The trip on Thursday from Half Moon Bay to Coeyman’s Landing Marina just south of Albany was a welcome treat.
We left at 0630 from a dock that had nearly bounced us to death. Wrong location, wrong wind and a desire to get moving. It was so much better out on the river and each mile got smoother and prettier. We saw river gorges, mountains, depths of well over a hundred feet and bridges. The trains, both passenger like we rode into NYC and freight, moved up and down both sides of the waterway.
We met commercial traffic but no close quarter drill was needed here.
One so called express trawler blasted by early on plowing water and waked us badly. I was not happy and would see him later. Revenge is a dish best served ice cold.
We passed West Point Military Academy, the cradle of our strong military training. It used to be that one could tie up and tour the institution but 9/11 ended all that. So we passed and took pictures. When I was a child I read a series of books by Col. Red Reeder about fictional characters who attended West Point. I have told you that it was my dream to go there and become a career military man but my bad leg ended that. It is a noble profession and some of the best are produced here.
In order to make our long day’s schedule and to test our engines, we intended to run on plane for at least two hours. It was not long before we sighted the express trawler and began to wind him in as Dr. Bell used to say about some hotshot biker he was getting ready to smoke.
I went by fast enough and close enough that he will not likely be coming close to us again. Jan thought it was childish but I thought it was justice swift and sure. When next I saw him we had tied up, taken on 200 gallons of fuel and had a shower. He blew by but the wave break at Coeyman’s protected us.
On Friday we were going to pull out the boat and inspect her bottom but the parts I needed could not be located on the boat so I cancelled and saved $320 until I could find them. The AC Condensator was slowing down so I pulled and cleaned it. As the weather gets ever hotter I will have to increase the cleaning schedule. I had already increased the inspection schedule and thus caught it early.
My old country trick of affixing the keys to the impellers only worked halfway. By that I mean one out of two failed. I pulled the cover plates and saw the starboard one had “walked” out a quarter inch so I tapped it back in and sealed it again. We shall see but in the long run I see new fuel pumps. I know some of you mechanics out there are saying why doesn’t that cheap so in so just change the pumps? I will tell you. Cost is not the problem. It is a factor but not the problem. The problem is at least two bolts cannot be accessed without some sort of air wrench I do not own and am not even sure that will work. It is like they built the engine around the pump. Never saw such a thing. I know I can do it with enough study and the right tools but it is not absolutely necessary at this time and so the journey goes on.
And now speaking of our journey there is a change of travel announcement. The decision was made last night at dinner after conferring with our friend Judge Robert Young. Bob and Caroline have traveled the Rideau Canal system out of Ottawa and he was familiar with the time involved and what there was to see up there. You see we are a bit behind and do not wish to rush through Canada because parts of it will be the most scenic of the trip. Due to our time with Alex we fell behind a number of boats which are already in Canada. Now I would rather spend time with Alex than go to Montreal or Ottawa. So an adjustment was in order keeping in mind that we can always fly back to Ottawa one day and rent a canal boat just to say we did it. The great majority of Loopers never go that route anyway due to time restrictions.
The bottom line is we are electing to turn left at Waterford, NY just above Troy and do the Erie Canal. This eliminates our time pressure, eliminates the worry over low bridge clearance and water depth. So it seems a win win. We should make Waterford on Saturday and push into the Erie on Sunday morning. Once we are through the first half of the Erie, which takes us to Brewerton, we will turn up the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. Cross Lake Ontario to Trenton and we have to report to Canadian Customs. Now we are intersecting with our original route and will enter the Trent-Severn Canal system which is one of the scenic highlights of the trip. So there you have it.
