Welcome from W. Tennessee

I am retiring and I want to live aboard. I hope to learn a lot on the forum.

One question. Can one person handle a 35 to 40 foot trawler?

I'm looking forward to winters in Florida and summers on Pickwick Lake in Tennessee.

Cal

Welcome to the Forum!

To your question: I did the Great Loop last year which includes the Great Lakes, Illinois Missouri Mississippi Ohio Tennessee Tombigbee rivers, 100+ locks, etc., solo in my 45' boat. So, yes it can be done.

Ted

Ted: I am interested in how you manage locks solo. In my experience, I usually found that I really needed someone at the bow, and another at the stern.
Pretty sure they demand you have two people on board for the Trent Severn Canal?
I have soloed for many years, and am now planning on the purchase of a 40' trawler. Many solo lock trips in my future, hence the question.

Cal said:

I am retiring and I want to live aboard. I hope to learn a lot on the forum.

One question. Can one person handle a 35 to 40 foot trawler?

I'm looking forward to winters in Florida and summers on Pickwick Lake in Tennessee.

Cal

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One person can. Now, whether you're that person or not depends on a lot of things, foremost being your experience.

SlowGypsy said:

Ted: I am interested in how you manage locks solo. In my experience, I usually found that I really needed someone at the bow, and another at the stern.
Pretty sure they demand you have two people on board for the Trent Severn Canal?
I have soloed for many years, and am now planning on the purchase of a 40' trawler. Many solo lock trips in my future, hence the question.

Click to expand...

Especially on the TN River you can generally run a line from a forward cleat to an aft cleat and get by with one line and one person. Some even try mid-cleat but I've found a forward cleat to an aft cleat gives better control.

Cal said:

I am retiring and I want to live aboard. I hope to learn a lot on the forum.
One question. Can one person handle a 35 to 40 foot trawler?
I'm looking forward to winters in Florida and summers on Pickwick Lake in Tennessee.
Cal

Click to expand...

Welcome. We are looking at retiring in a couple of years to the Pickwick Lake area as well. We bought a small cabin near Aqua Harbor Marina about 4 months ago. When we were there looking at homes we checked out Aqua Harbor and they said that you can live aboard in that marina. There are also a couple of State owned marinas and couple more private marinas in the area. Not sure what the live aboard rules are for the others (State Parks, Grand Harbor, East Port, and ???).

In locks it depends a great deal on the lock and whether you are going up or down. No way you can do the Welland going up solo without damage, in fact they require 3 adults on board for the trip. Going down only 2 are required and maybe you could get by with one. Some locks you don't even tie off, just float there while they drain it.

Cal said:

I am retiring and I want to live aboard. I hope to learn a lot on the forum.

One question. Can one person handle a 35 to 40 foot trawler?

I'm looking forward to winters in Florida and summers on Pickwick Lake in Tennessee.

Cal

Click to expand...

Welcome to Trawler Forum Cal . We are on the Tennessee River at Paris Landing. My wife and I both went to Bartlett High School, but it was many many moons ago.

Bartlett HS

Thanks for making me feel welcome. I live just a few blocks from BHS. They are undergoing a massive remodel.

Hey Cal,
Welcome to forum!
I'm not too far from you over here in Eads,TN. Boat is at Pickwick State park marina. I have no problem single handing my boat and transitioning through locks. I think it mostly depends on the boat. I have side decks at the same level as the lower helm and doors on both port and stbd sides. Also having a thruster to help you put the boat exactly where you want it is a huge help.

Great Info

Excellent info. Thank you very much.
Cal

Hello, Cal! Welcome to the forum!

Welcome aboard.