hogie roll

There are no locks south of Alton. You won't have the range necessary to do it because the Mississippi doesn't have marinas to accommodate pleasure boaters. If you have enough food I suppose you'll get there eventually!

Loopers take the ten-tom waterway. It has a lot of locks and marinas. The longest stretch you need to cover with out fuel is I believe about 200 miles from Alton to Green Turtle Bay on lake barkley in western kentucky. There used to be a gas dock south of St. Louis but I've heard they don't have fuel anymore.

Ing

This is the best resource available for doing what you plan. Very treacherous boating the lower Mississippi and fuel is a big issue. Even experienced Loopers stay away. Best bet is going to Mobile. Another trip suggestion is going east to Lake Erie and then into the Erie Canal at Buffalo, across New York state and down the Hudson to visit NYC. Marina gas available the whole way and free overnight mooring at all the municipal docks with all the amenities of restaurants and hotels nearby if so desired. Good luck.

http://www.captainjohn.org/

Cajun 2 Stepp

Like Casey says, your biggest problem will be fuel.
Ohh Wow (Robert) is looking into it and may chime in.

partlowr

Thanks for that link and I found another site call the www.GreatLoop.org which pretty much shows what you were talking about and has lots of good info on marinas, fuel, food, etc. We wanted our final destination to be a weekend in New Orleans, how rough is the Gulf between Mobile, AL and New Orleans? My boat is only 24ft with a fairly deep hull and the other boats planning on going with me are a 27 Baja a 29 Baja and 25 foot Formula. We all boat on Lake Michigan which can get hairy but I have never been in the ocean or Gulf on anything smaller than a 38 ft Donzi so not sure what to expect on our smaller crafts and don't want to get in over our heads...literally lol.

wheels61

Some buddies have made the trip fro stl to no several times in a 22ft john boat. They usually take around four days to do it. They would just stop at any decent size town and a local would take them to gas station to fill cans. They have a good time every time they do it. The first time they went all the way to the gulf after that they always ended their trip in N.O. Go for it and post some pics. I can put you in touch with them if you have any questions.

Cajun 2 Stepp

It can be as smooth as a babies butt, or rougher than an ex mother-in-law.
Just watch the long term forecast.

ohh wow

It's a bucket list item for me. We recently purchased a 33' party barge / house boat. Nothing fancy but will have a 7' x 12' cabin with a/c for camping at nights. I mentioned it to family members and a few want to make the trip while the others think we are nuts. We are thinking about trailering to up around St. Louis and coming down to New Orleans. The boat is still in the remodel phase so not sure when the voyage will take place.

I wouldn't attempt traveling the mississippi River after dark. To much debris floating in the river. Our trip would be much slower, traveling around 10mph. Just kick back and enjoy type of vacation. I've read on the Internet about different groups who have made the distance on party barges and smaller boats. Looks like they travel about 50 miles a day then stop at nights. Some of the boats I read about didnt look good enough to cross the pond in my back yard.

(After a few days at 10mph I might wish we were in the Cigarette)

Every time I drive over the Mississippi River bridge I think about it. I don't think the itch is going to go away unless I scratch it. I'll keep the forum posted when we do.

skate

We used to run the 24' Skater in the Mississippi. Memphis to Dyersburg TN and south Memphis to Helena AR. Its fun but the barge traffic is heavy and the rollers behind the barges can get huge! Great consistent air time. Oh, and we always broke something.

Wobble

Get an account on https://activecaptain.com/X.php it has all the latest info, hazards and fuel stops from people than run pleasure boats. Many of the facilities are rated by users and it's available as an app too.

Well worth your time

Sidney64

Huck Finn? Sorry...couldn't resist. I think coming down the Illinois and passing through the locks would be cool. Why trailer to St. Louis would you could launch from home?

Sounds like fun. Enjoy!

Sidney