June 30 update

 

June 26           

Left Kingston this morning after fueling and a pump out. We had 2 anchorages picked out about 10 miles apart depending upon how well things went. We were at the first one by 1 p.m., so decided to go on to the second. We got there and the situation did not meet expectations so we were heading to the third when a sudden rain squall started and we could not see enough to continue.  We found a third anchorage that was not great but would do once the storm passed.  

June 27       

We are ahead of our proposed schedule by half a day. We arrive in Trenton the start of the Waterway at 11 a.m.…I need bait and some new artificial lures for fishing so we look to the town dock for a free tie up for a few hours. That dock needs lots of help and will not work. We see a sailboat tied to a different wall and ask if we can tie for about 2 hours. He says not a problem and helps us tie up. Just as we finish a Marina owner comes by and tells us he will let us use a slip for 2 hours rather than set a precedent letting others see us on the wall. We use his slip as it is a dock not a concrete wall. We walk a total of 3-4 miles round trip to get fishing gear, eat a quick lunch and start for the first lock.

We decide to do the first 6 locks this afternoon and stop at the bottom of 7 for the night. It has an ice cream store. Too bad it closed for the night before we tied up. It was a long day and we finally put the boat to bed on the bottom entry wall of 7.

Lock Number 1

The Trent Severn Waterway is nominally 241 miles long from Trenton to Severn, Ontario on the Georgian Bay.  From Lake Ontario you are raised 598 feet before being lowered 241 foot into Georgian Bay. The canal was started in 1833 and finally finished in 1920. There are 43 locks and one marine railway, which has a travel distance of 500 feet. There are 38 conventional locks two of which are flight locks, 2 locks combined to raise you quickly in areas where one lock would not give you enough height and individually cannot stand the water pressure of that height. We inserted a picture of locks 11-12. We were raised 24 foot in each lock but the first seemed much deeper. We have 4 unconventional locks: The railroad, Big Chute, Peterborough lift lock, and K Kirkfield lift lock.  The waterway is a series of dams/locks connecting rivers, lakes and canals. We can be in a river which opens to a lake etc. Most of the lakes are shallow and compare to Albemarle Sound for depth.

There are no VHF radios used on the locks, except for number one. You enter number one and are lifted up and while you are in the lock you go to the office and pay your fee. We are transiting one way and pay a fee of $4.65 per foot to go through the canal one way.

Now the next locks are run by the same crews on some locks, so lock 1 crew does 3 and lock 2 crew does 4. If you miss number one you wait 1.5 hours for them to return from 3. We initially programed ½ hour per lock to figure time to run on a day, but have since revised that to an hour.

All the locks respond to 3 short horn blasts and give you hand signals as to what to do next. In addition you have a concrete wall that is painted blue that you can tie up to of you are locking through. If you are not locking through but staying then any wall not painted blue can be used. If you stay overnight you pay a mooring fee of .90 per foot of boat length. For this you get a secure concrete wall and a bathroom, but not a shower.

We stayed the first night at a pay wall, then anchored 2 nights and are on a free wall in Hastings, lock 18 at the moment.

The locks all have cable spaced every 20 foot and run top to bottom. You wrap your line around the cable just like the Erie and control the boats forward and aft movement, with the pressure on the line. 

The Trent Severn is a recreational waterway maintained as a National Historic Site by the Canadian government. This then becomes a recreational area for the local population and people from all the major towns like Toronto, Ottawa, etc. For this reason earlier towns along the waterway have survived as tourist sites for the Cottagers as the Canadian vacationers are called. This is a big difference from the Erie Canal where you feel like all you want to do is get through the system.

Flight Lock 11/12

June 30

We leave for at least 2 days in the Peterborough Marina while the locals celebrate Canadian Day July first.

We clear locks 18/19 on our way to Peterborough. Nineteen is one of the original locks and still has the limestone block sidewalls. All the approach walls, bridge supports and abutments have to be watched carefully in this area, because as close as 12 inches under water another support area begins greater than the one above it by 12-20 inches in circumference. You get too close and your boat bottom could get caved in.

Arrive about 1 p.m. in Peterborough Marina. Time for fuel, pump out, clean the boat, and laundry. Very clean marina with great help and free internet to get weather and update our systems. Laundry is a handicap here with only one washer/dryer. Requires you do laundry at 6 a.m. or midnight if you have 3-4 loads.

Tomorrows Canada Day festivities are in the park right behind us so we have a front row seat. The only problem will be whether we can stay up late enough for the fireworks. I remember the granddaughters at the Oriental Croaker Fest who fell asleep during the fireworks.  We are reverting.

 

Water fountain in Little Lake at Peterborough, CA.