Fresh water anchorage PNW?

Anyone knows a fresh water spot for a few days around Bainbridge Island, WA ?
I am tired of going through the Ballard lock for barnacles maintenance.
Thanks.

Bainbridge is in Puget Sound, all salt water.

Your choices are the Duwamish River or the Snohomish River or the Fraser River.

If feeling adventurous you could run up past Oak Harbor and go thru the mud flats to the Skagit.

Any FW in the area will be brackish, don’t think you can get far enough to stay in fresh water for any length of time.

Beaverlake said:

Any FW in the area will be brackish, don’t think you can get far enough to stay in fresh water for any length of time.

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What about the rivers ‘ tiltrider’ quoted?

tiltrider1 said:

Your choices are the Duwamish River or the Snohomish River or the Fraser River.

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How far can I go up with my 7.4’ draft?

Not far enough....you need a lake, thus Lake Union, Salmon Bay et all. The Govt. Locks, PITA but really the best option.

LeoKa said:

How far can I go up with my 7.4’ draft?

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There are good charts for Duwamish and Fraser rivers to show how far you can go. The Snohomish not so much. Soundings end about the confluence with Steamboat Slough. I have made it just past the bend to the east at Lowell with 7' draft. The river is tidal so watch your step.

Portage_Bay said:

There are good charts for Duwamish and Fraser rivers to show how far you can go. The Snohomish not so much. Soundings end about the confluence with Steamboat Slough. I have made it just past the bend to the east at Lowell with 7' draft. The river is tidal so watch your step.

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Yes, I looked at maps and it is quite tiny/narrow channel where you can navigate. Was there any traffic to deal with? Is there space to turn around, if needed? How strong is the river flow?

78puget-trawler said:

Not far enough....you need a lake, thus Lake Union, Salmon Bay et all. The Govt. Locks, PITA but really the best option.

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Where would you shelter at Salmon Bay? Can you anchor there, or guest moorage?

Salmon Bay is basically the ship canal so no anchoring. We used to head over to Andrews Bay frequently. Anchoring is allowed for three days (many stay longer). Mid-week is very quiet weekends get a little “spring break-ish”. Great access to hikes and a short dingy trip to the docks at Leschi for groceries, restaurants etc.

If you belong to a YC a lot of the clubs on the lake have reciprocal moorage.

Airstream345 said:

If you belong to a YC a lot of the clubs on the lake have reciprocal moorage.

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I am a member and I used to do reciprocal, but clubs are closed now.

I'll give a try to Andrews, but I can only go on weekends. I am not a big fan of party atmosphere. I'll try to find a remote enough spot there.

Airstream345 said:

Salmon Bay is basically the ship canal so no anchoring. We used to head over to Andrews Bay frequently. Anchoring is allowed for three days (many stay longer). Mid-week is very quiet weekends get a little “spring break-ish”. Great access to hikes and a short dingy trip to the docks at Leschi for groceries, restaurants etc.

If you belong to a YC a lot of the clubs on the lake have reciprocal moorage.

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But Salmon Bay is inside the Ballard lock, and I think that's what he's trying to avoid.


I'd be surprised if the Duwamish get very fresh. I've been up as far a the Delta shipyard, and as I recall it gets pretty shallow beyond that.


I think if you want fresh water, you need to be inside the lock.

LeoKa said:

I am a member and I used to do reciprocal, but clubs are closed now.

I'll give a try to Andrews, but I can only go on weekends. I am not a big fan of party atmosphere. I'll try to find a remote enough spot there.

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Maybe check with a few YCs. With King County moving into Phase 2 things could change.

Re party: me either. When the house music turns up, it's time to pull the anchor. I think it's been on and off this season based on reports from friends but we haven't been out there in months.

I'm pretty sure I've seen your boat in Eagle Harbor. Are you moored just West of the public dock?

Airstream345 said:

I'm pretty sure I've seen your boat in Eagle Harbor. Are you moored just West of the public dock?

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Yep, that's me. The blue bottom, ' project boat '. One day she will be nice and pretty, but I do not have time for cosmetics for a while. It looks ugly as of now, but I had quite a few emergencies lately, so I need to spend the money on those.

I have a Club, where I used to go regularly, but they told me not to come till phase 3.

re Snohomish river. The flow varies with the tide and runoff. It can be nearly dead or 2 to 3 kts. No traffic to speak of upstream of the I-5 bridge. Do proceed with caution, I don't know how many decades since the channel has been dredged or how far it has ever been dredged past the port of Everett. I turned a 65 ft, single, no thruster there. Most likely backing and filling but it's been a long time.

As others have said Seattle's urban lakes are your best bet to kill the barnacles and mussels.

LeoKa said:

Yes, I looked at maps and it is quite tiny/narrow channel where you can navigate. Was there any traffic to deal with? Is there space to turn around, if needed? How strong is the river flow?

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My boat is at Salmon Bay. I think at end of the day you will need to continue to go through the Ballard Locks. It’s a trade off to have access to both fresh and salt water. No other real alternative I believe.

A funny aside about inside the locks. I was working for some years at the old fishboat yard at Fishermans Terminal. Has a long name, but FVO for short. One day a boat came in, and tied up to our dock. Young fella jumps off the boat all spry and sharped out. He then asks me if the tide is in or out!
I waited a second or two and then told him he was in fresh water now and no tides. He turned about 3 shades of red and "ohhh, that's right, we came thru the locks didn't we?. Yep, sure did.

Re the Snohomish River we were home ported in Everett some years before and I made a loop mini-cruise often .. perhaps well over 10 times or so. I was aware of the tide then but didn’t consider it very critical at all. Now that I think about it we usually turned around in Union Slough as the bridge clearance at I-5 was too low. Often w the Albin we did the big loop by Marysville. Frequently w just a few inches clearance under the bridges. The Albin was very low.

The Albin had a draft of 2’3”and the Willard 6’2”.
IMO you could go a little ways above the confluence of the Snohomish R. and Steamboat Slough. But you wouldn’t be able to stay through low tide. But if you anchored in the stretch between the high I-5 bridge and Steamboat Slough the ebb (outflow) would be a very high salt water content. May do the job for you. ?? Better on a neap tide of course.

Monday looks good for a test run IMO .. showing 2 and 3’ lows at LaConner.

6' 2" draft? Willy? LOL

If you don't want to hear music blasting from all the wakeboard boats, I would stay away on sunny weekends. You could go to Juanita (which used to be the party cove) for the day. Much quieter up there. Then putt down to Andrews for the night. Or just go on a crappy weather weekend and you will be fine...

If you want to go to Andrews bay on a weekend, just wait for crappy weather, which seems to appear with some regularity on weekends. I can see it from my house and the crowds are totally weather dependent. If it rains, it will be empty!

78puget-trawler said:

6' 2" draft? Willy? LOL

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Opps .... 3’2”

SteveD said:

If you want to go to Andrews bay on a weekend, just wait for crappy weather, which seems to appear with some regularity on weekends. I can see it from my house and the crowds are totally weather dependent. If it rains, it will be empty!

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I don’t mind rain or crappy weather, as long the wind is not strong. It is difficult to do work with scuba gear, when the boat is swinging heavily in both directions. This happened several times, when I anchored at the state park just below Kenmore. Nice place, but when it blows, the boat is dancing a lot. Plus the cops came by everyday and reminded me that the limit is max two nights.

How far up can One go on Duwamish river? Is there a place to tie up for couple days? Are there marinas where you can stay?

I don't think you can go any further than the Boeing Plant. There's a yacht club directly across the river from Boeing Field that I've flown over, Google says it's the Duwamish Y.C. Maybe one further north too.

78puget-trawler said:

I waited a second or two and then told him he was in fresh water now and no tides.

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Not completely true! The lake gets lowered a few feet in the winter and raised up again in the summer. OK, that's not exactly "tides", but my slip on Lake Union isn't a floater, so I always have to be sure lines and fenders are correct for the transitions.

We moored at the Duwamish Yacht Club back in the 90s. There is no transient moorage. They did have "space available" reciprocal moorage by prior arrangement only. The Duwamish is brackish water. Adjacent to the yacht club, and just above stream, is the Delta shipyard. No transient moorage there either but a yard with haul out and marine services. Beyond the Delta yard is only accessable by dinghy. The neighborhood around that end of the Duwamish was quite industrial with no stores or services within safe walking distance. Of course that was twenty plus years ago

LeoKa, I can’t remember why going through the locks won’t work for you. Fisherman’s terminal is certainly the quickest and most entertaining option from Eagle Harbor.