MacGregorSailors.com

Putting in at the first ramp on West end of the Erie Canal
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First few feet of the Erie Canal going East
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Lots of ducks looking for handouts
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Better and deeper ramp a few miles west
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They now charge for the Erie Canal. Season pass for under 26 feet is $ 75
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Tied up to my first wall in Lockport, NY
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One set of the orginal 5 locks of the 1820's are there as a spill way.
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There is 2 locks here each one raises or drops 25 feet
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Tourist on weekends can be a few.
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What to do with an old boat
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Getting ready to lock through. spent 3 good days in Lockport.
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Lock Master, most are not this good looking.
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Good eats in town
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Nice farms on the canal
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The canal is wide enough to run Autopilot
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Geese
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signage
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Tie your cleats well, some towns they will get untied.
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Center mast support
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Stern, I can stand and steer with hitting the mast.
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Medina
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James V wrote:They now charge for the Erie Canal. Season pass for under 26 feet is $ 75

Roger strikes again and gets you in on the cheap.

Great pics, James and thanks for posting them as links. Too many pics in a post really slows things down. The forum software has to download the full-sized images, before it can re-size them for the post.

~Rich

Thanks for the wonderful tour! I doubt I will ever get to launch in a canal but I have always wanted to. Has anyone measured the Mac for use in european canals? Although I have seen them in England, it was so long ago I can't picture the bridge clearances.

With my mast raised the way it is I estimate I have 11 feet clearance.

More on Medina
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Brockport, Just had to tie up to the 1950's Barge Cleats. Dockage is usually Free but I wanted Electic and showers and this town maintained them. Cost me $ 6 per night. Spent 3 days here.
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Tied up at the wall in Spencerport for lunch.
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How was the locking experience single-handed? It's something I hope to do next summer, but I've never locked through anywhere.

Thanks for the ongoing travelog - it helps keep the dreams alive.

No question that Euopean canals would be fine with the Mac. The standard rental Penichettes are much higher often with flybridge.

I just spend 4 months in France and was checking them out often.

BTW, I saw a couple at a rest stop in Riems(Champagne capital) with a 10yr MacX on their way to a 2 month cruise of the Croatian coast. Based in La Rochelle they do a lot of bluewater sailing with an sail plan altered for hgiher winds.

Rob

David Mellon wrote:Thanks for the wonderful tour! I doubt I will ever get to launch in a canal but I have always wanted to. Has anyone measured the Mac for use in european canals? Although I have seen them in England, it was so long ago I can't picture the bridge clearances.

Makes a Mac owner want to pull maps, plot a trip, and get on the nearest ICW.

Great pics James. I did the Buffalo to Rochester and back part around 1972 in a 20' Chris Craft - - - one of the best vacations I ever took. I liked the part where you would come upon a little inlet with stairs leading up to a tavern and the road - - - food was always worth the climb. Please keep us informed.

Rick

Thanks.

Locking through is far easier than what I thought. Just stop next to a rope by the cockpit. Put a line between it and the wall. Tie off somewhere forward and the stern cleat (or not). Keep dock pole in hand to keep boat straight and off the wall. Don't want to wash those fenders too often. Going down is the easiest. Boat hardly moves. Going up requires a litte more but not much. Without much in the water, The Mac pushes off easy.

When the other lock opens. Untie, push off a little and move on. So easy compaired to a 40,000 pound boat.

I will post some pics of this.

James,

If I understand correctly, you trailered up to New York. What happens to the trailer?


Ray

I have never locked thru anywhere and appreciate the information. And also appreciate the pics!

James V wrote:Just stop next to a rope by the cockpit. Put a line between it and the wall.

But this I don't get hoping that the pics will fill me in. I under stand the rope lead down from the wall of the lock but the second part of the statement has me puzzled



Allan

You just loop a line around the (fixed) line running vertically on the lock wall. As the boat goes up/down the loop slides up/down the vertical line. If you stand in the middle of the boat with your loop line around a winch, its a cinch (fender on stern and bow)

I'm confused too and I've done parts of the Erie and all of the Champlain canals. Unless things have changed it's not quite s easy as described.

Some of the locks have vertical pipes. These are easy in that you just loop a line around them and it slides up and down with the water level.

Others have lines that simply dangle from the top of the wall, not fixed at the bottom. These are tougher. I guess you could loop a line around these as well but with the steep angle that doesn't accomplish much toward holding the boat steady.

Especially when going up, the currents and eddies which develop when there's about a million GPM being valved into the lock can be surprisingly strong. The closer to the upstream lock doors, the worse they are. You're better off toward the downstream end.

Plan B is wear rubber gloves and just grab the line, standing at the winch roughly. Chip is right in that the turbulence is less at mid-cylinder of the lock