34 locks done

Went all the way to Waterford-survived the last 9 locks including the flight of 5- back to back 35 foot drops each and windy so control was tougher- free docks here were full at 5:30 so tied to wall and must clim up rescue ladder to sidewalk-got here and visitors center was closed so no shower but headed to dinner all grubby and a local girl reccomended Mcgiveys restaurant- cool-fancy but good prices and excellant meal-we then walked to nice grocery store for fruit and found the visitor center open so paid a deposit and got a shower key-life is good again.I really liked the canal until today- lots of train and semi noise and locks so close together- the train tracks and freeway run right next to the canal at this end-Waterford seems quiet though.May take a recuperative day or head down the Hudson river-wine tonight if I stay awake.    chris

Lock 17 warning

Before you enter Lock 17 make sure you close all upper hatches and be prepared for a short shower on deck. The East gate of this lock is a lift gate and you motor under it leaving the lock as it drips on you. We scrambled to close everything while in the lock so as to keep everything below from getting wet!

Progress

7 more Locks down today, only 10 more to go! Stopped for the night at Riverlink park in the town of Amsterdam, NY. A nice park with restrooms, showers, and laundry. Paid $1 ft. When we arrived it was after they closed so we had to call a phone # that was on the power post and wait for the Dockmaster to sign us in and give us a key to the restrooms and showers. The only bad thing about the dock is that the RR tracks pass 100 ft. behind the park and the trains blow their horn for the crossing. The small restaurant is only open Thursday thru Sunday evenings for dinner and Tuesday thru Sunday 11 to 3 for lunch. There is a bridge over the RR tracks to town but not much in walking distance. Still making progress and still having fun seeing all of the sights along the way.

Little Falls Monday

Woke up to thunderstorms this AM so we decided to stay here for one more day and move on tommorow. One more hint for motoring down the canal is to mount a bicycle mirror on the steering pedastal so you don't have to keep turning around to see if you are being overtaken by a large trawler or cruiser.

on the road again

Left the marina yesterday and motored 10 hours down the canal with no problems-yeah! Spent last night outside lock 20 with no services so left early and weather on phone chased us to Little Falls town dock for nice showers- and a lock festival in town so walked the mile downtown for music and carnival food- funnel cake-mmmm, rain held off until almost to the boat.Locks in windy weather are tough for me to keep the bow from hitting the lock wall so happy to make it a short day after 2 windy locks today-no mast so wind is no fun.Yesterday we crossed Onieda Lake-supposed to be the 5th deadliest lake in the U.S.- Shallow so very choppy-a boat capsized yesterday but we have seen worse for sure in Lake Erie.      chris

 So we have a new ball valve on the water intake thru hull, a strainer over the thru hull, a cleaned heat exchanger, replaced the waterpump impeller, a new Mixing Elbow, a new radiator cap, and a new thermostat. Probaly a combo of all the weeds in the canal and some blocked tubes in the heat exchanger is what caused our problems. On our first sea trial after the repairs we overheated due to the weeds plugging our sea strainer, so that is when I decidedto have the boat hauled and have a strainer installed over the intake and have the old gate valve replaced. The weeds are thick in the canal and you really need a good strainer over your water pick up. The Ball valve was not leaking when I checked in the AM and operating it does not cause it to leak so it must of been the water in bilge I was seeing after the install.

Almost ready!

Overheating issues all taken care of, but one new issue. When I had the boat hauled to put a strainer over the water intake thru hull I had the yard replace the valve with a new ball valve. When I inspected this evening the new valve was leaking slightly, so we will have the yard look at it in the AM. We just want to be back traveling!

waiting

Still awaiting parts/repair- I thought we had spares to everything but I guess not. I spent the day cleaning the interior yesterday and getting a handle on where I stuffed everything, I sure did bring too much stufff- oh well it will work once we can't go to a store each day.We had a tall ship from Vermont pull up for gas yesterday- the had a tug boat alongside- We need that.The marina owners family called over to offer tomatoes,peppers or fresh herbs from her dockside plants- they are so nice. Can`t wait to move on though.    chris