Extreme shoaling in Hatteras Inlet leads to suspension of Hatteras - Ocracoke ferry

[taterguy]

It's 2010.

Can't we design shoal-proof ferries?

[Canuckistanian]

1. The ferry ran aground?

I'm sorry, I don't understand the word "shoaling".

[hayu_lol]

2. Sounds like there is a need to dredge out the area...

them ferries need some water beneath them.

Shoaling just means that the water gets rapidly shallow as you approach land.

http://www.witn.com/outerbanks/headlines/103104509.html

They are using a larger class of ferry than they used to.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Ah, OK

Is this a natural process or maybe a result of too much sedimentation from rivers?

[taterguy]

5. What river is near the Hatteras Inlet?

:eyes:

[ThomWV]

11. None really, its fed by the combined Sounds

There are several rivers that feed into the Sound(s) on the mainland side, but none nearby.

[Gaedel]

6. Natural process

The sand in the outer banks just keeps sifting around. When you dredge, it doesn't stay dredged. The channel keeps shifting and the Coast Guard has to constantly reposition the buoys.

[11 Bravo]

7. Yup, storms can cause the sand to pile up around the inlets on the OB and elsewhere.

I remember a couple of years ago when we were trying to go tuna fishing out of Oregon inlet. We were one of the very few charters whose captain went ahead and took us out. I have never bounced so high on a boat in my life.

[taterguy]

8. Never understood why an inlet in North Carolina is named for Oregon

[ThomWV]

10. It was named after the first boat that passed through it after the inlet formed.

[11 Bravo]

12. Yup. It was an side-wheel steamer, way back in 1846.

[taterguy]

3. Ferry service is suspended until further notice

If you're trying to get from Ocracoke to Hatteras or vice versa you're SOL

[KamaAina]

15. Reopened on a limited basis

https://apps.dot.state.nc.us/pio/releases/details.aspx?r=4107

[ThomWV]

9. "can't we design shoal-proof ferries" Bwahahahahahahahha! That was a joke, right?

The inlets at Hatteras (very bad) and Oregon Inlet shoal up after every good storm. Hatteras is much worse to pass through than Oregon Inlet (60 miles to the north) but more people die at Oregon. The problem with Hatteras inlet is you have to travel a good long ways down the sound before you turn into the inlet. Almost nowhere along the channel is the water more than about 10 feet deep, in some places it is much shallower. So when a storm comes blowing through that already shallow water shoals up in a heartbeat. As it works out they can generally be cleaned out well enough for navigation (by small - up to about 70') boats within a few days. This may sound kind of brutal but what they will do (the local boys in private boats) is take the boats out and using the props blow the sand out of the channel. I've done it with my boat a few times and it is no pleasure to do and of course you are always concerned about your props and all that sand you are pumping through the engine ('s cooling system).


At any rate, as a guy who has gone through both inlets hundreds of times I have to tell you, channels will shoal up and the design of the ferries that pass through them has nothing to do with the sand under their keels.

On edit: Sorry, I'm wrong. I suppose they could use some sort of air-levitated boats as ferries and that would avoid the shoaling problem entirely, but I believe those things are energy hogs so not much likely to be used by a state-funder operation.

[taterguy]

13. Yes, a joke. There's not enough shoal humor in GD

Don't know much about air-levitated boats. Seems like they wouldn't work too well in high-wind areas.

I can just see a strong gust turning one into a giant tumbleweed.

Of course the Outer Banks wasn't designed for its current population and tourism level.

But as someone who likes to visit whenever I can, I say: "Screw nature. Keep spending billions building roads that wash away and channels that require constant dredging."

I gotta get my fix.

[KamaAina]

14. I was thinking hovercraft (air-levitated boats) myself

they are in common use on the English Channel. One would think that quite a few of them would have been mothballed after the Chunnel opened, and thuis avasilable for sale.

[taterguy]

16. What works in Europe doesn't work on the Outer Banks

Their hovercrafts carry 60 cars / 418 passengers.

The Hatteras / Ocracoke ferry averages two passengers per car.

Ever look around the Ocracoke landing? Eleven sun-baked miles from anything. You'd die of exposure before you made it to Howard's Pub if you weren't in a car.

So the hovercraft would have to be completely re-designed to take into account the extra weight of the cars.

Know how much it costs to design a hovercraft?

I have no idea but I'll bet it's expensive.

[KamaAina]

17. Gaddlemighty, they don't have a motorized trolley, at least in season?

If they did, a passenger-only ferry might be less susceptible to shoaling.

[taterguy]

18. Bwahhahhahahah, a trolley. You're joking right?

We're talking about Highway 12.

Every damn day you'd need some special trolley plow to get the sand out of the tracks.

And you'd have to replace the tracks once a month due to floods.

Besides, we're talking about Highway 12.

People aren't willing to walk from a parking lot to the beach. They just drive on the beach to where they want to hang out and park there. Ya think they're gonna walk across a parking lot to catch a ferry and then walk again to catch a trolley? Ain't gonna happen.

[KamaAina]

19. I meant the sort of motorized trolley commonly found in tourist resorts

[taterguy]

20. Most people go to Ocracoke to fish. How many eyes are gonna get poked out by poles on that thing?

Not very many because in North Carolina you're not allowed to fish without a giant cooler and 100 pounds of other gear.

Those who aren't fishing are either on their way to spend a week in Ocracoke or on their way back to the mainland after a week at some other Outer Banks location, which means they're carrying a ton of luggage and sundries.

Shoal-proof ferries. The time is now.