Triangle Loop – Week 12 (The Erie Canal)

July 13th to July 19th, 2025

Hi Folks! This post is a long one! There is so much to see and amazing history on the Erie Canal! Feel free to read it in sections!

Day 77 – Sunday, July 13th, 2025 – In: Troy, NY

On Sunday, we started by getting ready for our trip on the Erie Canal. The lowest bridges and guard gates on the Erie and Oswego Canals are at 20 feet. Our mast is 24 feet, so for the canals, we need to lower the mast. While I was checking email, I received a message from FedEx stating that they would not deliver the engine oil I ordered until Monday afternoon. By Monday afternoon, we will be 20 miles up the Erie Canal! I spent an hour dealing with FedEx and Walmart trying to cancel the order. Neither could do anything, so I wrote a note for the marina staff to refuse it on Monday, when/if it showed up.

After breakfast (the waffles we bought yesterday), I went up and started getting the mast ready to be lowered. The first step was to get our trident mast holder (a PVC pipe contraption I built for our first loop) from inside the dinghy, where we store it, and mount it on the boat deck. While I was doing that, a tug pushing a barge with a large tank came past. The tug just fit under the lift bridge. One of the marina dock hands said that the tank was full of fish to stock the rivers and lakes upstream.

As I was working, one of the boaters from Miller’s High Life, just up the dock from us, stopped by and we chatted for a bit. He mentioned that he had a book, “The Hudson River Guidebook,” that details the history of the Hudson River. Each entry has a mile marker so that as you cruise the river, you can follow along in the guide! We are going to order a copy for our return trip.

After mounting the mast holder, the next step is to disconnect the support cables, then remove the bolt that holds the mast. I attach a come-along between the mast and the helm seat on the flybridge to lower the mast slowly. Once the bolt is out, it’s a scary few minutes until the mast is safely in the holder. Then it’s just a matter of strapping it down so that it doesn’t shift. There is just enough room for the mast to squeeze in next to the dinghy.

While I was dropping the mast, a Loon stopped by to watch. We’ve seen a number of them in Canada, but this is the farthest south we’ve seen one. Another interesting barge passed us while I was finishing tie-wrapping the cables for the mast. If you look at the pictures, you can see that they are pumping water out of the barge as they move along. Looks like us when we had our rudder leak!

Once the mast was down, we measured our height to confirm that we would fit under the bridges. With the mast down, we are 15 feet, 6 inches to the top of the bimini (the blue cover), and 18 feet, 6 inches to the top of the antennas. We quickly lower the antennas if we need to. With the minimum clearance on the Erie of 20 feet, we should be fine. Once we get to the Rideau Canal in Canada, the first bridge is being repaired, and once a week, they move a temporary span to allow traffic to pass. If you want to go any other time, you need to be less than 14 feet. If we lower the antennas and the blue bimini, we can just squeak under. We’ll see if we need to do that when we get there.

After we dropped the mast and I got cleaned up, we walked into town and visited the local ACE Hardware. It’s a local landmark, more than just a hardware store! It’s half gift shop, half hardware, half plant store (yes, that equals one and a half, it has two floors!) Then we visited a local bookstore to see if they had The Hudson Guidebook. They didn’t, so we’ll have to order it on Amazon. From there, we went to Brown’s Brewing Company, a local taproom, for a cold beverage and a snack, then went back to the boat.

The wind had come up and was blowing around 15 mph against the current, so we had some one-foot waves rolling up the river. At 5:00, I got a phone call from FedEx; they were in the parking lot with our engine oil! What! They said they were not going to deliver it! We ran up to the Marina Office and picked up the oil! Excellent!

Brenda made macaroni salad, and we had dinner on the boat. Just before 7:00, the Dockmaster walked by, and I went out to ask him if he got overtime pay (the office usually closes at 5:30). He said that an American Cruise Lines cruise ship, the American Eagle, was coming in around 10:00 pm, and he was waiting for it to assist with docking. American offers river cruises throughout the US on smaller cruise ships. The trip from New York City to Albany (Troy, NY) starts at $6,750. Glad we have our own boat! At 7:00, a tug boat arrived at the dock just behind us to assist with the docking. It will be interesting to see the cruise ship come in!

The tug boat that was waiting took off around 9:30, and we assumed it would meet up with them, but it just went right past. It was almost 10:00 before the American Eagle came in. We saw the spot light come around the corner. They checked out the dock for a few minutes, then slid over and tied up. Very Smooth!

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Day 78 – Monday, July 14th, 2025 – To: Amsterdam, NY
Riverlink Park

The Troy Federal Lock opens at 7:00 am. One of the other boats at Troy Marina was a new Riviera being delivered. They left right at 7:00, and we followed them a mile to the lock. Troy Lock is the point on the Hudson River where it stops being tidal. The lock lifts you 17 feet above the Troy Dam. By the time the Lockmaster finished his coffee and got the lock ready, it was 7:30. With just two boats, and both of us with experience, loading and lifting were quick and easy. Lock #1 of the day down, 9 to go!

Two miles up the river from the Troy Lock is Waterford, NY, the junction of the Erie and Champlain Canals. The Champlain Canal continues straight up the Hudson River, along the New York/Vermont border. This is the route we took on our last Loop trip, and how we (hopefully) will return from Canada later this year. The Erie Canal goes west following the Mohawk River. We turned west and got in line for the first lock, which is right at the junction.

Locks on the Erie Canal are labeled with an “E” and the lock number, so the first lock is “E-2”, There used to be three locks in Waterford, but when the canal was modernized in 1915, they replaced the flight of three with two larger locks, so now most people consider the Troy lock, Lock #1. There were nine boats tied up on the mooring wall in Waterford, and we thought we might have a full lock through.

The Locks on the Erie open at 8:00 am, and they were right on time. Only one other boat from Waterford, Sea Monkey, a smaller Ranger Tug, joined us for the first Locking. This was good, as it can take as long to get a larger group of boats into a lock and tied up as it does to raise or lower the lock.

Like riding a bike, we got right back into our locking rhythm. We’ve done 260 locks on our past trips, and three so far this trip. Lock E-2 lifted us 33.5 feet. The next lock, E-3, is just a quarter-mile above E-2. We had to negotiate around a fuel barge, but there was plenty of room. Lock E-3 was ready and waiting for us, and lifted us 34.5 feet. On to lock E-4, just over one-half mile ahead.

E-4 wasn’t quite ready for us. Overnight, they fill the locks about half full of water to stabilize the walls of the lock by applying pressure to them. Lock E-4 had not yet drained the water (they must have gotten in late), so we had to wait about 10 minutes while they drained the lock, then in we went, and up another 34.5 feet.

Locks in quick succession like this are referred to as a flight. Sometimes, you go from one lock right into the next with no water between, and some, like the Erie, are just very close together. Our next lock, E-5, was just 0.16 miles ahead, so almost out of one and into the next. Lock E-5 was ready and open, and it lifted us 33.3 feet. Next in the flight was lock E-6, about a quarter-mile ahead. E-6 was ready and brought us up another 33 feet. That brought our total elevation gain to 151 feet in just under two miles and took us about 90 minutes. Quite the elevator ride!

While we were in the lock, our generator cut out. We tried to restart it, but it would only run for a minute, then shut down. We checked the error code, and it was “insufficient cooling water flow”. I had cleaned out the strainer when we were in Troy, so I thought that perhaps I had not put the cover on tight enough, and it was sucking air. The temperature was climbing into the mid-80s, and it was hot inside the boat. We were driving from inside to make doing the locks easier, as you need to hold lines at the front and back of the boat, so it’s easier to run from downstairs rather than rushing up and down the ladder to the flybridge. I took a quick look to make sure that there wasn’t a leak. There wasn’t, and I decided not to deal with it until we got into Amsterdam for the night.

The next lock, E-7, was 11 miles ahead, so there was quite a bit of open water. First, we had to cross under a Guard Gate. Guard Gates are large steel dams that can be lowered into the canal to stop water from draining. If there is a flood or if a lock door should fail, these gates can be lowered to stop the flow of water. The clearance on these gates is about 20 feet, and is one of the major reasons we had to lower our mast to make it through the canal.

Once we were clear of the Guard Gate, the canal opened up. Most of the Western Erie Canal is in the Mohawk River, a natural waterway. The river was dammed to raise the level and make it navigable, with some sections straightened out with man-made canals. Each dam has a lock to lift boats past the dam.

The other two boats that had come through the lock with us were in a hurry, and once in the river section, they took off at 30 mph. We sped up a bit, but we were in no rush, so we kept our speed at a comfortable 10 mph, allowing us to enjoy the scenery and avoid the numerous sticks and logs floating in the river.

At 10:30, we reached lock E-7. The other two boats were just exiting the lock above us, so we had to wait about 15 minutes for the lockmaster to drain the lock so that we could go in. We were alone in the lock for our ride up 27 feet. Lock E-8 was another 11 miles ahead, and along the way, we passed the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory on the banks of the canal. The Knolls Laboratory does nuclear research for the Navy and developed the reactor used in the first nuclear submarine.

Ever since we entered the Hudson River in New York City, the Harbor Host at the Schenectady Yacht Club has been messaging us, trying to entice us to stay with them. They were “stalking” us through our Nebo App as we came up the canal, and we would get messages about landmarks along the way. Knolls was one of them.

Shortly after Knolls, we rounded a corner and cruised past the Schenectady Yacht Club. A few Loopers staying there took photos of us, and Skipper Jack waved and gave us some local knowledge over the radio. We would have liked to stay with them, but wanted to make a few more miles and locks that day.

The river around the Yacht Club has several rowing clubs, and there were a few boats out practicing. We had to go at idle speed so as not to swamp them with our wake! Once we cleared the yacht clubs, we were able to speed back up and reach the next lock, E-8, at 12:30. E-8 is a short lock, just 14 feet, and they opened the door just as we reached it.

Just outside of lock E-8, there was a canal work barge loaded with logs that had been fished out of the water. This spring’s flooding, which delayed the opening of the canal and caused some damage to one of the dams, also washed a huge amount of debris into the water. We’re glad that we’re late going through, as they’ve had a chance to clean up a lot of the debris.

There are numerous railroad lines that both follow the canal and cross it to serve the towns along the way. It seems that we would go under a railroad bridge every few miles. We reached lock E-9 at 1:00 and had a quick lift of 15 feet before heading out toward E-10, our last lock of the day, 6 miles ahead.

Lock E-10 was waiting for us with the doors open, and we had a quick 15-foot lift, making our total rise 257 feet over 10 locks and 41 miles. Our stop for the night was River Link Park in Amsterdam, NY. River Link Park is a nice little park sandwiched between the river and the rail line. It has a restaurant that is open on the weekends, and more importantly for us, power, as our generator was acting up!

Once we were settled in, I checked out the generator. I theorized it was either a clog in the intake line or the water pump impeller was bad. The easier fix is a clog, so I started by pulling the cover off the water strainer. Normally, water bubbles out from the water intake when the cover is removed. There was no water, so we assumed that we sucked something into the intake and it clogged the pipe. I got a water hose and flushed out the line. Water would go from inside the boat to the outside, we could see bubbles, and it wasn’t backing up, but no water would flow in the other direction. Odd! I got my WetVac and tried sucking water through the pipe into the filter. After a few seconds, water started gushing out! We looked in the vacuum to see what caused the clog, and all we could see were some sticks and bark. One of the sticks must have jammed in the pipe, causing the bark bits to clog against it. We ran the generator for 10 minutes to ensure everything was functioning properly. Given that it ran dry a couple of times, when I perform my next oil change, I’ll take the time to replace the pump impeller as well.

At 5:00, the boat started rocking. The local water ski club practices in the river right next to where we were moored. We had noticed a sign that said “Attention Boaters, This Is A Wake Zone” but thought that someone had jokingly removed the “No” in “No Wake”, wrong… It was a WAKE zone. The rocking wasn’t that bad and was more than outweighed by the water ski show we got to see. The skiers were all teenagers and younger. They were doing great! We saw up to 6 skiers at once. Riding on shoulders, single ski, holding on to the tow rope with the other foot! The best was watching kids having fun, it was hard to discern the screaming from pleasure because they pulled off a trick, from the sheer terror of seeing a log in front of them!

The organizers let us know that they would be done by 8:00 and that if there were any issues, to let them know, which was very nice of them. At 6:00, another boat pulled in, a family from Canada on a Prestige. We saw them when we passed through Waterford in the morning. They had come down the Champlain canal and had hit a log, damaging one of their props, so they couldn’t go more than 10 mph. They were looking for dinner in town, so we gave them some advice on how to get to town quickly.

As mentioned, the Riverlink Park is between the river and the rail lines. There is an elevated walkway for pedestrians to cross the rail lines, but vehicles use an ungated crossing. Because of the ungated crossing, the trains (on all four rail lines), lay on their horns as they approach the crossing. The rail line is about 150 feet from the moorings, so you REALLY hear the horns as the trains pass, about once every 15-20 minutes! They do slow down to hourly overnight, but with a mix of freight and Amtrak, it’s a busy area.

We had dinner on the boat while watching the waterski show, a mix of leftovers and a pasta salad Brenda made. As promised, at 8:00, the waterskiers packed up their gear and headed out. Aside from the train horns, we had a quiet night.

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Day 79 – Tuesday, July 15th, 2025 – To: Saint Johnsville, NY
Saint Johnsville Municipal Marina

Tuesday morning, there was a slight mist over the water when were woken up by the the train and geese honking. We slept fitfully last night due to the trains blowing their horns at the crossing near the park. There is a freight or passenger train almost every 30 minutes, sometimes more frequently.

We had coordinated an 8:00 am departure with the folks on Pura Fida who stayed at the park with us. The Locks open at 8:00, and our first lock, E-11, was less than a mile up the river. We dropped our lines right at 8:00 and headed out through Amsterdam. I radioed the lock when we pulled out, and they were ready and waiting for us when we arrived. We got in quickly, but a flock (or is it a gaggle) of geese swam in front of Pura Fida, and they were reluctant to push through them, so they waited for them to swim out of the way. Brenda grabbed one of the lock lines and then noticed that a buddy of her sink spider was sitting there waiting to get revenge! At the last minute, a fishing boat snuck in to join us. Once we were settled, it was a 12-foot ride to the top. There was a canal work boat with a giant grapple picking up logs that had gotten stuck in the dam gates. They had a crew on the dam walkways with large poles pushing the debris off the gates so that the grapple could grab them.

At the top of the lock, we saw Sea Monkey. They had spent the night at the lock landing. If we come this way again, we’ll probably stay there instead of at the park, as there’s power, it’s free, and the train tracks are a bit farther away. Doug and Cheryl were sitting on their back deck, and we waved as we went past.

Lock E-12 was less than 5 miles ahead, and they had the doors open for us, so we cruised right in. Just as the doors were closing, we heard Sea Monkey call, trying to join us. Once they start closing the doors, they don’t open them again, so Sea Monkey had to wait. The lift was only 11 feet, so it didn’t take long, and as soon as we pulled out, the lockmaster closed the doors so that he could lift Sea Monkey.

Our next lock, E-13, was 10 miles away, so that would give Sea Monkey time to catch up with us. With their damaged prop, Pura Fida couldn’t go over 10 mph, and we were in no hurry, so we just tooled along. It was another hot, humid day, but it was much nicer inside the boat with the generator running, allowing us to use the Air Conditioners.

This section of the canal remains largely on the Mohawk River. It’s very pretty with small towns along the banks. On our way to the next lock, we passed the National Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs, a large complex perched on a hillside and visible from miles around. Just before lock E-13, we passed one of the canal’s work yards with a large old crane, and a collection of old work boats on the shore.

When we got to the lock, there was already a boat waiting. It was Thunderbolt, we recognized the boat and the Tasmanian Devil logo on the back. We had cruised in the Rideau Canal with Thunderbolt on our first Loop in 2019, but knew that the former owners had sold it. As we were getting into the lock, Sea Monkey came racing up to join us, so this time we had four boats for the 8-foot lift. Once clear of the lock, we radioed Thunderbolt and learned that they had bought the boat after an engine failure and repowered it with an electric motor! They moved over so that we could pass them as their max speed is 5 mph. I can’t imagine doing the Loop at 5 miles an hour! However, their fuel cost is close to zero, as they charge up using solar energy or when plugged in at marinas.

Lock E-14 is in Canajoharie, 9 miles away. We stopped in Canajoharie on our first Loop to visit the Beechnut Baby Food Art Museum, with many original works by Norman Rockwell. On the way, we cruised through mostly rural farmland with classic New England farms perched on the hillsides, and a lone Bald Eagle fishing in the river.

Just before Lock E-14, Sea Monkey stopped at Canajoharie to visit a Christmas Store, and we continued on through Lock E-14 to Saint Johnsville. Lock E-14 was another small rise at 8 feet, and as we’ve seen, there was another large pile of logs pulled from the canal on the bank just after the lock. Three miles later, we reached lock E-15, another 8-foot lift. Once out of the lock, Saint Johnsville, our destination, was about 5 miles ahead, so E-15 was our last lock of the day.

We called the marina as we exited the lock as directed, and they gave us some “local knowledge” to avoid a shoal at the entrance to the marina. We were the only boat scheduled in, so the dockmaster told us to park in the middle of the wall. Easy in! By 1:05, we were all tied up. Frannie, the dockmaster, met us, gave us some cold water while we hooked up our power, and gave us a rundown of the local eateries, attraction (not plural, there was only one), and the layout of the marina and facilities. After settling in, we went up to the office to register and got a rundown of the local area. We want to compliment Frannie, she was always doing something, trimming the grass, moving sprinklers, taking care of the RVers at the Campground next to the marina. Always on the move, but always there to offer assistance or chat about the local area. She, like many of the people we meet along the Erie Canal, has a great sense of local pride in both the canal and the local town.

Once we had settled in, we took a walk to the point at the end of the marina with a small replica lighthouse. While we were there, Thunderbolt silently passed with its electric motors. We remember the old Thunderbolt that would pass in a cloud of diesel smoke, its dull throbbing engine overworked.

We returned to the boat and began browsing the menus of the local eateries. Around 4:00, Sea Monkey pulled in. They were passing, saw our boat, and decided to stop. They didn’t have a reservation (not a problem), and we helped them tie up as Frannie was over at the campground. While we were out, we heard a loud rattle on the bridge next to the marina. There is a large Amish community in the area, and we saw/heard several horse-drawn wagons and buggies crossing the bridge.

Just after 5:00, another boat, a 74-foot Sun Seeker, pulled in. Again, they didn’t have a reservation, but there was room for them. We heard them calling on the radio and gave them the entrance instructions Frannie had given us, and helped to catch their lines. It was a delivery captain and assistant, bringing the boat from Florida to Rochester, NY, to be sold. (3.5 million if you are curious). Frannie arrived shortly after. She works for the Saint Johnsville Department of Public Works, and was across the street weed-wacking. We chatted with the delivery captain and got the lowdown on their route. The Locks on the Erie Canal close at 5:00, and you have to be at a lock by at least 4:30, so they had just run out of daylight.

In the evening, the temperatures were close to 90, and very humid. The closest open restaurant was a mile away. When we were checking in, Frannie told us about a local eatery called Grab-And-Go that had an extensive menu and offered free delivery to the marina. It was mostly burgers and sandwiches, but the menu looked good, and the prices were very fair. We called and ordered a couple of sandwiches, some onion rings, and four slices of cheesecake to share with our new friends on Sea Monkey. Most of the food was delivered in about 15 minutes! Excellent, except they forgot the onion rings. The delivery driver had just left when we noticed, so we called the restaurant. 10 minutes later, the onion rings arrived hot and fresh!

Around 6:00, Doug and Cheryl from SeaMonkey stopped by for dessert. It was a BYOM (Bring Your Own Milk) affair, as we had only been buying small pint bottles of milk. We had a nice chat with them and enjoyed the Cheesecake with Blueberries, as well as the carrot cake with Cheesecake frosting that we got from Grab-and-Go.

We had a restful night. Even though the train tracks were just as close as in Amsterdam, there was no crossing, so no train horns!

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Day 80 – Wednesday, July 16th, 2025 – To: Little Falls, NY
Rotary Park at Little Falls

When we woke up in St Johnsville, there was a mist on the river, which thickened into a solid fog. At 7:30, the big delivery boat left to make the 8:00 locking. The next two locks, E-16 and E-17, are on a two-hour schedule, 8, 10, 12, 2, and 4. This is because the banks of the canal, which are higher than the surrounding land, became saturated with water from the spring floods and began to collapse. They have posted a 5 mph speed limit for this 8-mile section to prevent the wake from eroding the banks. The two-hour locking schedule is just about how long it takes to travel the section at 5 mph, so there is no incentive to go faster. If you arrive early, you’ll be made to wait, and if you arrive too early, you risk a fine.

Because we only had 10 miles to our next port, we walked into town for breakfast at a local diner that was recommended to us by the dock master. As we were leaving, we saw that the maintenance crew and Frannie, the dock master, were out in a skiff pulling up the water weeds in the marina. They tried wrapping a rope around it to drag it out, but it was so thick that they couldn’t get their skiff through it.

We walked up the hill to the main road, Bridge Street, and across the railroad tracks into town. We went to the Bridge Street Diner and had an excellent breakfast, then took a look up and down Main Street. It’s a typical sleepy New England town. After a quick photo op at the Saint Johnsville Angle Wings, we stopped by the local Kinney Drug store so Brenda could check it out, then headed back to the boat.

At 9:40, we pulled out right behind Sea Monkey and headed west toward Lock E-16. We arrived just before 10:00 and only had to wait a few minutes for the lock door to open. We had our 20-foot ride up, dropped off a goodie bag for the Lock Keepers, and headed out at a blazing 4.5 mph for Lock E-17, 8 miles away.

For most of the route, we were even with the roofs of houses on the sides of the canal. The canal was built through a low area, so the dirt from the canal was used to make embankments on the sides. The water level is about 10-15 feet higher than the surrounding land. During this spring’s heavy rain and floods, the banks became super-saturated and started to slide toward the homes. One of the dams on the route also had a partial failure. As we cruised through this section, we could see where they had reinforced the banks and the maintenance work being done on the dam. Large off-road dump trucks passed us, carrying huge boulders that were being used to shore up and rebuild areas of the banks.

One of the benefits of cruising at 4.5 mph is that you see a lot more of the wildlife along the canal, including a bald eagle and a squirrel swimming across the waterway. I kept watching our expected arrival time at the lock and adjusting our speed so that we would arrive right at 12:00 for our scheduled opening. Sea Monkey, with their smaller boat (and heavy foot) had arrived at the lock about 15 minutes ahead of us, and radioed back that the lock would open earlier for us, so we quickened our pace and arrived there at 11:20 for our ride up.

Lock-17 is the tallest lock on the Erie Canal at 45.5 feet. It’s a unique design. On the downstream side, it features a massive gillotine gate, making entry into the lock like entering a tunnel. Once in, the gate lowers down on chains, like one of the flood gates, and seals you in. The lift took about 20 minutes, a smooth ride up. Amazing technology for 1915! Exiting the lock, you are on the hillside overlooking Little Falls, NY. There are factories, homes, and the Mohawk River with its cascade of “little waterfalls” below.

Originally, we had not planned to stop in Little Falls, but continue another 8 miles to Ilion, NY. When we were making our plans for the Erie Canal, we built in an extra day in case there were lock or weather issues. Our friends on Breakaway had stopped in Little Falls and said that it was a great little town, so we used our extra day to stop here.

We were greeted by Mark, the harbor master, who helped Sea Monkey and us tie up. When we went up to check in, Mark gave us the rundown of the town and some history of the area. Little Falls was once the Cheese Capital of the United States in the early 1900s. Much of the chemical rennet (made from the bile of cows’ stomachs) used in the US was produced in Little Falls, and the price for cheese in New York and Wisconsin was set at an exchange in Little Falls. There were also textile, bicycle, and steel tank manufacturing operations in the mills that lined the river. Today, many of the mills house small businesses, including several huge Antique centers. The only industry that remains from that day is Feldmeier Equipment, which manufactures large stainless steel tanks for the dairy and brewing industries, as well as a paper mill that produces toilet paper. Little Falls is located in Herkimer County, NY, and is famous for the Herkimer Diamonds. These are large, very clear quartz crystals that formed in the limestone in the area. Although they hold no real value, hunting them has been a local pastime for years. There was a stunning example of the crystals on display in the marina office.

It was another hot day, and Mark asked if we would like a ride into town rather than walking across the bridge. Both Sea Monkey and we said that it would be much appreciated! We bundled into Mark’s pickup and as we left the marina, he said, “I’ll show you a bit of town on the way.” A bit turned into a 45-minute tour of the entire town! Mark took us along the river and pointed out where various industries used to be, as well as the businesses that had replaced them. He took us up to an overlook on the highway outside of town, where we could look down on the canal.

Our tour of town ended at the Holy Family Parish Catholic Church. This is a stunning stone mini-cathedral built by Irish Catholics who had migrated to the area to work in the mills and construct the canal. While much of the funding came from the mill owners, the poorer parishioners performed much of the construction, including quarrying the stone used to build it.

We were fortunate that the church was open, and one of the deacons was there cleaning. She gave us a full history of the parish and the church and allowed us to take some photos of the interior, including the beautiful stained glass windows imported from England in the early 1900s.

After visiting the church, we walked to the riverfront mill area, using the pedestrian tunnel under the railroad tracks. We visited some of the shops, including the large two-story Antique Center. We spent about an hour browsing around. With its long history, antique shops in New England are always fun to browse, and Brenda found a pair of perfume bottles to add to her collection.

After we finished at the antique shop, we returned across the railroad tracks to the downtown area, stopping at the local History Museum, which is housed in an old bank building and was once the location of the cheese consortium. We stopped in and again received a passionate lesson in the history of the town and the area. Even though the town has shrunk from its original population of 35,000 in the early 1900s to fewer than 4,000 today, there is still a sense of civic pride in what the residents built and their impact on the Industrial Revolution.

We had planned to go to a local pub that opened at 5:00 for dinner, but when we finished up at the history museum, it was only 4:00. Mark had recommended an Italian restaurant near the pub, and when we walked by, it was open. We had skipped lunch, and with the heat and all the walking around, we were thirsty, so we popped in for a drink and decided to stay for dinner.

After dinner, we walked back to the marina across the bridge over the train tracks, the river, and the canal, and were able to get a bird’s-eye view of the falls and mill district.

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Day 81 – Thursday, July 17th, 2025 – To: Ilion, NY
Ilion Marina

Today would be our shortest day so far; we were only going 9 miles and only had one lock. Before leaving Ilion, we wanted to see if we could find a Geocache. There was one listed in the park next to the marina. We found the location, which was next to a concrete outflow structure. Unfortunately, the area where the geocache was hidden was completely overgrown. We were wearing shorts, I was wearing flip-flops, and there was poison ivy around, so aggressive bushwacking was not in the cards. We poked around with a stick for a bit, then checked the logs in the Geocaching App to see if anyone else had found it recently. There were several recent entries from people commenting that they couldn’t find it due to the thick underbrush. Even the cache owner commented that he needed to come back with tools to clear things out a bit. We took a picture of the rock the cache was said to be under and logged it as a ‘Did Not Find’.

We stopped by the old Freight Building and took a look at their history display, then said our goodbyes and thank-yous to Mark, the Harbormaster, who had been such a gracious host. At 9:30, we pulled away from the dock heading toward our first and last lock of the day.

On the 4-mile ride to Lock 18, we had to play a bit of dodgem with some logs floating in the river, and saw another bald eagle sitting in a tree looking for its breakfast. It gave us a dirty look as we passed for interrupting its fishing. We were the first boat through Lock E-18 for the day and had to wait 10 minutes while they drained the water from the lock. Then it was a 20-foot ride to the top.

After clearing the lock it was another 5 miles along the river to Ilion, New York, the birthplace and former home of the Remington Arms Company. Remington was founded here in 1816 and closed in 2024, moving its operations to Georgia. They had a beautiful museum here with examples of every model of firearm they have ever produced. Sadly, when the factory closed, they also closed the museum. We feel lucky that we were able to visit on our first Loop trip in 2019.

When we arrived at the Ilion Marina at 11:30, we first went to the fuel dock, topped off with diesel, and had a pump-out, then swung around to our mooring spot on the wall. Like many marinas on the Erie Canal, the Ilion Marina is a combination Marina and RV park run jointly by the Canal Corporation and the local town. Once we were settled, we checked in at the office and then went to the small restaurant right next to the boat for lunch.

In the afternoon, I rinsed the bugs off the boat. Every morning, there are 100s of dead bugs on the decks. They are attracted to the white color and the reflection of the dock lights. Around 3:00, our friends on Sea Monkey pulled in, and we helped them tie up.

In the evening, we walked into town with Doug and Cheryl to an Italian restaurant that the Dockmaster had recommended for dinner. The food was very good and, as with most small Italian restaurants, the portions were huge, so we had leftovers to take back to the boat.

When we got back, we stowed our leftovers and went to the marina restaurant for ice cream. The restaurant is run by a local dairy, Voss’s, which makes its own ice cream. It was delicious!

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Day 82 – Friday, July 18th, 2025 – To: Brewerton, NY
Ess-Kay Yards

When we woke up on Wednesday, it was COLD! 61°. We hadn’t seen temperatures in the 60s since last winter. Our destination today was Brewerton, 62 miles and four locks away. The first lock was 4 miles ahead, so we left Ilion at 7:30 to arrive at the lock around the time it opened. We arrived at Lock E-19 right at 8:00 and had to wait about 10 minutes for them to drain the lock. There is a railroad bridge right at the entrance to the lock, and while we were waiting, an Amtrak train came through. The door swung open, and we went in for our 21-foot lift.

Outside of the lock, there was a dredge deepening the canal. The Lockmaster provided us with instructions on navigating the dredge and warned us that we would encounter a few more along the way to Lock E-20.

When we were in Little Falls, we learned that a 400-mile bike tour called “Cycle The Erie Canal” was taking place along the Erie Canal section of the Empire Trail. The 8-day ride began in Buffalo, New York, on July 12 and concluded in Albany, New York, on July 20. Most of the riders were expected to pass through the section of the canal we were traveling over the next day or two.

As we passed through Utica, New York, we began seeing more and more cyclists on the path that parallels the Erie Canal. Utica is where the Erie Canal branches off from the Mohawk River and becomes a man-made canal, continuing until it reaches Oneida Lake. Just north of Utica was Lock E-20, our last “UP” lock. The lock was ready for us, and we rode up the 16-feet to our maximum elevation of 429 feet since Waterford, and 434 feet since Troy when we left the Tidal Hudson. An interesting tidbit of information is that the bottom of the Troy Lock & Dam, where the Hudson River stops being tidal, is just 16 feet above sea level, so we only gained 16 feet in the 156 miles from the Atlantic Ocean in New York City to Troy, and we gained 434 feet in 117 miles on the Erie Canal.

The water between Lock E-20 and Lock E-21 was shallow in places, with less than a foot under the boat at times, which is why they are dredging. Our friends on Breakaway grounded momentarily in this section. Somewhere in the 18 miles between the locks, we heard a THUMP under the boat, and we started feeling a vibration. We figured that one of the many floating logs had claimed another victim. The vibration wasn’t too bad, so we continued at a slightly slower pace.

We arrived at lock E-21, and the doors were open waiting for us. Because it was a down lock, our view was as we entered, rather than as we went up. We pulled up to the wall and grabbed our lock lines. I was looking out at the closing doors when I noticed that WE HAD A TAIL! There was a 20-foot-long something behind the boat. At first I thought it was a branch. I grabbed our boat hook, went out onto the swim platform, and fished it out. The Lockmaster was just walking past and saw me fish it out. “What’s that?” he asked. It was a 1 1/2 inch black PVC water pipe, with a fitting still on the end. The other end went under the back of the boat. I gave it a good tug to see if it would come loose, but it didn’t. The water in the lock was already dropping, but the pipe was long enough that the Lockmaster could grab one end, and we both pulled on it. Again, it didn’t budge. I had to juggle dealing with the pipe and the lock line. If the lock line catches on the cleat as you are going down, it can tear the cleat out of the boat. The Lockmaster suggested going to the waiting wall below the lock when we were down, which sounded like a good idea.

I used a bungee cord to tie the end of the pipe to the boat and went back to managing the line. As I looked at it and thought, it dawned on me that if it were indeed wrapped around the propeller, when I put the boat into gear to exit the lock, it would tear itself and what I had attached it to away from the boat. So, I unhooked it and dropped it back into the water.

When the lock was empty and the gates opened, I carefully put the starboard engine into gear, watching the pipe. I saw it start to pull under the boat, so that confirmed that it was around the propeller or shaft. I put the starboard engine into reverse for a few seconds, then took it out of gear. I had to concentrate on getting out of the lock, so only using the port engine, I maneuvered out of the lock and over to the waiting wall. When we were tied up on the wall, I went to the back of the boat to see if I could do something about the pipe. It wasn’t there! I fished around with the boat hook, but didn’t find anything, and we also didn’t see anything floating behind us.

I carefully put the starboard engine into reverse to see if anything popped up, but nothing did. I gave it a bit of throttle in reverse to dislodge anything that might come loose. There wasn’t much more that we could do, so we untied and headed down the canal.

It wasn’t until we reviewed the video from the boat later that we saw the pipe dragging behind us as we entered the lock and then floating away as we exited. I also noticed a couple of ramshackle shacks on the side of the canal where we thought we hit the log. All I can think is that one of the shacks had run a water line into the canal, and we snagged it.

Lock E-22, our last lock of the day, was only a mile away, and after a 24-foot drop, we made our way to Oneida Lake. The east end of the lake was very busy with boats going in and out of Sylvan Beach. There was a 12 mph wind from the west, so there were 1-2 foot waves on that end of the lake. Once we cleared the breakwater and the boats fishing in the shallows, I carefully advanced the throttles, feeling for any vibration. There was none! Phew! Dodged a bullet that time!

We’ve been running at low RPMs since we entered the Erie Canal, as much of it is a no-wake zone, or we were going slow so as not to reach our destination before the 1:00 pm check-in time. Going slow has three effects:

1. It saves fuel, so we’ve been getting great mileage.
2. It causes carbon buildup in the turbo and engine.
3. It drives my mechanic, Michael, nuts when he looks at the logs, because I’m not exercising his engines properly!

So, when we were in open water and I was certain that there was no vibration in the props, I opened the throttles to 3,100 RPM, which is about the maximum for 0 minutes to get the engines nice and hot. I then backed down to 2,800 RPM, which is about 80% for the rest of the 20 miles across the lake. I had Brenda watch when we spooled up the engines, and aside from a small puff of black smoke as they revved up, our exhaust was clear.

We reached Brewerton, our destination on the other side of the lake, at 2:30 pm and were tied up in our slip at Ess-Kay Yards Marina by 2:45. Ess-Kay was one of the first marinas this trip with a large number of Loopers, and we had a meet and greet when we arrived. One of the Looper boats here is The Perch, which is Michael Martin and Kim Russo. Kim is the director of the Americas Great Loop Cruisers Association, and Michael runs Great Loop Yacht Sales. Kim and Michael recently became engaged while passing the Statue of Liberty. Kim and Michael started their first trip together here at Ess-Kay, so the owners and staff arranged a docktails and a BBQ in the evening to celebrate.

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Day 83 – Saturday, July 19th, 2025 – In: Brewerton, NY

Saturday morning was another cool morning in the 60s. When I got up around 5:00, there was a mist on the water, and the sky was beginning to turn orange. I worked on the blog for a while, then at 9:00, we took the marina courtesy car to Walmart for a supply run. We went to Walmart, Wegmans (a grocery store), and the ABC store before heading back to the marina.

After putting our shopping away, I changed into my work clothes and did our engine oil changes. We still had another six hours to go before reaching 150 hours, but they have an oil disposal facility here, and we’ll be halfway across Lake Ontario when we reach 150 hours, so it’s better to be early than late! (Right, Michael?)

It took about 4 hours to change the oil on both engines, replace the fuel filters, and change the oil and fuel filter on the generator. I’ve read on the internet that if you flush your oil filters backward with plenty of water, you can reuse them 10 or 12 times before having to replace them, so I’m giving that a try. Ha, ha! Just seeing if Michael, my mechanic, is reading the blog. DON’T TRY IT!

In the evening, we got together with our friends Deb and Greg on Breakaway. They are staying at another marina just down the channel. We rode our bikes the mile and a half around the bay to The Wild Horse Bar & Grill. The Wild Horse is less than 700 feet from the boat, but there is a channel between us, so we had to ride around, over the bridge, and back to the restaurant. If we had the mast up, we could have taken the dinghy and been there in under a minute!

After dinner, we stopped at Lighthouse Park to look at the lighthouse and try to find a Geocache. We quickly found the location, but again, it was a ‘Did Not Find’ as the cache was missing. When we got back to the boat, it was almost 8:00, my bedtime.

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Recap of the week

We traveled 158 miles this week, bringing our total to 1,630 miles so far. We have completed all but one lock and 9 miles before we leave the Erie Canal and turn onto the Oswego Canal. We dodged a bullet after hitting a water pipe and had an enjoyable weekend in Brewerton, NY, at Ess-Kay Yards Marina. On Monday, we travel to Oswego, NY, and on Tuesday, we cross Lake Ontario to Kingston, Ontario, where we will start the Rideau Canal.