Thanks for all the interest in the long thread below.

We left Weatley able to hear the wind howl and the surf as we boarded the
boat. We were almost immediately in a very snotty Lake Erie heading
straight into it. Although we experienced zero G's a few times that boat
did great and conditions steadily improved. She is very quiet and smooth.
Once the the wind got down to a bit under 20 and we used up some of the long
fetch, she felt like a much larger vessel with the engines sounding a long
way behind us.

We made it through the Welland Canal in record time with every lock and
bridge opening just as we reached it. In view of a rough forecast for Lake
Ontario, we decided to use the time saved to rest up. The forecast was
wrong and we had a great run down the lake arriving mid day. We spent the
afternoon lowering the mast, taking off the tops off the exhaust stacks for
bridge clearance, and refueling.

We're now tied up in front of Best Western and got rooms for the night and
are about to go out for dinner.

The weather report is for heavy, steady rain and possible snow for the next
few days. It isn't going to be much fun standing out in this stuff tending
lines as we go through the locks.

--
Roger Long

"Roger Long" wrote in
:

We're now tied up in front of Best Western and got rooms for the night
and are about to go out for dinner.



Roger, how many hours are on those new diesels and what oil changes have
been done to them, so far? I wondered that aloud as you entered the
Welland Canal. I like to change oil quite often the first few hundred
hours to make sure the manufacturing and initial wear metal filings are
cleaned out of them.

Great trip. Thanks for taking us along! It's really a nice ride by remote
control....(c;

"Larry" wrote

Roger, how many hours are on those new diesels and what oil changes have
been done to them, so far?

People from Harper Diesel in MTU coveralls were swarmng over the boat right
up until we left and the jet room has what would be a large pickup truck
full of various fluids. This isn't your new yacht owner's trip. Our
delivery captain is a Transport Canada inspectorand it's all full scale
professionalism. I haven't paid attention to the oil changes but I'm sure
it's right on schedule. This is more like being on a NASA launch than
yachting.

Off to eat breakfast before going out in the soaking rain.

--
Roger Long

On Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:44:03 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

Off to eat breakfast before going out in the soaking rain.

Roger, what is the problem at Lock 19 today (Sunday) ?

In article , Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:44:03 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

Off to eat breakfast before going out in the soaking rain.

Roger, what is the problem at Lock 19 today (Sunday) ?

From here it looks like he had the spot in his jacket pocket and went for a drunken dinghy ride, followed by a walk on the grass.

There's also one oddity in the track, it looks like they got to the lock, and then went back up the canal before proceeding to the lock once more. Looks weird.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:38:23 -0000, Justin C
wrote:

There's also one oddity in the track, it looks like they got to the lock, and then went back up the canal before proceeding to the lock once more. Looks weird.


I'm guessing they got stalled out at the lock, thought about heading
back to Utica and civilization for the night, changed their mind and
went back to the lock to get an early start in the morning.

They lost a day off their schedule which gets expensive with paid
delivery crew.

"Wayne.B" wrote

Roger, what is the problem at Lock 19 today (Sunday) ?


We're stuck but good. The heavy rains of Saturday have put this section of
the canal 2 feet above it's normal level and 6" above it's official maximum.
We are just 3" too high to make it under the railroad bridge below you can
see just below the dock.

We spent all of a perfect canal cruising day, bright sun, calm winds, warm,
sitting at the dock watching the level gauge. It went down just 3/8 inch
all day and the came back up half of that. At his rate, it we'll be here for
a few days. Our only hope is that small crews on Sunday prevented them from
opening all the dam gates downstream. We did learn that just two of seven
gates were opened. Hopefully, it is just a labor problem and not aging
infrastructure or downstream flooding considerations.

It was a beautiful place to spend a lazy day but it's going to be a lot less
appealing in tomorrow's weather. The captain and yard rep know the director
of the canal system personally so, if anything can be done, it probably will
be. We'll find out tomorrow.

We did head back up towards Utica late in the day but decided there was too
much debris to make the 16 mile round trip worthwhile and took a cab to a
motel.

The drunken dinghy ride Justin referrs to is just the non-waas SPOT fix
wandering around.

The canal is a great trip (when you can get under the bridges). The early
morning run with dawn breaking and mist rising off the water was worth the
price of admission.

--
Roger Long

Morning:

Just got a call from the boat. Water went down an inch overnight. Maybe
we'll get out this morning.

--
Roger Long

Roger Long wrote:
"Wayne.B" wrote
Roger, what is the problem at Lock 19 today (Sunday) ?


We're stuck but good. The heavy rains of Saturday have put this section of
the canal 2 feet above it's normal level and 6" above it's official maximum.
We are just 3" too high to make it under the railroad bridge below you can
see just below the dock.


I guessed right!

Cheers
Martin

On 25 Oct 2008 03:12:44 GMT, Larry wrote:

I like to change oil quite often the first few hundred
hours to make sure the manufacturing and initial wear metal filings are
cleaned out of them.

You ever hear of oil filters?

Casady