Mississippi River Navigation/Info

[RonandBee]

We're looking at planning a trip up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers starting at the Arkansas River, time frame maybe late spring or early summer. We have driven over the Mighty Mississip several times but have never taken the boat out on it. The boat is an 80 footer with twin 305hp Merc I/O's and no thrusters. Does anyone know of any references where we can find info for preplanning, such as river flow rates and what would be a go/no-go current, fuel stops, safe anchorages/marinas, overall do's and don'ts, and anything else any of you can think of? The Mississippi can be a bit intimidating. Any and all advice is appreciated, and thanks in advance!

[OLD HOUSEBOATER]

You might consider later rather than earlier in the season. Let the river calm down a bit.

[RonandBee]

We would have no problem with that. Our timeframe is very flexible. All we want is to be out of the colder climates before the cold, nasty weather arrives. So probably the latest we would want to be up north would be around Thanksgiving or so.

[BananaTom]

There are some Cruise Guides / Books that I know exist. I am unable to find them online right now.
I have a few of the Tenn Tom that have been used on a few trips to Pensacola, from Tenn.

I also have read allot about the Mississippi by reading blogs of Great Loopers as found here:


http://www.greatloop.org/the-upper-m...river-cms-1713

Here is another source to start learning the Upper Mississippi

http://www.mississippiriveradventures.com

[BananaTom]

I found it, here at this link:

http://www.landfallnavigation.com/-bj010.html

[Fork-lift-king]

Contact the Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville Tn. District

[RonandBee]

Thanks for the info...I'll be sure to take a look at the links and dig around the web.

[easttnboater]

What brand/type of boat is it? The Mississippi has a lot of current for a flat bottomed lake houseboat to handle. Also a lot of trash, barge traffic, etc. Going up river, your speed, and fuel usage is going to suffer a lot.

[RonandBee]

It's a Sharpe 16x80 flat-bottom hull with a 3 foot draft, twin Merc I/O's 5.0L. We knew there was quite a bit of current on the Mississippi River, and we figured later in the summer or Fall would be a better time to travel upstream.

[captrsimon]

Your boat will be fine for normal river conditions. Grew up on the mighty miss. on the upper end. Our current boat was a rental on the river for 7 years before being transported to our lake. It's a 15 x 50 with a 3.7 mercuiser single.