on the water in Decatur, AL

P

penguin

Member
Nov 15, 2009
139
Huntsville, AL
Boat Info
240 Sundancer 2000
Engines
240hp 5.0L w/ Bravo II
A bit about myself. 33yo, married, one 3yo son. Grew up on boats. My parents had a 43' Hatteras that we took all over the Chesapeake Bay when I was 6yo-18yo. Work has brought me to Huntsville, AL. After 15 years away from boating, it sure feels good to be back on the water. Feel like I'm getting back to my roots. And way excited to show my son a "family tradition".

I'll be on the Tennessee River in Decatur, AL. The boat is a 2000 240DA that I bought back in January, been cleaning it up over the winter months (as best I can with inside storage and colddddd temps) and finally got to give it a try just recently.

Still need to get the name on there and complete a few other things. However, looking forward to a fun summer. Hoping to find other Sea Ray owners in the area!

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That is a beautiful cruising area. If my wife has her way, we'll have a second home there. She's from the next town down river from you...Muscle Shoals.:thumbsup:

John F
 
Very cool. We are a bit curious on how long we will boat on the Wheeler section of the river. From what I'm reading, it sounds like either Pickwick or Guntersville is where the serious action takes place. However, both would be a 45+min car ride from our house.

Right now, it's 20min to the Brickyard Marina -- much nicer for being able to hop over for an afternoon ride or just to work on things. And going into Wheeler State Park was very fun. There is also Point Mallard and "The Bluffs" to check out. I'm looking forward to exploring.

If there are other places you know of along this section of TN river, I'm all ears.
 
I have a brother in law who lives in decatur. This summer we will be taking a boat trip to your area from Knoxville. The kids always enjoy the trip. We will probably do it over a week or two.

John
 
I'm moving up to Ditto later this month from Florida. Will be my first fresh river experience except for the Florida lock system between Stuart and Ft. Meyers. Ditto looks like it could get happining in the summer. We'll go to G'ville sometimes, and your direction sometimes. I never could find Brickyard. maybe by water.
 
I grew up in Birmingham and remember my Dad taking us to Guntersville with our boat when I was a kid. Guntersville Lake is huge!!

My wife grew up boating on Lake Wilson which is the pool up river from Wilson Dam. Once you drop down from Wilson you are in Pickwick which runs all the way into Mississippi and back into Tennessee. You can get the Ten-Tom waterway and hook up to the Tombigbee and go all the way to the Gulf or go north on the Cumberland to Nashville or the Mississippi to God knows where.:thumbsup:

Many possibilities.
 
Welcome to CSR & to Alabama too!

From my profile you can see I am on Guntersville. As Sprink said, there is plenty of room over here. The lake is not nearly developed as it should be though. We'll head up your way soon but first is a short wekend up to Scottsboro. Let me know if you head this way - I'll help if I can.

John- If you need a slip for a night on Guntersville let me know. Again - I'll help if I can!
 
Wow, glad to hear from you all.

@370Dancer, Brickyard is on the south-side of the river just west of the railroad bridge. It is a very tiny marina that is stacked storage only. There is a row of condos in front of it.

@sprink56, I have to say that being on the river is more intriguing than being on a lake. It seems the only limitation to where we will end up is finding enough vacation time away from work to ride there.

@loneranger, the "big fall trip" we are planning is to go up to Chattanooga for an extended weekend. Is it possible to get through Guntersville Dam and Nickajack Dam in a single day without being too taxing? Or is it really better to go from say Decatur to Scottsboro (tackling Guntersville Dam) in a day and then go from Scottsboro to Chattanooga a second day?
 
@mwph, yah, that would be good. I know nothing about Guntersville Lake. Getting to know a few good spots to visit would be great.
 
Welcome to Alabama.
TOO many lakes, To little time.
Make sure to drop down one week end to Lake Martin.
Any thing under 29' is allowed.
 
We live on the water in Scottsboro and can get you any information needed when you decide to do the fall trip to Chattanooga. My husband does a "Boys Trip" twice a year. They go to Wheeler one time and to Chattanooga the next so he is fairly familiar with the water between those two places.
We always stay at the Marriott that is within walking distance of the marina when we go to Chattanooga. You can request a room with a view of the river (corner rooms may be a little bigger). Downtown (the waterfront area) of Chattanooga is great for children. There is a Children's Place Discovery Museum (may not be the correct name) and of course the Aquarium, all within walking distance. My little boy had just as soon play in the water around the Aquarium and he loves to get a big piece of cardboard and slide down the big hill on the waterfront. Talk about cheap entertainment...after we saw some teenagers sliding down the hill that is all he wanted to do.
Chattanooga is definitely a great place to visit by boat and if you love boating, you are going to love living on the Tennessee River. Like the above poster said, via the Tenn-Tom you can get to anywhere in the world. Since you are so close, you might want to run over to Wheeler this fall for the Great Looper get together. Cruising the Great Loop is on our list of things to do...unfortunately it will be a while. We have one in college and a ten year old ;-)
 
You can definitely make it through both locks in one day but it is a full day, since once you make it through Nickajack you have the entire length of the lake to go until you get to chattanooga. There are some decent anchorages close by the dam once you get onto nickjack though. I have had to take over three hours to lock through before though. When one of the large tows has to lock through, they have priority and it can take several hours to get them through. It is best to plan for a lot of give and take on the timing of the trip. You can also call the lockmaster well out from the lock to get a better idea of the lock through timing.

We stay on the boat when we stay in Chattanooga. The city docks along the waterfront are rented by the Marine Max guys who have a fuel station/small marina just downriver from Chattanooga. We avoid chattanooga when there is a festival or event however since the docks are very crowded.

http://www.marinemax.com/Page.aspx/...tail/MarineMax-Of-The-Tennessee-River-TN.aspx

Also get a copy of the Tennessee River Navigation Charts from the Army Corp of Engineers. They sell out quick when they make a new printing but check back with them. They always print more. When I picked up my latest copy I called them and they had one for sale even though the web site said sold out.

http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/lakeinfo/NavCharts/NavBuy.html

John
 
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mwph said:
Welcome to CSR & to Alabama too!

From my profile you can see I am on Guntersville. As Sprink said, there is plenty of room over here. The lake is not nearly developed as it should be though. We'll head up your way soon but first is a short wekend up to Scottsboro. Let me know if you head this way - I'll help if I can.

John- If you need a slip for a night on Guntersville let me know. Again - I'll help if I can!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will keep that in mind. We have not stayed on Guntersville before but this may be a good opportunity to do so. I have been to Guntersville in the past to fish only and had a good time.

John
 
Just as information for anyone interested...I just got off the phone with the ACoE. They say 2003 is the latest version & they have no idea when the next edition will come out.

As a side I found it hard to believe that the TVA does not keep a database of marinas, restuarants, rec areas or anything like that. They "restrict & govern" the river so intensly I thought sure they'd have something.

I'd love to get my hands on something like that but everything I have found is highly inaccurate.
 
There is a great publication called Life on the Water. It is all about life on the Tennessee River. I will post a link to their website. The magazine is quarterly I believe and well worth the subscription price. I believe the publisher is close to Decatur...Florenc maybe? Anyway you can read about it on their website.
http://www.lifeonthewater.com/dnn/

Anne
 
I was poking around the Life on Water website and found this cute letter the publisher sent to President Obama in response to a remark he made about buying a boat. I agree and second the offer.

President Obama…let’s go for a boat ride. LIFE ON THE WATER Magazine has sent the following letter to Mrs. Michelle Obama…because we know how this thing really works:

Dear First Lady Michelle Obama:
Your husband is probably getting a lot of flack over his comment about buying boats when you can barely pay your mortgage. It is a true statement. But boats and gambling are not the same. I couldn’t help but say “Bless his heart.” I could tell he’s never had the joy of going fishing, tubing, wakeboarding or canoeing.
Your daughters, Malia Ann and Sasha would love the experience of jumping off the back of a boat or catching that first catfish. It would also be a great example to families that spending time together in the outdoors instead of watching THE NEWS or playing HALO is just plain essential in today’s world.
You have an open invitation to come and see what boating can do for your life. We live in Huntsville, Alabama and would love to take you out on the beautiful Tennessee River. Whenever you can make it, just remember to wear soft-soled shoes.
Christy Martin, publisher
Life on the Water Magazine
256-656-2200
p.s. I don’t need President Obama to apologize. Goodness knows I’ve said things I wish I could take back. Y’all just come down for the boat ride and we’ll call it even.
 
Swimparent said:
There is a great publication called Life on the Water. It is all about life on the Tennessee River. I will post a link to their website. The magazine is quarterly I believe and well worth the subscription price. I believe the publisher is close to Decatur...Florenc maybe? Anyway you can read about it on their website.
http://www.lifeonthewater.com/dnn/

Anne
Click to expand...

This is a great little book but out of print and hard to find:

http://www.amazon.com/Tennessee-River-Cruise-Guide/dp/0963200569

You can however get a pdf version on these cd roms (it also looks like you can buy a reprint of myers last book edition, cool):

http://www.greatloopcruising.com/products/

Lastly the site below by Jerry Hay is about his tennessee river trip. He is planning on doing a guide to the river. I have not used any of his guides. I found his site from an earlier post he did here on CSR.

http://www.riverlorian.com/tennesseecumberland.htm

I have seen the cd's and i have fred myer's book but to me the most important thing are the charts from the Corp. My second favorite is Fred Myer's book (it lists all of the nice anchorages, it has no charts whatsoever).

John
 
From your lips to God's ears. If they don't have that boat ready by the 15th (remember he's a CPA), Bill is going to have a stroke. They came and measured for the camper top back in February, I know they have at least one coat of bottom paint on (they hoped to have that done this week), and the rest is just minor stuff (hopefully) but the list is two pages long. Bill is not a do-it-yourselfer. He just wants to get on the boat every afternoon and go.
We have never and I mean never gotten a boat back when promised ;-)
Our daughter is wanting us to come to Tuscaloosa for A-day which is April 17th and I don't know if he will be willing to leave his boat that soon, assuming he has it. If he can't leave the office on the 15th, come home, change clothes walk to the dock and get on that boat....life will be very unpleasant in the Gibson household.
 
I'll second Fred's book. Heck getting Fred's book in PDF format makes the What to expect cds worth it by it's self.
May also want to check out Quimby's guide and Heartland Boating has info on the TN river from time to time.

As to charts - You used to be able to get the Corp charts for free via a download and print for free. I purchased the full set from the Corp, but mainly use them as backup because I've got them on my GPS and via Mapsource.

Here is the link for the free charts and river info.

http://www.tnriver.com/

or

http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/opn/TNRiver/

Just click on the chart you want.
 
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