We leave Frostproof Fl. for NY on Monday the 25th of Apr. Plan is to arrive with boat on trailer in Hudson Falls NY. And be in the water on the Champlain Canal by the first week in June. Triangle loop is Lake Champlain Canal up through the lake into the Richeleau River to the Chambly Canal to Sorel Canada up the ST. Lawrence Sea Way to Montreal, then up the Ottawa River to Ottawa then down the Rideau Canal to Kingston Ontario, cross Lake Ontario to Oswego Canal to Erie Canal turn east to you get to Waterford NY then head back north on the Champlain Canal. It is around 1,000 miles and 100 locks. As a side trip from Kingston Ontario we could do the Trent Severn Water Way up to Georgian Bay and the North Channel.
Trailer ready, with new brakes and lights on the outboard foot so we can stop fast and the folks following will not miss the taillights 45" off the ground. We copied somebody's mod with the lights on the outboard foot. We like it and thanks to whoever did this before us.
Hope to meet some of you along the way. We will try to update regularly.
Richard
We have used solar panels with our travel trailer but never with the boat. We have two 100 watt panels for use with the rv but did not want to try them on the Mac. So we just bought a 175 watt flexible panel for the Mac. We are using the same mppt controller that we use in the rv just moved it over to the Mac. This is the only upgrade to our boat and we will let you know how it works out. We did this because a friend bought a new relatively cheap fridge/freezer that they want to take to the Bahamas next winter and want us to test it for them this summer. It does use more power than our Engel fridge/freezer but much cheaper. We will take both with us and use them both. We will use each one as a fridge and a freezer. Nice to have good friends!
Richard
Hopefully that means I can tag along on another Lachine Canal trip.
Of course, we'll put you up at our marina if you want to stop there and use our slip. You're welcome to borrow one of our vehicles to explore the area by land; we can insure you for a couple of days for free with our policy.
If you aren't on any particular schedule, maybe consider a day's detour down the St. Lawrence from Kingston, into the 1000 island region. Singer and Boldt castles are worth the added miles, in my opinion. There are some beautiful anchorages in the area, too, and plenty of full-service towns and marinas.
Be Free we have no idea how much power we use. On our other two long trips we could go 3 to 4 days before our 450 amphrs got to 60%. The only real change is the other 30 qrt fridge that will be a freezer. This other fridge/freezer is needed to carry extra food for my auto immune eating protocol that has helped me tremendously in reducing brain fog and increasing my energy to do hiking and other physical activities. This protocol requires a large quantity of unprocessed foods. (fresh foods and organic only)
Winsome we will post frequently.
Starscream will enjoy meeting up once again. Will keep you posted of our arrival in Montreal.
I did forget one other small improvement in trailering. We have a wireless camera on our travel trailer and the receiver on our truck dash. So we installed the camera on our cockpit seat so we have a good view behind us. The cost for this was $0 as we only had to drill two 3/16 inch holes in the top of the seat, all other items we already owned.
ris wrote: ↑Sat Apr 23, 2022 3:59 pm
Be Free we have no idea how much power we use. On our other two long trips we could go 3 to 4 days before our 450 amphrs got to 60%.
...
Richard, I forgot that you are a trawler so you have all day to recharge from the engine.
I'd still like to know how the solar works with your setup in a real-life setting.
Bill
2001 26X Simple Interest
Honda BF40D
"If I were in a hurry I would not have bought a sailboat." Me
Wish you "Bon voyage". 100 locks remind me of a couple of the "Narrow boat" channels we watch of folks on the English canals/locks. Do you anticipate "do it yourself" type locks like the ones in England, or do the locks on your itinerary have lock keepers/masters that do the work? Either way, I am sure you have...
There are like masters at all the locks in the US in Canada that we have been through. We are currently on the Eastern shore of Maryland on the sassafras River just south of the C and D canal that goes from the Chesapeake to Delaware Bay. It has been raining for two days with the wind blowing about 20 to 30 mph. Our boat is still on the trailer as we are not putting it in the water until we get to fort Edward New York.
Richard
ris wrote: ↑Sun May 08, 2022 5:57 pm
There are like masters at all the locks in the US in Canada that we have been through. We are currently on the Eastern shore of Maryland on the sassafras River just south of the C and D canal that goes from the Chesapeake to Delaware Bay. It has been raining for two days with the wind blowing about 20 to 30 mph. Our boat is still on the trailer as we are not putting it in the water until we get to fort Edward New York.
Richard
Roger that. Transited the C & D canal back in the summer of '64 on the way to Cape May, N.J. and eventually Newport, R.I. for the Newport-Bermuda race. Good memories.
Lord willing and the creek don't rise we will put the Jill Kristy in the water at Ft. Edwards NY tomorrow morning 31 May. We will leave Ft. Edwards going north on the Champlain Canal toward Lake Champlain on 1 June. We are hoping to see some of you as we travel through NY and Canada. Our tentative plan is be in Ottawa around 1 July give or take 7 days. Will post pics as we go along. For this trip we added a cheaper fridge/freezer to our Engle fridge which we always carry. So Engle is the fridge and the other slightly smaller is the freezer. This did increase our amp/hour power usage. So since we already have a mppt controller we bought a 175 watt flexible solar panel that weighs 6 lbs. If our 250 amp/hr of lead acid batteries gets down to 84% over night, it will be 100% in 3.5 hrs of good sunlight the next day. In testing even if it was mostly cloudy for 2 full days the power only went down to 75%. Will keep you posted on how it goes with a few pics. In our test of the two fridge/freezers using them as freezers the Engle used less power for sure and has a larger volume of interior space. The difference in price is around $700 dollars.
Richard
That looks like a lot of fun. I know you are always under power but I'd be interested in how "sailable" your travels are as well.
Long-term, real life testing of our boats, particularly off-grid, is something I'd be interested in as well. How much time do you expect to be anchoring out?
Bill
2001 26X Simple Interest
Honda BF40D
"If I were in a hurry I would not have bought a sailboat." Me
