal tank is some weight, right? Looking at a Tide Table for the area, we really do need to go out when the tide is in, but that doesn't always happen in the morning when we "put in" at 9:30AM or so.
We are planning a trip down to the Intercoastal Water by Ormond Beach (Daytona area) in a few weeks and I want to make sure we go on that water in near High Tide and come off about the same time. This will be our first time on any Intercoastal Waterway!
When we boated in Colorado, just south of Denver, we really never worried about "depth", but HERE is a whole different story!
This whole "tide" thing has me a little worried at times due to getting grounded those times near that buoy!
Any suggestions would really, REALLY help. Thanks!
We put our boat into St John's River here in Jax......right across from NAS at Goodby's Creek Landing. Haven't thought much about looking at a Tide Table for launching or retrieving until lately. The area where boats "exit" from the creek into the river is pretty shallow. There is a new buoy there (wasn't there last year or before) and we've grounded a couple of times on both sides of it. Did lift the drive and get out, but sure did scared us. Wife told me, due to the draft of our 20' cuddy, we must have of 3 1/2 feet of water to run in. Our depth gauge warning is set to 4 in hopes we will have enough time to pull up the drive when we go by this buoy. I also figure that since we have a 5.7L engine and approx 90 gal gas tank, that makes us sit lower in the water? Right now, we have almost a full tank of gas. A 5.7L engine and 90 gal tank is some weight, right? Looking at a Tide Table for the area, we really do need to go out when the tide is in, but that doesn't always happen in the morning when we "put in" at 9:30AM or so.
We are planning a trip down to the Intercoastal Water by Ormond Beach (Daytona area) in a few weeks and I want to make sure we go on that water in near High Tide and come off about the same time. This will be our first time on any Intercoastal Waterway!
When we boated in Colorado, just south of Denver, we really never worried about "depth", but HERE is a whole different story!
This whole "tide" thing has me a little worried at times due to getting grounded those times near that buoy!
Any suggestions would really, REALLY help. Thanks!