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River trip

Steve21slx

Steve21slx

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Location
Boones Landing, Ky
With all the issues we have had we decided that will not define how much we like our boat. It would be nice if the dealer and bennington were more attentive but it is what it is. So we got on the boat last sunday and cruised down the ohio river. We had never been down that way because our old boat just was not fast enough. We started at Boones Landing, where we store our boat, and set off down stream. We went through the Locks at Markland dam, first time ever, and headed down to the Kentucky river. We did this as a test because we are eventually going to go down the KY river to frankfort ,Ky as my wife has relatives that own a marina there. It was a fun day that totaled close to 8 hours on the river. Our biggest surprise is how nice the river is below Markland Dam. Some really nice beaches to let the dogs out on and just much cleaner looking than the upper part where we normally hang out. I think total miles is around 60 or there about.


Here is a video of some pictures we took during the trip and a short video of us entering the lock on the way back.


River Trip:Boones Landing to Ky River and back click here
 
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Very cool but that lock water looked kind of nasty. Thanks for sharing...
 
It is nasty and so are the walls but it was a cool experience non the less. The bad part is getting through the lock door area. Regular v hull boats don't have an issue but with the pontoon it was tough because the logs that swirl in the middle from the door opening and closing are huge. We made it though with no problems but it was tough keeping them out of the middle of the tubes. The river is still a little muddy looking from all the rain we have had but is getting better. It was just 2 ft up on this day but should be normal pool by this weekend hopefully.
 
Cool video. I'm jealous of all of you who have access to big water from your slips.
 
No locks in my area. It would be an interesting experience. Looks like they make you wear your life jackets during the process? How long does it take to get through the whole thing?


Brian
 
Cool trip! 8 hr. journey .....Did you have to stop for gas?!? 
 
prd2hnt said:
No locks in my area. It would be an interesting experience. Looks like they make you wear your life jackets during the process? How long does it take to get through the whole thing?


Brian
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Yes you have to wear life vests while in the lock. It takes a few minutes to get to the spot where you sit. Basically you just loop a rope around this thing that floats up and down. Then it takes around 12 minutes, lock employee told us that, to get down to the lower level. It is amazing how fast it was. Coming back up seemed to take little longer and was a bit harder because of the swirling water. I guess they are pumping so much in it was hard to control the boat. Actually scraped the wall with the front end corner of boat but nothing real bad. We finally figured out to hold in the middle and we were good. I would say it was 20-30 minutes total to get through if that. On the way back we were the only ones in the lock and was probably closer to 30+ minutes because they had to lower the water to let us get in the lock.
 
BigKahuna said:
Cool trip! 8 hr. journey .....Did you have to stop for gas?!? 
Click to expand...

No we didn't, We also stopped a couple times to let the dogs off the boat for a few minutes here and there so with the locks and that I am sure it added a couple hours to the trip. We have the 21 gal tank and had an 1/8th of a tank left when we got back. I figured it was around 60 miles plus or minus a few miles round trip. Hoping to give it another run in a couple weeks. I want to go to one of the locks on the KY river just to see what they are all about.
 
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Can you radio the lock keepers with VHF to alert them you're coming there way so they can be ready for you with the lock full or empty?
 
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cwag911 said:
Can you radio the lock keepers with VHF to alert them you're coming there way so they can be ready for you with the lock full or empty?
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Yea you sure can. Marine radio channel 13 and cell phone also. We just pulled the chain as this was our first time but next time we will probably just call them.
 
Thanks for sharing. Sounds interesting, and I'd say properly a little uncertain the first time you do it. Many years ago, we took a longer Ohio River trip,on a 63 foot house boat that belonged to a guy my wife was working for at the time. At that time, there was a lot of commercial shipping on the River. I would think that is still the case now. We also plan to take a long River trip this September. We want to take our 21 SLX from DeLand, FL north on the St. John River to Jacksonville, FL. This will be 122 miles per River charts. We plan to spend an overnite at marinas with resorts and rooms both on the way up and back around the half way mark, as well as at least one night in Jacksonville.


How is your 21 SLX set up, both hull and motor? Ours is SPS with 150 Yamaha, and 32 gallon fuel tank. We have plenty of Marinas on the river that offer non-ethanol fuel, so that is no problem. I'm just wondering about going 240 miles in the space of 4 travel days, or roughly 60+ miles per day, which is what you did. What did you average for speed while traveling? You mentioned letting the dogs walk, and the locks, plus being gone for 8 hours. I'm just trying to get a sense of time on the water. If anyone else has had experience with a longish trip with their Benni, please chime in. 


Thanks again for your trip report. It was most enjoyable reading and looking at your pics and video.
 
We've just put in one 120 mile day on the Tennessee River--the length of Pickwick Lake and back.  It's a glorious trip.


My wife and I still plan on towing our 24SSLX up to Chattanooga and coming back one way downriver 180 miles as the crow flies.  We'll be spending the night in Guntersville at the Windham Hotel that has docks--and a great seafood restaurant close by.


If anyone is looking to do long distance river cruising, the Tennessee RIver downriver from Knoxville has 650 miles of navigable lakes.  We often see Great Loopers on these waters, and they say it's simply the best inland cruising in the country.


We're fortunate to have an incredible lake in our front yard--wide and deep with a sunset view all the way to the horizon.  Property is reasonably priced, and the lakefront homes are simply incredible.  (We have a fish camp.)
 
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Tooner said:
 We also plan to take a long River trip this September. We want to take our 21 SLX from DeLand, FL north on the St. John River to Jacksonville, FL. This will be 122 miles per River charts. We plan to spend an overnite at marinas with resorts and rooms both on the way up and back around the half way mark, as well as at least one night in Jacksonville.
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I love the St Johns river.  Spent a couple of Winters in Deltona, so am familiar with the DeLand area.


We have also put in the St Johns at Astor on Hwy 40 and cruised the area.  And have spent some time at Salt Springs.
 
Beautiful spot to be sure. Maybe our paths will cross one day. We are across from Hontoon Island State Park.
 
Tooner I have a 21slx with a 90 HP and the 21 gallon tank. It was the one off the show room floor so we did not have to much lead way. We did get the 10' Bimini and the extended ladder with platform. Basically the 21 SLX did fine. This is our first year with it as our old boat would never be able to do anything like this. I wish I would of brought my GPS with me and I would be able to give better statistics on the trip. All is not lost though this last weekend we did another trip of about 63 miles but no locks involved. I am not sure if the statistics will help you but here is a Garmin Adventure of the trip. It was  63 mile round trip with an average speed of 11.4 MPH and average moving speed of 16MPH on a trip that lasted 5.5 hrs with out loading and unloading. There was an 1hr 48 mins of sit time and 3 hrs 42 Mins of moving time.  I had a full tank when I left and had 4 gallons when I got back. Going past cincinnati was the toughest part because it gets crazy through there. We hit a large wave on the way back and when I loaded the boat we found one of the grey plastic pieces broken on the bottom. Not a big deal but still kind of a bummer.


We spend a majority of our time on the river and river barges are part of the deal. Down where we usually put in it is not real bad and the water never gets real rough unless it's really windy. I use Garmin basecamp to map out trips for the most part. Here is a trip we are planning in the near future. We will have to travel and extra 11 miles to Madison Indiana to fill up before we head down the Kentucky river. We will have to go through Markland Dam on the ohio plus 4 smaller Locks on the Kentucky river. I have been doing these other tests to see what to expect as far as gas usage. I am feeling like I should be able to make it with one fill up going and one on the return on the frankfort trip. It will be a 180 mile round trip.


River trip to Frankfort, ky.
 
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Inverness is a nice area. I've been through there several times on my motorcycles. 
 
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