Boating st. Croix River

I have a 19 ft. boat and would like to boat from Hudson, WI to Stillwater, MN. Any problems I should be aware of Thanks

Should be smooth sailing for you. Have fun.
Any specific concerns?

Weekend mornings after 10 am it gets rough from the tuna boats but I’ve been out there with a 17′ fishing boat (fishing) and I’m still alive. A low freeboard flat bottom would not be my first choice for the Croix in that area or South.

Watch out for yacht wakes. They will ruin your day if you are on plane.
BTW 19 ft is a pretty large boat. If fiberglass even more so.

No, easy run except for wakes as noted. Until you know the river, stay in main channel and operate under the assumption that anything out of main channel is very shallow until you know otherwise. There are lots of tempting “back bay” areas that look like nice spots to swim, etc, but the water can be very shallow.

Why there isn’t more public dockage space to allow boaters to easily visit Hudson and Stillwater downtowns is one of the greatest chambers of commerce fails of modern history. It’s almost like Stillwater and Hudson WANT to keep boaters from coming into town and spending money.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Why there isn’t more public dockage space to allow boaters to easily visit Hudson and Stillwater downtowns is one of the greatest chambers of commerce fails of modern history. It’s almost like Stillwater and Hudson WANT to keep boaters from coming into town and spending money.

Grouse

Nailed it. Hard to believe they dont welcome boating traffic. We end up boating all the way to Diamond Bluff on P3 because you can park close to and within sight of a restaurant. Try that ANYWHERE on the Croix. With the exception of the 1 or 2 slips at PD Pappy’s.

suzuki wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
Why there isn’t more public dockage space to allow boaters to easily visit Hudson and Stillwater downtowns is one of the greatest chambers of commerce fails of modern history. It’s almost like Stillwater and Hudson WANT to keep boaters from coming into town and spending money.

Grouse

Nailed it. Hard to believe they dont welcome boating traffic. We end up boating all the way to Diamond Bluff on P3 because you can park close to and within sight of a restaurant. Try that ANYWHERE on the Croix. With the exception of the 1 or 2 slips at PD Pappy’s.

I worked at a popular restaurant downtown hudson all thru my teens and early 20s. The owner would gripe about “river rats” coming in their bathing suits and tracking sand into the joint, taking tables and bar stools away from his preferred clientele. He was cozy with the chamber of commerce. It gets so busy down there they can literally say “we don’t need THOSE customers.” People still fill their tanks at the marinas and stumble ashore and spend their money at the liquor stores, or get food to-go and bring it on the boat, etc. I’m not saying I agree with it, but downtown Hudson and Stillwater are both doing pretty well despite this failure.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Why there isn’t more public dockage space to allow boaters to easily visit Hudson and Stillwater downtowns is one of the greatest chambers of commerce fails of modern history. It’s almost like Stillwater and Hudson WANT to keep boaters from coming into town and spending money.

Grouse

IMO those towns DO want to keep boaters out, keeps the unwashed away from their ideally crafted main streets. Same reason for the lack of public accesses/parking, helps keep the river “exclusive”.

Unless the downtown businesses push the council for it and are willing to pay, nothing will change. The cost to build the docks, maintain, patrol, just more hassle. It would be nice being able to go town to town and pull in for a bit but I don’t see them wanting to change.