Triangle Loop – Week 20 (Thruster Fixed & The Champlain Canal)

Sep 7th to Sep 13th, 2025

Day 133 – Sunday, September 7th, 2025 – In: Burlington, VT

Sunday was another day with on-and-off rain. We spent the day on the boat working on the blog. Usually, I try to keep up with it during the week, but with the travel to New Hampshire, I fell a bit behind, and we didn’t get it finished until 2:00.

It was another windy day with 20+ mph winds. Around 3:00, the wind shifted to the west, and the waves started to rock the boat quite a bit. We decided to get off the boat for a while and take a walk around downtown to kill time before dinner.

We ended up at the Church Street Tavern in the shopping district for dinner. By 6:00, the wind had calmed down a little, but we were still rocked to sleep.

Day 134 – Monday, September 8th, 2025 – In: Burlington, VT

Monday morning I dropped the mast. The next leg of our journey is through the Champlain Canal with several bridges that are listed at 16 feet. With the mast up, we are 24 feet tall, and with it down, our highest point is the antennas at 18 feet, so before we start the locks on Friday, I will need to lower the antennas, which brings us down to 15 feet. The antennas lower with just a handle, so it’s quick.

The water is very low in the canal right now, so there is probably 17 to 18 feet, but we don’t want to take a chance. Dropping the mast takes about 2 hours by the time I get the tools and come-along out, drop the mast, secure it in our trident mast holder, and put everything away.

When that project was done, we took the car to West Marine to pick up some supplies for the thruster replacement project on Thursday, but found out that West Marine is closed on Sunday and Monday here in Burlington. Our next stop was Walmart for groceries. We were surprised that even in the US, many of the items we were looking for were not in stock. It was a Monday, so we assume they just haven’t had a chance to restock; however, many shelves in the store had large empty spaces.

Because we didn’t find some of the items we were looking for, we went to Hannaford Supermarket just down the street. At Hannaford, we found the rest of the items on our list, and their shelves were full. On the way back to the boat to drop off the groceries, we stopped at “The Tallest Filing Cabinet on Earth”. This is an art installation of a stack of filing cabinets. It was created to symbolize the 38-year bureaucratic delay in building a highway connector in Burlington. In 2020, it was moved to make way for the highway (which is now complete) and installed on the concrete pedestal in a nearby parking lot.

After putting away the groceries, we went to the Old Post in South Burlington for dinner.

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Day 135 – Tuesday, September 9th, 2025 – In: Burlington, VT

Tuesday morning, it was cold, we woke up to 54°, but the sky was clear and there was no wind. After breakfast, we went to West Marine to pick up my supplies, then to the airport to drop off the rental car. After returning the car, we took an Uber back to the marina. Brenda did laundry (the washer/dryers here at Burlington Harbor Marina are free!), and I climbed down into the back of the boat and started on the thruster replacement project, getting things ready to make it quicker when we do the thruster swap on Thursday.

Those projects took us until about 3:00, and we just relaxed on the boat for the rest of the day. When dinner time rolled around, we walked to The Skinny Pancake at the end of the park next to the marina for dinner. The Skinny Pancake makes both sweet and savory crepes. Brenda had the Cheesy Chicken Pesto, and I had the Johnny Crepe. For dessert, we shared a Blueberry Pie Crepe. As we walked back to the boat, we had our last sunset in Burlington.

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Day 136 – Wednesday, September 10th, 2025 – To: Charlotte, VT
Point Bay Marina

Today is a short 15-mile hop down the lake to Point Bay Marina, where we will be hauled out tomorrow to replace our stern thruster. We didn’t want to arrive too early. The normal check-in time is 4:00 pm, so we walked back to The Skinny Pancake for breakfast. When we got back to the boat, we dawdled until just before 11:00, which is checkout time at most marinas, then cast off and headed south down the lake.

The wind was from the south at 8-10 knots, and we had 1-2 foot waves on the bow, but the ride was still smooth. There were lots of sailboats out on the lake getting their last sails of the season. Boats have to be out of the water by October 14th.

We arrived at Point Bay Marina just before 1:00. They weren’t expecting us yet, but found a place to put us on their dock. The entrance to Point Bay is a bit scary, back in the 1960s they sunk two wooden barges on either side of the dock leading to the fuel dock to act as breakwaters. Over the years, they have broken up, and today, there are just bits sticking out of the water.

The water on Lake Champlain is 2 feet below normal, so most of the barges are visible. It made it easy to see where NOT to go! We got tied up and settled in.

I spent a couple of hours preparing for tomorrow’s work, making sure that nuts weren’t seized, disconnecting wires, arranging the correct-sized wrenches and sockets. We are doing what is called a “Short Haul,” which means they will pull the boat out of the water and leave it in the lift while I do the work, rather than putting it up on stands and moving the travel lift away. We’ve booked 4 hours to replace the thruster, replace the O-rings on our rudder, and, if time allows, replace the zincs on the propellers and shafts.

The closest anything to the marina is 5 miles away. So in the evening we cooked our “contraband chicken”!

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Day 137 – Thursday, September 11th, 2025 – In: Charlotte, VT

Our haul time was 7:30 am, and we pulled off the dock, were in the slings, and out of the water by 7:45. Brenda and I got started with the thruster first, as that was the biggest job and most critical for now. Getting the old thruster off took about an hour. It went fairly well. We had an issue with one bolt that had rusted shut, but we were able to loosen it from the inside. The thruster is on the back of the boat, below the water line. Inside the boat, the bolts and nuts are in the lowest part of the bilge, behind a fiberglass box that holds our propane tanks. To reach it, I have to lie on my side, on top of a battery box, and reach around and down into the bilge. There are also hoses for the bilge pumps that run through this area that block your view, so most of the work is by feel.

Once we got the thruster off, we cleaned up the transom and got the new thruster ready to mount. There are a couple of rubber gaskets that fit into the through holes in the transom, and you use 3M 4200 (A marine caulk) to seal around the thruster and the bolts. There are three attachment points. The main mount is a large threaded tube through which the electrical wires to the thruster come. The other two are small threaded rods that hold the unit at the bottom and keep it from turning.

We got the thruster on, and the main nut tightened down pretty quickly. Excellent! Next, we put in the threaded rods. The first one went in just fine. The second one wouldn’t go through. We worked on it for about 15 minutes, but it kept getting stuck on the rubber gaskets. I went inside the boat and put one of the old rods into the hole from the back side to line up the holes in the gaskets, then went outside and screwed the new one in. It went in! We were on the final stretch, or so I thought. I had expected the rod from the outside to push the inside rod out, but what it did was go beside the other rod. I spent an hour trying to get the inside rod out. Turning, pulling, hammering, cursing. No luck. We tried taking out the new rod, but it wouldn’t come out either.

The caulking was starting to cure, and I was in a bit of a panic that it would set before I got the unit tightened down. In the end, I got out my grinder and just cut off the second rod. That gave me enough room to put the nut on and tighten it down. I connected the wires to the control box, turned on the power, and gave the buttons a push. Nothing… I rechecked the battery switches, and they were on. I tried again—still nothing. I rechecked the connections in the controller and found that while attaching the wires, I had unplugged a connection. I plugged it back in and “whirr!!!!” it worked!

By this time, it was 12:00, and the yard manager stopped by asking if we were done. Brenda asked if we could have an extra hour, as I still wanted to address the rudder leak. They said sure, but we had to be done by 1:00 as they had other boats they needed to haul out.

The rudder project went much more easily. We blocked under the rudder so that it wouldn’t fall out, pulled the mounting bolt, and gently lowered it. The o-rings were quite hard, which was what we expected. I pulled off the old ones, greased up the rudder shaft, and slipped on the new ones. Then we put the rudder back into the boat, lifting it with a small prybar to get it into position. Then, it was just a matter of replacing the upper o-rings, reattaching the rudder arm, and bolting it back down. The whole process took about 45 minutes.

We let the lift operator know we were done, and they put the boat back in the water. We asked to hang in the slings for 5 minutes to check for leaks. There were none! So we backed out of the lift bay and cruised back to our slip on the other side of the marina. After we got tied back up, I rechecked for leaks and was relieved to see that there were none. Success! The only thing we didn’t have time for was changing the zincs on our running gear. Fortunately, they looked good, only about 50% gone. Those can be changed by a diver the next time we get the hull cleaned, so it’s not a huge deal.

To work on the thruster and rudder, we had to pull almost everything out of the back of the boat, and I had a bucket full of tools, so it took us another hour to put everything away and get the boat back to normal. By this time, it was almost 3:00. I was sore from working in such an awkward position, my arms and hands were cramped and full of cuts, nicks, and scratches.

I cleaned up and took a shower, then we walked up to the office to pay our bill. The yard didn’t charge us for the extra hour, and we did all the mechanical work, so there was no labor charge, just the haul-out fee of $705.

The rest of the day was spent recovering. Taking Aleve to fend off the leg, arm, and hand cramps and get the edge off the kink in my back. For dinner, we just had mac and cheese with a kielbasa, then an early bedtime.

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Day 138 – Friday, September 12th, 2025 – To: Whitehall, NY
Whitehall Marina

We had a peaceful night. No bilge alarms! The first thing I did when I got up was check the rudder post and thruster through-hulls for leaks. None! Woo Hoo!

There was another Looper boat, The Perch, with Michael and Kim (Kim is the director of the Looper organization) at the marina. They were leaving for the Champlain Canal today as well. At 8:00, we saw them pull out, and we followed about 10 minutes later. It was a gorgeous day, clear skies, and once the sun came up, it warmed up quickly.

To get to the Champlain Canal, you follow Lake Champlain to almost its southernmost point, then turn onto the Poultney River, which feeds the lake. Then two miles upstream to the first lock (Lock 12) in Whitehall. An interesting historical note: Whitehall, NY, was the birthplace of the United States Navy! Our old buddy Benedict Arnold oversaw the construction of the first fleet of naval vessels under the authority of the Continental Army here in 1776.

The trip was uneventful. We loved this section of the trip because of the mountains surrounding you on all sides, and you cruise within 20 feet of large cliffs.

As we mentioned, Lake Champlain is at its lowest level in recorded history. In the first part of the day, we were in water ranging from 50 to 300 feet deep. After passing under the Lake Champlain Bridge at Crown Point, the lake becomes much shallower at around 20 to 30 feet deep. Once you enter the river, the water depth is only 8 to 10 feet, so staying in the channel is essential. When we checked in with the marina, they said that at the bottom of the lock where they are located, the water is 5 feet below normal, and they gave us some areas to watch out for so that we wouldn’t ground.

We had to slow down to allow the Ticonderoga cable ferry to finish crossing so that we would miss the cable. Shortly after, we cruised past Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Defiance.

We arrived at Whitehall Marina at 2:00. Our friends on The Perch were waiting for the lock as they were staying at the free wall just above it. We got tied up and settled in. The marina owner, Lynn, greeted us and gave us the rundown of the place. It was his birthday! He told us that the restaurant (where he is also head chef and bartender) opened at 4:00.

We chatted with some of the marina staff for a bit, then went back to the boat so that I could lower our antennas to fit under the low bridges on the Champlain Canal.

At 4:00, we went up to the restaurant, had a snack, and chatted with Lynn and some of the locals. Their specialty is a NY Strip Steak, so we ordered that. It was delicious! There was quite a crowd there for Lynn’s birthday, and everyone had a good time!

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Day 139 – Saturday, September 13th, 2025 – To: Kingsbury, NY
Lock 9 Wall

Saturday, in which we learn that the best laid plans sometimes don’t work out. We are back in Lock territory. Today we planned on doing six locks. It was our coldest morning yet, at 46°, and there was mist on the water.

The locks open at 8:00 AM, and we called into our first lock, Lock 12, at 8:01. The lock was less than 500 feet from our dock, so we didn’t have far to go. They drained the lock, opened the doors for us, and in we went. It was nice to have a stern thruster again!

As we were rising, the lock master called out, “Are you going all the way through?” “To Fort Edward,” we replied. “Okay,” he said. When we were at the top, we exited the lock and passed our friends on The Perch, who were still tied to the wall. There was good water depth in the canal, and we stuck right to the 10 mph speed limit for the 7 miles to Lock 11.

While we were traveling, I looked up a marina in Schuylerville, two locks farther on from Lock 7 in Fort Edward, where we planned to stay that had been recommended to us by a local last night. It looked pretty good, and we had plenty of time to reach it, so we called and left a message to make a reservation.

When we called Lock 11 on the radio, he said that we would have to wait for 5 minutes while he tried to flush debris out of the lock. No problem, we don’t want to hit anything in the lock. He tried for about 10 minutes and then said, “Just be careful.” Okay, we inched our way in, and it was just weeds. We got tied off, and up we went. While we were rising, the lock keeper came over. He warned us about a tree just outside the lock, took our registration information, and again asked, “How far are you going?” “To at least Fort Edward, maybe Schuylerville.” “Okay,” he said, and walked back to the control booth to open the doors.

From Lock 11 to Lock 9 is 9 miles, again with a 10 mph speed limit. We kept to the speed limit until just as we were approaching a bridge, we saw a barge going in our direction in front of us. We slowed down to the 2.3 mph that the barge was traveling until it cleared the bridge, then called and asked if we could pass. The barge captain said that SHE would pull over a bit and slow down to let us go by. After we got past, I increased speed somewhat to get to the next lock, Lock 9 (there is no Lock 10), in time to get through before the barge showed up. Commercial traffic takes priority, and we didn’t want to get stuck.

As we approached Lock 9, I radioed that we were looking for a lock through. “Oh, you missed the 10:00 pleasure craft lockage. I can put you through tomorrow at 10 am.” WHAT!!!! Earlier in the season, when they were having water issues, they restricted pleasure craft to one lockage per day in each direction. However, they had later announced that levels had returned to normal, and there has been no mention of restricted lockages. It would have been helpful if the two prior lock keepers had mentioned the time restrictions! I knew that arguing wasn’t going to get us through. There were no marinas and no anchorages between Lock 11 and Lock 9. Brenda suggested asking if we could stay on the lock wall for the night. I called the lock keeper and asked if we could tie up to the waiting dock for the night once the barge went through. He said that was fine, so we pulled over in a wide spot just before the lock to be out of the barge’s way, and hovered for 30 minutes until it arrived.

The barge Captain called the lock and said, “I see a ‘little one’ waiting. It’s okay with me if they want to join us in the lock.” After a brief pause, the lock keeper came back and said, “My boss said we can’t lock through commercial and pleasure craft at the same time.” Crap! I thanked the tow captain for trying!

Once the tow was in the lock and the doors were closed, we pulled up to the lock waiting dock, tied up, and settled in for the night. Then we walked up to the lock, but there was no one around to talk to. Oh well, it’s all part of boating! When we got back to the boat, my phone rang, and it was Schuylerville Marina. They did have space for us, but I explained that we were stuck at Lock 9 and wouldn’t make it to them.

I sent a message to our friends on The Perch and warned them about the single daily lock through. They thought there were three per day and said they would be sure to arrive here before 10:00. We spent the rest of the day working on the blog. I took a walk around the lock to check out a work barge and see how low the water was. There is an overflow waterfall just above the lock, and the water was 6″ below the edge of the dam. I guess they are still having water problems!

This lock is miles from the nearest real town and is quite remote. The only thing nearby is the Empire State Bike Trail and the Amtrak rails. Fortunately, there are street lights on the lock waiting dock. It’s going to be a lonely night.

At 4:00, the northbound boats arrived at the lock. They had started from Lock 7 at 2:00 pm. There were three in the group, a downeaster, a trawler, and a sailboat. We walked up to the lock to watch them lock through and chat with the lockie. We politely expressed our disappointment with the lack of information and thanked him for trying to get us through with the tug. Once they were dropped, the two fast boats continued toward Lock 11 and Whitehall, but the sailboat, which can only go 4.5 mph, decided to stay on the wall with us and continue in the morning. Looks like we won’t be alone after all!

For dinner, we cooked a pork rib on the grill, and raided the freezer (and maybe a local corn field) for some veggies.

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Recap of the week

We traveled 130 miles this week, bringing our total to 2,480 so far. This week’s goal was to get the stern thruster replaced and deal with the drip in our rudder. While it was a bit painful (I’m still feeling it two days later), we were successful on both projects! We finished Lake Champlain and started the Champlain Canal, heading back toward Waterford, where we will close our Triangle Loop. Our first day on the canal didn’t end as we’d planned.

Next week, we will finish the Champlain Canal and return to the Hudson River, heading south toward New York City. We still haven’t decided what we will do from there. We’re watching the weather and the calendar.