GL: Illinois River

[A H FOSTER]

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:57:44 -0500
From: "Bob Levine" <bob at levinegroup.com>
Subject: GL: Illinois River
To: <great-loop at lists.samurai.com>
Message-ID:
 
To all fellow Loopers coming down the Illinois River, be very weary of the
depth if you are trying to go into marinas in Peoria, Illinois. We captain a
catamaran with a 3 foot draft. As we had reservations at the Warf Marina,
the depth according to the operator was 5 to 6 feet in the marina we failed
to ask him what the dept in the channel was and low and behold we ran
aground. They were kind enough to tow us off the mud bank that had grounded
us. After cleaning the clogged filters on the engines we the next day
preceded to leave, but this time we had one of their employees on the boat
as he knew the channel. Guess what we ran aground again. A fellow looper
traveling with us went to the IVY Marina and he only had 1.9 feet of
clearance. My suggestion is not to stop at Peoria and head south and anchor
off the channel. Another area to be weary of is Beardstown. The barge that
is sitting under the bridge for boaters to tie off to, well let me put
another way, is that the birds are walking around the barge. Stop at Logston
Tug service. The charge is $1.00 per foot and no services but you are in
12.50+; feet of water. Hope this is of value to all those concerned.
 

 
FWIW, we pulled into IVY for fuel about 3 weeks ago drawing 4' with no
problem.
 
Docked at Beardstown with no problem but kept the back end of the boat toward
the rear, river end, of the barge.
 
We did run into the mud inside the Alton Marina in Alton ILL. While the river
is low you have to stay very close to the rock revetment under the bridge
pylon when entering the marina. And then stay very close to the docked boats
as you head toward the fuel dock. Marina staff on the radio acted surprised
when we told them we had hit the mud. But we were later told another boat had
done the same thing and had eaten up their raw water impellers getting off of
or through the mud earlier that day.
 
 
                                                                             
              Capt. Bill