Our First Post

 

 

Ess-Kay Yacht Yard, Brewerton New York, July 1, 2022: Well, it’s been almost 10 days since our last post, and this was the latest marina that we tried to get a resolution to our battery issues. Unfortunately, after two frustrating days we have accomplished nothing here on the battery front, however we have located a yard that we think can help us on July 5^th, on the Saint Lawrence River. Two days and 100 miles away, wish us luck.  Third one is a charm, right?

 

Let’s start back at Coeymans and review what they accomplished. First Coeymans Landing Marina was an excellent spot, very clean, a great dock staff and we had several loopers come through while we were there and enjoyed several Docktails with them. This really is a wonderful community of people that are looping, everyone with a unique story and life. I think the people we meet along the way will be as exciting as the places we see and the things we do.

At any rate we had decided the week before, to have an inverter installed while we were at Coeymans Landing and that was the reason for our stop there. An inverter lets us run several outlets without having to start our generator, we use it to have coffee in the morning and watch TV at night when we do not have shore power. It’s a “nice to have” but after our first 2 weeks we felt it would be useful so we figured we would do this before we arrived in Canada.

 A two-day job turned into a 4-day job, and we were lucky to get out on day 4, which happened to be Saturday morning. So, we now have a working inverter and fixed a few other issues, we replaced the horn and it turned out the old horn was not the issue it was only the switch. We had to twist the owner of the service division to come in first thing Saturday (by the way first thing was 10AM!) to finish getting the new horn to work which turned out to be a 10-minute fix! The new (unneeded) horn was $209 and the switch, was a $ part which he didn’t charge me for. Onwards and upwards.

June 25, Travel Day #9: Coeymans Marina to Waterford NY: 21 Miles: 4 Hours total travel time: We departed Coeymans at 11 AM Saturday and headed to the first Hudson River lock located in Troy New York just north of Albany. Lock #1 located 153 miles northwest from the Battery in NYC. We have been thinking, fearing and pretty excited to lock through our very first lock. This is also the location that we would depart the Hudson River and enter The Erie Canal. Lock 1 is only a 16’ vertical lift, and when we arrived, we were the only ones inside the chamber and when they closed that rear gate, and the water starts to BOIL around you it’s pretty intimidating. The Admiral held us tight to the wall up we went. Suddenly, you’re lifted the 16 feet and into bright sunshine, (when you enter a raising lock it’s like being in a cave 4 steel walls 16-41 feet high) what a breath of fresh air. Exiting the lock, we took a hard left heading West to the Erie Canal. Folks not taking the left into the Erie Canal, proceed straight and head north into the Champlain Canal then onto Lake Champlain. We spent the night on the free town wall in Waterford NY.

 

Track for day Travel Day 10, Coeymans Marina to Waterford NY.

 

Coeymans Resident Swan

Her Idea at Coeymans

Hose we went bu on the way to Waterford.

Albany NY

While we were at Coeymans, Cliff, and Laura George (I met Cliff freshman year at NYA, so we have been hanging since 1967!) called and suggested (yes, they invited themselves!) “Hey, we are only a 4-hour drive away, what if we come join you for a few nights”. Bottom line they showed up Saturday night in Waterford, jumped aboard for two nights and got a taste of Looper Life. Cliff is known for great, unexpected, unplanned cappers and he is always up for an adventure, and this turned out to be a great spontaneous one, with a lot of laughs. The Georges won the cribbage match night one.

As always first night in camp was hoot!

 

June 26 Travel Day #10 Waterford NY to Amsterdam NY: 31 Miles: 6 Hours total travel time: The first 4 locks of the Erie Canal are very close together, all within 2 miles, so we figured we would get an early start. We entered the locks at 7:20 and went thru the set of 4 by ourselves and it was terrific to have the extra hands-on board. There are three ways to tie the boat up in the locks and we experienced all three in the first day, some easier than others. Laura was a great help and Cliff just taking pictures and telling us what to do. Those of you who know Cliff know exactly what I am talking about, you are shaking your head in agreement, I know!

We went thru 9 locks that day and ended up in Amsterdam NY and spent the night on the town wall which was a great location, power, water, and a nice new wall. It was however right next to a very active railroad track. Laura brought an amazing dinner, and we had a wonderful night catching up. We were a little more reserved on night two. The Rogers won the cribbage match night two.

While underway we began to have battery issues, the house battery was losing a charge which was concerning. We ran the generator and got the battery back to full charge, but it was a warning sign something was up.

 

 

Track for day 11 Waterford to Amsterdam   

 

Locks

 

 

June 27, Travel Day 12 Amsterdam to ST. Johnsonville 28 Miles: 5 Hours total travel time: We were planning a short day and only going to Canajoharie (Lock 14) where The Georges were going to Uber back to Waterford and we would stay on the wall in town. So, we hung around in the morning drinking coffee and enjoying the traffic in the canal, a nice leisurely morning. We departed at 8:30 as we only had 20 miles to travel. When we arrived in Canajoharie, the wall was less than desirable and exposed to the wind, so we settled for plan B which was to continue West another 9 more miles to St. Johnsonville. We left the Georges at Canajoharie and off we went. We did three locks with the Georges that morning and did the next two locks by ourselves. We were comfortable after the second day locking through and got into a routine.

 Cliff and Laura got a ride from Canajoharie to Waterford, and they were back in South Freeport at 9:30, we continued to St Johnsonville and arrived by 2:30. We settled in at the municipal marina, did laundry, and walked into town.

 Once again, the house battery was losing volts during the ride and so we planned to have someone look at it this issue Brewerton before the 4^th of July weekend.

Track for Day 11 & 12, Amsterdam to ST. Johnsonville to Ilion

 

 Saying good-bye to the Georges in Canajoharie

Saint Johnsonville

Bet Crosby and Bode  don't  know what this is??

Tucked into the lee of a very blowy evening

June 28, Travel Day 13: Saint Johnsonville to Ilion: 22 miles: 5 hours travel time: We were planning another short day as we had arranged to be in Beaverton on the 30^th, so we had two days to kill. We took our time and only did 5 knots normally we run at 7-8KTS. This section of the Erie is very much a canal, long straight sections mostly ¾ of a mile straight aways. Interstate 90 is on the is on the south bank and the railroad is on the north bank. One feels like you are in the middle of a transportation corridor for sure with lots of activity. RT 90 is extremely busy with traffic as we all know, and the train track had activity more than hourly with large freight trains (first time I noticed so many Amazon containers!). We did 3 locks today; Lock 17 was the highest single vertical lift (41 feet) in the world when it opened in 1915.

We are still having battery issues and I try and contact for the second day in a row the fellow who installed the Inverter and he won’t answer my calls. I was able to leave one voice mail suggesting he drive to me and check this issue out. Suddenly, he doesn’t have a voice mail. Of course, when I was setting this service work up, he was the most responsive guy in the world once the bill was paid…. crickets!

The fact is we had no issues with the House battery for the first two and a half weeks and once the Inverter (which he hooked to the house battery) was installed the house battery starts losing volts and causing an issue, beyond frustrating. This is going to be a learning experience and a test of my patience!

We stayed at the Municipal dock in Ilion, and it was an easy walk into town and so we provisioned at the grocery store and found an Ace Hardware. We walked around town and went back to the boat for a great dinner and very peaceful night.

We have been unable to figure out a TV provider that will move with us, U-Tube was our initial solution, however since we move most days, we are unable to get live TV. We are looking at Direct TV next for a solution, as it seems like they are most reliable with folks in boats and RV’s who are changing locations often. We do have a TV in our stateroom with an antenna, so The Admiral does get the Today show which she can see from her favorite seat and the Galley, so all is not lost.

Combined track above

View of a lowering lock 

 

 Constant lookout for logs especially the BIG ones 

 

Waiting for a Dredge to clear the channel

June 29, Travel Day # 14 Ilion to Sylvan Beach: 34 Miles 6.5 Hours total travel time: We wanted to secure a place on the Sylvan Beach wall which can fill up early and it was approaching the holiday weekend so we got an early start at 7:30 am, which would get us to the Sylvan Beach municipal wall early afternoon. Sylvan Beach is located on eastern shore of Lake Oneida and is a busy resort town (think Old Orchard Beach) with an amusement park and of course (in New York now) a casino. We wanted to get to town early enough to check out the honky-tonky but were sadly disappointed. Summer doesn’t start until July 4^th. Very little was open, and we had planned to go out for our first dinner but couldn’t find a place we liked. We settled for ice cream however!

 Once again, the trip thru this section of the Erie Canal is not very attractive or memorable mostly it’s a 200-foot-wide canal straight always with very little commerce on shore or commercial traffic in the past two days and very few recreational boaters. We did 4 locks today and reached the highest elevation on the Erie Canal in West Rome. For the remainder of the Erie Canal, we will come in at the top level the lock empties and you go out the bottom, from bright sun into the dungeon. The challenge in the “lowering Locks” is it requires Meredith to pick up the rope which is at the boat’s waterline 8 feet below her feet. Once again, she hasn’t missed one yet

Day 14 Track: Ilion to Sylvan Beach

 

Sylvan Beach NY

Entering

Filling looking rear

Looks like less than 20" of clearance to me!

One of many control gates on The Erie

 

June 30, Day 15 Sylvan Beach to Brewerton NY (across Lake Oneida) 30 miles, 3 hours travel time: We had a great night on the wall no wind off Lake Oneida and very calm waves. We did have a lot of rain overnight, but it cleared off by 7 am and we had a great day to cross this 20-mile-wide lake. The night before the wind was strong and the white caps close together so we were happy to see the wind and waves knock down for our crossing.

We hung out in the morning and didn’t leave until 9 am and it was a pleasant trip across the lake and with sunny skies unlimited visibility and plenty of navigational buoys. My kind of lake crossing. Lots of folks fishing and jet skis out enjoying the beautiful morning.

We pulled into Ess-Kay’s Yacht Yard by noontime, filled up with fuel and settled in for two nights in Brewerton and hopefully a solution to our battery issues. Fingers crossed! We walked into town and had a libation on the river returned to the boat and had a great dinner.

 

Track for Day 15 Sylvan Beach to Brewerton

 

 

Crossing Lake Oneida

Fellow Looper that passed us sent us this one  The Admiral driving her ship, with her mate busy at work 😂

The Hudson was much more interesting than the Erie Canal, The Hudson was spectacular and the Erie was very interesting just not as much to see as you are literary in a canal! 

Maybe the biggest take away after 3 weeks is we REALLY don't know what is around the next bend.....and that has one of us very nervous and the other one is elated! 

We are posting this on the July 4^th weekend and now more than any time maybe in our lives do we appreciate the sacrifice and lives lost for OUR freedom. We are a confused nation today, I get that, but we are so fortunate to be able to live in a democracy that allows us the freedoms that we have.

The fact that we are even on this voyage today, with all that is going on in this world, is a blessing.

God Bless America,

Our June Track

 

We are onto Lake Ontario, Canada here we come!

 Fair winds, Her Idea out,