Well, we sawed a path through the first deadfall, a tenth of a mile up the Withlacoochee River.

Chainsaw upstream from Troupville Boat Ramp, Withlacoochee River, Saturday, July 12, 2025

Then the 9.9 hp Mercury outboard, which we thought was fixed, was back to its old tricks: stops while idling, won’t keep going in gear, if you do cajole it to run fast, as soon as it idles, it stops again.

We used both the trolling motors with the LiFePO4 batteries to get back up the Little River to Troupville Boat Ramp.

After further tinkering with the 9.9 hp outboard, we resolved to put the 25 hp Mercury outboard on the WWALS jon boat. We did that, and we put a prop guard on it. No pictures of all that; sorry.

The 9.9 hp outboard is at Winsel’s Boats to see if he can fix it.

Thanks to Wild Green Future for the generous grant that bought both outboard motors, the 86lb-thrust trolling motor, and the two batteries, as well as the Husqvarna Rancher 460 24-inch chainsaw, as well as some other equipment.

Part of the deal was we would put a sticker on the boat: Four Good Caws. It’s a pun.

Four Good Caws, 2025:07:12 10:54:20, 30.8514134, -83.3475651

A sticker with a white background might work better than black letters on the dark green WWALS jon boat.

Join us to try again Wednesday of next week: Chainsaw again upstream from Troupville towards Sugar Creek, Withlacoochee River 2025-07-22.

We expect by then any residual contamination from the recent Sugar Creek sewage spill will have washed away.

Maybe we’ll get past that first deadfall, which is highlighted on this map. Doubtless there are more deadfalls after Hurricane Helene, including trees that were weakened and eventually fell over, like the oak we dealt with this time.

Map: First Deadfall in the WWALS map of the Withlacoochee and Little River Water Trail (WLRWT)

TBR

Troupville Boat Ramp, 2025:07:12 09:27:23, 30.8513197, -83.3473601

Another boat at TBR, 2025:07:12 09:27:47, 30.8513197, -83.3473601

Phil Hubbard and the WWALS jon boat at TBR, 2025:07:12 09:36:14, 30.8514017, -83.3474906

Heading down the Little River to the Confluence, 2025:07:12 09:46:02, 30.8503819, -83.3483971

OtW

Movie: Starting down the Little River, 2025:07:12 09:46:05, (45M) 30.8503819, -83.3483971

LRC

Movie: Little River Confluence, 2025:07:12 09:47:49, (56M) 30.8503819, -83.3483971

Movie: Signs, Little River Confluence, 2025:07:12 09:48:23, (12M) 30.8503819, -83.3483971

BlD

Oak down at Big Log Above Deadfall 0.1 miles up the Withlacoochee River, 2025:07:12 09:53:53, 30.8457012, -83.3471106

Movie: First deadfall, 2025:07:12 09:53:56, (4.3M) 30.8457012, -83.3471106

Movie: Phil does a Phil (drops the sawed log into the boat), 2025:07:12 09:54:02, (37M) 30.8457012, -83.3471106

More sawing, 2025:07:12 09:55:11, 30.8457170, -83.3470861

Movie: Debris in the water, 2025:07:12 09:55:59, (45M) 30.8457170, -83.3470861

WoOB

Working on the 9.9hp outboard, 2025:07:12 10:54:09, 30.8514134, -83.3475651

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

Short Link: