Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I live in Citrus County Fla. and plan on some river trips come spring. My " Weekender" project is almost ready.I will have some pic updates of the bunks and food prep area within the next day or two. ls there an online site that list the clearance of bridges, I'm looking at the Ocklawaha river and need to know if my boat can pass under. I know it has a high bridge on Hwy 40 but there are some lower ones between Lake Griffin and Lake George .

Not sure after snooping around could not find info on them. You might use this link and Google Earth to view some of the bridges you might encounter.

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/emo/pubs/bridgebk.pdf

What kind of height do you need for your boat? I ran a 21' center console with a t-top all the way with no issues.

Drago wrote:Not sure after snooping around could not find info on them. You might use this link and Google Earth to view some of the bridges you might encounter.

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/emo/pubs/bridgebk.pdf

Thanks,I'll check it out.. I have done the google earth but don't know if they list bridge clearances,I'll recheck and see if they do.

COTTS4x4 wrote:What kind of height do you need for your boat? I ran a 21' center console with a t-top all the way with no issues.

I will get a measurement but here's what I'm dealing with...

That's big! I would most definitely contact the Florida fish and game service to see if they had any ideas on where to get the info you are looking for.

In the day when I had paper charts for the whole icww from Brownsville to Florida the bridge clearances were on them. Surely the charts today available for waterways should have that information. I'd have to check my hummingbird to see what's on there now.

You might try contacting these folks
http://www.outpostresort.com/rivermap.html

Here is a journey down the river. No bridges seen, but did I see 300 Dobermans on that little boat!! This guy might miss a lot of cool scenery going 65mph!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azz7fVorUHY

Drago wrote:That's big! I would most definitely contact the Florida fish and game service to see if they had any ideas on where to get the info you are looking for.

Good idea, surely they will have some info;thanks!

RcgTexas wrote:In the day when I had paper charts for the whole icww from Brownsville to Florida the bridge clearnces were on them. Surely the charts today available for waterways should have that information. I'd have to check my hummingbird to see what's on there now.

Checked your Knot Normal link, man talk about deja vu . I started out with a good set of 24 ft tubes that had been used for a floating deck in fresh water,tore off the deck and added a third tube,did a complete rebuild including the cabin. I have some updated pictures which i will add to my rebuild post soon.

Drago wrote:You might try contacting these folks
http://www.outpostresort.com/rivermap.html

Here is a journey down the river. No bridges seen, but did I see 300 Dobermans on that little boat!! This guy might miss a lot of cool scenery going 65mph!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azz7fVorUHY

Thanks I'll check that out. Man there is no way I'd go down one of these rivers at that speed,not that I could,my speeds will rarely exceed 15 mph. I have google this going out of lake griffin and was aware of the locks and don't recall a bridge but there could be. The river was some what straighten in some places when they were doing the cross canal project, thank god that was stopped. I'm going to get some pics of my river trips and maybe some video which I will post.

I envy you...for your proposed trip. Wish there were places like that here. If you look at the bridges from google earth on the road view it appears there should be clearance. The only one maybe questionable has some sort of fence or partition under the bridge for some reason. Are you also doing silver springs? It seems to run hand in hand with the other river, and appears to have a historical relevance to the area. Neat YTube I ran into...

Well, I'm not getting any younger so it's now or never. I put a lot of time,effort and money into this and I'm going to reap the enjoyment. I'm not sure how far you can go into sliver springs, but the Ocklawaha goes on into the st johns. There are several rivers I need to research for navigability and scenic appeal.

I've made it up to silver springs in my boat and in the center console with the t-top. You can go all the way to the spring, but can not dock, you'll be right with the glass bottom boats. I've seen that guy in the video while there, he does tours of the river on an old pontoon boat. It's about an hour and 15 mins (all idle zone) each direction from the Oklawaha up the silver river to the springs. It's well worth the side trip.

Yeah I'd love to go up as many tributaries as possible. In the late 1800's they actually ran a steam powered paddle boat up and down these rivers. It was a must do for many VIPs visiting Fla. back in those days.