Re: Forward Scanning Sonar
nansea:<br />I have made the trip you are talking about four times in a c&c landfall 43 with about 5ft. 10 in.draft. forget any foward looking sonar and cocentrate on your depth sounder while making small corections left or right to stay in the deepest water.The first problem you will encounter is the mantanza inlet area ,this is an area where you must go very close to the shore following the cans here is not enough.contact tow boat u.s. on your radio for the best way through on that day just before arriving .<br />The next real shoal area is just beyond new smyna beach inlet as you head north to datona beach.try to reach this area only at high tide what ever the cost. there is only about 3feet of water here at low tide even in the channel.another really low spot is north of charlston s.c. south of the ben sawyer bridge. this area is a straight stretch but there are feeder streams coming from the ocean at right angles and they bring sand across the channel,plan arriving here only at high tide.It may sound like a lot of trouble but this is a wonderful trip that I would still be doing but the wife no longer into it.Can not blame her we have traveled from maine to the bahamas for the last 35 years together and now she wants to relax home.<br />One thing for certain If it was not for my maxi-prop I would still be stuck in the mud somewere on the i.c.w..Never had to call for assistance just slowly applied power and the maxi would push or back me out of the mud.Its a lot of money but the power in reverse is unbelieveable. <br />Good luck stay on the wheel and watch the marks very carefully. By the way georgia was no problem at all for me there is about an 8 foot tide there,but there is a lot of ranges you must follow.IF you are not familar ranges consist of markers sometimes on shore that you must aim the boat for.There are other times the range will be behind you and you have to glance back to the marker as you go.<br />One more thing you must buy the intercoastal waterway chartbook by john and leslie kettlewell.You will find this little gem all you really need for the trip north.One of the most usefull things I did was to put the bridges in my gps so I could vary my boat speed to arrive near the times of the bridge openings. The reason this was important to me was most of the time there was current at the bridges and you have restricted areas to wait for the opening.Sometimes you may have a number of boats circleing waiting for the bridge.Good luck Bill D.
