Lake Huron to the Hudson River–Roundtrip

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DAY 23 - TRENTON, ON

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2010

CREW: NONE, JUST ME.

Weather:  woke up to overcast skies, followed by rain in AM, but clear by 1:00 PM, sunny

Seas:  calm at marina

Time and Distance:  sat at dock all day–walked to laundromat-maybe 4 blocks

Night Dockage: still in Trenton/Fraser Park Marina–great spot!

Dinner:  Hamburgers on the aft grill, baked beans, and Saranac Pale Ale

Comments:  Had a chance to spend more time visiting with Sandy and Craig Carter who run the marina for the city of Trenton….wonderful people.  Sandy has been doing this for about 14 years and Craig joined her after he retired about 11 years ago.  They also operate the city marina across the river, which is for local seasonal boaters–with smaller slips.  They are  a wealth of information about the waterway–it is the Trent-Severn Waterway, not canal.  I have been picking their brains about various stops, and what is reasonable in a day, etc. Just as we found on the Erie Canal, there is a very interesting end and a not so interesting end…some might say boring.  Well, we are doing the Trent-Severn in the best direction, in that this end is the boring end and the more interesting part is further up the waterway in “Cottage Country”.  On the Erie Canal, we found the west end to be the most interesting–charming towns, lift bridges, etc.–and east of the Oswego Canal/Lake Oneida, less so.  Next time we will spend more time on the west end of the Erie Canal.  Craig recommends a long first day, trying to do 19 locks to get us to Hastings–it is doable but you have to push.  Since this is the boring end of the waterway, this strategy sounds good to me.  Sandy on the other hand in not fond of this approach and thinks it is too much in one day.  I’ll have to see how my new crew, who arrive today, feels about this approach.  In any case, there are other good stopping points before Hastings, Campbellford being one of them– so we can decide as we see how the day goes.  The Canadian Parks organization that runs the waterway, has a more sane approach than the Erie Canal system.  The Erie Canal locks operate from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM this time of year–that’s right in the dark!  In contrast, the T-S Waterway locks operate from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM.  My new crew, especially Donna, is going to really like this change–in particular the morning start time change!

Walked across the bridge to the laudramat this afternoon and got the wash done.  I had three loads going-red sheets in one, white sheets in another, and my colored items in the third.  At the end of the wash cycle, I load the red sheets and the colored items into the drier to see how much room is left.  Seeing that there is room for the white sheets I go back to get them out of the third washer and they are gone!  So, I tell the lady operating the laundromat what happened, and she comes back and sees that the washer is empty ( she had helped me get the washers going, so she knew which washers I was using for which colors).  She tells me this is a first in her four years of operating the laundromat, and since there had only been one woman that came in during this time period it must have been her.  She was ready to track this women down, when she bent over and took a closer look in the washer (these were front loaded washers)–she started to laugh.  The sheets where stuck to the top of the washer drum and out of sight!  Again, something she had never experienced before.

Upon returning to Loon FeatherI opted to read a new Cruising Guide for the Trent-Severn Waterway which I had just purchased from Sandy and Craig—this was instead of washing the aft deck, etc.  Talked with the sail boaters tied up next to Loon Feather and learned they are waiting on a part to be shipped to them for their diesel motor–should be in tomorrow.  They lost power out in the Bay of Quinte, and made it to the marina by lashing their inflatable along side their 36′ sail boat and using the 4.5 hp outboard were able to do 3-4 knots.

Tomorrow morning I drive to the Toronto Airport tp pick up Donna around mid-day.  My sister Pam and her husband Tom are coming in from New Hampshire, and should be here around 6:00 PM.  Plan to have dinner at Tomasso’s–highly recommended by Craig and Sandy.

DAY 22 - TRENTON, ON

WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 11, 2010

CREW: Doug Nelson and Carl Coultier

Weather: sunny, hot and humid

Seas: calm at the dock

Time and Distance: zero on the water, approximately five hours and 250-300 miles in the rental car 

Night Dockage: continued to stay at Frazer Park Marina in Trenton, On

Dinner:  long happy hour, great gin and tonics, followed by a couple tomato sandwiches

Comments: I had a rental car reserved with National, just a couple of blocks away from the marina.  We left at 8:30 AM for Watertown, NY were Doug had a car rented to get them back to Schenectady.  A little over an hour to get to the Thousand Island Bridge to the USA, and then a long wait at the customs check point.  As I tried to decide which lane to get in , Doug says–”It doesn’t matter, because which ever lane you choose it will be the wrong lane.”  Given that guidance, we picked the comparable cars in the other three lanes, just to gauge our decision.  The first car got through 20 minutes before us and the last of the three was a good 10 minutes ahead of us.  When we got to the booth, agent blamed it on a computer crash–which didn’t seem to affect the other lanes?!  Doug and Carl were off for Schenectady at around 11:00 AM.

On my way back to Canada, I decide to take a detour off the highway and swing into Clayton, so I could have the breakfast meal (eggs and corn beef hash) that I missed yesterday morning.  Fortunately, you can order off the breakfast menu until 1:00 PM and I made it by just over a half an hour.  The eggs and hash were fantastic!  Just as I remembered from when Donna and I have stopped here in years past.  On my way back to the boat and turning in the rental car, I stopped to get a few supplies for cleaning the aft deck, and while I was at it picked up some fresh fruit and tomatoes for a tomato sandwich…which I had been longing for over the past day or so. 

Spent the afternoon/evening reading The Living Great Lakes, talking with Craig and Sandie Carter who run the marina  for the city (learning more about the Trent-Severn Canal), trying to help a fellow boater log on to the crazy wireless system they have here (no luck), and doing odd chores on the boat.  Tomorrow is laundry day, and cleaning the outside of Loon Feather. 

 

DAY 21 - CLAYTON, NY TO TRENTON, ON

TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2010

CREW: Carl Cloutier Doug Nelson

Weather: Overcast in the morning, burning off and getting hot and humid

Seas: calm to less than one foot on St. Lawrence River, North Chanal and the Bay of Quinte.

Time and Distance:  Nine hours and 99 miles

Night Dockage: Fraser Park Marina/City Marina in Trenton, ON

Dinner:  BBQ spare ribs and baked potatoes on the aft deck grill….out of this world!

Comments:  Shortly after 7:00 AM I called the French Creek Marina and got Wilbur on the phone, even though they didn’t open until 8:00 AM.  I explained our situation and the symptoms, and he speculated over the phone that it was a bad bearing(s).  He said he had a lot going today, but they would get over to check things out later in the day.  

So we settled in for a slow day, which gave Doug a chance to get out the Waffle Iron he had brought aboard.  We had wonderful waffles with homemade Maple Syrup that Doug had personally made from his maple trees.  The breakfast was extra special with the special sausage Doug prepared–left over Brauts from a previous dinner sliced up real thin. 

After breakfast, I called Anchor In Marina in Cheboygan, Michigan– where Loon Feather has been for over thirty years.  The folks there know her very well, and Wayne the service manager, has been working on Loon Feather for over 25 years.  I explained what we observed, and Wayne asked if there was a strong current.  There was a current, but I wouldn’t call it strong.  His point was that current, or prop wash, can put stresses on the prop that at idle rpm’s could cause some clanking in a loose transmission.  He suggested we start it up at the dock and tighten up the transmission by increasing above the 700-800 idle RPMs and see if it goes away.  We started up the engines and at idle RPMs there was no load clunking, even before we increased the RPMs.  There was a single slight clunk when we shifted into forward–not into reverse.  I had also noticed that the port engine was down a good quart and a half, while the starboard engine was still on full.  We then topped off the port engine with oil and started them up again.  Still no load clunking like the night before, but also not difference after adding the oil.  Wayne had also mentioned that after running for 9 hours, the engine and transmission were obviously good and hot-the transmission used the engine oil in a connected system–and the oil would be hot and thinner.  While sitting at the dock in the early morning I noticedthe boats they were pulling where covered with long fiberous sea weed strands….and I mean covered, props, drive shafts, skegs, etc.  I wonder if that didn’t in some way contribute to our problems last night.

DAY 20 - LAKE ONTARIO AND THE THOUSAND ISLANDS - OSWEGO, NY TO CLAYTON,NY

MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 2010

CREW: DOUG NELSON AND CARL COULTIER

Weather: Overcast in the morning and clearing in the afternoon–mid 70’s to 80 and very humid.

Seas:  Lake Ontario-less than two feet from the s/SW, wind at 7-9 knots; St. Lawrence River- calm to chop

Time and Distance:  ten hours and 125 miles.

Night Dockage: Clayton municipal dock in Clayton , NY.

Dinner: Lyric Bistro in Clayton — which is in the old Lyric Movie Theater Building.

Comments:  We didn’t rush out of Oswego this morning.  As we were getting up the English River, the Lafarge Corporation ship that was unloading cement all night, was just pulling out of the harbor.  The bath facilities for those tying up to the city wall was several blocks away at the municipal marina.  I walked over to shower and get cleaned up, Carl and Doug had used the bath facilities at Winter Harbor while I was pulling maintenance on the engines.  We departed at 8:35 AM and quickly found that the seas were two feet or less, but were out of the south/southwest, and depending on our heading were anywhere from quartering our port side to a full following sea.  We started off heading for a mid-point between going to Trenton and going to the Thousand Islands, and after a short while, we shifted to the 1000 Island heading.  The crossing was roughly four hours, and then an additional two hours to get us to the Clayton area–which we reached at 2:30 PM.  We headed north up along the east side of the 1000 Islands, past all the neat islands with the various size homes, under the USA-Canadian Bridge (twice), and past the Boldt Castle on Heart Island.  We were essentially up in the Alexandia Bay area.  Around the Boldt Castle we got behind a tour boat and followed it through the narrow and shallow passages that took us by some of the more spectacular islands and homes.  We turned south and headed back to Clayton through the Middle Channel.  In Clayton we stopped at the RJ Marina for gas (which already had ValveTech mixed in) and after backing away from the dock, upon putting the engines in forward heard a loud clunking sound.  Since the wind was pinning us to the gas dock, we had backed up a considerable distance in leaving the dock.  We trouble shot the situation out on the water and determined it was our port transmission.  We were just going next door to the city dock, so we limped in using just the starboard engine.  We needed to tie-up between two docks, at the other end of the dock–Loon Feather handled the maneuvering in tight quarters very well with just one screw.  After tying up, we had a Gin and Tonic on the aft deck to considered the situation we were in.  The good news was–there is no better place in the USA to have mechanical problems with a 55 year old boat–it is arguably, the center of Antique Boats in the USA.  The other good news, is that Bob, the Harbor Master, said he wasn’t going to charge for the dockage,  which is normally $1.25 per foot, since we were crippled.  The bad news was, it looked like Carl and Doug would not get to Trenton, ON and would be heading home from Clayton, NY.  The other good news was that Watertown, where Doug had a rental car reserved, was less than a half hour by car.  All we needed to do was find a taxi company in the area–none in Clayton.  Again, talking with Bob at the City dock, we learned that Wilbur( who is only 79) at the French Creek Marina was the one to see regarding mechanical work on old boats, and that he was usual in around 7:00 AM. I was dying to go to the Koffee Kove cafe for breakfast, a place that Donna and I have frequented when we have stayed in Clayton on our way to Maine for Wooden Boat School.  Again, talking to Bob, I learned that the Koffee Kove was open until 8:00 PM for dinner.  So after preloading on the aft deck of Loon Feather, we walked the 4-5 blocks into town to have dinner at the Koffee Kove.  On the way we past the Lyric Bistro and checked out there menu–which was excellent.  At Koffee Kove we were not that impressed with their dinner menu–but more importantly they do not serve beer or wine.  The Bistro served beer and wine so it won the day–we were already for some wine with dinner.  Doug and I had Haddock, while Carl had scallops.  Turned out to be the best restaurant and the best meal so far on the cruise.  Around 9:30 PM they started turning off the various lights in the restaurant… so we, and the only other table left, got the idea that they wanted to close.  As we were leaving we got into a discussion, with the locals from the other table, about old wooden boats, and specially about varnishing techniques.  When they heard our transmission story, they told us to only go to Hans at French Creek Marina.  We asked about Wilbur at French Creek Marina, turns out Hans is Wilbur’s son.  They recommended Hans over Wilbur.  The next morning we were set to call the Marina and get help from someone—Hans or Wilbur. 

 

 

DAY 19 - ERIE CANAL/OSWEGO CANAL- SYLVAN BEACH TO OSWEGO, NY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2010

CREW:  DOUG NELSON AND CARL COULTIER

Weather:  slight overcast, sun breaking through mid-day, scattered showers in PM

Canal:  Flat

Time and Distance:  10 hours (including 2.5 hour stop at Winter Harbor Marina) and 54 miles.

Night Dockage:  The north end of the west wall in Oswego, NY. 

Dinner:  Avocado/Salsa Chicken, baked potato on Loon Feather.

Comments:  Early start out of Sylvan Beach allowed us to cross Oneida Lake and reach the Winter Harbor Marina just before 9:00 AM.  They have the cheapest gas on the canal (87 octane is $2.999 and 91 octane was only $3.259), and we had called ahead to make sure they also had 40 weight motor oil and lead substitute gas additive.  We treated Loon Feather to 91 octane gas today since she has been performing so well!  In addition to topping off the engines with a quart of oil each, we tightened the valve cover bolts–since the new valve cover gaskets had been seating in over the past several weeks.  John, at the marina loaned us a 1/2″ socket so we could get at all of the bolts.  The Oswego Canal is not very far past Winter Harbor Marina, so we were shortly at lock 1 on the Oswego Canal.  Here we experienced the worst lock master of any we had met on the entire canal!  He would not reply to any of our  many radio transmissions, nor did our three horn blasts seem to have any impact.  At first, we weren’t even sure he was there–but once that was proven wrong, we still saw no visible sign of any actions.  A few locks later we concluded that many of the lock masters have a similar body profile.  Then we noticed that it was actually bimodal, and we postulated that the fit and trim lock masters must be new employees with the canal system.  So we started collecting data by asking each lock master how long they had worked at the locks, and although it is not statistically significant, we did learn that the BMI (Body Mass Index) seems to correlate with the length of employment–and it is a monotonically increasing function.  After tying up at the city wall, and celebrating with a gin and tonic on the aft deck, we watched a huge commercial freighter enter through the sea wall.  It turned out to be a ship belonging to LaFarge, the large cement company–it was the English River out of Montreal.  It is 404′ long with a 65′ beam.  Once inside the sea wall, it turned around and backed up to an industrial site, with large storage elevators, just down the canal from us.  Carl and Doug spent hours watching all of their maneuvering and hooking up to unload.  Quit interesting!  Everyone pitched in to create our best dinner yet–Donna’s avocado salsa chicken.  It was delicious with the best ever baked potatoes.  Doug did observe today that we have enough bread products to feed an army.  I told him he didn’t know the half of it, and he should look in the medicine cabinets-no not the pantry in the head–but the actual medicine cabinet where one shelf has been dedicated to bread products!  The NOA weather report calls for low to moderate winds in the AM, with seas of 2 feet or less–so it looks to be a fine morning to cross Lake Ontario.  If the crossing goes well, we may sneak up in the south end of the Thousands Islands before we head into the Bay of Quinte heading to Trenton.

 

 

DAY 18 - ERIE CANAL - AMERSTERDAM, NY TO SYLVAN BEACH, NY

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 2010

CREW: CARL COULTIER AND DOUG NELSON

Weather: cool morning, sunny and brisk wind

Canal:  Flat

Time and Distance: FOURTEEN HOURS AND 95 MILES….and 12 locks.

Night Dockage:  Mariner’s Landing in Sylvan Beach

Dinner:  Brauts on the grill on the aft deck at 10:00 PM

Comments:

Even after a night of constant trains, the crew was up and showered in time to depart at 7:00 AM.  Our goal was to try to make up some of the time we had lost with the hauling out of Loon Feather.  Our stretch goal was to get to Sylvan Beach at the east end of Oneida Lake.  The canal was busy with west bound boats, and many of our lock-throughs were with 4-5 other boats.  Many of the fast planning hull boats would take off when we got out of the lock, with the speed limit at times being 30 and 45 MPH, only to find that we met up once again at the next lock as they waited for the lock to open.  This happened time after time.  The ultimate compliment came when the lock keep informed us that we were 20 minutes early coming from the last lock–so obviously we exceed the 10 MPH speed limit and he was not happy with us.  We tried to explain things over the VHF radio, but not until we were in the lock, did he realize that he had the wrong boat–and we could only dream about being 20 minutes early in a 10 MPH speed zone.

While waiting for one of the locks, the doors opened and we at first thought it was a very small sail boat coming at us.  As it got closer, we thought it was two kayaks and couldn’t quite figure out the small sail.  Finally, we could see that the kayaks were tied together and formed a catamaran type vessel with a small sale.  As they passed, Doug asked them were they wre headed, and learned they were going to New Jersey.  Being really sharp, Doug told them they were going the right way.  The kayakers looked really relieved to hear this good news!!

We were doing great making up time until we got to lock 21, where we waited a long time and finally learned that lock 22 was not functioning and the lock 21 operator had to go over and help the lock 22 operator.  All in all, we lost well over an hour between these two locks.  Thus, getting into Sylvan Beach before sunset was out of the question.  We pulled into Sylvan Beach at about 9:00 PM in the dark, only to find that the town wall was 2-3 boats deep as people were rafting up all over the place.  The next day we learned that this was the weekend for their Summer Festival–which explained why this place was a zoo.  We cruised into several marinas–all were closed and packed.  We finally found a spot at the gas/pump-out dock of one of the marinas that was closed for the night and decided to just tie up and do without an electric hook-up for the night.  We ran the genny for almost two hours to give the refrig a chance to recover, and given the hour,  we checked with our neighbors to make sure we weren’t bothering anybody.  This would have been a great time, along with a couple other times, to have an AC/DC refrigerator.  I’m going to continue to look for a larger AC/DC refrig that can fit down our companionway, there must be one out there. 

We were up and out by 6:45 AM, mainly so we could fire up the genny to make coffee without disturbing anyone.  We have been really enjoying Nancy’s blue berry muffins–eating way more than we should each morning.  Then in the afternoon, we switch to the trail mix Nancy made, and finally at Happy Hour we dig into the spiced nuts that she made and sent along with Carl –they go really well with beer!  Unfortunately, all of it will be gone soon at the rate that we have been inhaling them.   

DAY 17 - ERIE CANAL  - SCHENECTADY TO AMSTERDAM, NY

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6, 2010

CREW: DOUG NELSON AND CARL CLOUTIER

Weather: sunny, but storm yesterday cleared out the humidity and lowered the temp–but very windy.

Canal: choppy and very windy–even in the locks.

Travel time and distance: Three hours and 22 miles

Night mooring:on the Riverlink Park town wall at Amsterdam

Dinner: at the Riverlink park; family owned casual restaurant

Comments: 

Rick hung around the Schenectady Yatch Club for the morning, tending to boat chores and chatting with the other boaters. 

Happily, Doug and Carl arrived in time for a 5:00 P.M. departure from Schenectady, with the hopes of getting to Amsterdam before dark.  In one of the first locks, we had the experience of having the bow of the boat blown off the lock wall even though Carl was holding tight to the wall cable–and we were near the bottom of the lock. 

Mission accomplished, we pulled up to the wall at the lovely town park in Amsterdam, and enjoyed dinner at the small restaurant there.  Doug and Carl did a great job on locking through their first three locks.  We had a chance to meet Bob and Bob, Renee (Bob’s wife and Bob’s sister) owners of the restaurant and Renee and Bob’s kids-Hanna and RJ, who did a great job waiting on us.  I had informed Carl and Doug that the train track right behind the park was a very active track…..however, they were not ready for multiple trains every hour all night long.  Doug claims he had dreams about trains! 

It was, thankfully, a cooler night - great sleeping!  I had to put on long pants for the first time on the cruise, to eat out on the patio of the restaurant.