My guess is that the waterway managers would also tell you that the water
was in fact at a certain level and that you would be fine, if you stayed in
the channel, and didn't have engine trouble (...) - otherwise they would
just say "no".

How much does that DeFever draw?

We haven't heard back from the original poster. We need to know what he
means by a "small boat". Why does he want to avoid Lake Erie (which can get
veyr rough - but so can the other lakes, although Erie is different...)

====

Charles T. Low
www.boatdocking.com

====

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
nk.net...
Wayne.B wrote:

Exactly right. At the discretion of the canal operators, they may
allow you to proceed with a bit more than 5 ft if you sign waivers.

Several years ago, there was a PBS special of a DeFever 50, a wooden
trawler, transiting many of the inland waters of North America.

They transited the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers as well as many
parts of the Great Lakes & St Lawrence rivers.

They wanted to traverse the Trent-Severn, which is certainly
understandable, if for no other reasons the scenery and the railway.

The Defever's master had to sign a waver that basically said, if they got
stuck, the canal operators could blow up the boat to clear the canal.

The Defever is too large to be able to turn around in the canal.

IMHO, that is one hell of a roll of the dice. Glad I didn't have to make
that decision.


Lew