Cumberland River all the way up

[toulousifer]

I'm planning for an early 2023 ride up the Cumberland River (from the Nashville end), and I'd *really* like to get all the way up to the Wolf Creek Dam.

It looks like the last place to get gas on the way up is the Wildwood Resort & Marina in Granville. With 15 gallons on the back and my 18.5 gallon tank on my GTX170. At about 5mpg (upstream), that's about 160 miles, maybe a little less because of the extra weight of the gas to start.

Thing is, it is 135 miles from Granville to the Dam, which is 270 miles round trip.

For anyone who heads that way occasionally, are there any other places that are close to a boat ramp where I can get gas? In Celina, there's a gas station about a mile from the Donaldson boat ramp, which could work (but that's a long way lugging 3 5 gallon cans of gas, which is about 80 pounds when full). I was thinking maybe a folding cart...

If I do refuel in Celina, I think I can make it (it's about 82 miles from there to the wolf creek Dam), so that's 160 miles.

But the thought running out of gas...argh. :P

Any other ideas would be appreciated!

[K447]

Hire a local taxi/driver to transport fuel jugs to the dock?

In some areas there may be a company with mobile fuel truck, such as to deliver fuel to construction site or whatever. If you can find such a service and connect, dockside fuel service might be possible.

Or perhaps a GH member close to where you want to refuel, that would be willing to help with round tripping some fuel jugs from a gas station

[Hozzie]

What about stopping in Gainsboro? Looks like there Sammy's one Stop Market. Maybe that get's you what you need? Sounds like an interesting ride. Too much planned to do it before the middle of Feb for me, but may be interested at some point if you do it a bit later. I am on a 22 FX SVHO, so my fuel consumption is probably even higher than yours.

Edit: I see now from Granville that's not probably helping a lot to stop in Gainsboro.

[toulousifer]

Yeah, Gainsboro only gets me part of the way...in order to make it to the dam and back I would need to refuel near Celina.

The fact that there are no marinas around there adds another question - is the Cumberland river easily navigable that far up on with an ST3 hull?

Last year I had a bad experience when the water was down just enough in the French Broad River north of Knoxville that I sucked up a rock that got wedged in the impeller. Of course, that happened with my 18 RXT which doesn't have IDF so I didn't even have a shot at getting it out while on the water. :/

I'm perfectly content if the water stays at 3' or more, but once it gets more shallow, I'm now too reluctant to risk it, especially on a long trip.