Thinking about a boat trip this Summer
 

From Lake ST. Clair to Mackinac Island. Looks like about a 250 to 300 mile trip. Has anyone ever made this trip? and what would be the pro's and con's? I know fuel will be a B!*** but I think it would be a cool trip. Any cool places to stop over night along the way? Depending on weather go all the way. Let me know what you think.

So I'm guessing bad idea?

i would say the biggest issue would be the water levels and fuel. that coast line is pretty cool all the way up.

if i was going to do something like this i would definately spend the $50 for a year of boat us tow isurance even though your boat is brand new i have it and i am only 3 or 4 miles from land at any given time on Lake Erie definately worth the money and i do the trailer tow insurance as well for another $14 they will tow your truck and boat / trailer up to 100 miles money well spent if you trailer your boat like i do

Water levels are NOT a problem. The problem will be proper planning. Lake Huron is a huge lake and weather is the problem. That is a huge trip by recreational boat. You need to plan well for gas stops and overnight stops at transient/marinas wells. Plus if the weather gets bad or you have a mechanical problem you need to plan for extend stops at transient wells/marinas. (don't tell work Friday afternoon that you will be back by Monday morning) plan a few extra days. My In-laws used to do that trip about once a year in their 32 SeaRay Sundancer before they retired and gas was cheap. It is a journey on a rec boat. If you are serious I will give you my father In-laws number and I'm sure he will give you some great advice for that trip.

(I personally make that trip too many times a year on a 225 foot long ship)

I know some people that do it Ryan. Plan it well and it shouldn't be hard. It will be pricey for sure!

Guy's, That is why I'm asking, I'm trying to plan and would like to know as much as possible, Gas not a issue, I have boat U.S. tow ins, and trailer ins, ED. The info that Sunrocket gave is more the issue. Time is not the prob, but weather and water is my main concern. Jay I will do big planing. I'm planing on giving my self 2 weeks, I think that should be good. Other info would be great, Thanks guy's

Get ahold of Chris Campbell. His parents do it in their BT every year. I have his cell # if you need it.

Would be a nice trip! Plan on some bad weather and multiple day stays waiting it out. Let me know if you are going to do it, I would run some of it with you on your way through here. We ran my dads cruiser from Marblehead OH to Bay City when I was in high school, was quite a trip. Planning is key, as discussed above. Set up stops for a good weather day, plus possible intermediate stops if you have issues or the weather turns bad. Remember, there are a lot of spots where you are 40 miles or more betweeen possible stops.

Not so sure I would go 40miles out without having twins,I remember the feeling of being out half that far in a storm with the single :poopoo: Maybe if you had a couple of boats doing the trip it may be safer . Also wondering where you would store enough booze on the Sunny for that length of trip

Get a current chart(s) of the lake and study the depths. If you do the trip you'll probably run not that far offshore and you would be surprised how shallow it can be in areas. With the low water levels some marinas may be unapproachable i.e. Harbor Beach.

ed

Does Huron kick up like Lake Michigan does? Michigan can go from 2's to 8's in a matter of minutes!

I've been chased off of both lakes by weather. I respect both but Lake Michigan always make me more cautious. a lot of that has to do with prevailing winds beating from the northwest or north on Lake Michigan.
Huron get hammered also but typically not as bad. I'm sure someone may disagree, I'm going from my experiences on the north end of both lakes.
ed

I have made that trip as well. Sunrocket has it right in post # 5. Lots of ports all along the way for fuel and to take shelter if need be. No need to run way off shore. Just follow the coast up always referring to your charts to stay in water deep enough. Buy a cruising guide that will give you all the info you will need. It can be a fun trip if planned properly and are prepared for the unexpected.
Enjoy and tell us about your experience when your done.

Bob

Thanks for all the great information Guys. I have a feature on my garmin GPS that if I set it, it will plan out my route in a min of 8ft of water and I was planing on staying close to the coast. Also this will more then likely be a one way trip. I will have the Wife and kids trailer up, then we will spend a few days at the island. I have boated on Huron lots of times but Lake Michgin and Lake Erie stress me out more with the big waves. I plan on taking video and documenting the whole trip. Got some serious planning to do. Thanks

Still got to watch the weather on Lake Huron, winds out of the north or south will cause big waves for the whole lake, if the winds are out of the west it is normally good for the near shore except for when you pass the thumb. The waves will come out of Saginaw Bay with a west wind and are no joke. Made the trip last week at work and we had west winds no problem 2-3 foot waves until we passed Saginaw Bay and it was 6-8 waves, then back to 2-3 after Saginaw Bay. If you go to www.weather.gov and select the marine forecast it will give you a near shore forecast and a offshore forecast, the near shore forecast is within 5 miles from shore.

Aww geez. You didn't pick a navigator yet? I will do the trip with ya and the girls can pick us up.

Sounds good, I just need to do all the planning first.

Sunrocket the Saginaw bay is one of my main concerns, looks to be around 30 miles across. The other concern is up by Alpena were the shore line cuts in. Not sure how big the waves are up there?

That is where you need to keep checking the near shore forecast on your way up and decide if you are going to run south of Bois Blanc Island or run north of Bois Blanc island on your way to Mackinaw Island. Once you round Alpena if the winds are out of the north you want to run south of Bois Blanc Island, if they are out the south run north of Bois Blanc, if the winds are east or west you will get a bumpy ride either way.

I made that mistake on the south side of Bois Blanc once before. Not fun

Ok, might be a little long but should give some good insight. I purchased a 391 meridian a few years ago in grand haven Michigan. Brought it all the way back by water. Pretty cool trip for us! Spent about $4200.00 in gas and only would cruise 19 knots! Yes 19 knots! It took us 5 full days of 12+ hours of boating per day. I brought the boat back to western basin of Lake Erie. So, we went through Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, st. Clair river, lake st. Clair, Detroit river to Lake Erie.

We really didn't stop to sight see since this was a last minute bank repo deal for us. We drove a rental car there and drove the boat back. Some of the highlight from the trip are.

Lake Huron is huge! Fishing nets everywhere. Yes I mean everywhere. The whole lake was full of them. It was so bad I called for help! Luckily we followed a veteran in to the next marina. From one side to the other of Lake Huron is like 55 miles. Need to watch the weather! We had no issues with water depth just lots of nets. Read up on navigation with fishing nets.

Mackinaw bridge was a beautiful sight to see. We didn't stop anywhere close to that though.
I will tell you this I was blown away by the Beauty of st. Clair river. The water reminded me of key west water. Very clean, clear bluish turquoise water, lots of beautiful white sand. The homes and scenery was beautiful all the way through. Lake st. Clair was very beautiful as well just don't anchor in the open water. The current is very strong!

Detroit river just sucks! Dirty, nasty city, can be a little hard to navigate at some of the forks in the river. Again current is fairly strong.

Hopes this helps!

Also, recommend checking out amazon for a great book for the Great Lakes Boating. It lists all marinas, gas, phone numbers, nautical miles between places, photos of things along the way, small towns to check out, channels they monitor, docks etc. it's like $60-70 dollars but well worth it.

Thanks Buckeye, never thought about fish nets, what time of year was this? I know a lot of nets go out for Salmon season. If I make the trip it will be in July, and you gave me some good info.

Most of the fish nets are north of the 45th parallel where the Indians have all the commercial fishing rights. They may or may not be marked correctly.

This was in June I believe. Yes they are not marked very well. The problem was there were so many you couldn't hardly make out which was which. Plus it was Rollin a true 4-6 footers which didn't help the feeling of getting caught up in the nets in cold water!

Not a good feeling! Worst part of the trip.