THE DAY OF A HIGH, A LET DOWN--NOW HERE I SIT

June 20, 2011

Rich took me to the doctor today at Winter Harbor Marina and he said that the oil leak I have is coming from my port transmission.  The yard worked very quickly and began to take me apart to make sure they understand what needs to be done.  The doctor said that I might be here for a week or more. Depending on how much damage has been done.  He asked about my medical history and if I had been driven on the ground and stalled the engine.  Two years ago while in the channel coming out of Onancock I hit a sand bar and stalled the engine.  That may have been the start of the problem, who knows?  I will post again when I have further details.

June 19, 2011

Today was a high followed by a big letdown.  They got me going early again so they could make the first of 5 locks that had to be traversed.  The trip today was 50 miles long and took us from Little Falls to Sylvan Beach on the Erie Canal.  Rather than travel in the Mohawk River I actually traveled in the dugout portion of the Canal.

The high point of the day was when I reached 420 feet above sea level, the highest point on the Canal. I traveled through 20 locks to get that high.  Then the let down came, within a two mile distance I was lowered forty three feet.  From this point on I will be going down to Lake Ontario.  I like going down in a lock, it is lot easier on me than going up.  Rich and Carol bought some nice hangers for the big Aeré fenders.  While going up the fenders pulled and rubbed on the lock walls, there was so much pressure that the lines bent the line guides on the fender hangers but nothing happened to the fenders, Aeré fenders are really strong.

The trip was pretty boring; I did see the steam powered boat heading toward Little Falls where there will be a canal steam boat festival the weekend of June 25.

Sylvan Beach is an inland version of the New Jersey Shore but on a smaller scale.  People anchor their boats off the shore and jump into the water.  The beach is sand and about four miles long.  There are amusement rides for the children, games of chance, bars with loud bands, and a large public park.  The rides are old but they are there. There was a roller coaster, tilt-a-whirl, fun house, Himalaya and bumper boats; but there was no Ferris wheel or merry go round. The fun house was touted as the “world’s scarcest ride”, easy for them to say they haven’t got up in a 40 ft lock with the wind blowing.   There are lots of little cottages in the area that are rented out for the week or the season.  Rich and Carol saw a sign that that read “Parking Full   Overflow Parking Straight Ahead 4 Blocks ”  Nothing unusual about the sign except that straight ahead was into Lake Oneida. 

There are a very large number of boats here; most of them are small or pontoon party boats.  I saw this one pontoon boat that had a second story on it.  Off of the second story came a slide that must have sent the slider up into the air and then down in the water.  The slid looked like it would be good fun for a human but not for me.  If I jumped on it I would sink the pontoon boat.

Tomorrow I start the journey across Lake Oneida. If the wind is out of the west, our ride could be very bumpy. My next stop is at Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton, NY where I hope someone there can fix my oil leak, so Rich doesn’t have to clean my bilge each evening. Check in tomorrow to see if I’ve been repaired.