okeechobee lake?

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by scoobert

after September 30, all boat lifts here are occupied. everyone is getting out of the water, and shrink wrapped.
i may just have it done down south, its $21 a foot.
$980 is not too bad. $480 for a second coat.

thou honestly i am planning to take the gelcoat off next year, awlgrip it, then build my layers. thats why i am not messing about this winter.

Scoobert, they don't shrink wrap boats in Florida.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by keepondancin

Not sure I would go to Okeechobee. They are having a severe algae bloom problem. It is recommended that you have no contact with the water in the St. Lucie River. The black plume goes all the way out the St. Lucie inlet and up along the beach. There has been 111 Manatee deaths this year, mostly attributed to the algae bloom. It is caused by water released from the lake. That water is tainted with run off from the cane fields and out flow from the canals that have a very high bacterial level. Big sugar has big money and are able to do almost anything they want, along with a governor who doesn't seem to think that restoring the Everglades is necessary, and there should be no limits on business. Therefore, there is no fishing, swimming, boating going on. I winter in Stuart, and for the first time, I am thinking about not going, it may not be worth it if you can't use it's greatest resource.

What a shame. Florida has historically had the attitude that the Everglades were there for them to use up. In the 70's they siphoned so much water off for irrigation to faming land that used to be Everglades that the Everglades actually BURNED. When I was a child, the Everglades started about five miles west of the Atlantic coast.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by scoobert

that is a whole lot of opinions, and even more speculation.

No, Scoobert. It's all accurate. This really is what the marine biologists are reporting, and everything else the poster said about the sugar cane farming and its abuse of Lake Okeechobee is also true.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

No, Scoobert. It's all accurate. This really is what the marine biologists are reporting, and everything else the poster said about the sugar cane farming and its abuse of Lake Okeechobee is also true.

the same marine biologists who say that plastic bags are mass killing wildlife?
trust no one, when the words they are saying, protects, and reenforces the need for their own job.

[Capt RonB]

I did the Okeechobee 'Limbo' in our Ericson 38 with a 52' mast height. Back in 2007 it cost $150 for the guy to come meet you at the bridge. He brings a helper and a bunch of those blue plastic 50 gallon drums. He situates the drums inside your lifelines along the deck on one side, then pumps them full of water with gas powered pumps.

He has a 'gauge' that he hauls up the mast that acts like a pendulum. When the boat heels over and the weight reaches the water, you have clearance. We powered through on our own engine. Once on the other side, he just pulls the bungs, drains the water and off you go. Takes maybe an hour, hour and a half.

From our experience, I'd guess that 53' might be the maximum but maybe not. We were at 52 feet after I removed the wind bird, windex, vhf antenna, etc from the mast head. The VHF antenna we just turned upside down on it's bracket so that it still functioned for calling bridges, locks, etc.

We drafted 5 feet which is normally not an issue but during periods of drought the lake level can get down to impassable for all but small outboard boats.

The Okeechobee Waterway saves about three days over going the long way about (via the Keys) when going from one coast to the other. We've gone both ways any number of times on various boats.

Indiantown Marina is a good stopover just to the east side of the lake. It's also a favorite storage yard for boats that winter in the Bahamas. The marina is inside two locks on the St Lucie side and so is not threatened by high water from storms. The yard is also expert at tying boats down so they can survive a storm. In hurricane Charley (2004 I think), about 3 dozen boats were tipped over (a few with significant damage) the other 375 boats stayed put with very minimal damage. Ours had no damage other than a shredded grey plastic tarp.

You can also get to Indiantown from the east without going under the RR (49 ft) bridge. However as I recall there are 55 ft bridges along the route. Bridge clearance also depends on Lake levels which are controlled by the Corps of Engineers with the locks and other flood control structures.